startupi

In June 1998, colleagues Romero Rodrigues, Rodrigo Borges, Ronaldo Takahashi and Mario Letelier had a dream: to create a brand that would be part of people’s lives. Night after night, the four students slept in the office, working hard on what they called Buscapé. But it was not working. It failed. Several times. Still, they continued undoing nightmares and redoing the dream.

They were awarded national and international investment (a rare thing, at that time, and still difficult), bought up competitors, became a corporation (BuscaPé.com Inc.) and took the lead in several countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela). Last week, after ten years in business, they sold 91% of Buscapé to multinational media company Naspers Limited for US$ 342 million.

How did this happen? Want to know how you can do it too? And what is the future of their dream? I interviewed Romero a day after the sale - the day before his 32nd birthday - to learn more. Also watch for our upcoming  chat with Brazil’s leading young “internerd” to be CEO of a meteoric startup.

In search of the perfect recipe: what to focus on, where to invest

“Technology sectors are always very interesting. The internet has such a low cost of distribution, volume and scale - those are ingredients for sure! I think it’s fantastic the way Twitter has become popular - though I am more of a Facebook guy than a Twitter guy. Whether in biotechnology or IT, there are lots of things to get involved in.”

Temperature and pressure: focus on the stuffing, the sauce is added last

“The dream was not to make money, but to creates something big, a brand that would be part of people’s lives. We grew in scale, we innovated, but there wasn’t access to funding then. The first news of investment in the Brazilian Internet was around September or October 1999. We developed a business plan from the first moment, and that really gave us a foot in the door and helped prevent insanity.”

Method of preparation: management tips for mouth watering flavor that will leave you wanting more

“It’s much more passion and lust than any other thing that will make a person wake up early or stay up all night - money alone doesn’t help you maintain that rhythm. I could give a whole series of management tips, but at the end of the day what makes up the DNA of an entrepreneur is a combination of grip and tenacity. You can’t accept ‘no’ as an answer. That’s essential. You have to have the stomach to fight - if you do not have that, you won’t make it.”

Correcting the seasoning: not all are good flavors

“There are all kinds of moments and all kinds of days. The hours we worked in the beginning were really insane; there’s nothing that compares. We put beds in the office. Today we still push hard, but quality compensates for quantity. I doubt there’s anyone on the team working less than 12 hours  a day.

It’s difficult to admit big mistakes. There were several, but we didn’t stare into the rearview mirror - lest we crash the car. Perhaps we had something different thatn some partners. There were three or four times that we were certain the company was done for, but we are still here!”

Putting the icing on the cake: the good stuff has parts that can be improved

“This business was not anticipated, I have to admit. We never imagined the things that we encountered as we went along. We weighed various factors in accepting this deal: we will continue to be partners in a dream that we sweated to build. We will manage it remotely (”hands off”) so we can continue to be involved and have the freedom to propose and execute ideas.

We are not turning into a branch of a large corporation. Everything will continue as it has. The technology will continue to be Brazilian. We will continue centralizing our operations in Vila Olímpia, São Paulo. We will maintain our Research and Development units in Rio de Janeiro, Marília, and Curitiba.

The deal is a good one for Grupo Buscapé because it just catalyzes our dream to higher levels. Grupo Naspers is not just an investor, they have a long history and want to continue working with us for a long time. They are well known in the INternet, with sites that are leaders in Russia, China, India and Eastern Europe. I want to learn from them and we will carry on developing Buscapé even more.”

Dessert

• See a timeline of Buscapé.
• Compare the story of Buscapé with the history of e-commerce in Brazil.
• More Buscapé on Startupi.