Currently, sir, how much is your company valued at?
At five billion.
We had 20 days of cash left. We had 800 people hired. In 20 days, there was no way to pay payroll, and the company was going to close. There are times when you want to be under the bed crying, and instead go to the office and show the same energy. You have to work for a huge purpose.
He failed five times before creating Rappi, and today that company is worth more than five billion dollars. He is Simón Borrero, and today we are going to ask him how he went from going bankrupt to creating Colombia's first unicorn and a multi-billion dollar company in the last 10 years. In the business world, when a company reaches a valuation of more than one billion dollars without being publicly traded, it is known as a unicorn. And Rappi is not just a unicorn; it is one of the few Latin American companies to have ever become one in all of history, and the first in all of Colombia.
Today, studying success, we will interview its founder, Simón Borrero, who started this company totally from scratch and today has more than 20 million active users. In this interview, he told us about the moment when Rappi was just 20 days away from disappearing because they had no money to pay their employees, having more than 800 employees a few years ago. He told us about all the times he was rejected to get to where he is today, and he also gave us the best advice that can be given to any young person who wants to succeed in the business world. So if you ever felt like you're moving too slowly or that you've failed so many times that you're about to give up, you need to watch this interview because it will totally change the way you think about failure.
Currently, sir, how much is your company valued at?
The last time you raised capital, how much was it at?
Five billion dollars. Now, give us a masterclass for a young entrepreneur starting from scratch. How do you go from starting with a dream to having a company worth billions of dollars?
Believing in it, working very hard, surrounding yourself really well with a team of crazy people who share your values, and taking advantage of major changes in technology, like what is happening right now.
Sir, you went through difficult times before Rappi became the success it is today.
Obviously, we always go through difficult times.
What are the most difficult ones you remember having to overcome?
We had 20 days of cash left. We had 800 people hired. In 20 days, there was no way to pay payroll, and the company was going to close if we didn't raise a round. Those days were not so fun.
What would you say is the key to staying mentally strong and keeping going during those moments that aren't so fun?
You have to use all the tools. One is feeling that you have a big responsibility. What really got me through all those moments was the responsibility toward my team, the people who believed in us. We couldn't let them down. There was no other option. It is also important to feel that there is no option; it makes you work hard. And well, also the growth mindset that everything that happens happens for a reason, and you have to see the good in it, and that will make you better.
Learn to let every blow fill you with energy and strength to continue, but it's not something you just read and that's it. It's a matter of working your mind every day, working your mind every day, and every day, as they say, showing up, right? There are times when you want to be under the bed crying, and instead you go to the office and show the same energy, and that's it.
Sir, one question I want to ask you: what keeps you motivated today to keep working so hard?
First, you have to work for a huge purpose. Our purpose is not delivering hamburgers; our purpose is helping Latin America grow. We believe that if Latin America grows, we are going to lift millions of people out of poverty. And we also have this mission to show the world that Latin Americans can build world-class tech companies and remove those limits and mental barriers. That gives us a lot of energy. And well, there are also people who work to make money, while others work to leave a legacy. And finally, the person I want to be. One should always want to become a better person, and the person my daughters deserve as a dad is a much better person than I am today. So all that work to become a better person each day also helps.
What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to any young person who wants to build a giant company like the global one you are building, to be able to endure all the difficult moments they will have to go through?
I think several things. The first important advice is to believe in yourself and understand that believing in yourself is truly responsible for whether this is going to be big or not. Believing in yourself is not just looking in the mirror and saying, "I'm going to be capable"; it is truly day-to-day serious work, thinking about things deeply, and surrounding yourself with the right people and the right energy. And obviously, days come when everything falls apart, but your previous days of building provide you with evidence: "It fell apart, I will rebuild it, right? And if it falls apart again, I will rebuild it." So it's about gradually generating that credibility, let's call it within yourself, that yes, I can, while knowing that the entire world is going to tell you no. Personally, the entire world has told me no.
And how do you handle it? Obviously, don't be stupid, and listen to intelligent people, because all those people are smart, but that is very different from starting to believe their doubts. You cannot believe anything they say about what an entrepreneur is proposing to the world, because it doesn't even exist at that moment. So it's obvious they are going to tell you it can't be done because they haven't seen it yet. Your job as an entrepreneur is to make that vision become reality. That's also why you need to surround yourself with people who share a bit of that craziness.
And what is the key to getting both investors and people who want to join your team to believe in that vision when it's something that doesn't exist yet and seems impossible to most people?
When we convinced the first investors and the first people to leave their jobs—many of them, in fact, all the people who joined Rappi joined with a 30% lower salary because they came to bet on stock options and equity, to become partners in something. Those people obviously wouldn't have come if they hadn't seen that those of us there believed in this like a religion, right? That is important, but it's also important to mix that with traction. In our time, it wasn't so easy to raise money with a PowerPoint. We raised money with tens of thousands of orders. So it's also fire in the eyes, but showing that you can translate that fire in your eyes into numbers and results. What nobody can ignore is that traction.
Sir, currently, how many people does Rappi have working at the company?
We are about 4,000, and about 300,000 Rappitenderos.
