It wasn't on my list for this week.
Eight minutes in front of a panel to explain years of work to people who had never seen it. No slides to hide behind. Just the question every researcher and every founder ends up answering out loud: what are you really working on, and why does it matter.
I've asked myself that question in a lot of rooms lately. In front of investors, in front of clients, in front of juries on another continent. But doing it here is different. In the place where the idea started taking shape, in front of the people who watched it be born.
First came the research. Then, the company. Today, at last, they shared a room. And the room responded.
Tenth edition of PhDay at the Faculty of Information Sciences, and a first prize I wasn't expecting.
Thank you to my thesis advisors José Ignacio Niño González, Alfredo Arceo Vacas, and Luis Rodrigo Martín (with a special mention for Paloma Díaz-Soloaga, for being there throughout and for her words) for the years of guidance that made this work what it is. They pushed me to be precise long before precision became the goal. And to everyone who came to listen and to be there that day, it meant more than you can imagine.
I think the 3am alarm and the first morning train were worth it, in the end, to make it to the presentation on time.
Thank you to Universidad Complutense de Madrid and to UCM's Faculty of Information Sciences for teaching me to defend an idea before asking the world to believe it.