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Saludos! Happy Friday and welcome to Comprende, edition 068.

What happens when three young builders from Mexico decide they're just as capable as anyone in Silicon Valley? They prove it by building a company that spans from Hermosillo to New York City.

Today we're diving into how Arturo Herrera, Rodolfo Olguín, and José Luis Vega went from university friends to scaling Necodex, a 150-person nearshoring empire that's changing how the world sees Latino tech talent.

So, depending on where you are in the world, grab your cafecito or cervecita and dive in. If you enjoy today’s edition, please forward it to your gente or share it online. Let’s keep growing this comunidad together. ☕️

comprende 068: The $2,000 Mistake: How a Simple Error Built Necodex, One of Mexico’s Fastest-Growing Tech Companies

Sometimes the most extraordinary journeys begin with the most mundane mistakes. For Arturo Herrera and Rodolfo Olguín, that mistake was forgetting to specify a currency on a project quote; a small oversight that would accidentally launch them toward building one of Mexico's most dynamic nearshoring companies.

Imagine this: two university friends in Hermosillo, Sonora, scrambling to quote a mobile app project to make some extra cash. They hastily wrote "2,000" pesos, but forgot the currency symbol. The client, assuming it was dollars, wired $2,000 instead of the equivalent 2,000 pesos (~$100) they'd expected. "Entonces el primer pensamiento fue como que no que aquí hay como que algo interesante" [So, the first thought was like, no, there's something interesting here], Arturo recalls with a laugh.

That "something interesting" would evolve from a college side hustle into Necodex, a 150-person company spanning from Hermosillo to New York City, with offices in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Mexico City. But getting there required navigating the kind of “business near-death experiences” that either kill startups or forge them into something unbreakable.

The two friends initially tried launching their own products, a local version of Uber called "Sonora Taxi" and a food delivery app called "Capricho." Despite gaining traction, the ventures faltered. "La verdad, por la misma experiencia, no saber cómo manejar bien una startup desde cero, pues la verdad es que las dos... no nos funcionó" [The truth is, due to the same inexperience, not knowing how to properly manage a startup from scratch, well the truth is that both... didn't work for us], Arturo admits.

What followed was a pivot that would define their company's DNA: becoming a custom software development shop that actually listened. While competitors focused on selling more positions, more billable hours, Necodex obsessed over understanding their clients' real problems and delivering results with lean teams.

This philosophy would later save them from extinction and propel them to extraordinary growth. It was around this time that José Luis Vega joined the duo as their first employee, bringing the technical discipline and operational mindset that would prove crucial as they scaled.

The darkest moment came in December 2020. Pandemic uncertainty had almost every client canceling projects simultaneously. "Nos ponemos los tres y empezamos a platicar, bueno, pues qué vamos a hacer?" [The three of us sat down and started talking, well, what are we going to do?], Rodolfo remembers, now referring to the trio that José Luis had completed. They were weeks away from running out of cash.

In that crucial moment, the now-trio divided responsibilities with surgical precision: one would handle existing projects flawlessly, another would secure new business at any cost, and the third would manage operations and buy them time. José Luis, who had evolved from their first hire to an essential partner, would become their secret weapon for scaling operations.

The breakthrough came in mid-2021 when a Silicon Valley unicorn needed to establish operations in Mexico. Necodex landed the contract and scaled from four people to over 50 in less than a year. But it wasn't just about rapid hiring, it was about building something sustainable.

José Luis brought the operational discipline they desperately needed. "Llega José Luis y dice, basta. Vamos a poner procesos para todo" [José Luis arrives and says, enough. We're going to put processes for everything], transforming them from scrappy startup to scalable enterprise. His evolution from developer to CTO, bridging technical excellence with operational rigor, exemplifies the adaptability that has defined Necodex's culture.

"Si tuviera que resumir simplemente eso, creérnoslo. Creérnoslo, que podemos hacer cosas como diría el chicharito cuando estaba en la selección, hay que creernos cosas fregonas" [If I had to summarize it simply, it's believe it. Believe it, that we can do things like Chicharito used to say when he was on the national team, we have to believe we can do awesome things], Arturo reflects on their mindset shift.

Today, their client story tells everything about their approach: when a company came to them with a 30-person overseas team that had been stuck on a project for two years, Necodex asked the hard questions. "Oye, pero es que esto no es un equipo de 30 personas, tendría que ser algo mucho un equipo de 8 o 10 personas" [Hey, but this isn't a 30-person team project, it should be more like an 8 or 10-person team], they told the client. Seven months later, they delivered what the previous team couldn't accomplish in two years.

Today, Necodex has evolved far beyond its custom dev roots into a comprehensive nearshore partner that solves the talent shortage plaguing American tech companies. They offer everything from staff augmentation, extending client teams with on-demand engineering talent, to full business process outsourcing across multiple industries.

Whether a startup needs full-stack developers proficient in React and Node.js, or an aerospace company requires machine learning specialists, Necodex delivers within 21 days. Their 360-degree approach handles not just recruitment, but payroll, benefits, compliance, and even on-site support for companies expanding their nearshore operations.

What sets them apart isn't just their technical expertise across 100+ technologies, from Java and Python to cutting-edge AI systems, but their commitment to cultural alignment and problem-solving. Their client roster now spans companies across Arizona, Oregon, Utah, California, New York, and Toronto, a geographic reach that reflects their philosophy of questioning assumptions and delivering real solutions.

Their September launch event in New York represents more than geographic expansion, it's proof that Latino entrepreneurs can build world-class companies that compete on innovation, not just cost arbitrage.

"Somos tan capaces como cualquier otra persona" [We are as capable as anyone else], Rodolfo insists, and Necodex's trajectory proves it. From that accidental $2,000 windfall to a company poised to scale from 150 to 1,000 employees, they've built something that transcends nearshoring. They've created a bridge between worlds, powered by the belief that great ideas and execution know no borders.

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