01 / The work in progress
Some began with a problem I had.
Others began with people I wanted to bring together.
01 / Kovie
Founder / Student housing
When I transferred to the University of Arkansas, I didn't know the town or anyone in it. I ended up with incompatible roommates, guessed where to live, and couldn't easily leave my lease. I'm building Kovie because I have lived all three problems.
Visit KovieBuilding at the McMillon Innovation Studio
Find your people. Find your place.
Roommate matching
Housing & honest reviews
Subleases & replacements
02 / ReStorie
Co-builder with Diego / In development
I know what it feels like to want to make videos and be afraid to post. Diego and I are building ReStorie to help people work through the whole process, from an idea to something they are proud to share.
Idea. Make it. Learn. Try again.
Something
worth sharing.
What you learn becomes the next idea.
03 / Crypto Hogs
Founder & President / University of Arkansas
What drew me to crypto was the possibility of more transparency and less corruption. I started Crypto Hogs to bring students and people working in the industry into the same room.
150+ members / 12 officers / September 2026
04 / AgentMesh
Builder / In use by the team
Our AI agents knew the details. But every handoff meant squeezing that context into a message, passing it to a teammate, and explaining it again. I built AgentMesh so our agents could reach each other, with people still responsible for the work.
Different people. Different tools. Shared context.
The old handoff
Context gets smaller at every step.
A direct connection
Shared context. Human accountability.
05 / Magnus
Builder / Personal AI assistant
I wanted an assistant that understood the things I was trying to do. Magnus connects what I capture with my notes, calendar, and tasks, so an idea can become part of a real day.
Built for my own life. Still learning what helps.
A thought, connected to a day.
A thought worth keeping
Notes / Goals / Projects
A task with a place in the day
Illustrative workflow
02 / Before all of this
Childhood / Brazil
I collected Pokemon cards. I liked trading, comparing collections, and figuring out what someone would give up for a card. I barely cared about playing the game. I still have the collection.
Trading & collectingAround age 8-10 / Brazil
We kept quail. I collected the eggs, asked my mother to boil them, and took them to school to sell. A small beginning, but a real one.
First sales03 / Starting over
Age 11 / United States
Moving from Brazil meant learning English and trying to find my place in a new culture. Those first years were lonely. School was difficult, and I wanted more from life than how I felt then.
Starting overAround age 14-15
I read everything I could about improving myself and building a business. Unscripted was a turning point. I wanted to become capable enough to make a difference, and I started looking for things I could try.
A deliberate change04 / The attempts
Some became products. Some barely left the workshop.
Every one was something I thought might work.
The tools were already there
My father's knife shop made the idea feel possible. I considered making them, but never made a product to sell.
I floated spray paint on water and dipped cases through it. I made the objects. I don't remember ever offering them for sale.
My brother and I wanted to sell woodwork made on Dad's CNC machine. We made a social page. An operating business never followed.
While working at a sporting goods store, I imagined a holster made from one piece of leather. It stayed an idea.
Making it was
one thing.
Reaching people
was another.
Beyond the workbench
Weeks of wordplay designs for shirts. I did the work to make them, then never put them in front of an audience. No remembered sales.
I studied the course, contacted businesses, and booked meetings. I was a teenager asking for a large retainer without proof I could deliver. I couldn't close them.
I bought a drone, learned to fly it, and learned to edit. I never made the sales push to real estate agents. I still have the drone.
A friend and I made one or two videos, including a water-dipped cow skull. The channel stopped before we found a repeatable rhythm.
I mounted a camera to my hat while competing in shooting sports. The action was hard to see. The videos never gained traction.
04 / The cost of trying
Stores, screens, and a setback
A Shopify store, product samples, and videos for a two-piece pendant. The videos didn't take off, and the store didn't sell.
I built a tactical storefront, adding products by hand. I liked how it looked. Too much stayed in the building stage, and it never reached consistent promotion.
I had been making money day trading. Then one liquidation erased the gains and much more. It was devastating. That belongs in this story too.
I kept learning how to make things.
Getting them into people's hands was harder.
05 / Fayetteville, Arkansas / 2026
After working on the Nestle project, I returned as a project manager with the chance to build Kovie at the Studio.
My father, Ricardo Vilar, makes the blades. I built the online store for his work.
A website for the bladesmithing world I grew up around. Another way to help that craft reach people.
Catholic faith, service with the Knights of Columbus, and time with people I care about. I want room in my life for all of it.
06 / The story is still happening
I want to build things that help people, bring out the best in the people around me, and have a life my family can look back on.
