Last week, I was invited to participate in a panel for DilaDay. Dila Capital has been an investor in our company since 2015 and has had a front row seat to our move from Reserbus to Reservamos.
The panel focused on companies who had suffered significant changes in their strategies in recent years. It was fun to share the stage with Sean (Camino Financial), Rodolfo (Tandem) and Eduardo (Dila). We all have a lot to talk about when it comes to changes in our companies, I will stick to our story.

In an earlier post I said that going through the pivoting process sucks. But the process also makes you much stronger as an entrepreneur and a company.
I liked this picture that I recovered from the time we were in the process of pivoting, and it really hits home. We deal with changes on a continuous basis and we have to adjust. It is an emotional rollercoaster...

For us, it was quite clear when we saw 70% of our sales evaporate in a six-month period that we had three choices (oh, fuck):
1. Close the company and give money back to investors at a loss
2. Try and sell the company
3. Take the team, capital and technology available and focus on a new idea
It is not an easy choice, take it from Fred Wilson.
We chose the third option. Even though we targeted the same customer segment (bus travelers) and the same opportunity to digitalize the middle class traveler, we did revamp our brand, team, and most importantly our business model in a way that could take us back to growth.
Four things helped us during the transition to Reservamos:
- Focus: All the company had few but ambitious objectives to meet during the pivot
- Team: A resilient group that worked their asses off to have the new direction ready
- Time: Allows for changes in strategy and persistent effort to kick into the business
- Luck: We luckily had the cash and support from investors at the time to continue forward
It was a great event to share learnings during these past years at Reservamos. I am a true believer that entrepreneurship is a long-term race in which you get better at it with more runs. It was evident from the panel that we have become more robust business operators from having experienced and survived changes in each of our companies.
Comments