Luiz Cent 🪙

Hire the top 1% of talent in LatAm in less than 21 days

I'm Luiz Cent, and it's great to meet you. 

If you landed here, I invite you to pause. LinkedIn is full of people trying to sell you something, and I am one of them, but only if you are buying. 

For over a decade I've been hiring talent internationally, as a hiring manager, as a business owner and as a consultant. Building top performing teams, fully remote has been a passion of mine for years and now it's our business. 

If you are looking to hire top talent, consider LatamCent, a nearshore staffing agency I founded helping USA-based companies discover the top 1% of talent in Latin America. We've helped VC backed, PE backed, and bootstrapped b2b companies find top talent in less than 21 days at 50-70% less than prices in the USA.

Taking the learnings from thousands of hires, our talent partners understand your business and goals. We've helped over 17 b2b tech companies hire Go to Market (Sales, CS, Marketing) and Engineering Talent in LatAm.

Previously, I led sales at Quolum, as a player-coach in the SDR/AE function. In less than 3 months we tripled our conversations and pipeline with half the resources. Through those conversations we re-positioned ourselves in the market, testing pricing strategies, and eventually pivoted from selling fintech to the CFO to selling cybersecurity to CISO. 

The 6 months at Quolum was a mini MBA, from board reports to Nexus/Sequoia, to selling ideas internally, it was as fast-paced as it could be taking early morning calls with India and late night calls with Australia. At Quolum I learned I never want to be a VP of sales again lol. 

Before joining Quolum, I led and grew the customer success and sales team at Mailshake, a product-led sales org that achieved over 100% YoY growth and 5+ million ARR. 

I also have a background in e-commerce growth, conversion rate optimization, SEO, and behavioral email marketing, having worked with 30+ eTailers and leading CRO programs for Optimizely's enterprise clients.

But my passion is entrepreneurship, having built eCommerce agencies, eCommerce stores, and hundreds of websites, keep shipping until one of them hits Product Market Fit. 

If you're in Miami Beach, come co work.

VP of Sales

Quolum is on a mission to save companies BILLIONS of dollars in unused SaaS applications.

Quolum is a full-stack SaaS Procurement product. We have created something out of thin air that sits at the intersection of Finance + IT + Procurement. 

To achieve responsible SaaS buying, we:

* Track feature-level utilization of SaaS apps
* Tame long tail spend via our own SaaS Card and accounting systems integrations
* Reduce FinOps drudgery by aggregating contracts and invoices
* Apply AI, Fintech, and IT workflow to reduce organizational friction.

Luiz Cent 🦉

A few years ago, I told my friend Arthur Frisch that I was starting a recruiting and staffing agency.

He said:

“That’s great. Hiring f**king sucks.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

The hiring that sucks:

• 317 inbound applicants and maybe 2 are actually qualified
• 97 interviews 
• Counteroffers
• Contracts
• Legal
• HR
• Onboarding

It’s crazy that sometimes it’s easier to hire in a different country than in a different U.S. state.

But here’s the part people forget.

The hiring that does not suck:

• Finding your WHO
• Building your GTM team
• Hiring someone who can do the job better than you
• Betting on high potential and watching them grow
• Hitting goals because you built the right team

That part is powerful.

If you want practical tips on hiring successfully in LatAm, whether it’s your first hire or your 50th, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned from hundreds of placements.

Hiring doesn’t have to suck.

You just need the right approach.

#Hiring #LatamCent

🦉 Luiz Cent

I help VC backed SaaS orgs build nearshore teams in Latin America

Founders don’t fail in LATAM because of the country.

They fail because of sequencing.

Here’s what usually happens:

They hear Colombia is hot. 🥵 🇨🇴
Or Argentina has great engineers. 👩🏻‍💻🇦🇷
Or Mexico is strong for sales. 🇲🇽 

So they pick a country first.

Then they try to reverse engineer a hiring strategy around that decision.

That’s backwards.

The right order is:

• What roles are mission critical in the next 12 months?
• How many hires do we actually need?
• Do we want a leadership spine in one country?
• Are we building a remote culture or a hub model?
• Who will manage this team locally?

Only after that should you ask:

Where does this make the most sense?

Country is an output.

Not the starting point.

If you’re thinking about scaling in LATAM and want help mapping this out before you commit to a geography, send me a message.

