Startup Spotlight #152: wherEX
wherEX is an e-sourcing SaaS for LatAm.
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I got the chance to speak with Francisco Puente, co-founder and COO of wherEX, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.
wherEX is an e-sourcing SaaS for LatAm. wherEX makes B2B commerce transparent and increases competition by bringing multiple qualified offers for every product or service tendered in its marketplace. The software is quick to implement and brings instant savings to companies. Suppliers both small and large have the opportunity to compete under equal terms and grow their customer base through wherEX. As of May 2021, the company is trading around $720M through the platform between 125 enterprise clients and more than 20,000 suppliers. Bootstrapped, the company started in Chile and now has operations in Peru, Colombia and Mexico.
Puente was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. He studied civil engineering in Tec de Monterrey and worked in real estate private equity before going to MIT Sloan to pursue his MBA. While in Cambridge, he was drawn to entrepreneurship and during his first year, he started working in what turned into a coliving company for LatAm. He went through Y Combinator and closed the company in 2020. He is happily married to an amazing woman who is way out of his league and have two incredible sons. Puente is an avid road cyclist.
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Startup Spotlight: wherEX
Problem: Companies have a hard time tracking their purchases. Companies leave money on the table because they use only 25% of suppliers available in the market.
Market: There are 120,000 companies that sell more than US$20mm per year between LatAm and the USA. Our average revenue per account is US$50,000 per year making that TAM of US$6bn. (94% of these companies are non-adopters of e-sourcing / procurement software).
Solution: wherEX provides software so companies can source from thousands of suppliers and get complete transparency of their purchases.
Team: The team consists of Juan Carlos Hurtado, Felipe Manterola, Benjamin Garcia and myself.
Recent Success:
Puente: Launching! It took a lot of work and iterations over several start-ups but we have learned how to launch a product into a new market. Building a thesis, selecting the correct team, talking to customers, going back to the drawing board, changing the pitch, and talking to the customer again. We learn by doing. It became important to be nimble and experiment with new ideas until we crafted a better pitch and way to work with our customers. Evidence of our success comes 6 months after launching wherEX in Mexico and getting to 200% of our budget in terms of clients.
Recent Struggle:
Puente: Staying focused on our beachhead market in Mexico. wherEX thrives on local network effects. By concentrating buyers and suppliers in the same geographic region and industry wherEX can get more and more relevant quotes for the purchasing needs of our clients. The low hanging fruits to convert into our first clients come through our personal network and not all are concentrated in the region and industry. We want to grow faster but need to be patient to tap into those potential clients at the right time.
Founder Advice:
Puente: Learn how to hire the best talent for the specific needs your company has. There is a lot of work that needs to be done before and after interviews. Interviews should not be an art where you ask random questions, it should be systematic and process oriented. There are countless resources that can help. The book Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street changed my perspective on the topic. Invest time into learning how to perfect the hiring process, it may prove to be your best investment.
Four Cool Founders You Should Know About:
Puente: Here are four founders you should check out next!
Juan Daniel Velez, Founder of Terapify: Terapify is an online psychology platform for the Spanish-speaking world.
Alan Karpvsky, Founder of Mendel: Mendel creates workflows to empower employees to spend while finance stay in control.
Emilio Antum, Founder of Kodda: Kodda makes insurance as easy and quick as ordering food delivery.
Lissy Giacoman, Founder of Vinco: Vinco helps companies in LatAM retain employees through education.
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