Pablo is an entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in the Technology and Software environment. Startup Investor and Advisor in Latam and the United States. Focused on digital ventures, transformation innovation and early-stage financing incubators to foster startups as well as Software Development.
This path gave him a lot of experience building remote teams and helping startups reach their potentials. His goal: boost fast-growing startups with pre-vetted developers, and offering the easiest platform to Hire, Pay and Manage Remote IT talent.
Since 2015 Celerative has been helping companies like 24Hs fitness, Matterport, Ethernity, Atoms and +40 global companies to grow their businesses, and talent in 39 countries to find projects they love.
Pablo also collaborates with entrepreneurs and companies through ASEA, “UNLP FCE Seminar Entrepreneurship” and Polo IT La Plata .
Where did the idea for Celerative come from?
We started with my cofounder Juan in 2015, from Argentina to the world, as a traditional software shop. In 2017 and 2018 the team moved to working fully remote and revisited our business model. We realized there was a $500 billion industry hole in software engineering they were perfectly poised to fill.
Business Process Outsourcing or BPO has been an industry practice for a while, but official hiring processes abroad often require a physical office for easy payment and tax compliance. Often the price tag is so large that only enterprises and governments can afford it
After some months of developing the first version of the platform, we came with the beta in Jan 2019. Since then we have been developing new features, allowing our customers to Hire globally, managing contractors, and paying in more than 150 countries.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I usually wake up at 6 AM, read and meditate while I´m having breakfast,
2 times per week I run at 7 (from 4 up to 7 miles). 3 times per week gym. I love running (ultramarathon) and mountain biking.
I usually start at 8.30 having some daily calls with the team, checking 3 times per week my emails.
I have some breaks between blocks of deep work. I try to spend time with my daughters in those breaks.
We have teams in the US, Latinamerica and Europe so I have calls all day long.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I read 1 or 2 books per month, I take notes on my Notion, and I track everything in my personal Task Manager System.
I believe that meditation with God, family and Sports help me a lot to be focused on what I need to do.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Startups and entrepreneurship in general.
Specifically, in our tech industry, defi and crypto are 2 topics that I really like.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Definitely doing sports
What advice would you give your younger self?
Listen more. Talk less for sure.
Say more ¨NO¨s.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
We should turn our social media OFF forever.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Wake up early to think with no distractions. Focus on the deep work.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
To be focused in fewer things and saying NO to a lot of proposals.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Feeling that I had an unique idea or a Coca-Cola in a desert, when I knew that there were a lot of competitors doing the same or better.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
A google drive for musicians to share and have jams together no matter where they are.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
A new pair of shoes to run (since I switch them each 6 months).
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
I have a lot of software products that help me a lot. Just a couple:
– Airtable to organize everything as data base
– Notion, for personal stuff but also topics regarding our company.
– Slack to communicate
– Drive … for everything!
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Culture Map from Erin Meyer, to decode how people think.
What is your favorite quote?
I have 2
– I knew the truth, and the truth set me free.
– “You can praise the Lord by peeling a spud, if you peel it to perfection.”
Eric Lidell
Key Learnings:
- Saying NO is better than saying Yes.
- Deep work is a killer ability.
- Sports take your stress away
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.