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Miguel Carranza was given his first computer by his grandfather for his first communion and since he turned it on he was clear about what he wanted to devote the rest of his life. It is a vocation that has ended up installing it in the epicenter of Silicon Valley as founder of a start-up, RevenueCat, which is quickly becoming a well-known name for app developers around the world.
The idea is to some extent simple. In a world in which more and more applications come to work with subscription models, RevenueCat allows developers to manage those subscriptions on both iOS and Android devices and keep a thorough control to analyze where users come from and how to grow their business .
The company closed its first round of financing of 1.5 million dollars last fall and more than 1,000 applications already use technology . In total, RevenueCat already manages more than $ 100 million in subscriptions per year for its customers.
Getting here was not easy . "I studied Computer Engineering in Seville and Silicon Valley's dream seemed increasingly complicated. It is not easy to move to the other side of the world and be able to work in the US without contacts, without a work visa, etc.", explains Carranza.
The opportunity came as part of the Youth with Future program of StepOne, which offered young Spaniards the possibility of doing internships in Silicon Valley companies.
"I interviewed a small startup called MindSnacks, which made educational games to learn languages on iOS. The decision at that point was not exactly easy, I had to leave my partner, family, friends ... but it was what I had always wanted I didn't want to regret the rest of my life of "what would have happened if ...", he remembers.
MindSnacks offered him a full-time job and processed his work visa. The 6 months for which he had gone became 5 and a half years. He started as a fellow and ended up directing the engineering team , supervising an educational app, Elevate, which was recognized by Apple as the best mobile application of 2014.
It was that app that allowed him to find the idea of his current company. "In Elevate we dedicate a huge amount of resources and engineering time to manage the subscriptions of the different platforms (Apple, Google, Web ...). It was a boring problem, and most engineers were not interested in solving it , since that was not a differential part of our product. We tried to outsource it several times, but there was no solution in the market, "he explains.
His partner Jacob Eiting, who had left Elevate before him with the intention of setting up a company , suggested he set up that service. All serious applications had to solve that problem and nobody had done it at scale yet. Everything fit.
They signed up for Y-Combinator , a well-known Silicon Valley accelerator that helps start-ups take their first steps (cradle of companies like Airbnb, Twitch or Dropbox), and were selected for the program. "At that time I quit my job at Elevate, I dedicated myself to RevenueCat full time. We went through the Y-Combiantor program in the summer of 2018. In September 2018, we started hiring the first employees ."
The company is totally remote and in fact the first two engineers of the company are Spanish . Carranza recognizes that in Silicon Valley there is a huge concentration of talent. Not only because of the Americans, but precisely because it is a technological hub where the best of all parts of the United States and the world end, but the tendency is that the border borders will gradually disappear, partly because of how much Immigration processes in the US have been complicated. in recent years.
"In Spain we have the great competitive advantage that it is not necessary to borrow to have a quality education. And there is plenty of talent. But many times we focus too much on the Spanish market , and this lack of ambition means that talent is not optimized "The state of California alone has almost the same number of inhabitants as Spain. We need more examples of Spanish global start-ups that serve as motivation and don't limit ourselves to the local market," says Carranza.
Still recognizes that there are very clear advantages for a start-up in Silicon Valley . "It does not mean that we would not have been able to set up RevenueCat in Spain, in fact I think it would have been totally possible. But in general, it is easier to get the first customers being here (somehow, it gives credibility), and there is much more capital. Although it is changing in Spain, the big difference is that here many investors have been founders of technological start-ups before, and they provide another type of value different from that of the traditional investor, "he explains.
Living in California, of course, also has its difficulties. "I have always felt closer to the Californian culture than to that of Seville. I have always liked the lifestyle here, the music here, the beach, the surf ..." Carranza confesses. "But when you have been here long enough and the initial crushing phase passes, you realize that there are many things you miss.
Obviously family and friends is the main point but the way of living in Seville is different. It is simpler, relaxed and calm. Personal relationships are much stronger. It's a good place to disconnect from the San Francisco bubble , and realize the really important things again. And despite being a big fan of pizzas and hamburgers, of course, he also misses food. "
For Spaniards who dream of a future in Silicon Valley, as he did, he offers advice : "If you are a recent graduate, I would try to work for an American company that allows remote work, or I have offices in Europe. Or if you have the resources economic, study a graduate in the US They are the easiest ways to start building a network of contacts, and know the way of working American, "he says. "Then you can decide if you finally want to make the leap, having minimized the risk."
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