#LatamCent #Hiring

🇧🇷 Why global companies are looking at Brazil for their next tech hire, by the numbers:

📈 Economy
• 9th largest GDP in the world (~$2.1T USD)
• One of Latin America's most diversified and resilient economies
• Tech sector growing at double-digit rates year over year

💻 Software Developers
• Brazil has the largest developer community in Latin America, over 500,000 active software developers
• Consistently ranked in the top 10 globally on HackerRank for programming skills
• Deep expertise in Java, Python, JavaScript, React, Node.js, and mobile (iOS/Android)
• São Paulo alone rivals many European cities in developer density

🤖 Machine Learning & AI
• Brazil is one of the fastest-growing AI talent markets in the world
• Strong academic output in ML research, with USP, UNICAMP, and PUC-Rio producing world-class AI graduates
• Brazilian ML engineers are active contributors on Kaggle, consistently placing in global competitions
• Growing specialization in NLP (especially Portuguese-language models), computer vision, and data science

🗣️ English Proficiency
• Mid-tier nationally, but tech professionals skew significantly higher, I can attest when I visit, Brazilians don't want to talk in English outside of work 
• The remote work boom has accelerated English adoption across the dev and ML community

🎓 Talent Pipeline
• ~200,000 STEM graduates per year
• Booming bootcamp and upskilling ecosystem feeding the software and AI talent pool

Brazil isn't just a cost play. It's a quality play

The question isn't whether to hire in Brazil, it's whether you can afford not to. 

#Brazil #MachineLearning #SoftwareDevelopment #AITalent #LatAm #TechHiring #RemoteWork #GlobalTalent

Candidate fraud is getting more sophisticated, and at LatamCent, we've seen it up close.

Here are real examples from our own hiring pipeline:

🚨 A candidate whose LinkedIn photo didn't match the person on the video call.

🚨 Paid actors posing as CTOs on reference calls, professionally scripted and completely fabricated.

🚨 Candidates using AI tools like Cluey during live technical assessments to generate answers in real time.

This isn't hypothetical. This is happening now, and it's becoming more common across the industry.

For hiring managers and recruiters: your instincts matter more than ever. If something feels off, dig deeper.

For the honest, talented professionals in our network (and there are thousands of you) this is why vetting matters. Your integrity is your competitive advantage.

We're raising the bar on our screening process so the right people always get through. 💪

Have you encountered any of these? Drop your experience in the comments. 👇

#CandidateFraud #Recruiting #LatamCent #HiringIntegrity #TalentAcquisition #RecruitmentFraud

Latam vs the World 🌎

When does it make sense to hire in Latin America vs the USA, vs the Philippines? 

Your favorite answer.. 

It depends.. it depends on the role, the hiring strategy, and company culture and vision. 

What's your hiring philosophy? 

#Latam #LatinAmerica #SaaS #Hiring #LatamCent

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Founder & CEO

Executive Member

President

English

Portuguese

🇦🇷 Argentina has been on the global tech radar for years, and the numbers show exactly why:

📈 Economy:

• One of the largest economies in Latin America (~$640B USD GDP)
• Despite macroeconomic volatility, the tech sector has remained one of the most resilient and export-driven industries
• Software exports are among Argentina's top revenue earners, the talent is world-class and globally battle-tested

💻 Software Developers
• Argentina has one of the highest developer-per-capita ratios in Latin America
• Deeply skilled in Python, Java, Ruby, JavaScript, React, and backend architecture
• Buenos Aires is consistently ranked as one of the top tech cities in the region
• A long tradition of strong computer science education produces exceptionally rigorous developers

🤖 Machine Learning & AI
• Argentina punches well above its weight in AI and ML talent
• Top universities, UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires), ITBA, and UTN,  produce highly sought-after ML and data science graduates
• Strong presence on Kaggle, with Argentine data scientists regularly ranking in global competitions
• Growing specialization in deep learning, NLP, computer vision, and MLOps
• Several global AI labs and unicorns (Mercado Libre, Globant, OLX) built significant ML teams in Argentina first

🗣️ English Proficiency
• Among the highest in Latin America, ranked in the top tier regionally, though a thicker accent at times.
• Tech professionals, especially in Buenos Aires, are highly fluent and accustomed to working with US and European teams

🎓 Talent Pipeline
• Strong STEM graduate output with a culture that deeply values education
• Thriving freelance and remote work culture means Argentine devs are already wired for async, global collaboration
• Time zone alignment with the US (EST +1 to +3) makes real-time collaboration seamless

Argentina isn't just affordable. It's exceptional.

