Arriésgate a crear cosas nuevas | Daniel Bilbao CEO de Truora | Fundadores Ep. 110

Episode Overview

• Daniel Bilbao shares his journey from a stable career in investment banking to the volatile, high-impact world of Silicon Valley startups.
• The conversation explores the critical lessons learned from the hypergrowth and subsequent collapse of the startup Beepi, highlighting career resilience and the power of professional networks.
• Daniel recounts the chaotic, serendipitous story of co-founding his first company, Paladin Insider, which involved meeting his co-founder and pitching the VC firm Accel the very next day with a brand-new idea.
• The discussion emphasizes the role of blind faith, a powerful drive to create, and how early, embarrassing failures can be foundational experiences for future success.

Key Concepts

• Career Security vs. Job Security: In the startup ecosystem, individual jobs are inherently unstable, but building a strong network and reputation can lead to greater long-term career security.
• Learning from Failure: Experiencing a high-profile company collapse, like Beepi's, demonstrates personal resilience ("not being made of glass") and can be a powerful learning opportunity rather than a career-ending event.
• The Diaspora Effect: When a startup fails, its talented employees disperse throughout the industry, creating a powerful and well-connected alumni network that becomes a valuable asset for its members.
• Serendipitous Entrepreneurship: The founding of a company can be an unplanned, chaotic process driven by a chance meeting and an intense, immediate desire to build something new, even without a polished plan.
• The Naivete of Early Fundraising: First-time founders often face a steep learning curve in fundraising, making naive mistakes and facing rejection, which serves as a critical part of the entrepreneurial journey.
• Team Cohesion in Crisis: Moments of extreme, existential crisis for a company can paradoxically strengthen a team's resolve and unity, as people rally together to overcome a clear and immediate threat.

Quotes

• At 0:00 - "Cuando uno decide tener una carrera en startups... uno no puede tener trabajo seguro, pero uno sí puede tener una carrera segura." - Daniel Bilbao shares his core philosophy on building a career in the startup world, emphasizing long-term career security over individual job stability.
• At 7:22 - "Pero como que uno no está hecho de cristal." - Daniel Bilbao reflects on his biggest learning from Beepi's failure: that experiencing a company's collapse is survivable and not the career-ending event he feared.
• At 8:19 - "Mi nunca me va a olvidar, entramos a esa reunión... y cuando salí, me acuerdo que tenía más de 100 mensajes de texto en el celular." - Daniel Bilbao describes his surprise at receiving over 100 messages of support and job offers immediately after Beepi’s collapse.
• At 8:43 - "El grupo de gente que hizo parte de Beepi... se volvieron una diáspora en Silicon Valley... y yo ya conocía gente en todas partes." - Daniel Bilbao explains the silver lining of Beepi's failure: the creation of a powerful network of alumni.
• At 12:47 - "Yo no voy a hacer otra vez este rinse and repeat. Yo necesito es hacer un startup." - Daniel Bilbao recounts the pivotal moment he decided to abandon a safe job offer and commit to founding his own company.
• At 15:23 - "En el momento de crisis, cuando la cosa está grave, grave, grave, la gente no se va. Porque le ven un fin a la situación." - Daniel Bilbao shares his insight that teams become more committed and unified during existential crises.
• At 25:34 - "'Tengo una reunión mañana con Accel y no tengo cofundador.'" - Daniel recounts what his future co-founder, Han, told him, setting the stage for their impromptu partnership just 14 hours before a major VC pitch.
• At 26:06 - "Nosotros presentamos y dijimos 'queremos levantar 2 millones de dólares'... y del otro lado nos decían, '¿y por qué no levantas 4 mejor?'" - Daniel describes their first, naive pitch meeting where they had no real plan but blindly agreed to double their fundraising target.
• At 27:35 - "[Rich Wong] me dio un espaldarazo y me dijo, 'That's a good effort, Daniel. Keep working on it and then come back.'" - Daniel shares the polite but clear rejection they received from Accel partner Rich Wong after their initial, disastrous pitch.
• At 27:58 - "Muerto del susto que el man se iba a acordar de mí. Nunca se acordó." - Daniel describes his fear when meeting the same investor again 18 months later, only to find their first disastrous meeting had been completely forgotten.

Takeaways

• Prioritize building a strong industry network and a reputation for competence, as this provides more durable career security than any single job can offer.
• Embrace failure as a survivable and valuable learning experience that builds resilience and can unexpectedly unlock new opportunities and connections.
• Actively maintain relationships with former colleagues; a "diaspora" network from a past company can become one of your most powerful professional assets.
• Be prepared to act on sudden opportunities, even if you feel unprepared, as a strong personal drive can be more critical than a perfect, pre-existing plan.
• Do not let early rejections or embarrassing mistakes in fundraising deter you; view them as necessary steps in the learning process on the path to eventual success.
• In a leadership position, understand that a clear, existential crisis can be a powerful unifying force for a team, fostering intense focus and commitment.