Interview with Hugo A. Valdivia, the CEO of Silentus [2023]

My name is Hugo Valdivia, Peruvian Engineer, living in Europe for the last decade. I am also the founder of Silentus, a mobile productivity app that helps professionals regain the time they lose due to distractions, increase their productivity, and keep themselves accountable for their progress.

I am thankful for my time in corporate setups because that’s where I learned some of the best practices I use to run Silentus’ business nowadays. It also taught me some of the practices that on the other hand, I’d like to avoid or improve while running my own company.

Silentus enables users with a one-touch tool to create specific lists of contacts and apps from whom the user wants to get notifications, because they are relevant for their core activity. Take the example of a freelance copywriter. She works for several clients on a regular basis, sometimes daily, and has strict deadlines as well. On a given morning she wants to work for Client A’s assignment but can’t switch off her phone completely because she needs to get calls or messages from this client.

Here, Silentus helps her create an allowed list with Client A’s name on it, and this list can be quickly modified to change to Client B or Client C later in the day, according to her schedule. All with one touch. In our Premium version, users can save different lists or profiles that can be switched on/off or scheduled depending on their routines.

Additionally, Silentus helps digital workers create goals and keep track of their progress, contributing to their accountability, motivation, and success at work.

Silentus is also helpful for startup founders who wear different hats during the day. In the morning we’re Sales, in the afternoon Developers, and later Accountants. Depending on our core tasks, we need to be reached out by specific people and that’s when Silentus comes in handy. Same for students who have a close circle of people they usually interact with.

We provide users with a personalized productivity dashboard where they can track their focus time but more importantly, they can check with whom they are interacting more often. For instance, a student can use our dashboard to identify his most recurrent allowed contacts or apps.

If he notices that these differ from what he would expect based on his priorities, it could mean he’s not using his time in the most efficient and productive way possible. As a result he can adjust his routine and increase his productivity during study-hours, resulting in a higher-quality outcome, and more time available to spend with friends and family.

Same applies for professionals.

Users can keep track of their productivity in our dashboard. In addition, we’re always working on adding better and more useful features to help users with their accountability, keeping them on track with their priorities or to-dos for the day.

I am a big fan of planning in advance so I have added breaks and personal time to my calendar; and unless something cannot be managed during work hours, this personal time is non-negotiable.

I think I have had a quite steep learning curve and this is what I value the most from my experience as a founder: one day I had to learn about legal terminology, another about product development, and so on. I like the excitement of wearing different hats throughout my day.

To keep a positive work environment there are few things I try to keep in place: first of all, Silentus was born and will remain a remote-work company, and that’s to enable teammates with the setup that adapts the best for their needs and preferences. Second, I promote an open-communication space, with respect for everyone’s opinion. This also helps us manage our own expectations and be ready to tackle any unforeseen circumstances.

My advice would be to start by understanding what problems and challenges your target audience face, what alternatives they currently use to solve these issues, and how best your future solution could address these pain points. Also, don’t wait until you have a state of the art product, go for a minimum viable solution, test it, iterate, and repeat the process.

In 5 years, we want to be the go-to tool for professionals that are serious about making the most out of their available working hours, keep a well-balanced work-life routine, and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

On the other hand, we measure our impact on the number of hours that our users save from distractions; however, preventing future burnouts due to unbalanced workload is another way to measure it, and finding ways to increase our impact on this area is part of our long-term plans as well.