Before officially starting Dardo, Daniel Orive was collaborating with a startup called Hit/Shift, where he played a key role in establishing the vision and visuals for a pitch project known as Project Rebel. During this time, he focused on laying some visual foundations and doing some look dev R&D shader work by reusing some marketplace shaders to find a unique look. This approach allowed the team to assemble a pitch quickly without depleting the limited resources typical of a startup.