Reflections on International Expansion: Lessons from Amazon and Nubank in Mexico

Let me start by saying that I don’t consider myself a textbook expert in international expansion. But throughout my decade-long career in tech, I've been fortunate to participate twice in one of the most critical and exciting moments in a company’s journey: expanding into a new market. This is a defining step in a company’s life cycle—if done right, it can propel a business to new heights, taking what was once a founder's idea in a single country or city to a completely new geography. Getting it right from the start requires a mix of strategy, timing, execution, and a little luck. And like any entrepreneurial venture, there’s always room for mistakes. 

It's been almost 2 years since I left Nubank to pursue my own entrepreneurial journey and I’ve often been asked to share my feedback and learnings from these experiences, which prompted me to take the time to write this article. My hope is that it will serve as a guide for startups and growth companies embarking on their own expansion journey.

The insights below draw not only from my personal experiences as part of the early Amazon Mexico team and a founding member of Nubank Mexico, but also from countless conversations I’ve had with investors and entrepreneurs who’ve navigated similar challenges, often in a better way than I did—insights that, in hindsight, I would’ve been grateful to have when tackling these projects early on. 

These lessons aren’t about achieving perfection in your international expansion playbook—they’re about recognizing when to pivot, learning as you go, and setting your company up for long-term success.

1. Think Long-Term: A 10-15 year horizon

For VC backed startups and growth companies, international expansion is never an “if”, but a “when” decision. Companies that succeed globally think strategically over a 10- to 15-year horizon even during early stages. Start by identifying the markets you want to enter over the next decade, considering their potential for growth, profit pool size, and competitive dynamics. Avoid delegating this work to a consulting firm—do the homework yourself. If time is a constraint, hire an intern to assist, but remain closely involved in this early discovery phase.

Do scouting trips to potential markets—spend a week there, talk to local and foreign founders, meet with local lawyers, and even introduce yourself to regulators, even if it's an informal conversation. This was our approach at Nubank during the early days, and guess who tagged along in these scouting trips? The company founder and CEO.

Once you’ve done the groundwork, ask yourself: When should we enter these markets? This is especially critical in competitive markets like Mexico, where waiting too long could mean losing ground to competitors. Venture capitalists can exert immense pressure on founders to move quickly, but no one understands your company's readiness like you do. Do you have a clear advantage and a strong moat in your primary market? Is your team experienced enough to support international expansion? Are your operational processes solid enough to handle potential distractions? Are you prepared to adapt your product to fit cultural and market differences? If so, you are ready to proceed.

Key takeaway: Start building your international roadmap early, even if immediate entry isn't in your plans. Planning 2-3 years ahead ensures you're ready when the time is right. If your budget allows, don't hesitate to scout the areas you're interested in, and be sure to remain involved in the discovery process. You’ll have a clear roadmap of where and why to go first, and you'll be familiar with the market and opportunity because you, the founder, did the homework.

2. Choose the Right Markets and Timing

When expanding globally, not all markets offer the same risk-adjusted rewards. Some markets have a high probability of success but are difficult to implement or offer smaller profit pools, while others may be more rewarding in the long term but come with lower chances of immediate success. For example, Mexico offers a high-reward opportunity for many startups, but the need to move quickly is crucial due to rising competition.

Brazil, for instance, represents half of South America’s GDP and, with 214 million people, accounts for roughly half of the continent's population. It is a market that is difficult to navigate—not only from a regulatory and legal perspective driven by political changes, but also due to cultural differences with other Latin American economies (including, of course, the language barrier with the rest of the region). On the other hand, regions like Africa or smaller Latin American economies can be rewarding in the long term, but don’t particularly require an  immediate rush to enter those markets today.

Ask yourself this question: if I wait 2-3 years to expand into a particular market, will competition drastically decrease my chances of success? Conversely, some markets may be less competitive and can wait a few years before someone claims them.

