SM: Having just 3% Internet penetration must have been very frustrating! MG: Exactly! We tried to focus more on milestones which were operational but not necessarily revenue. We still remember the first time someone came and paid their bill at the office. We still have the PDF of the scanned check. We tried to focus
SM: Did you get the sense that eBay was not focused on Latin America at all yet? What was the Latin America Internet market at the time? What kind of Internet penetration? MG: It was very small. There was 3% penetration roughly. Today it is 20%, so it still can grow a lot. Out of
I did this interview in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during my recent trip consulting with Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest online marketplace. I found the story fascinating, and wanted to capture it for my readers all over the world. SM: I would like to hear the story of how you built Mercado Libre. Let’s start with
SM: What is your philosophy of recruiting leadership? Is it domain expertise, leadership skills, both? BH: Yes, yes and yes! It is all of those things. It is a cultural fit. It is an excitement. There are not many maintenance jobs given the speed that we are growing at. We are looking for people with
SM: Let’s say in 5 years you are cleaned up and you have achieved a level of credibility and stability and market power to do interesting things. How do you see yourself leveraging that brand. What are the top three things you would do? JK: I think the main thing we want to do first
SM: In terms of where you are today, and from a business / financial point of view, what is your strategy? BH: For us, the near term is focused on scaling. The opportunity is big. Every time I say that, I end up doing an acquisition. We clearly do them and we have them in
SM: Do you work with foundations? JK: We do. We do not have what I call a structured program with any one foundation. What we have done in the past, in fact annually we do something with one or more foundations. SM: Given the strength is in the reading area, and Bill Gates is spending
SM: If some entrepreneur came up with an application which uses video conference as a delivery mechanism, would you invest in them? BH: Generally speaking, no we do not. I am not going to say never. However, we would rather partner. We have our R&D in India. We have a small team, and it has