About us

The Realistic Optimist is a publication covering the global startup scene.

What we do

We publish:

• Exclusive, written interviews with founders and VCs around the world, with a focus on emerging markets.
  • Bamboo: empowering Africa's retail investors
  • Sanii: home care for the elderly in Brazil
  • Edamama: simplifying baby and mother care in the Philippines
• Long-form, researched articles covering our niche.
  • The Africa-Japan bridge
  • Iraq's incremental shift to digital payments

100% of our revenue comes from paid subscriptions.

RO paid subscribers unlock access to our entire library (100+ articles) and receive 1 new article per week.

How to buy RO access

We mostly sell group subscriptions to university libraries. We're particularly relevant for students who want information about startups/VC in an emerging markets context.

If you would like to learn more about our university subscription option, please book an introductory call here.

If you would like to plug the RO's catalogue into your favorite AI tool, you can buy an RO AI license here.

Our team

The RO team is composed of Timothy Motte (Founder), Aakash Athawasya (COO), Paul Rivière (CTO), Linda Rosen, (Library relations) and James Mahon (Head of Interviews).

For any other inquiries, please email tim@realisticoptimist.io