How Mercado Libre built Latin America's most valuable company: 18k engineers, 30k deploys a day, and their own fleet of planes | Sebastian Barrios

Overview

This episode dives into the fascinating journey of Sebastian Barrios, former Head of Product and Engineering at Mercado Libre, Latin America's largest company. Sebastian shares insights into Mercado Libre's unique operational strategies, his personal philosophies on leadership and innovation, and his remarkable early experiences, including a phone call from Steve Jobs.

Notable Quotes

- Life and the world are malleable. Things aren't as set in stone as you would think. There's usually a way to get what you're after. — Sebastian Barrios, on agency and shaping your destiny.

- We just added a new rule that apps cannot overly drain the battery on phones. — Steve Jobs, explaining why Sebastian's app was removed from the App Store.

- You can't tell 18,000 people exactly what they should be working on every day and expect that to work. — Sebastian Barrios, on empowering teams with distributed ownership.

🚀 Mercado Libre’s Operational Scale and Philosophy

- Mercado Libre operates with 18,000 engineers across 18 countries, deploying 30,000 changes daily and delivering over 5 million packages per day.

- The company integrates e-commerce and fintech, owning its own trucks, planes, and distribution network.

- Sebastian Barrios emphasized the importance of empowering teams with independence, avoiding rigid OKRs, and focusing on user experience over revenue.

- Radical candor is a cornerstone of their culture, with direct and honest feedback encouraged at all levels.

🤖 AI’s Role in Engineering and Product Development

- AI accelerates both engineering and product-oriented tasks, enabling faster prototyping and development.

- Mercado Libre developed an internal AI platform, Verdi, which abstracts complexities like data authorization and compliance.

- Experimental AI agents now combine existing microservices to create new features without writing additional code, hinting at a future of automated UI personalization.

💡 Reducing Fear of Failure and Distributed Ownership

- Mercado Libre fosters a culture where taking risks is encouraged, and failure due to bold ideas is not penalized.

- Teams operate independently, guided by high-level objectives rather than micromanagement.

- Product reviews are frequent and candid, ensuring alignment while allowing flexibility for innovation.

📞 Steve Jobs and Early App Development

- At 17, Sebastian Barrios received a personal call from Steve Jobs, who informed him that his app, which drained phone batteries, violated newly added App Store rules.

- This experience led Sebastian to launch a mobile app development company, creating apps for multinationals and governments.

- One of his apps, designed to optimize free phone calls, became the #1 app in 19 countries, sparking his entrepreneurial journey.

🌟 Unique Personal Habits and Upbringing

- Sebastian drinks only water—no coffee, tea, juice, or alcohol—and prefers silence over music, even while programming.

- Raised with intense independence, his mother trained him like a spy, dropping him in unfamiliar locations to find his way home and encouraging survival skills.

- He avoids social media and traditional news, focusing instead on purposeful reading and tech developments.