Ariel Burschtin, PedidosYa | Would You Do in One Day What You'd Normally Do in Three?

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

For this episode I invited Ariel Burschtin, cofounder and former CEO of PedidosYa, one of the largest delivery apps in Latin America, which delivers +20M orders a month in 15 countries and bills close to a billion dollars a year.

Ariel founded PedidosYa in 2007 at 20, with no prior work experience and while he was in college. In 2014, PedidosYa was acquired by the European company Delivery Hero, which went public in 2017 and invested more than 300 million dollars in it.

We talked through his story from his beginnings in a university course in Uruguay through to its consolidation as a regional reference in the industry. Ariel shared anecdotes about the company’s early days, including the creative process behind the idea, the formation of the founding team, and how they faced the challenges inherent in scaling the business in a competitive environment. We also talked about the importance of perseverance, constant innovation, and the ability to adapt to the market’s changing dynamics. Toward the end of the episode, we discussed the impact of competition in the region and how Pedidos Ya managed to hold its leadership and relevance amid aggressive funding rounds and its competitors’ growth strategies.

Youtube Timestamps*

[01:50] Inspiration and Entrepreneurship in Latin America

[03:20] The Birth of a Revolutionary Idea

[06:01] From College to Building a Unicorn

Given that the idea for PedidosYa originated as part of a university course on entrepreneurial attitude at his university, ORT in Uruguay, does Ariel think it was an isolated case, or was there something in the environment, such as the culture or the university’s students, that was crucial for Pedidos Ya to exist?
How did Ariel choose his cofounders? Had he seen something special in them that motivated him to start a company with them?

[08:59] The Challenge of Starting a Company and Taking Risks

What were the biggest difficulties Ariel faced starting a company young? Was there anything in particular that was harder for him to learn or master?
Ariel got his first job as a developer during college and left it after a few weeks to start PedidosYa. What did he think about risk at that moment? What was his reasoning for deciding it was the best time to start a company?

[12:06] Scale and Competition: The Battle for the Market

In 2019, with Softbank’s USD 1,000 million investment in Rappi and the arrival of Uber Eats and Didi Food, a very aggressive competition broke out to win markets in the food delivery sector. From his perspective in the ecosystem, what was the most extreme situation Ariel lived through during that period? Was there a moment when Ariel thought he could not believe they had reached that situation?
With Uber, Didi, and Rappi raising capital at an impressive speed from the start, and considering that Pedidos Ya raised 7 million dollars in the first 4 years and then Delivery Hero injected 80 million in the following 4 years, what was Ariel’s first reaction when he saw this irrational competition? Did he think about competing head to head, or did he consider how to compete without that much capital? What alternatives were considered in the conversations they had on Pedidos Ya’s board of directors at that moment?
Ariel mentioned that PedidosYa also entered the game of competing with money, trying to be rational inside an irrational period. Looking back, does Ariel think it was possible to defend their position without resorting to that level of cash burn? How does he think now about the defensibility of a business?

[20:34] Lessons in Leadership and Talent Management

What are the most notable differences between Ariel’s leadership and management style in the early days of PedidosYa, when he was learning and figuring everything out on the fly, and his current style?
What was one of the most interesting things Ariel learned about how to recruit effectively and make sure talent performed at its best? When does he think you should be actively looking to replace someone on the team, or yourself, and bring in new talent?

[41:17] The Price War and Defense Strategies

What changes did they make as PedidosYa grew, in the way they operated or developed products, that had a big impact on the team’s execution speed, beyond the founders themselves?
How did Ariel manage the change when the company started to scale and had more resources and money, when it came to keeping the urgency to innovate?

[52:29] Final Reflections and Advice for Founders

What were Ariel’s reflections when he started to see more players joining the ecosystem, such as Rappi and Ifood, and how has his way of thinking about doing business changed, and about how a business survives?
Finally, with everything he knows today, what would Ariel say to the Ariel who was starting PedidosYa 17 years ago?

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