CEO, Rappi
About The Leader
About The Leader
Simon Borrero is one of Colombia’s most influential startup leaders, widely known for his regional impact through entrepreneurship, creativity and discipline.
Simón Borrero (1983) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Colombia’s first startup unicorn, Rappi, which is present in over 200 cities in 9 countries in Latin America, reaching more than 7 million users.
High impact serial entrepreneur and former top tier management consultant, Borrero is an Endeavor entrepreneur and part of Bloomberg 50.
His Purpose
Borrero's entrepreneurial drive has taken him to found various companies in the technology sector, focused on creating solutions that can makes people's lives easier while generating societal impact.
Simón Borrero has been a serial technology entrepreneur for more than ten years. He is mainly known for founding Rappi, an application that provides solutions in the delivery of products on demand. In 2015, five months after starting operations in Bogotá, the app received more than 200,000 orders. This opened the door to business accelerators and reknowned international investors.
”I think that luck is for those who take risks, expose themselves, look for opportunities and somehow are there for luck to touch them. Luck will not look for you under the covers.”
Case for Change
Case for Change
”I want to be a leader who with hard work continues to create opportunities and growth for the country.”
Growth Gap
Growth Gap
“Rappi’s responsibility is to lift millions of people out of poverty, through innovation and the creation of markets."
Investment Portfolio
Investment Portfolio
“We firmly believe in the digitization of everyday life, from food to supermarkets to financial services. We also strongly believe in the Rappi business model, bundling multiple offerings within the same product and truly becoming part of our customers' lives. ”
His Leadership Qualities
His Leadership Qualities
Borrero’s focus on working to solve the real needs of the market lead him to create the delivery app Rappi to become Colombia’s first startup unicorn.
Bold
Bold
Dissatisfied by the bureaucratic drag of his multinational clients, he decided to use his team’s software skills to create a pilot to deliver products in less than 60 minutes in his city. In 5 months, the app had +200.000 orders.
Key Actions
Key Actions
After his 3 first companies failed, Borrero learned to code during the nights and later founded a software and web development studio, earning contracts with multinational supermarkets that helped him grow and hire people, and later bringing others along who shared the same vision as he did to continue to create solutions.
Leadership Behaviors
Leadership Behaviors
Seeing problems as opportunities
Following his passion and embracing failure
Lesson Learned
Lesson Learned
Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and failure. Borrero is a go-getter and problem-solver. When his companies failed, he went one step further to gain the skills required for the job, becoming so good at it that was able to create a great team and win the trust of big corporations. By seeing failures as opportunities, he was able to create greater things than the initial ideas he had set for himself and the company.
Innovation
Innovation
Borrero has made a strong bet on solutions that link community and social with e-commerce, so Rappi can become the go-to platform when people think about live shopping.
Key Actions
Key Actions
After consolidating Rappi in the delivery market, Borrero led the app to offering services such as manicures, domestic service, and massages. He then launched Rappi Entertainment and Rappi Travel. Based on customer feedback and needs, Borrero gives people space to stretch their creativity by installing a culture that believes in making things happen.
Leadership Behaviors
Leadership Behaviors
Encourages a culture of possibility, looking at issues with different perspectives
Listening to consumer needs to create solutions to new problems
Lesson Learned
Lesson Learned
Leaders try their best to understand their customers' needs and problems and have a strong desire to provide them valuable solutions.
Listening to users and providing solutions for their needs can be integrated into the company culture, so real value can be created and pursued.
Borrero’s initial value proposition has changed over time, adjusting to the market demands.
Persuasion
Persuasion
Borrero led Rappi into business accelerator Y Combinator and received the interest of 160 investors. Later, he led Rappi through 3 investment rounds with Andreesen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Delivery Hero, receiving investments of $9 M, $53 M and $130 M, respectively.
Key Actions
Key Actions
Borrero co-founded Rappi with 2 friends that complemented his skills and vision. Then he consolidated a team with top-management skills and experience from diverse parts of Latin America. He gained traction from his first pilot and then presented his business model to Y Combinator and was able to make the business more robust after his investment rounds.
Leadership Behaviors
Leadership Behaviors
Bringing others along, uncover what they do best and strengthening their assets
Seeing the bigger picture
Lesson Learned
Lesson Learned
Leaders understand that bringing together diverse abilities will accelerate achieving their goals, breaking any barriers that can come up to get to them.
By believing in himself and his team, Borrero directed them to achieve their full potential.
Borrero learned to work with others and build the capacities required to make calculated decisions and take chances with investors.
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