If you're building a world-class tech team and not looking at Argentina, you're leaving talent on the table. 👇

#Argentina #MachineLearning #SoftwareDevelopment #AITalent #LatAm #TechHiring #RemoteWork #GlobalTalent

Come join the dream team! Work with Eze Campodonico, Pablo Ignacio Ciocchini & I! 

Let's gooo 🚀

Helping Series A–B SaaS hire A+ talent they think is out of budget | Head of GTM & Ops @LatamCent 🦉

What if your commission didn't reset to zero every quarter?

That's not how most sales jobs work.
You close a deal. You get paid once. Next month you start from scratch.

Groundhog day. Forever.

Here's how this role works instead:
You close a client in January.
You get paid in February.
And March. And April. And every month after that until they leave.
Your book of business compounds.

Month 1 you're starting from zero.
Month 12 you have a base of recurring revenue before you dial once.

On top of that:
Weekly feedback from a CEO who was VP of Sales twice at US companies. Not theory. Real reps, real calls, real pipeline.
A team that actually wants you to win. 

I used to hold most of the company records here. Month 2 Pablo broke two of them. 
And I couldn't be happier.

$46K–$54K OTE. Remote. Latam only. Phone heavy. Full cycle.
Send a Loom to eze@latamcent.com. Subject: "AE Role"

Sell me on you. That's the first test.

"Half the world is scared AI is going to take their jobs. The other half is excited it's going to take the crappy parts of their jobs so they can do the more human parts."

We are constantly hiring top talent in Latin America, if you don't see a role on our careers page, feel free to connect with our recruiters to chat about leveling up your skills to join a b2b tech company in the USA.

#LatamCent 
#Hiring

What happens to software in 5-10 years via Sam Senior at TestBox.

Open article: What Happens to Software in 5-10 Years by Sam Senior • 9 min read

Epic role at SpendHound + you get to work with Tom Ruello.

SpendHound is hiring for a Sales Executive on our Enterprise team!

SpendHound is a rocketship growing from 0 to almost 1000 customers in 2 years and from 5 employees to 100+.

We're a startup within the resources of a more mature start-up of YipitData.

If you have experience closing $50k+, 3-month sales cycle deals then this could be a fit for you.

Please reach out or apply below!


https://lnkd.in/epUPJBdy

Troy Wheeler John Cunningham Michael Facci Harry Gable-Newkirk Siham Adous Tyler McDonald

Open article: SpendHound Sales Executive by job-boards.greenhouse.io

A role coined by Clay less than 2 years ago, now EVERYone wants one.

GTM Engineer, sitting besides RevOps to plug together the sales and marketing tech stack. 

It's going to be interesting to continue to watch this role evolve. 

#GTMEngineer #Hiring #LatamCent

CEO, Founder at Pave | Building Paige AI

A new role rapidly growing because of AI: GTM Engineer. 13x growth in 20 months.

A role that barely existed 18 months ago now exists at 1.3% of companies in Pave’s dataset, and the adoption is accelerating quickly across the market.

________________

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

–The Citrini thesis: “Payroll receipts [will] fall because fewer people are employed at prior compensation levels. Income tax receipts [will] fall because the incomes being earned are structurally lower. Productivity [will] surge, but the gains [will] flow to capital and compute, not labor.”

–The Citadel thesis: “It seems more likely that AI will be a complement rather than a substitute for labor in many areas.”

For today, let’s lean into one example where AI is creating roles, not killing them:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼-𝘁𝗼-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 (𝗚𝗧𝗠) 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿.

________________

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀:

Pave’s data science team took a look at what percentage of its 9,600+ clients include at least one employee with the title “GTM Engineer” (or similar). And then they mapped this onto a time series to see the overall trend.

________________

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:

1️⃣ The GTM Engineer role is on the rapid rise from 0.10% of companies as recently as May 2024 to 1.30% in January 2026. The trend line was mostly flat until late 2024 at which point it quickly inflected.

2️⃣ Meanwhile, I would also call out that it’s still a very small group of “early adopter” outlier companies that are adopting “GTM Engineers” on their org charts. But these early adopters can become the norm fast. And the general concept of embedding AI-skilled engineers within GTM teams could extend to other job families as well.

