Founders in our Masia: Marcus Castro & Max Stengel from CareerOS

Though they come from different backgrounds, Marcus and Max share a common drive: to fix broken systems and build things that work better.

Marcus began his career in a hands-on way: running 5 restaurants and 2 food trucks in Alabama, his hometown. Upon graduating with a bachelor's in Finance, he worked for BBVA, where he rose through the ranks to become Vice President. Hungry for a broader challenge, Marcus pursued an MBA at ESADE. He also joined Amazon’s Finance Leadership Development Program and later became Head of Sales & Strategy at Bloobirds, a high-growth tech startup.

Max started in the fast-paced world of M&A advisory at Deloitte before shifting into operations at Voi Technology, managing DACH South as a Regional Operations Manager. Max also manages a Family Office, investing in early-stage ventures. He, too, came to ESADE for his MBA — and that’s where he met Marcus.

Their paths converged at the right moment, and they decided to start CareerOS together.

The traditional career support system is inefficient and fragmented.

• Students rely on manual tools to manage their career journey

• Career services are under-resourced, with on average, one advisor for every ~1,584 students

• Employers are swamped with irrelevant applications, making hiring harder and slower

CareerOS is building a smarter way forward — a Career CRM that connects students, universities, and employers in one intelligent platform.

For students, CareerOS offers AI-powered resume tools, tailored job search strategies and smart networking support. For universities, CareerOS is a tool for centralized analytics that tracks and enhances student engagement, increasing the reach of career advisors. Finally, for employers, the platform offers streamlined candidate discovery and richer insights to inform hiring decisions

We joined CareerOS’ €1.5M pre-seed round, alongside Speedinvest, FJ Labs and DFF Ventures. We’re proud to be their only local VC partner, following Marcus and Max’s journey from Barcelona.

One of Marcus and Max’s proudest milestones was winning the ultra-competitive €1 million Marketplace Conference (MPC) competition in Berlin last September. Out of more than 200 top startups from across Europe, CareerOS took first place — securing the grand prize and solidifying their position as a leading force in the future of recruitment. Another incredible milestone came in June 2023, when they launched CareerOS on the ESMT Berlin campus — their very first university partnership. It marked a huge moment for the team: just months after kicking things off, they were already live with one of Europe’s top global institutions. It was a testament to the speed, dedication, and execution of the product and engineering teams. That momentum carried us into a successful Fall 2023, launching with their first anchor partners, including ESADE, HEC Paris, WHU, Texas A&M, University of Maryland, Munich Business School, Tomorrow University, plus more.

Marcus is a bit on the wild side. Whenever he eats cereal, he pours the milk before he pours the cereal!

As a surfer, Max will do anything to find the perfect wave. He once took 3 plane trips, a 24-hour ferry and a 5-hour speedboat ride to get to his dream wave in Indonesia.

Barcelona holds a special place in Marcus and Max’s hearts. After an incredible experience at ESADE, they knew there was no better city to build CareerOS. Beyond its beauty and energy, Barcelona is fast becoming Europe’s next great startup hub — and even more importantly, it’s a magnet for global talent. Just look at their team: CareerOS’s proudly made up of teammates from the USA, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, Spain, Portugal, the UK, Argentina, India, Belgium, Lithuania, the Philippines, and France. This incredible mix of backgrounds and perspectives allows them to think far beyond the four walls of our office — and gives them the fuel to dream big.

As one of our Professor’s at ESADE, Dr. Jan Brinckmann, always said: Build it in Barcelona, then sell it to the world. And, let’s be honest.. having the beach in your backyard is not too bad either!

- Marcus Castro

You hear the buzzword “AI” everywhere these days, but Marcus and Max genuinely believe it’s going to redefine the future of higher education recruitment. This isn’t just hype for them. They’re actively working on several bold ideas that will transform the entire ecosystem, from how students connect with employers to how universities scale their impact. Big things are coming — stay tuned to see what’s next.

We’re excited to be on this journey with Marcus and the team and look forward to seeing how CareerOS will change the job market in the years to come.

Stay connected with us for more inspiring stories of innovation from Masia Collective. To learn more about CareerOS, visit www.careeros.com.

— The Masia Collective Team