Journey to Success (vol IX)

Please introduce yourself and explain how you came to co-found Yuno.

My name is Juan, and I am one of Yuno’s co-founders and CEOs. Before Yuno, I co-founded Rappi, one of Latin America’s fastest-growing delivery companies. We deliver everything from food to groceries to electronics to cash. You can get cash delivered in many of the nine countries where we operate. Before Yuno and Rappi, I was actually an airline consultant. I’m also a trained commercial pilot. 

However, in 2015, when I met my co-founder, I had the chance to live my dream of being an entrepreneur. That’s when I learnt about Rappi and saw it as an opportunity to move back to Latin America from New York. I quit my job, packed all my bags and moved to Mexico to start Rappi. It was the beginning of a crazy journey into starting multiple companies, and I think what keeps me motivated is seeing all the impact these companies are making for our employees, partners, and society. And also how the technology we create moves the region forward and helps the economy overall. 

How do you keep up with the LatAm landscape and the evolutions in the fintech space?

When we started our operations in Mexico, our biggest issue was payments. We had low approval rates, chargebacks, and too many issues with payments overall. That’s how I got started in fintech. Initially, we were trying to make it easier for our users to pay. But this led me to a point where we realised that even if we make everything easier in payments through Rappi, there are still infrastructural issues beyond our control. For example, issues with banks, payment processing networks and limited capabilities. That is how we were led to founding RappiPay, which started as a B2B solution and evolved into a full-service bank with credit card issuing in several parts of the Latin American region. 

Through this work, I see how things evolve and the speed at which they develop. For example, particularly after the pandemic, we saw a huge push in the increase of online shoppers despite the figures of bank account penetration and card penetration. So, we see growth in the demand for different payment methods and a growing number of consumers. Looking at the payments space, we can identify other trends such as wallets, online payments penetration, crypto and neobanks. 

What drove your passion to co-found a company? And how does your week generally look?

My passion for my last company came from recognising an incredible opportunity to help businesses process payments. Conversations with CEOs and CFOs of large corporations consistently highlighted payments as a major pain point they wanted to improve. Realising the widespread nature of this problem, I had a clear vision of what needed to be done.

I discovered that many companies faced significant payment issues, even beyond what I initially expected. This insight led me to start and fund the company, driven by the clear opportunity and a defined path to solving these problems. While we saw various ideas and potential solutions, no one was addressing the problem effectively. In regions like the US and Europe, these issues were being tackled, but not locally.

Seeing this gap, I realised the potential to build a technology company that could solve payment issues globally, starting from Latin America. This vision fuelled the founding of the company. The day-to-day work is dynamic, with every day presenting new challenges. I would say 95% of my role involves problem-solving, while the remaining 5% focuses on strategy.

As the CEO, my primary responsibility is to guide the company’s vision and ensure each team is executing towards that vision. As we grow, enter new markets, and onboard new merchants, numerous obstacles arise. One of my main tasks is to assist the team in overcoming these issues, drawing on my experience to help them execute effectively. I spend a significant amount of time helping different teams navigate and overcome obstacles to continue growing the company and achieving our vision.

As a successful entrepreneur, how do you deal with failure? What motivates you to get back up and carry on?

You have to embrace failure. Failure is essential for innovation and achieving great things. To change how things work, you need to overachieve and entertain ideas so boldly that most will fail.

In our case, we process payments for some of the largest corporations in Latin America. This puts us in a challenging position because we aim to innovate, move quickly, and change processes, but we must do so without compromising our customers’ payments. We must find a balance—identifying areas where we can afford to fail and make mistakes without affecting the customer and other areas where we must be flawless.

Creating methods that allow our team to move fast and break things without disrupting customer integration is key. We encourage teams to think radically, understanding that most ideas will fail. However, this must be done in a controlled environment where failure doesn’t impact customers. Our public API and production stages must always run flawlessly.

We test new ideas in safe environments where failure is acceptable. Some of these ideas will eventually succeed and be implemented, improving customer experience and performance. By strategically embracing failure, we can innovate while maintaining the reliability that our customers depend on.

Do you have a moment in your career that shaped you as a professional and a person? What made it so powerful? 

The moments that truly define us are often our failures or mistakes. Many people think that success shapes you, but in reality, it’s how you handle your setbacks. When I reflect on the experiences that have transformed me as a leader, an entrepreneur, and a person, it’s the moments when I’ve made mistakes or faced unexpected challenges. The worst days of my career are the ones that have genuinely changed and improved me, making me better overall.

Learning from those mistakes and difficult days is crucial. These experiences teach valuable lessons that can make you a better person and a more effective entrepreneur. If you can learn from your mistakes and improve your methods and mindset, you’ll grow significantly.

As an entrepreneur, maintaining a positive outlook is essential. You need to see the potential in situations others view negatively. For instance, instead of thinking there are too many problems in the payment ecosystem and moving to a company in the US, we saw these issues as opportunities. This optimistic approach is fundamental to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs must always look at what’s wrong and find ways to make it better or create products that improve people’s lives.

It’s important to see the good in every situation, even in adversity. Every negative experience has a positive aspect, and it’s important to embrace that and grow from it. This mindset helps you innovate and find opportunities where others see only problems.

What keeps you motivated? How would you advise others to uplift themselves when they need a boost?

What keeps me motivated is seeing the tangible impact on my team and our customers. Often, we underestimate the significance of what we’re building and how it benefits others. When I feel down or demotivated, reflecting on how we’re helping companies grow their revenue and seeing our engineers advance in their careers and learn new skills reinvigorates me. These moments highlight their professional and personal growth, which is incredibly motivating.

Many people assume entrepreneurs are solely driven by the desire to become rich and sell their companies. While that’s a part of it, the most rewarding aspect is witnessing the overall impact of our work. For example, we track metrics like the percentage of the population using our services or the percentage of credit card transactions we process. Watching these numbers grow from basis points to 1%, 2%, 5%, and eventually reaching double digits is immensely satisfying. These milestones demonstrate that what we’re building has a significant impact, not just locally but on a national and regional scale, influencing the entire economy.

How do you define success?

That’s a great question, and it keeps evolving. Many people think of success as a final destination, a place you reach and stay. However, I’ve learned throughout my life that success is more about reaching new levels and understanding what the next level of success looks like.

When I think back to when I was 13 or 14, success for me was becoming a pilot. I started flying at 14, became a pilot at 16, and got my license at 17. At that time, achieving those milestones felt like success to me. In my early 20s, my definition of success shifted to starting a company and making it successful. Each phase of my life brought a new understanding of success.

Now, my goal is to create a company that has a significant impact both regionally and globally. I aim to develop technology or products that can change and improve the lives of millions. And I know that once I achieve that, I’ll set new goals and redefine success again.

Success is not static; it continuously evolves and differs for everyone. It’s essential to recognise this and not chase after someone else’s definition of success. Success might mean starting a non-profit, while for others, it might mean accumulating wealth or acquiring a particular car. Understanding your unique definition of success and acknowledging that it will change over time is crucial. Each time you reach a new level of success, there will always be another level to strive for.