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Saying Goodbye to Xebia and 47 Degrees

Yes, folks, I decided to leave Xebia in September, and therefore, the company I co-founded, 47 Degrees (acquired by Xebia in 2022).

I feel it's time for a change. The former 47 organization, now Xebia, is well-prepared for new leadership and fresh perspectives. During these two years, our former company has consistently grown internally with solid financial health.

A fantastic Achievement (with uppercase) due to all that impacted our internal structure during these years: the brand change, the shift in methodology, or the sales funnels and re-org. On top of that, the market crash (or re-adjustment after COVID) which impacted IT companies in the past year. However, even with these difficulties, they became a successful internal case study primarily conducted by the people behind it.

Kudos to the 47 Degrees leadership team (in the picture order: Juan Pedro Moreno, Francisco Diaz Rodriguez, Maureen Elsberry, Natalia Bueno de la Torre, Amar Patel, Aaron Regan, Nychol Bazurto Gomez, Rafa Paradela, Carmel Quinn MCIPD, Benjy Montoya, Mar Facio Silva, and Federico Fernández Beltrán ) and my former partners (and brothers from another mother) Raúl Raja Martínez, Justin Elsberry, and especially to Nick Elsberry. He is a true leader. Well done ❤️

The Leadership board behind the acquisition and integration

So, I always listen to the signals, and this was one of them: Their leaders are running that by themselves. Also, the integration we did was fully completed. All departments (finance, people, operations, marketing) are fully integrated into the big company and committed to contributing to the global company. With an international vision and strategy, and by making Xebia bigger, they are rowing together for a common purpose.

On the other hand, even though I have enjoyed every day of my current role as Global VP of Creativity and Design, the reality is that it has been a long and exhausting trip. Founding, scaling, selling, and integrating the company was a path that took me 14 years and paid me back with many gray hairs.

Jeez! I enjoyed and learned so much from Keith Landis. (I guess the definition of Accountability and Ownership in the dictionary has a little picture of him 😂). Being on his side (and on Israel Barriga and Maureen Elsberry), living internally, the level of change that made to pass through a super fragmented regional marketing organization in a globally organized and successful model with central budgets, different centers of excellence, and much more. I feel lucky to have experienced this in the first person because people only have a few opportunities to live at this strategy and organizational change level.

I will miss my marketing colleagues (whom I proudly can call friends). I learned so many things from you in these two years. For someone like me, who likes to be a sponge, to be exposed to this level of professionalism is incredible.

So, what's next? I need time to myself, invest in my family, and think of new paths.

When I shared with my 8-year-old daughter Lola my decision to leave Xebia (usually, I have particular conversations with her), she was super happy to have more time with me. Still, I told her I was very worried about the change.

She told me with the typical wisdom of young kids:

Dad, maybe this is a good time to do what you wanted to do when you were a child. Do you remember what was?

Dang! I did not remember! I was always so anxious about building things that I may have lost my purpose in them, or maybe my purpose is indeed building things and creating impact, and I need to start a new adventure. For either of them, I need time to think and stop.

But before saying goodbye, I'd like to have some space here to say a big THANK YOU to everyone I have had the opportunity to meet and work with within Xebia. There are so many that I can not tag them altogether.

47 Degrees team (when we were "just" 75 folks in the last retreat)

Thanks to every 47er (the past and the present ones). Once you are a 47er, you will always be. Partners were only lucky dogs with the ability to gather wonderful people, but you, folks, are the ones who are bringing this fantastic culture and level of professionalism. Never change.

Thanks to my colleagues at the Center of Excellence of Design and Creativity of Xebia. One of the gifts I am bringing home is to be able to work with teams from different cultures and countries and learn from all of them. I will definitely miss you all (and especially my friends from the "Olé Team": Benjy Montoya, Jetro Cabau Quirós, and Super Isra)

Thanks to Daan Teunissen , Michel den Braver, Anand Sahay, and the executive board behind the acquisition. They were the ones who identified 47 Degrees as the pearl it is and decided to acquire us. I remember the call from Daan (During the negotiation, we were about to jump out), saying, "No, no, nooo, let's start this over, guys, we really want you as part of Xebia."

So, for now, you can always find me in beautiful Cádiz, taking walks on the beach with playing video games with Lola and Momo, in a chiringuito with my friends, or maybe starting a new adventure. Who knows. But, I can tell you, you will always find me with a smile on my face to see you again. ☺️