Karina Portugal: Learning to Ask the Right Question
How an Advertising Executive Turned Digital Trust Expert
July 7, 2026 – 11:52 am
Image by: Karina Portugal
Ten years ago, Karina Portugal was at advertising festivals like Cannes Lions, discussing campaigns and branding. Today, she sits across the table from some of the largest banks in Brazil, Europe, and the United States to discuss a much harder problem to sell: how do you know whether you can trust who, or what, is on the other side of a transaction?
The turning point began unexpectedly. A Polish fraud-prevention startup, still in its fundraising and international expansion phase, approached her for a VP of Sales role. It was no small choice of market: Poland has established itself as one of Europe’s most relevant hubs for data science and AI, with cities like Wrocław earning the nickname “Polish Silicon Valley.” For Karina, entering that ecosystem was exactly the environment she wanted to be in at that point in her career.
Karina didn’t come from a technical background; she knew nothing about fraud prevention. Yet, she won the role against five male candidates, thanks to her exceptional customer understanding and sales skills.
That was exactly the argument she made in the interview: “Hire me, and I’ll bring you the client you want most.” It wasn’t an empty promise. Karina immersed herself in the product for three weeks in Poland, returned to Brazil, and closed a proof of concept with one of Latin America’s largest retailers, addressing e-commerce fraud and account takeover. The POC hit its target metrics and converted into a signed contract in under a year.
It was the beginning of a career built on a simple yet uncommon thesis: technology doesn’t sell technology. Technology sells when it solves a business problem the customer already knows they have.
Years later, Karina received a LinkedIn message from a Portuguese executive at a fraud-prevention startup looking to expand its investor base and international client roster. He had been following her trajectory and wanted to talk. She took the meeting, but initially turned down the offer—it wasn’t the right moment. A year later, he reached out again, and this time, Karina accepted, taking on a challenge to work with ten of Brazil’s largest banks in fraud prevention: card transactions, Pix, account opening, and more.