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I remember my first chat with Helder. He had just missed to take part in the Kickstarter campaign and was eager to help in any way possible. I mentioned there is the "Board", which by that time consisted of Andres alone. I personally hoped for at least 3-4 guys to opt for that thing on Kickstarter but it didn't happen. So honestly I had no idea what to do with this group of one guy now as the plan was to have few more people joining it.
So Helder now willing to join that group, made it interesting as I had not foreseen this, that people may want to join that group after the Kickstarter finished. Now we could build a group. So Helder joins the group, later on so does Kjetil, so now that's 3 guys, we can vote. To keep in touch with reality, read other managers, group decides to bring in a representative for the managers, that is giving a free spot to a guy, Thiago Netz joins. Helder being the good guy who is eager to help, after a chat one night where I talked about the concerns of magazine software costs normally $400/year and we haven't sold for more than $20 would mean magazine idea will be hard to maintain. So Helder sends me $500. I was happy but didn't think this is the right move to do as if we are going to do something as a community, the contribution would be from all and not few guys only. Not sure what I would use the money for, I talk to him and he tells me we can use the money to enable two more spots. Excellent, we open two more spots, managers apply, the board members vote and choose Stephen and René as the new members.
So if 2015 was forming of the Board, 2016 would be finding and creating guidelines on how to function as a body to help the game progress optimally.
Interview with Helder
Going back down memory lane, what is your experience and memory of ManagerSim?
I wasn’t playing the game back to the old days, but got introduced in spring 2015 by my cousin, Chelsea manager William. It was in CH2, and we were a group of friends playing in Portugal. Three of them were cousins and the others 2 were family friends so it’s almost a family matter here.
How does your everyday life look like?
Father of two sons and a daughter, I work for my family business, as we run a landscaping and a garden center, both in Quebec City, Canada.
What is the best moment, memory or achievement?
Back in CH2, it took me 2 seasons to win the Portuguese league with Benfica. It was cool.
Helder Mendes Martins
INTERVIEW with a GAME CHAMPIon, Board member, Family man