Founder-led analysis for businesses moving beyond rented AI
Sobrn is led by Rui Abreu, based in Portugal. We help European teams reduce AI spend, manage data risk, and decide when it makes sense to move from closed APIs toward open-weight, private cloud, or self-run LLM infrastructure. The recommendation is based on workflow fit, data sensitivity, cost, model quality, and operational reality, not vendor incentives.
Rui Abreu
Rui Abreu — Founder, Sobrn
Lead Data Scientist with 10+ years across software engineering, machine learning, and data systems. Background spans full-stack web development, building and running data pipelines on Azure and similar cloud infrastructure, and shipping production NLP — classification, retrieval, document understanding — using both closed APIs and open-weight models. MSc in Informatics from ISEC (Coimbra); Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate.
Sobrn exists because boards now ask plainly where model calls go, what they cost at scale, what changes when a supplier changes terms, and whether the company should run more of the AI stack itself. The audit bundles workflow mapping, data-sensitivity classification, architecture comparison, infrastructure readiness, and a costed go / no-go recommendation into one written decision document — so CTOs, COOs, and compliance sponsors can agree on facts.
The practice stays small by design: one or two workflows per engagement, no platform upsell, and honest limits stated up front.
Five things we hold to
- 1
Clear scope before kick-off. We confirm the workflows, inputs, timeline, and next step before the audit begins. No scope creep without fresh confirmation.
- 2
Vendor-neutral. Closed API, open-weight, private cloud, hybrid, and self-run infrastructure each get a fair hearing on the merits of your workflow.
- 3
“Stop using AI” is a valid answer. We write it down clearly when the workflow does not justify a model.
- 4
Vendor-neutral by design. No GPU, hosting, managed cloud, or model-provider incentive shapes the recommendation. Implementation, if you want it later, is scoped separately.
- 5
Your data does not stay with us. We do not retain workflow data beyond the engagement; specifics in the Privacy Policy.
Team and geography
Sobrn operates as a compact team centred in Europe. No subprocessors outside the EEA for site and intake processing. Engagements are limited to organisations that fit the EU/EEA participant rule because delivery, legal context, and infrastructure relationships are aligned to that footprint. Larger scopes need separate confirmation before work begins.
Why teams trust the recommendation
- Vendor-neutral by design. The audit supports four conclusions — keep on API, move private, simplify, stop. No incentive to push one architecture over another.
- Founder-led review. You speak with the practitioner who writes the report.
- EU-based processing. Hosting and subprocessors for the properties we publish stay inside the geography described in our Privacy Policy.
- Mutual NDA before detail. On request before kick-off; earlier signing if you need it before sharing sensitive architecture.
- Privacy-first analytics. GoatCounter, EU-hosted, no advertising cookies — aggregate traffic only.
Quickest way to see if the audit fits: a first-pass report.
Describe the workflow and get immediate fit, risk, and architecture direction before any call.