Welcome back to Fuckup Nights!

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Last month, we hosted a special Mujeres Sin Filtro (Women Without Filters) edition event with the Bogota Chamber of Commerce at Gofest.

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Over the course of five days, more than 25,000 attendees came together to hear three women entrepreneurs share their stories of failure and resilience.

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The story you're about to read was told there for the first time. But we wanted Rosario B. Casas to share it with you again, because it has everything: a weekend deadline, sleepless nights, code errors, and tears.

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Keep reading to find out more…

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— Eric, General Manager at Fuckup Nights Global.

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Who

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Rosario B. Casas is an entrepreneur with over 9 years of hands-on experience in AI and technology platforms, and more than 25 years in executive roles. Co-founder of XR Americas, BCPartners Tech, Dreamers & Doers, and the Brooklyn2Bogota Digital Transformation Community, she is an expert and developer in spatial computing.

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She was recognized with the Legendary Women award in 2019 by Ford and named one of the 100 innovators in 2020 by OBO Movement. Her passion is empowering women and Hispanics to be prepared to solve problems through technology.

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Defining failure

FuN: What is your personal definition of failure?

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Rosario: Failure is not falling; it's inaction . Failing is when you freeze in a situation where you know you could make a significant impact. It's limiting yourself to the minimum, even though your experience and voice have the power to transform a context.

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FuN: What was everything like before the failure?

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Rosario: In 2013, I began my journey in the tech world, and in 2015, I decided to focus on my training to become a technical founder. Everything was going very well, as I was part of teams pioneering immersive realities in the New York ecosystem. 

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Until the pandemic forced us to rethink many things, many businesses began to close, mainly due to a lack of digital skills and competencies. That's when my life and business partner, Felipe, and I discovered our true mission: to help reduce the digital gap and provide the basic tools to operate. We decided to enter that world by becoming a team for non-technical founders.

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That's how we met Lauren, a businesswoman and (non-technical) founder who had identified a real problem that could be solved with technology. Her company developed software to help nonprofit organizations take notes easily.

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A good cause, with volunteer users, often older people who sometimes lack resources or access to new computers.

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Lauren had already had three freelance programming teams that failed to align. She didn't speak the language of technology, and they didn't speak the language of business. The platform still had many issues, and users experienced frequent bugs. Despite this, users loved the platform and continued using it because it solved a real problem for them.

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So we started working with her.

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I would join calls with her and the users. Sometimes, they didn't realize that the "rectangles" they saw were buttons. Even when asked for a screenshot, they would send a photo of the computer taken with their phone. Without a doubt, that digital gap was a challenge we had to address.

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The real F*up 💩

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Rosario: When we started the technical part, we ran into several issues, so we began designing a new version. When you do something like that, it's necessary to take the platform offline, put up a "maintenance" message, and start working with the developers.

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But Lauren didn't want her users to see the platform down during working hours. The problem was that users were spread across time zones from the U.S. to Australia. So we picked a Friday to start. That day, we ordered burgers for the team, and everyone was ready to work remotely.

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When we thought we were ready to go back online, the platform wouldn't come back up. We tried to find the problem. The database? The front end? The back end? Where?

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My team worked tirelessly, searching for solutions while operating under extreme stress. We knew that every organization using the platform needed it to function effectively. Things became increasingly tense as Sunday approached. 

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Lauren kept messaging me on Slack; I was the buffer containing her stress for my team. And then came the hardest moment: a video call with Lauren. It was Sunday morning, I was very anxious, and she was even worse. She told me:

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"I feel like I don't have certainty about what you're telling me. I'm not sure if I understand. This has overwhelmed me. I've had three developer teams before, and you are the fourth. I don't think I'm capable of making this dream succeed."

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Lauren turned off her camera. And all I could hear was her sobbing. I was frozen.

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FuN: How was the situation resolved?

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Rosario: At that moment, I realized my role wasn't just to be the technical leader, but a human bridge. It was time to put aside technical terms and connect with the real fear of someone who had tried everything. I told her, "Lauren, you don't have to pay us if you don't want to, but we're not going to abandon you or your users."

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I asked her to stop messaging me so we could focus. She agreed, not in the best mood, but I committed to providing her with hourly updates. That way, the worst moment became an opportunity to see the light again.

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Hours later, we had to ask her for authorization to go live with a version that still had some bugs. Between us, we had to self-hack the platform to regain control. But we had something very good: a version that was close to what we envisioned.

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And the best part? I felt absolutely proud of my team for managing such a crisis and getting the platform back online. It took another two months to fully stabilize the platform. Rebuilding Lauren's trust took a little longer, but it recovered as users began experiencing fewer issues, or at least, different ones. 

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Three years later, the company remains our client and will soon share some very special stories.

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The adventure with Lauren taught me that true mastery isn't in the code, it's in the ability to build bridges of trust and communication, closing the digital gap. One conversation at a time.

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In conclusion…

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1. A crisis will always come. Whether we foresee it or not, it will happen. But when we understand the magnitude of the problem we're facing and know what we don't know, we're already halfway to success. Being prepared is vital, and having team members who have already faced crises and developed the necessary resilience is incredibly valuable.

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2. A top team and honest communication make all the difference. Don't take anything personally; create smooth communication systems where everyone knows their contribution matters.

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3. Frontier technology is fascinating, but those of us who build technology have a superpower. By understanding what's possible, we can help those just starting to use technology to make an impact in their communities. Always dedicate time to help close a gap that's bigger than we imagine.

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Connect with Rosario!

On Linkedin

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