The hard part is not the technology. It is trust.
By the time a model demos well, the real work is just starting: what a company will put its name on, who owns it when it breaks, and how a team changes to actually use it.
AI go-to-market, adoption, and strategy
Alcir Candido Goncalves
I take AI to market, and I make sure it actually gets used.
At Meta, I take emerging AI products from concept to paying customers, across enterprise and small business. Before that, fifteen years bringing new technology to market in tech and telecom across the Americas. I use these tools myself every day, so I meet customers as someone who actually uses this, not someone reading from a deck.
English, Portuguese, and Spanish. New York and Sao Paulo.
Point of view
How I see AI inside companies.
You learn AI by using it, not by selling it.
I run my own work on these tools every day, so I can tell a team where the real value is and where the hype starts. I have usually hit the walls they are about to hit.
AI is becoming part of how companies are built, not a feature they add.
It is moving from what a tool does in a demo to what a business rebuilds around it. That is a leadership call, and most companies are still deciding who owns it.
The work
At Meta, I take emerging AI products from concept to paying customers, across enterprise and small business. The seat gives me an honest view of how companies actually adopt this.
I use what I sell.
I am not the engineer who ships the product. I am the heavy user who lives in these tools and automates my own work with them, so I sit across from a customer as someone who actually uses this, not someone reading from a deck.
No playbook yet.
Emerging AI does not come with a manual. I work it from the first conversation to real adoption, turning what a product can do into what a business will actually change in order to use it.
Both sides of the table.
I have carried large enterprise relationships on the sell side, and I run my own paid acquisition on the buy side: the ads, the analytics, the unit economics. I read what the customer reads, because I am one.
Helped open a new category.
I was part of the team that brought WhatsApp Business to the US, a category that did not exist here when we started. It taught me how a genuinely new product earns its way into real companies.
Before Meta, TIM in Brazil. Nine years at Meta since, the first two in Sao Paulo before I relocated to New York. Fifteen-plus years in total across tech, telecom, and e-commerce in Latin America and North America, a move I earned on results.
Speaking, teaching, and judging
I speak, teach, and judge when the work is worth sharing, usually about how AI actually gets adopted, not how it demos.
Watch the talk NY Tech Week 2026
Beyond Automation: How AI Is Unlocking a New Era of Human Potential
Listen to the conversation Podcast, July 2026
The End of the All-Knowing Leader
In the room drag to explore
AI That Converts, Business AI session 
BTE Hackathon judge, Stern and Microsoft Garage 
Beyond Automation panel, NY Tech Week 2026 
Leadership at the Edge of AI podcast, with Shivangi Walke 
Teaching as invited professor, Faculdade Impacta 
Meta Business AI, Early Adopters Forum 
Business AI Insider Forum, Meta 
AI workshop, New York 
NYU Stern, Leadership Storytelling Summit 
AI-enhanced browsing, Business AI session 
NY Tech Week 2026, Washington Square 
NotebookLM workshop, NYU Stern 
Meta Business AI, Early Adopters Forum 
The Business AI team, Meta 
With the winning team, BTE Hackathon 
Ray-Ban Meta Display, hands-on 
NYU Stern Executive MBA, global residency 
Business AI Forum, Meta
- Invited professor at Faculdade Impacta, Brazil Taught the Social Media, Influencers & Creators course, 2026
- BTE Hackathon, NYU Stern and Microsoft Garage Invited judge, 2026
- Leadership at the Edge of AI, podcast Guest, with Shivangi Walke, 2026
- NY Tech Week 2026, Beyond Automation Panel with NYU Stern, C3 AI, and Cisco
- NY Tech Week 2026, in conversation AI: the next decade of work, capital, and culture
- NYU Stern Leadership Storytelling Summit NotebookLM workshop, 2025
- Meta Business AI sessions Recurring, on how AI actually gets adopted
Beyond the day job
Teaching Invited professor at Faculdade Impacta
Teaching the AI-Powered Digital Marketing & Growth MBA class, Brazil
In September and October I taught Social Media, Influencers & Creators to the MBA students as an invited professor. We had three live classes on how AI is changing content, creators and measurement, using Brazilian brand cases, and the groups built their final projects with AI.
Author
Pagina Internacional
Perceptions of a World in Motion
It started as a blog I co-wrote at university, while I was studying International Relations. In 2010 a public vote named it the best politics blog in Brazil. The book gathers the best of those posts, a record of how the world looked and felt through the 2010s.
Mentoring
I mentor operators and founders working AI into their companies, the people doing the unglamorous work of real adoption.
NYU Stern Executive MBA
Second year, on the AI track. A Business Strategy postgraduate from FIA before that.
Quick facts
Who is Alcir Candido Goncalves?
A Business AI Specialist at Meta in New York, where he takes emerging AI products for businesses from concept to paying customers, across enterprise and small business. He has fifteen-plus years bringing new technology to market in tech and telecom across Latin America and North America, and was part of the team that brought WhatsApp Business to the U.S.
What is his point of view on AI adoption?
He thinks the model is the least important part. Companies get value when someone owns the tool after the demo and the team actually changes its routine. His opinions come from running his own work on these tools, every single day.
Where has he spoken and taught?
Two NY Tech Week 2026 sessions (a panel and a conversation), NYU Stern and Meta business forums, and the Leadership at the Edge of AI podcast. He was an invited judge at the BTE Hackathon, run by NYU Stern and Microsoft Garage. He also teaches: in 2026 he was an invited professor at Faculdade Impacta in Brazil, teaching Social Media, Influencers & Creators to its AI-Powered Digital Marketing & Growth MBA class.
What is his background?
Before Meta he spent eight years at TIM Brasil, where he ran the national sales intelligence team. He studied International Relations at UNESP, did a postgraduate program in business strategy at FIA, and is now in the NYU Stern Executive MBA (AI track, Class of 2027). He co-wrote the book Pagina Internacional. He works in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
What is he open to?
Senior roles in AI go-to-market and adoption, advisory or board seats, and talks. The quickest way to reach him is email (me@alcir.ai) or LinkedIn, and there is a booking link on this page.
Contact
Thinking about how your company adopts AI, or building a team or a product around it? Let's talk.
I am open to the right conversations: senior and leadership roles, advisory and board work, and speaking. Not a pitch, a conversation.