It's also crucial to consider macroeconomic stability. In 2018, Argentina had attractive revenue and growth potential, making them suitable expansion candidates. However, they faced immediate macroeconomic and political challenges. If new information arises after you've made strides toward entering a new market, don’t be afraid to pivot or pause your decision. The sunk cost bias can be a huge deceiver in these situations. You can always revisit your decision and re-enter the market later when the economic situation is more stable and clear.

Key takeaway: When expanding internationally, focus on markets with the right balance of short-term feasibility and long-term potential. Markets like Mexico may demand quick action due to competition, while others, like Brazil, offer huge profit potential but come with cultural and regulatory challenges. Stay adaptable—if market conditions shift, don't hesitate to pivot, avoiding the sunk cost bias. Timing is crucial, and flexibility allows you to re-consider when conditions improve.

3. Cross Pollinate teams early to build the right mix of culture

A senior Amazon executive I worked with used to emphasize the importance of cross-pollinating local teams early when launching new markets. This advice guided us when we built the initial founding team for Nubank in Mexico, which was composed of roughly half Brazilian team members. Cross-pollinating teams allow for a blended culture to emerge, and believe me, you want that. This new culture will combine local elements from the new market with core values and best practices passed on by team members from the established core market.

This approach ensures that the new team understands not only the business goals but also the company’s culture and operational ethos. For example, if customer obsession is a core value for your company, bring in founding team members who embody that mindset. If data-driven decision-making is critical, make sure you have one of your top business analysts on board, and screen for that behavior when interviewing new talent. Building a team that integrates seamlessly with both local dynamics and your company's global culture is key to a successful expansion; team diversity helps drive this. 

I recently spoke with a tech founder from Colombia who decided to relocate to Mexico for the first 1-2 years of operations to personally oversee the cultural foundation of the new geography. I also had the opportunity to relocate to São Paulo for 12 months during my early days with Nubank before the expansion into Mexico. This level of commitment helps ensure that the right cultural mindset is established early on. While it may require personal sacrifices—such as moving away from home or relocating your family—it's often worth it, as long as it doesn't overly distract from other priorities and your partner is on board.

Cross-pollination creates a balance between local adaptation and maintaining a company-wide culture, which is critical for both operational success and team cohesion in international markets. By blending local expertise with the experience of expats, you can achieve the right mix of innovation and alignment with the company’s global values.

Key-takeaway: Cross-pollinating teams early helps blend local talent with experienced team members, fostering a strong cultural foundation. Involving expats ensures core company values are upheld while adapting to the local market. Leaders’ personal involvement in the initial stages can be crucial for setting the right cultural tone and ensuring team cohesion.

4. Avoid the pitfalls of over expansion: Focus, Focus, Focus. 

One of the most valuable lessons I learned during my time at Nubank was the importance of focusing all your efforts on doing one thing exceptionally well for your customer. In Nubank's case, we focused on cracking the credit card market as our gateway for expansion into Mexico By narrowing our focus, we ensured we could deliver a product that truly resonated with the market before considering expanding our product offering.

This philosophy also extends to international expansion: if possible, focus on one market at a time. I’ve seen countless startups stumble because they try to scale into too many geographies simultaneously, often pressured by venture capitalists eager to capture first-mover advantage. While there’s value in seizing competitive dynamics, this should never come at the expense of diluting your product experience or losing focus on your primary market.

In Nubank’s case, people often ask when the next country expansion will happen, but it’s important to remember that the company is also playing both defense and offense in its home market, Brazil. There, Nubank faces stiff competition not only from traditional "dino banks" trying to reinvent themselves, but also from a wave of new challenger banks and fintech startups. Expanding too quickly could weaken the company’s position in this crucial battleground.

Moreover, expanding into new markets means managing teams from different cultures and backgrounds, likely remotely. This adds significant complexity, especially for young tech entrepreneurs with limited management experience, making it even more critical to ensure that every move is deliberate and focused.

Key Takeaway: Be cautious about expanding too rapidly or too broadly. Focus on one market expansion at a time while consistently prioritizing customer and product experience. Avoid succumbing to external pressure when deciding the right time to expand; ensuring that both your business and the market environment are truly ready. 

