Nicolas Szekazy, Former CFO at MercadoLibre, Joins Our Board

A big welcome aboard to our newest Open English Board Member, Nicolas Szekasy. As the former CFO of MercadoLibre, (MELI), Nicolas helped build the company from the ground up…including leading its successful 2007 IPO.

Not familiar with MercadoLibre?

This is Latin America's #1 e-commerce site and ebay’s Latin American partner. The company had a $300 million IPO in 2007 and is currently valued at over $2.5 billion.

With  MercadoLibre’s success under his belt, Nicolas has now moved on cofound Kaszek Ventures together with MELI’s former COO Hernan Kazah. Their newly minted venture capital firm is now on the look-out for the next LatAm success story. 

Together with an investment from Kaszek, Nicolas comes to join our board where his know-how and talent will surely be a huge value-add for Open English as we continue our growth in the region. 

Behind The Scenes Look At Our New TV Commercials

I just wrapped up two busy weeks in Sao Paulo working from the set of our new TV commercials. This time around, we did 5 new commercials for each of our main markets:

-       Mexico & Central America

-       Southern Cone (Arg, Par, Urg)

-       Andean Region (Col, Vzla, Ecua, Peru, Chile)

-       Brazil 

That meant recording 20 commercials in 12 days … no easy task but I couldn’t be more excited about the result. I’m including a slide show with pics from the shoot and a few behind the scenes videos. I can’t wait for them to start airing mid-November. 

I’m off to Rio de Janeiro for a weekend in the sun! 

For additional behind the scenes materials, you can follow me on Twitter (@TalkToAndres) and like my facebook page (facebook.com/TalkToAndres). See you there!

Fostering A Sense Of Urgency Company-Wide

I find that a heightened sense of urgency is a key quality of successful people.   When it comes to hiring at Open English, we certainly seek out “smart” people but we’ve realized that what determines someone’s success long-term is their ability to just get the job done (quickly!).

So what does it mean to have a sense of urgency? Here’s my practical definition: 

- It never takes you more than a day to reply to an email . A day in a start-up is an eternity!

- If someone on your team asks you for something on Friday afternoon, you don’t wait until Monday to begin looking at it. In a startup, shutting down completely for the weekend is rarely an option…

Not every exec is suited for a startup environment and that’s okay. But to be successful you have to build your team with people who share your sense of urgency.

So how do you figure out who has a sense of urgency and who doesn’t? You can’t always tell early on, but there are a few tips that have worked for me:

- Ask focused questions about what their past deadlines and project timetables were like.

- Even if you work through a recruiter, find a reason to contact your potential hire directly at least once to ask additional questions or request information, just to test responsiveness.

- What if you discover a lack of urgency after hiring? I’d say cut your losses fast. Chances are, it usually won’t get much better.

I’m not saying everyone has to work 24/7 or never enjoy weekends. But you can’t totally check out either. You can still have plenty of fun…but carry your phone and reply back to important issues, even if it’s just a quick text or email to let others know you’re thinking about it and specifying when you’ll be able to work on it.

Stay accessible and foster a sense of urgency company-wide!

I'm Loving our New "Take a Tour" Video

Everything prospective students want to know about Open English in just 2min. Congrats to our product team for a job well done!

OpenEnglish Web Demo from OpenEnglish.com on Vimeo.

Entreprenuers and Investors Come Together for a Costume Party!

Over 350 entrepreneurs and investors came together on August 5-7th in Kennebunkport, Maine for Flybridge Capital's annual "Catch the Wave" weekend. This year's party included sailing, tennis, lobster boat rides, great food, drinks, and of course, their famous costume party. The theme... Saturday Night Live!  Check out some pictures of our team having a good time:

Also towards the end of the party they showed this SNL parody video: "If Saturday Night Live Were Written by Venture Capitalists". Very funny...Enjoy!