Thanks for such an amazing Journey!

Dear Team, Family, Friends, Colleagues, Partners! THANK YOU!

Thanks for having been part of an incredible journey that started almost 8 years ago! In Melbourne, having left behind the comfort zone of a Corporate Job, of your own Country, of your family and friends, of your future wife... jumping into the unknown, full of uncertainty, not knowing what was waiting for us... but overall, super excited and enthusiastic about a whole new world of opportunities!! Optimistic, with self-confidence, even if back then we had almost no professional experience, willing to take over the world! That was our attitude back then and continues to be nowadays! Life is about your attitude towards things, towards new projects, towards problem-solving. We wanted to start our own business, live a life of joy and challenges, and we were willing to work hard and give a lot to pursue our goal!!

If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal

And so we did:

We started by trying to bring Paddle tennis to Australia; we tried importing Paellas and Spanish olive oil; we bought and sold motorbikes; we were constantly iterating, trying, developing an MVP and checking if it got any traction. But most importantly, we were trying!

And in the meantime, we would work part-time jobs on the weekends to pay for our expenses; we wouldn’t put the heater at home in freezing Melbourne cold winter to avoid high electricity bills, and our only nights out would be on Wednesday nights for a 5$ pizza at Bimbos (without beer)!!

WOW, when I recall those days, that whole year and a half working seven days a week, not having any income from GrowPro, with the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen next month or if we would have enough traction and cash to grow our business... every dollar counted, every day was new learning, and it continues to be. We ‘didn’t know much about the business world’, but we learnt fast, acted quickly, and weren’t afraid to fail! We got every opportunity to talk about our vision and our projects to the people we met, we had to build our network and understand how a new Country worked. Those days built the foundations of what GrowPro is today, a solid, reliable Company, with very clear and ethical values, taking care of their clients in destination, valuing every dollar that our clients trusted us with! Taking risky but controlled decisions, learning throughout the whole process!

The beginnings are tough, and the endings sad, so enjoy the journey

One of my key learnings from GrowPro and from the business journey that I have experienced so far is that everything comes down to common sense. Being pragmatic, trying to see the forest and not only the tree, stepping out in tough situations to think with perspective and find a possible solution. Because there is not just one solution to the day-to-day problems, there are many, and most of them are not taught at Uni, you just have to stick to one with conviction, move forward, and if it doesn’t work out, try another thing. BUT GET THINGS HAPPENING!

Decision paralysis is another big thing I’ve seen over the years. So many people imagine getting things done and never end up doing them because of overthinking them so much. I may have had a lot of mistakes during my personal and professional life, but I consider them great learnings and I don’t regret at all doing them!

In life you regret those things you don’t do rather than those things you do - check the regret minimization framework by Jeff Bezos

It’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission

Everything starts by doing. When I look back at what we have created, a Company that started with 500$ from both Founders, and that has grown to become a Global Company, with over 100 team members, reaching a turnover of over 12M$, present in more than 10 countries in almost every continent... and without any outside investment! If I had thought about all this when we started, I’m sure I would have never decided to do so, it would have looked very hard to accomplish and very scary. And even the big crisis that GrowPro has gone through, we solved them by working on the problem one step at a time, rather than thinking about how much effort it would take to solve it.

Just do it

There is very little to lose, and the benefits are huge! That’s what defines me, I tend to make decisions fast and with conviction, seeing always the positive outcomes and not worrying much about the bad ones, being extremely optimistic. When I want something to happen, I will work hard and be very persistent for it to happen, will do my best to engage the whole Team into my vision, and will lead them in that Journey. I learn fast and I adapt quickly to the constantly changing markets. And most important, I need to be surrounded by people I care about and I learn from them on a daily basis.

The time has come for me to move on to my next business project. I leave GrowPro in good hands, and I will continue to be an Advisor as long as the Company needs me. We have proved to the world how reliable we are and that we will continue to be there for whoever needs us. The detonator has been the distance apart from my business Partners and from the Executive Team, which makes it very difficult to keep on the day to day operations and has made me realise with gratitude how the Company can continue to operate without me. This is already a great success, and I am very proud of it!

I leave the Company without regret, very thankful for everyone who has been involved in it, who has contributed to making GrowPro what it is today. And very confident that the Company will continue to deliver a great customer experience which is its main strength, and grow to the next level! It would take me at least a few more pages to personally thank everyone who has been involved with me during this journey, but you all know who you are and what you mean for me, and how much gratitude I owe to you. I will only personally thank two very special people:

• Firstly my business Partner and Co-Founder, Goiko, for initially dragging me into this amazing Journey, forcing me to jump into the unknown and getting out of my comfort zone. Trusting me to lead this project until today!
• And secondly, and most importantly, to my wife Sofía, who has been, and continues to be, my best support, my best advisor, and my Life Companion. For all of what you have gone through and how well you have done it!

THANK YOU ALL and SEE YOU AROUND!