Press & Public Appearances

Laís de Oliveira has been interviewed, published, and on stage about community building for over a decade — from startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia to podcasts about the loneliness epidemic. This page collects the conversations, the talks, and where to find her elsewhere. For press or speaking enquiries, there's a short bio and a headshot at the bottom.

Lais de Oliveira speaking at Web Summit Rio 2019

Talks, keynotes and panels

The book

Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities (2020)

ISBN 979-8581774557 (English)

Read what Hacking Communities is → · Buy in English → · Goodreads →

Published in Portuguese as Reinventando Comunidades by Lisbon International Press (2024), 336 pages.

ISBN 978-989-37-6392-6 (Portuguese)

Comprar em português →

  • 2026 A long-form conversation on her journey across continents and the question of belonging. Listen →

  • Community-led growth, belonging, and applying the Hacking Communities frameworks at scale. Watch →

  • An advisory conversation on community-led go-to-market and startup growth strategy. Watch →

  • Community building fundamentals and founder strategy. Watch →

  • The loneliness epidemic, isolation, and how intentional community design rebuilds human connection. Listen →

  • A live Q&A on Hacking Communities with the Common Room community. Watch →

  • Community, the founder journey, and patterns across the global startup landscape. Watch →

  • Designing a working life across several meaningful projects without losing coherence. Listen →

  • Community as a competitive moat for startups, from scaling Startup Grind's global chapter network to writing Hacking Communities. Listen →

  • On peer-to-peer customer connection as a source of compounding advantage. Watch →

  • Entrepreneurial guidance and community development for early-stage founders. Watch →

  • The founding story of 8spaces.co, a commercial real estate marketplace serving Southeast Asia. Watch →

  • Building the startup ecosystem across Southeast Asia during her days as a founder at 8Spaces and Director at Startup Grind Africa + APAC. Watch →

Keynotes on community-led growth,
entrepreneurial ecosystem development, economic agency,
community and movement building.

  • Laís de Oliveira on stage emceeing at Web Summit in Lisbon

    Emceeing at Web Summit — Lisbon, 2019

  • Laís de Oliveira interviewing Brad Feld on stage at CASE in Brazil, 2020

    Interviewing Brad Feld at CASE — Brazil, 2020

  • Laís de Oliveira delivering a keynote at Startup Grind Europe in Barcelona

    Keynote at Startup Grind Europe — Barcelona, 2019

  • Laís de Oliveira speaking on an expert panel at CASE in São Paulo, 2019

    Expert panel at CASE — São Paulo, 2019

  • Laís de Oliveira on the Ecosystem Summit panel at Collision, New Orleans, 2018

    Expert panel, Ecosystem Summit at Collision — New Orleans, 2018

  • Laís de Oliveira emceeing the Forum stage at Web Summit, Lisbon, 2017

    Emceeing the Forum at Web Summit — Lisbon, 2017

  • Laís de Oliveira emceeing Startup University at Web Summit, Lisbon, 2018

    Emceeing Startup University at Web Summit — Lisbon, 2018

  • Laís de Oliveira moderating a session at the Startup Grind Conference, 2019

    Moderator at Startup Grind Conference — 2019

  • Laís de Oliveira on the Ecosystem Summit panel at Web Summit Lisbon, 2017

    Expert Panel at the Ecosystem Summit at Web Summit— Lisbon, 2017

  • Laís de Oliveira on an expert panel at South Summit in Madrid, 2017

    Expert panel at South Summit — Madrid, 2017

  • Laís de Oliveira in conversation with Erik Torenberg on the Village Global Podcast, 2020

    Laís de Oliveira in conversation with Erik Torenberg on the Village Global Podcast, 2020

  • In this episode of Loneliness Busters, Saumya Gupta talks to Laís de Oliveira on the art and science of community building.

    Laís de Oliveira in conversation on the Loneliness Busters Podcast, 2023

  • Laís de Oliveira speaking at an expert panel at the conference Social Good Brasil 2018

    Expert panel at Social Good Brasil — Brazil, 2018

  • Lais de Oliveira speaking as a Keynote at the Coworking Unconference Asia — Penang, Malaysia, 2018

    Keynote at the Coworking Unconference Asia — Penang, Malaysia, 2018

  • Lais de Oliveira speaking as a keynote at Innovation Conference CITIES 2018 in Uberlandia, Brasil

    Keynote at Innovation Conference, CITIES — Brazil, 2018

  • Lais de Oliveira moderating a panel at Techne Summit in Alexandria, 2017

    Expert panel moderator at Techne Summit — Alexandria, Egypt 2017

  • Lais de Oliveira keynote at the Swedish House, Web Summit 2018

    Keynote at the Swedish House, Web Summit — Lisbon, 2018

  • Lais de Oliveira moderating an all female expert panel ate Tech Sauce 2017 in Bangkok, Thailad

    Expert panel moderation at Techne Summit — Bangkok, 2017

Recordings: talks, keynotes and panels

Keynote at Startup Grind Europe — Barcelona, 2019 Community-led growth, ecosystem development, and what makes communities thrive across borders. Watch →

Startup University: Opening remarks on diversity — Web Summit, 2019 Inclusion as both a moral imperative and a strategic advantage for community builders. Watch →

Startup University: Opening remarks — Web Summit, Lisbon, 2018 Watch →

Collaborative Ecosystems: Connecting Cities Towards a Global Community — 2020 How local startup ecosystems compound into a global community through deliberate connection. Watch →

For press and speaking enquiries

Speaking topics: community-led growth, entrepreneurial ecosystem development, economic agency, community and movement building.

One line: Laís de Oliveira is a community architect and author of Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities.

Fifty words: Laís de Oliveira is a community-led growth strategist, fractional executive, and author of Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities. Over fifteen years and four continents she has built communities and ecosystems from startup networks in Southeast Asia to gig economy drivers in the United States.

A hundred words: Laís de Oliveira is a community architect, author, and fractional executive who builds go-to-market systems where belonging is the engine. Over fifteen years across four continents she has turned ideas into businesses, led teams through ambiguity, and designed growth systems where customer success becomes advocacy, which becomes movement. She is the author of Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities, published in English and Portuguese, and the creator of seven connected frameworks for building communities that sustain themselves. Migrant, mother, and former law school dropout, she was born in a small town in Brazil and is now based in New York.

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Find me elsewhere