If 1.3% of companies have GTM Engineers today, what does 10% look like? And what does that mean for how sales and marketing teams are structured?

Incredible opportunity to work with Harry Gable-Newkirk. 

Imagine a product that typically cost over 100k a year but saves you over 300k a year. 

Then in exchange for your data on SaaS contracts you keep your 100k, and end up saving 400k. 

That's SpendHound.

GTM @ SpendHound

We're #hiring for both a Sales Executive AND a Sales Development Rep for SpendHound.

If you’re excited by high-growth environments, love building pipeline from the ground up, and thrive in a fully #remote setting, we should talk. 

Reach out directly or apply below.

Sales Exec: https://lnkd.in/gWF8_bUE
Sales Development Rep: https://lnkd.in/g8xfZ2dU

Justin M. Nassiri

I’m the Founder and CEO of Executive Presence, where we help leaders build trust, visibility, and influence through authentic executive thought leadership on LinkedIn.

In just over three years, we've bootstrapped past $3M ARR, partnered with more than 250 executives, and conducted more than 750 CEO interviews. When leaders show up consistently in their own voice, their entire company benefits.

Most executives already have a network that trusts them. They just lack a system that keeps them top of mind. My team and I help them articulate what they believe, stay relevant in moments that matter, and expand their influence to hire better, sell faster, raise capital, and shape their industry's narrative.

Our work is built around three principles:

• Authenticity: capture the leader’s real voice and worldview
• Efficiency: require as little as 90 minutes of their time each month
• Measurability: track progress weekly with clear KPIs and outcomes

I work with CEOs, founders, and senior executives at high-growth companies who want their leadership to be an asset that compounds.

My own path shapes how I think about leadership, communication, and influence:

• Officer aboard nuclear submarines, leading teams of more than 200 in high-stakes environments
• Stanford MBA and three-time founder
• Former CEO of StoryBox, funded by Eric Schmidt and used by over 1,000 brands
• Host of the 450-episode leadership and career podcast Beyond the Uniform

Every role taught me the same lesson: Executives are among a company’s most underutilized assets. When leaders communicate with clarity and consistency, they elevate culture, attract talent, deepen trust, and move their industries forward.

My work at Executive Presence is about helping leaders do exactly that - authentically, efficiently, and with measurable results.

CEO ◆ We turn leaders into thought leaders

We specialize in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. 

We've helped over 100 CEOs become thought leaders. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.

One of my clients sold his company for over $2 billion, and LinkedIn was part of his exit strategy.

When we started working together, he had posted 5 times in the last year, with minimal traction and no visible narrative. Eighteen months later, he was posting 20 times a month, pulling 400-plus likes on his top posts, and had become a recognized voice in his industry.

Then a Fortune 500 company acquired his company.

When the announcement went out, it reached his entire industry because two years of consistent publishing had already built the audience to receive it. Acquirers, partners, and investors had been watching him think in public for two years before the deal closed.

Most CEOs never think about LinkedIn until a liquidity event, a fundraise, or a leadership transition is already in motion. But by then, it's too late to build the credibility that makes those moments land.

At Executive Presence, we work with executives before those moments arrive.

So join me on March 18 for a live webinar where I'm breaking down this case study and three others, with real before-and-after data (replay available if you can't make it live).

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gpMdqxwF

CEO @ Executive Presence | Executive LinkedIn Strategy | Say Something Worth Reading

One of my clients IPO'd at $6 billion.

He did it by posting less on LinkedIn, not more.

Before we started working together four years ago, he was already posting 18 times a month. More than most executives ever will. But 52% of his content was industry commentary. Safe. Professional. Forgettable.

We shifted the mix. He posted slightly less. 
Impressions went up 71%. 
Engagement rate went up 52%. 
Personal content drove 2.5x the reach of industry posts.

Less content. Better mix. $6 billion IPO.

I'm breaking down this case study and three others - with real before-and-after data - in a live webinar on March 18.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gpMdqxwF

Yesterday, Executive Presence turned 4 years old. 

The last four years have been the most fulfilling years of my career. 

My first two companies didn't pan out as I had hoped. 
My third company has felt like the culmination of everything I learned in those first two endeavors. 

As I look back on our journey to this point, I want to thank people who played a key role on this journey.

David Lyon - you were the first person I told about this idea during a coaching session. You told me "this is the most clearly I've heard you describe a business. I love it." That encouragement was the initial spark. 