5. Build Local Teams and Products, Not Just Local Offices

When entering a new market, your first priority should be optimizing for proof of concept and demonstrating to your investors that your product can achieve global demand. Later, when you move on to a third or fourth market, your focus will naturally shift toward operational efficiency and scalability. But the first market isn’t the place for that. In your initial market, the goal is not to optimize for the most cost-efficient operating model—though that doesn’t mean you should spend recklessly. Instead, it’s about setting up your local team for success, which often means giving them control and authority over areas that, as a founder, you may not typically relinquish. This includes autonomy over local decision-making, product localization, and hiring top talent. 

In the early stages of international expansion, it’s critical to allow local leaders the freedom to run their markets like startups. Over-centralization can hurt innovation and slow down necessary adaptations to the local market. 

At both Amazon and Nubank, I witnessed senior executives being heavily involved in the early expansion phases, not just in strategic discussions but especially in hiring. In Nubank’s case the founder and CEO, David Vélez was heavily involved in hiring the first employees for Nubank Mexico. He often emphasized that culture was set by the first 5-10 employees and that you cannot easily alter it afterwards. His hands-on approach ensured that Nubank Mexico’s culture and values were aligned with the core principles established in Brazil, reinforcing the importance of getting the culture right from the start and having the highest level of the organization involved in that helps. 

However, even with this alignment, localizing the product itself can be a challenge. In Mexico, we had to work hard to adapt Nubank’s credit card product. While credit cards in Brazil were widely used as tools for managing day-to-day expenses, often paid in total at due date due to the nationwide high interest rates. In Mexico they were perceived differently, with 50% of credit card users paying monthly interest on their outstanding balance (closer to the US credit card behavior). This required us to rethink how we communicated and positioned the product, emphasizing simplicity, transparency, and financial empowerment. Nubank’s successful entry into Mexico hinged on these subtle but crucial adjustments to both the product and the customer experience.

Key takeaway: Empowering local teams is essential for successful international expansion. Focus on giving them the autonomy to adapt and innovate based on local needs, rather than imposing a centralized approach. Early hires set the culture, so founder involvement is key. Additionally, ensure your product is localized—what works in one market may require significant changes to succeed elsewhere.

6. Don't Be Greedy with Talent or Equity Grants

Equity grants can be a delicate topic, especially for LATAM-founded companies, and one that warrants its own in-depth discussion. The main point is to create the right incentives for early market employees to think and act like owners. Equity is the best way to align long-term goals and ensure commitment to the company’s long term success.

When expanding into a new market, a common dilemma is whether to hire a local star executive or bring in a seasoned company insider who may lack experience in the new market. During my time at Amazon, I witnessed both scenarios. However, there’s often a third, more strategic option—as seen at Nubank.

Nubank made the smart decision by hiring a Mexican national locally in Brazil years before the company formally intended to expand internationally. This allowed Nubank to gauge this persons’ potential as a leader while immersing him in the company’s data-driven and customer-obsessed culture in Brazil—two elements that would be pivotal in the Mexico expansion.This thoughtful approach helped ensure that Nubank had a tenured employee as Country Manager who understood both the company’s core values and the intricacies of the Mexican market.

Key Takeaway: Give early employees significant equity stakes to align their long-term goals with the company’s success. Pay for top-tier talent, even if it means going above market rates for those first critical hires. Also, look within your organization—consider who might rise to the challenge, even if it’s not in their current roadmap. Building a diverse and capable team early on can have a profound impact on your success in new markets.

7. Bring the Right Experts to the Table, Regardless of Their Seniority

I was in the room when Nubank’s CTO gathered a group of 8-10 engineers and informed them they had six months to approve a local credit card transaction in Mexico using a separate tech infrastructure. I’ve worked with many talented engineers throughout my career, but nothing compares to the unique, engaged, and skilled team that Nubank assembled for its first international expansion—many of whom were seasoned engineers from the company’s early days. Most had to juggle their existing projects and responsibilities in Brazil while taking on this new challenge.

