Born in Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, I grew up in various small towns. At 18, I moved to Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, where I studied Electrical Engineering.
At 23, somewhat by accident, I started working as a Software Engineer. At 25, I co-founded my first company, and at 27, I went on to co-found another one.
Currently, I’m fully dedicated to Torrenegra Organization, where we support bootstrapped entrepreneurs. Learn more here.
Find me at LinkedIn or alan@torrenegra.org
Career Path
January 2019 – June 2019: Production Support at Tata Consultancy Services
My official job was basically to “keep a seat warm” for six months, yet I discovered the world of programming and learned UNIX and SQL.
January 2020 – March 2021: Software Developer Engineer in Test & Full-Stack Developer at Enroute
After literally getting more than 400 rejections in my job applications, I joined Enroute’s “Rockstar Program,” where completing an MIT online course guaranteed a job offer (and payment for the time invested).
It was a life-changing opportunity that allowed me to grow quickly in software development.
Grateful to Alejandro Del Palacio, Hugo Mancinas, Mauricio Torres, and the NWL team at Enroute.
March 2021 – November 2021: Software Engineer at Beek (YC W21)
I became obsessed with startups. One day I found a job listing that said all you needed to know was JavaScript—I applied, went through the process, and got in.
It was a great place to work with people who really wanted to grow professionally.
Grateful to Pamela Valdés, Guillermo Sequeira, and the Beek team.
December 2021 – January 2023: Co-Founder at Trendi (Failed)
I quit my job because I just had to test myself. To my surprise, after a lot of ups and downs, we joined Platanus Ventures, an acceleration program that proved to be another life-changing opportunity I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Along the way, we received invaluable time and financial support from many people, all equally important.
Grateful to Elia, Massimo, Paula Enei, Joaquin Stephen, Andrés Matte, Agustin Feuerhake, Mario Sánchez, Oscar Durán, Juan Manuel Amoros, Robbie Frye, and Esteban Quiroga.
February 2023 – December 2023: Founding Team at Makers Fellowship
I ended up joining the company by accident. It was an interesting opportunity that helped me develop more of a “can do, will do” mindset.
Grateful to Camila Zancancella, Emilio Jacome, Isa Rodriguez, Francesca, Santiago, Andrés Bilbao, and the Makers team.
January 2024 – Present: Co-Founder at Torrenegra Organization
Thanks to an introduction by Daniel from Pygma, we ended up talking to Alex Torrenegra. After a few months and some trials, we finally launched the program.
Favorite Books
- 1984
- The Man Who Loved Dogs (El hombre que amaba a los perros)
- Factfulness
Hobbies
- Gym – All-time PRs: Bench: 110 kg / Squat: 160 kg / Deadlift: 215 kg
- Learning languages – Spanish: Native | English: B2.2 | German: A2.2 | French: B1.1
- Writing - Currently sharing learnings here.
- Learning random things – Often browsing Hacker News, Reddit, and Twitter
- EDM Festivals
Press
- Bloomberg: Entrepreneurship Opportunities
- Bloomberg: Platanus Ventures Batch 22-1
- Forbes México: Shutting down a company
Past guest on
- IncuVa House by UTEC Ventures
- Hult Prize Perú Speaker
- Hult Prize Perú Jury
- Startup Grind Mexico City Chapter
- On Going EAFit
Media
At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, especially when they are relatively young, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind. It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous. This is in fact one of the most valuable things you can do with your time and with your life.