We’re joined today by Ramiro Velasco, co-founder of GoAvance, an agency that helps brands expand into Latin America through e-commerce. GoAvance bridges the gap between marketing agency and distribution by handling everything from logistics and permits to branding, SEO, and advertising management. Their mission is to revolutionize the way businesses thrive online.
Ramiro describes his upbringing as uncommon—he ended up living in several countries during his youth including Colombia, the United States, Switzerland, Romania, and more. Because he moved out of Mexico to so many other countries, he grew up bilingual, which would help him later down the road in his career.
He originally pursued a mechanical engineering degree, but took a left turn and opened up a vegan burger shop before accidentally attending an interview for a role in Amazon advertising. Ramiro explains that after updating his resume, he sent it out to as many jobs as possible. He landed an interview, but when he went to look at the job posting, it had disappeared.
In fact, he only realized what the job actually was after it was offered to him. This was an intermediary position as an account manager. Ramiro credits the success he found in this role and many others to his Starcraft experience—that’s right, the video game. He emphasizes how it taught him a lot about problem solving, resource managing, and even business lingo.
After gaining experience in this role, he identified a need for a better shopping experience for Mexican consumers. That’s when GoAvance was created. Their business aims to help foreign brands enter the Latin American marketplace using means outside of the traditional (like drop shipping or distributing), which can be both inconvenient and costly. What GoAvance does instead is essentially offer inventory on a consignment basis, lowering the barrier of entry for outside companies.
GoAvance is a great way for curious businesses to test interest in the market. One thing Ramiro has learned over time was not to assume which products would thrive and which ones wouldn’t; that’s up to the client to decide. Yes, there are risks and rewards, but there’s also the potential for a very positive experience on both sides.
Business relationships mirror romantic relationships in some ways. You can’t presume to know what the other person is thinking, and you shouldn’t assume that they won’t be happy with you. In this way, the people you work with can be more like partners than clients.
Ramiro emphasizes the importance of expansion, especially into Latin America, for today’s businesses. There is less competition and so much room for growth. There are a lot of resellers in-country making sales that could just as easily be yours. You may be starting small, but it’s still a great place to begin.
GoAvance is also all about creating strong referral relationships that allow them to offer better services to their clients. If you’re interested in expanding to new areas, they also offer a free general market analysis to help you figure out if bringing your product to the Latin American marketplace makes sense for you.
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