To expand globally, a startup has to overcome challenges such as language and cultural barriers. Daniela Binatti, co-founder and CTO at Pismo, discussed the topic on the AWS Brasil Podcast. She talked with Thiago Morais, Gustavo Caldeira, and Eric Secco, from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) team.
Pismo already operated in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia, supplying its platform for financial services when it decided to accelerate its global expansion. “We saw a global opportunity. Many financial institutions are looking for innovations brought by digital transformation,” says Daniela.
In February, Pismo hired Vishal Dalal, CEO for North America, Europe and Asia, and started building global teams. Now one of her concerns is ensuring that Pismo has a unified corporate culture. “We are reinforcing our employer branding and culture teams to spread our values and include our foreign employees. We have to overcome the language barrier and the cultural differences. We want to make sure that we have a single team. We do all-hands meetings accommodating several time zones, and the results have been excellent.”
In the podcast, Daniela also talked about her experience in technology and how Pismo is creating an environment in which people can be authentic: “Our goal is to build a company where each person can be themself, irrespectively of gender and sexual orientation. People shouldn’t be afraid to tell when they have any personal issues. I think we are managing to build that kind of working environment.”
Recommendations
Daniela made three recommendations to inspire people, especially women, in their careers:
1 – Brené Brown podcasts
“I love hearing podcasts, and Brené Brown is an important reference when it comes to leadership.”
2 – Teach girls bravely, not perfection, a TED Talk by Reshma Saujani
“This TED Talk is about how we educate girls. It was important for me not just as a mother but also to understand some situations I experienced. The speaker is the founder of Girls Who Code, an organization that teaches programming for girls in the United States. I highly recommend it, especially for women.”
3 – Lean In, book by Sheryl Sandberg
“This book was very important for me during my transition from executive to entrepreneur.”
Hear the AWS Brasil Podcast (in Portuguese) on Apple Podcasts