Ryan Hogan - you were our first official client. I couldn't have picked a more energizing, supportive client. 

Abby Cunningham - you were the first employee I hired. I never thought I wanted to hire another employee again. Your positivity & dedication made me change my mind. 

Kelley Braegger - you and I worked side-by-side in the trenches at all hours of the day. Your indomitable mindset kept me going. 

Bill Youstra - you challenged me when I needed it the most. "We've seen the limits of what Justin can build on his own." The day after you told me that, I got serious about becoming a recruiter for my company. 

Erin Dierker - I still cannot believe I ever convinced you to work with me. You are truly a unicorn - equal parts BCG-level strategy and Y-Combinator-level execution. 

Mitzi Mock - I've never campaigned so hard to hire someone. You convinced me that working with a close friend can be one of the greatest gifts in life. 

Greg Alexander - I still tear up thinking of your generosity. Your invitation to spend the weekend with you in Dallas changed the course of my company. You've shaped my thinking about business more than anyone else on this journey. 

My Entrepreneurs'​ Organization forum, No VC Coffee Club, and Collective 54: Thank you for being a sounding board, a support, and fellow travelers on this entrepreneurial journey.

And most of all - my team:
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Thank you for making celebration, kindness & positivity a deep part of our culture.
Thank you for a commitment to constant learning, growth, and rapid iteration.
Thank you for supporting me and each other in a selfless way.
The best is yet to come. 

2026 is going to be our best year yet, and I can't wait for the next four years ahead.

LFG

One of my clients went from $0 to $200 million in revenue in <5 years.

2 of the 3 biggest retailers in the US regularly reference his LinkedIn posts in B2B sales meetings.

When we started working together, he had posted about 5 times a year for a decade, with minimal traction and no visible narrative. Two years later, he was posting 7 times a month with 5x the engagement, and the people reading his content were the buyers who matter most to his business.

When he walks into a meeting now, they already know who he is. His LinkedIn presence turned cold meetings into warm ones before a single word was said, and the biggest retailers in his market became familiar with his thinking long before any contract was on the table.

When a top-three retailer walks into a meeting already quoting your LinkedIn posts, the sales conversation starts from a completely different place. That kind of familiarity takes years to build, and it only comes from showing up consistently long before the meeting is ever scheduled.

I'm breaking down this case study and three others, with real before-and-after data, in a live webinar on March 18.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gpMdqxwF

I watched a video of the McDonald's CEO eating a burger from his own restaurant, and I immediately recognized the problem.

He held the burger awkwardly, called it "the product," and took a tiny nibble before describing it like he was reading off a spec sheet. Millions of people roasted him for it, and one commenter said he looked "incredibly alien."

The thing is, Chris Kempczinski reportedly eats McDonald's three to four times a week. He probably loves the burger. 

But nobody who watched that video believed him, because the way he talked about his own product didn't match how someone who genuinely enjoys a burger actually talks about a burger.

That disconnect between what someone feels and how they express it is something I run into constantly in my work with CEOs on LinkedIn.

A CEO will be genuinely passionate about their company or their team, and then write a post that sounds like their PR department drafted it during their lunch.

I've helped hundreds of CEOs communicate on LinkedIn at @Executive Presence, and the first draft almost always has this problem. CEOs default to corporate language because it feels safe and polished, even though safe and polished is exactly how you lose people.

When a post reads like a press release, people scroll past it. And the audience you're trying to reach - employees, prospects, potential partners - never gets a sense of who you actually are.

The CEOs I've seen generate real traction talk about their business the way they'd talk about it over dinner. They name specific people, describe specific moments, and share specific lessons they've learned along the way. They sound like themselves, and their audiences respond to that.

Kempczinski's video went viral for the wrong reasons. But the lesson for every executive is the same one I share with our clients every week.

If you love your product (or your burger), talk about it like you love it. 

People can tell when you mean it, and they can absolutely tell when you don't.

Most of us need more time with more people.

I realized how true that was on a recent 48-hour trip to San Francisco, where I spent maybe two hours alone aside from sleeping. I'm someone who usually withdraws after big social events to recover, so I expected to be drained by the end of the trip.

But this trip was different, because I shared it with friends I have decades of depth, safety, and connection with. Being around them doesn't pull from my reserves the way a networking event or a conference would.

