A lot of people have come to me recently asking if Antropia is version 2.0 of the legendary Karumi, the mobile apps agency. With this post, I aim to answer that question to the best of my ability.

What was Karumi?

For those who don’t know, Karumi was a small studio founded in Madrid that offered mobile development services and training all around the world. But more importantly, it was the best company I’ve ever worked for. I was there almost five years starting in 2015 — the longest I’ve been at any company.

The soul of Karumi

This isn’t a comprehensive list of Karumi’s guiding principles, but rather the ones that have inspired Antropia the most. I don’t know if they were written somewhere or if I just absorbed them from the experience I had working there, but here they are:

• Transparency — Karumi shared their numbers with us, and they told us when things were going great and when they weren’t. This helped us understand decisions and made us feel in control of the company’s future.
• Honesty — We had tough conversations—not dismissive or offensive, but genuinely challenging conversations. This reinforced the idea that everyone’s voice mattered and could be heard.
• Human — I can’t recall how many times Davide had to listen to me talk about being on a different page with a client or how I needed a change. Davide would then move heaven and earth to make sure I felt comfortable or gave me the tools to deal with whatever lay ahead. I felt seen because I wasn’t just a number—I was a valuable person.
• Small — I try to challenge my beliefs regularly, but this one hasn’t changed a bit since it first formed in my head, and Karumi was the spark: small teams beat large teams. They’re more efficient, not only due to faster communication channels (mandatory The Mythical Man-Month reference), but because being small forces you to question priorities constantly. You don’t have the capacity to manage huge workloads, so you have to ask yourself what’s the best way to spend your time, all the time.

These are powerful principles to live by, and I’m sure they’ve motivated many other companies around the world. They’ve definitely influenced the creation of Antropia.

Growth

Antropia is the product of the personal experiences I’ve had in my work life. A mixture of mistakes and successes that have evolved into what Antropia is right now: a studio that places people at the center of the stage. Karumi already hinted at this idea in their day-to-day interactions with both clients and workers. It makes sense to keep evolving it and to reach new frontiers. For us, this means the following:

• A cooperative model — All workers should have a say on the kind of work we do, because it’s our time we’re spending after all. This kind of ownership and accountability is hardly achieved otherwise.
• Solidarity — Pride should be shared and celebrated. And nothing makes us prouder than having an impact on the world, and to make the lives of others around us better. This is why Antropia has signed the Giving What We Can pledge and donates 10% of their income to effective charities.
• Progress — We are continuously iterating, continuously improving. We learn, we fail, we repeat. This gives us the chance to see every new project as an opportunity to make Antropia better.
• Openness — The only way these ideas can be adopted by other companies is to talk about them through every channel we can. We have created Antropia to raise (and try to answer) some hard questions on sensitive topics: working hours, compensation, ownership, etc.

Karumi 2.0?

So… is Antropia an improved version of Karumi? It’s hard to answer with a single yes or no. In some ways it’s absolutely an evolution of some of the principles Karumi embodied, but in others, it’s something entirely different. There are many sources of inspiration for Antropia — Karumi has been one of them, but there are others: small studios around the globe guided by infinite passion, books and games exploring the philosophy of life, work, and community, and perhaps most importantly, the people I talk with and spend my time alongside, openly discussing these and countless other everyday questions.

Appreciation

To say that Antropia is Karumi 2.0 is the best compliment I’ve received so far. And it’s humbling. It’s clear Karumi has been an inspiration, not only to me, but to many others. It makes sense that Antropia follows their path and evolves it, adapting it to the current state of the world and the lives of the ones who are part of it.

I want to thank all Karumi members Alberto, Davide, Fran, Irene, Jorge, Laura, Pedro and Toni for the time we shared while I was there.

It goes without saying: I hope some day I can make Antropia as great as Karumi was.