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Who?

Federico Gómez has dedicated his entire career to operating and scaling companies in  financial services and Fintech areas. He mentors entrepreneurs and advises investment funds. His most recent position was VP and General Manager of PayPal LATAM.

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Defining failure

FuN: What's your personal definition of failure?

Federico: Failure happens when we can't achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

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FuN: How Was Everything Before the Failure?

Federico: After finishing university, I was fortunate to start working at American Express in México, where I began my corporate career . There, I worked on exciting global projects. As part of these projects, I built relationships with teams at the New York headquarters, eventually leading to the opportunity to move there for work.

That was one of the most exciting moments of my career. At the same time, I became interested in what was happening in Silicon Valley, where startups were beginning to grow and challenge major companies like AMEX. I was offered a role in Italy, managing AMEX's credit card business, which I accepted with the idea of returning after a few years.

When I came back, I had the option to look for corporate jobs, but I also started considering other opportunities.

For years, I had heard about the disruption startups created and how much they could grow. That made me realize that corporate life wasn't the only option.

‍Then I received a job offer from a startup in México. It was the perfect chance to do something completely new and leave behind a successful global corporate career.

I had a feeling that something exciting was happening in the startup world. At the same time, I wanted to do something that would create a positive impact while also achieving a good financial outcome for myself.

‍I was a bit tired of corporate life, which sometimes sounds more glamorous than itreally is, so I took the job.

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The Actual F*up 💩

Federico: There were many interesting aspects of this startup. Working on the fundraising process was an incredibly enriching experience, something I wouldn't have been able to do in the corporate world. I also had the opportunity to design products from scratch for the first time in my career.

I realized there are huge differences in agility and flexibility between a startup and a corporate environment, differences that are nearly impossible to replicate in the corporate world. Although people talk about it a lot, corporate life doesn't truly allow you take risks, whereas startups do.

‍All of this while making a real impact on people's lives in Mexico by helping them access financial products for the first time at a low cost.

Unfortunately, I understood that my vision and way of working weren't compatible with everyone in the startup. Over time, I realized that my mindset and approach were far from the company's culture, which essentially reflected the founder.

‍There were a couple of critical areas for improvement, starting with the team dynamics. I've always believed leadership should be earned, not imposed, that wasn't the case.

‍I  also felt we were losing focus, trying to do too many things at once without discipline.I failed to consider how dependent I would be on the founder for everything. I never took the time to reflect on what could go wrong or to research the founder's history and what had happened to people who had worked there before.

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FuN: How did you realize the mistake?

Federico: I often tried to ignore the red flags, thinking this was just normal for a startup and that I was simply used to a corporate environment.

But the moment I finally realized I had made the wrong decision was during a disastrous planning meeting with the entire executive team.

This meeting was crucial. It was meant to discuss and align our three-year plan, which we should have already been nearly finalized. However, a major argument broke out between two executives. I quickly realized that there was no alignment  within the leadership team and that things were headed in the wrong direction.

‍One of the executives resigned during the meeting.

After that meeting, I felt a crushing sense of failure and frustration. I couldn't believe I had left a highly successful global career for this job.

The feeling was even worse because I had moved my entire family from New York to Mexico for this opportunity, and now my decision was impacting the people I loved the most. At the very least, I was fortunate to be back in my home country, surrounded by the support of many people.

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FuN: How did you get out of that situation?

Federico: At first, since the issue was specifically about my lack of compatibility with the founder, I tried to separate my way of working from that dynamic.  My daily interactions with clients and most of the team were positive and engaging, which gave me enough energy to handle the more complex situations.

But right after that disastrous meeting, I started looking for another job. I didn't want to sit around doing nothing, so I didn't quit immediately—after all, I still enjoyed aspects of my work.

After some time, I was offered another job. It wasn't necessarily my dream job, but it was interesting and one where I knew I could learn and grow.

The most significant change came nine months later when PayPal was looking for a General Manager to launch a new market, and they hired me. This change happened partly because of my startup experience and global corporate career.

FuN: What would you have done differently?

Federico:  I would have taken more time to analyze the opportunity and understand the values and working styles of the people I was going to work with. I would have spent more time gathering references to  see if I fit the company well.

That said, many things I learned in that startup experience helped me immensely in my career development. In fact, I'm unsure if I would be where I am today if I had just stayed in the corporate world.

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In Conclusion…

• Do your research beforehand to understand the company's values, founders, and leadership you're considering joining.
• Stepping out of your comfort zone doesn't always go as expected, but experiencing something firsthand teaches lessons you wouldn't learn otherwise.
• It's never too late to get back on track.  Your skills and experience will always be essential in your next move.
• Exploring new opportunities is always worthwhile. Even in bad experiences, valuable lessons will help you in your next step.
• Sometimes, the most significant lessons from challenging situations aren't immediately apparent; they require reflection.

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Connect with Federico!