A few months ago I joined Mercado Libre (NASDAQ:MELI) as VP of Technology. It has been an amazing experience. I have been impressed at every corner by the technical depth and engineering and product quality of all the different solutions the company builds and ships.
Since MELI does’t operate in the US or Europe, it might not be a company you are familiar with, so let me start with some interesting data points:
MELI was founded in 1999, right before the bubble popped. Fast forward 21 years and today MELI is the largest company in LATAM, pulling ahead of telcos and oil companies: a crystal clear example of software eating the world and the untapped transformative potential of e-commerce in the region.
As Ben Thomson noted a few months ago, the pandemic has accelerated existing trends: I estimate e-commerce penetration in LATAM accelerated between two and five years during 2020.
After almost 10 years of head-down-building in the ridesharing industry, (first as founder of Yaxi and then as CTO at Cabify after an acquisition), I decided to explore new opportunities. I was looking for a new challenge, in a new industry, somewhere where I could use all my experiences and apply them to a new problem space while continuing to learn and grow at a rapid pace. My last years at Cabify taught me valuable lessons and I am incredibly lucky to have worked with such a talented team.
It might sound surprising, but this was the first time I ever looked or interviewed for a job. All my previous “career moves” happened by either starting companies or getting acquired. This year, after being selected for Forbes 30 under 30, I started receiving a lot of interesting opportunities, and for the first time, I decided to respond and explore.
100 (remote) interviews later: I decided to join MELI and continue building, learning and growing.
The last decades have taken me from a one person band to leading thousands of engineers. From building with Legos, to soldering circuits, studying CS (accidentally), marrying the perfect partner and accomplice, creating one of the most sold apps on the App Store, getting a phone call from Steve Jobs (more on that later), funding and selling amazing companies, becoming a parent and now being part of one of the most impressive tech teams on the planet: I can only look back and be incredibly humbled and thankful for how lucky I have been.
What will the next 10 years look like?
I am excited to find out :D