One afternoon, for example, I went on a two-hour hike with a friend near where he lives. There's something about being outside, in the sun, walking with someone and processing ideas together that effortlessly deepens a conversation. Hiking alone brings up ideas for me, but hiking with another person creates an exchange that goes beyond what I'd come up with on my own.

Later that weekend, I spent hours playing video games with a friend's son while his parents sat down and read. They clearly appreciated the breathing room, and I genuinely enjoyed feeling useful and connecting with their kid.

In both of those moments - the hike and the video games - everyone involved walked away with something they needed. 

When you spend extended time with people you trust, there's a natural give and take that's hard to replicate in a one-hour dinner or a scheduled Zoom call.

Both the give and the take are worth their weight in gold. After my trip, I walked away from 48 hours of nonstop togetherness more energized than I've felt in months. 

And I keep wondering why I don't do it more often.

I work with a CRO who built a $200M+ market from scratch, and three of the biggest retailers in the US now reference his LinkedIn posts in B2B sales meetings. 

Not his company's marketing materials or press releases. His LinkedIn posts.

And two years ago, he was posting five times a year.

He's one of four investor-backed leaders I've been tracking over the past two years, and the pattern across all four is almost identical. 

The same framework produced a $2B+ exit for a healthcare software CEO, 26% headcount growth for a Chief Clinical Officer during a nationwide talent crisis, and a $6B IPO for an enterprise software CEO who shifted his content mix and saw impressions jump 71%.

Every one of them either started from near-zero visibility or was visible in the wrong way. And every one of them almost quit in the first three months because it felt like nothing was happening.

But the ones who kept going are the ones you've heard of.

Four case studies that changed how I talk to operating partners about visibility I recently presented to a room full of PE and VC operating partners w

Open article: Every CEO Who Stayed Invisible Paid for It by Justin M. Nassiri • 6 min read

Every CEO Who Stayed Invisible Paid for It

I didn't know one of my employees was a baker until I spent an afternoon with him in San Francisco.

Having a remote team is one of the reasons we've been able to attract the best talent at Executive Presence - geographic separation within the U.S. hasn't limited our hiring. 

But remote work comes with a tradeoff. 

I miss breathing the same air as my people and getting a sense for who they are beyond a Zoom screen, where conversations tend to be scheduled, succinct, and specific, with rarely any room to wander.

So on a recent trip to San Francisco, I spent several hours with one of our newer Engagement Managers, Joey Perotti. We met at a coffee shop, went for a walk, grabbed dinner, went to lunch the next day, and walked some more.

After about an hour together, we’d already covered all the obvious work topics. And that's when the conversation got really interesting.

I learned that Joey's a baker. We talked about his creative journey writing screenplays and prose, and hosting a podcast. I got to see a side of him that a 30-minute Zoom call would never show me.

His time in film school, his documentary work, his podcast - all of these creative pursuits have sharpened his ability to help our clients communicate their stories, which is exactly what we need him to do.

Even as a fully remote company, I want to keep investing in these in-person moments with my team - and I only have 2 more team members to meet in person (hoping to see you soon Juliette C. and Melissa M.!).

So if a few hours over coffee and a walk can show me something months of Zoom calls couldn't, I'll keep booking the flights.

In 48 hours in San Francisco, I saw six Stanford University Graduate School of Business classmates and five of their children.

The length of my program at Stanford was only two years. But those two years were so intense - the workload, the pressure, the late nights figuring out what we wanted to do with our lives - that the bonds we formed run much deeper than two years would suggest.

And those bonds have persisted long after graduation, even as our lives have gone in completely different directions.

One friend runs a massive company, and another pivoted careers entirely. A few are deep in the weeds of parenthood, trying to figure out screen time rules and school choices and how to be present while also building something professionally.

Despite all that variance, every conversation I had that weekend landed in a similar place. 

Career is one piece of the pie, and for all of us, it's becoming a smaller piece. Fulfillment, family, health, being intentional about how we raise our kids - those are the things that dominated our conversations.

Even how we spend time together has changed. A far cry from how we spent our Friday nights at Stanford.

But no matter how different our lives look, these people still have a real read on me. They knew me during a formative period of my life, and because of that, they can be honest and direct in a way that few other people in my life can.

I'll always make time to invest in these friendships. Even when it means flying across the country for 48 hours.

Good people who genuinely know you - and are willing to tell you the truth - are always worth the trip.

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Luiz Cent 🦉's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJustin M. Nassiri's LinkedIn Performance

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