In this episode of Founders’ Tales, we speak with Mariana Vinagre, Co-Founder of NautIQ Technologies, a robotics company developing automation solutions for the boat maintenance industry. With over a decade of entrepreneurial experience, Mariana shares how her journey across multiple industries has shaped her perspective on building mission-driven companies that combine innovation with real-world impact.

NautIQ Technologies is focused on modernizing a highly manual and physically demanding sector by introducing robotics and automation to improve efficiency, consistency, and scalability in boat maintenance. Despite advances in many industries, much of the maintenance work in recreational marine environments is still performed manually, creating bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and operational challenges for boat owners and service providers.

Mariana explains how the idea originated from firsthand experience identifying inefficiencies in marine servicing workflows, where inconsistent manual processes create delays and limit scalability. By applying automation and robotics, NautIQ aims to improve reliability and enable more standardized maintenance outcomes across the industry.

The conversation highlights the importance of adaptability in entrepreneurship, emphasizing that initial ideas often evolve significantly as founders gather customer insights and validate assumptions. Mariana shares how founders must remain flexible, continuously iterating based on real-world feedback rather than becoming overly attached to their original concept.