Looking back at that period it now seems obvious that setting clear expectations and goals was critical, and tapping into local knowledge resources was invaluable during the early stages. We even brought some of those engineers to Mexico to meet with startups, partners, and key stakeholders, providing them with as much context as possible about the local market. Additionally, we were intentional about hiring Mexican engineers early on and implementing what I call “reverse cross-pollination,” where we sent those Mexican engineers to Brazil to work on Brazil-focused projects for six months. This approach helped them onboard effectively before they returned to focus on the Mexico expansion.

Key Takeaway: Bring your best technical talent to the problem at hand, and involve them heavily in getting familiar with the local market. You might lose some productivity in the short term, but it’s better to get the idea right the first time, in the end these are the people that are building the product for the new geography. 

Wrapping up

International expansion is one of the most exciting and challenging moments in a company’s life cycle, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. From my experiences with Amazon and Nubank, I’ve learned that success hinges on a combination of strategy, timing, building strong and diverse teams, and the ability to adapt as you go. It’s about making deliberate, thoughtful decisions—whether that’s identifying the right markets, empowering local teams, or cross-pollinating talent to build a cohesive culture across geographies.

Expanding into a new market requires balancing long-term vision with short-term flexibility. The key is to think ahead, build the right team, and create an environment that fosters ownership and innovation—even if it means relinquishing some control or increasing equity compensation. As you embark on this journey, remember that mistakes will happen, but how you pivot, learn, and grow will determine the long-term success of your expansion.

Ultimately, international expansion is not just about entering a new geography—it’s about creating a sustainable foundation that supports your company's vision in a new market while staying true to your core values.

I am always available to chat in more depth reach out to me at alejandro.ofarrill@gmail.com or via Linkedin. Good Luck!

Article Key Takeaways:

1. Start building your international roadmap early, even if immediate entry isn't in your plans. Planning 2-3 years ahead ensures you're ready when the time is right. If your budget allows, don't hesitate to scout the areas you're interested in, and be sure to remain involved in the discovery process. You’ll have a clear roadmap of where and why to go first, and you'll be familiar with the market and opportunity because you, the founder, did the homework.
2. When expanding internationally, focus on markets with the right balance of short-term feasibility and long-term potential. Markets like Mexico may demand quick action due to competition, while others, like Brazil, offer huge profit potential but come with cultural and regulatory challenges. Stay adaptable—if market conditions shift, don't hesitate to pivot, avoiding the sunk cost bias. Timing is crucial, and flexibility ensures you can re-enter when conditions improve.
3. Cross-pollinating teams early helps blend local talent with experienced team members, fostering a strong cultural foundation. Involving expats ensures core company values are upheld while adapting to the local market. Leaders’ personal involvement in the initial stages can be crucial for setting the right cultural tone and ensuring team cohesion.
4. Be cautious about expanding too rapidly or too broadly. Focus on one market expansion at a time while consistently prioritizing customer and product experience. Avoid succumbing to external pressure when deciding the right time to expand; ensuring that both your business and the market environment are truly ready. 
5. Empowering local teams is essential for successful international expansion. Focus on giving them the autonomy to adapt and innovate based on local needs, rather than imposing a centralized approach. Early hires set the culture, so founder involvement is key. Additionally, ensure your product is localized—what works in one market may require significant changes to succeed elsewhere.
6. Give early employees significant equity stakes to align their long-term goals with the company’s success. Pay for top-tier talent, even if it means going above market rates for those first critical hires. Also, look within your organization—consider who might rise to the challenge, even if it’s not in their current roadmap. Building a diverse and capable team early on can have a profound impact on your success in new markets.
7. Bring your best technical talent to the problem at hand, and involve them heavily in getting familiar with the local market. You might lose some productivity in the short term, but it’s better to get the idea right the first time, in the end these are the people that are building the product for the new geography.