We met Alexandra Mendoza at the Gofest in Bogotá. There, she told us her most vulnerable story with complete honesty. She was one of three women who shared their lessons in a special edition of Mujeres Sin Filtro. Because of her profile, experience, and resilience, we asked her to share her story again here. And she agreed.

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Today, from Liquitech, she shares a roller coaster of emotions that began with a newly discovered life mission and ended in the perfect storm.

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Alexandra Mendoza shares her story of failure

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👤 Who.

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Alexandra Mendoza is the founder and CEO of Liquitech, a former top-tier executive with over 20 years of experience in the factoring and financial services industry. Her passion for innovation led her to build her own company, a fintech that optimizes factoring operations through a technological core and improves liquidity for businesses. She has developed social impact projects and currently serves as the chairwoman of the board of Colombia Fintech.

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FuN: What's your personal definition of failure?

Alexandra: Failure can only be defined as learning. We never have a guarantee that things will turn out perfectly the first time. There is always a fall that helps us on the next try, giving us awareness of what NOT to do. It's about having the foresight to know it can happen and recognizing the value we can find in it to become stronger.  

FuN: What was your life like before taking on this new challenge?

Alexandra: After 15 years as a top executive in Barranquilla (stable job, good salary, annual bonuses)… I got bored. I wanted to create and stop doing more of the same every day.

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I had worked in factoring (advance payment of invoices) my whole life, but everything was manual: signing paper after paper, sending messengers back and forth… so I thought of something. Why not create a service that simplifies those operations?That's how Liquitech was born.

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Along with my co-founder, we grew the business quickly. In our first year, we issued $ 2 million in factoring disbursements; in the second year, $8 million; and in the third year, $30 million. Everything was going great.

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And even though the pandemic hit and we thought it was the end, it actually put us on the radar. Several international investors saw Colombia as a massive market for electronic invoicing.

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And eventually came THE big offer: issuing a 100–million–dollar bond with a U.S. Asset Manager.

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Two more partners joined, and we started working on the business model. We planned everything: budgets, market prospects, products, and even international expansion. 

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What could possibly go wrong if we were just doing more of the same, just at a bigger scale?

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💣 The True F*up

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Alexandra: We made huge investments in infrastructure and teams, and everything was ready to sign the documents. In theory, the first disbursement would come in three months, but it took almost more than a year for the first operation to go through, something that was not accounted for at all in the business plan.

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Conditions simply didn't turn out as expected, and the disbursements were not profitable.

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All that cash flow downtime directly impacted the company's finances. The commercial prospecting we had done didn't work as expected: when we presented the offer to our clients, they complained about the price and the slowness. 

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We had unhappy clients, a cash flow in the red, and no money to continue expanding the company or sustain the pace. We knocked on the doors of investors and funding sources, but they told us our runway was too short and we needed more. In the end, it became a vicious cycle.

FuN: What was the exact moment when everything exploded?

Alexandra: That's when the crisis began: arguments among partners, the "I told you so," "you shouldn't have done that," and "we were too naïve." This tension spread to employees and even clients, who were calling to complain about the lack of resources. And in the end, whose responsibility was it? The CEO's. 

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And as if that weren't enough, the most personal blow arrived. After 23 years together, my marriage ended.

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That was my true Fuckup moment. Everything broke at the same time. Even my co-founder's marriage ended as well.

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There were weeks of nonstop crying behind the scenes. In front of the team, we had to be strong and show that we could pull through.

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FuN: How was the situation resolved?

Alexandra: My co-founder was a key piece. We worked very closely to move forward. Since we were living through the same crisis at the same time, we became essential support for each other.

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After rebalancing the company's ownership structure, my co-founder and I remained. We negotiated with the other co-founders and partners and had to significantly downsize the company. Thanks to that entire process, we developed a unique structure in Colombia: a company capable of aligning insured invoices for international investors.

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In 2025, after a year and a half of arduous work, we were able to close new alliances with investment funds to continue growing the factoring market in Colombia. We found a new shareholder who came in to give us the support we needed: capital, experience, and the complementary work we were missing to develop all our projects. 

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💡 In Conclusion.... 

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1. In business, there are no shortcuts. Unicorns belong in fantasy books; real companies are built with hard work. They're not born running: they grow and evolve.
2. Trust your instincts. Often, we stop believing in ourselves and listen more to external investors than to our own intuition. That's when we get lost.
3. Lead with soul. Even in difficult times, joy sustains the team. Authentic leadership connects; it's not about commanding, but about accompanying.
4. Resilience. If we don't have it, we're better off staying home, reading, or keeping a stable job. Entrepreneurship requires accepting that things will go wrong, that it won't be perfect, and that we will make mistakes.
5. Action. We can plan and think, but if we don't do, we don't learn. Failure is not the opposite of success; it's the price we pay to reach it.

Connect with Alexandra! linkedin.com/in/alexandramendozadc

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Remember, our channels are open for questions, complaints, feedback or collaborations at: rich@fuckupnights.com.

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