Andrés Vásquez, Nequi | Starting and Scaling a Corporate Startup to 12M Users [Ep. 74]

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

In recent years, we have seen how startups have led the fintech sector in Latin America, while the vast majority of traditional banks have been largely unable to innovate, despite having many more resources. However, there are exceptions that show corporates can innovate too. Today we spoke with Andrés Vásquez, Business Director of Nequi, a startup that was born inside Bancolombia, the largest bank in Colombia.

In 5 years, Nequi has become the largest virtual wallet in Colombia, with more than 12 million users, and it is used by more than 1 million small businesses.

If you like the podcast, the easiest way to help us is by leaving a review with ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 1 minute and helps us convince the hardest guests to land, such as David Vélez, CEO and founder of Nubank, whom we would love to interview.

Youtube Timestamps*

[1:12] - The Origin of Nequi and Its Team

How did Andrés arrive in the fascinating world of startups?
How did the idea for Nequi come about?
What process did Andrés follow to launch Nequi, and what capabilities did Bancolombia’s senior management see in him to lead the project?
How was the team in charge of developing Nequi chosen?
How was the team incentivized to achieve good long-term results instead of focusing on short-term results?

[16:56] - Nequi’s MVP and Launch

What were the product’s initial hypotheses, and what experiments were done to validate them?
What was the iteration process for its Minimum Viable Product like?
At what point did the Nequi team feel ready to launch the platform?
What was its Go to Market strategy, and what marketing channels did they use?

[29:27] - Scaling Stage

How did Nequi go from 1 million users in 2019 to more than 12 million in 2022?
What did the growth team do especially well so that the platform grew at an accelerated pace?
How do they decide at Nequi between prioritizing existing features on the platform or developing a new feature to attract new users?
At what point was it decided to start monetizing Nequi?
Nequi split from Bancolombia recently. Taking that into account, what was the logic of that decision and why is it key to its future?
How do they attract talent at Nequi, and how do they compete with startups in that regard?
What were the most serious mistakes and the lessons from Nequi’s success that Andrés believes other intrapreneurs or corporates should keep in mind?

[52:02] - Tweet Round

Books recommended by Andrés
Changes Andrés would like to see in Latin America’s startup ecosystem
Founder Andrés recommends interviewing

Episode Mentions

You can find Andrés on LinkedIn

Recommended books: No Nacimos pa’ Semilla by Alonso Salazar, and Platform Revolution by Geoffrey Parker