When Life Calls, You Answer
On starting my own company, going back to my roots, and making moves when the moment is right.
There’s a point where you stop waiting for the perfect moment and just go.
That’s where I found myself this year. A lot changed in the world, in tech, in my own life. And instead of watching it happen, I decided to move.
A little background: I grew up in Caracas in a middle class family that was always building something. My family had a book publishing & teaching materials company, and my dad has always been a natural salesman at the center of it all. Business and strategy was the normal environment around me as I grew up.
At some point, like so many Venezuelan families, mine scattered. One by one, almost everyone we knew left the country. Everyone except my parents. They were there through some of the country’s hardest years and never considered leaving. That helped me keep a strong connection to Venezuela.
I left at 17 to study in the U.S. Not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life, I found myself getting into Software Engineering. Eighteen years later, what started as a one way trip turned into a career in tech, a life I'm proud of, and a home in Miami with my wife.
In between the big projects and the client engagements, I kept coming back to the same thought: I want to build something of my own. Growing up around my family's business probably planted that seed early. It just took eighteen years of learning, working, and building my expertise to feel ready to act on it.
Leaving corporate wasn’t a hard decision once I was honest with myself. I started ODS Tech Consulting, a company focused on helping businesses navigate AI: not with big promises and complicated strategies, but with real engineering and practical solutions. We work with elite LATAM talent and we focus on getting things done without overcomplicating them.
Working deeply in AI over the past few years genuinely changed how I think about building things. Things that used to require big teams and big budgets don't anymore. I saw this firsthand helping clients scope and solution projects. What used to take ten people can now take three with the right tools and approach. That fits how I've always thought: don't add complexity you don't need, just get the thing built. AI didn't teach me that, but it made it a lot more possible. And that's exactly why the vision for ODS goes beyond just a technology services company. I want to help build and operate businesses in Venezuela too, because those same tools make it possible to build something real there today in a way that simply wasn't feasible before.
What's Happening in Venezuela Right Now
There is a lot to unpack and you have probably seen some of it in the news, but I want to focus on the professional and technology side of things. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Startup Venezuela Summit in Miami. This is my second time attending and the event gets better and better. Personally, I knew more people this time, there was a sense of optimism and inspiration in a room full of successful Venezuelans from all over the world doing incredible things. It was good to be in that room with the diaspora, people who left but never stopped caring about where they came from.
In a few days I’m flying to Caracas on one of the first direct flights from Miami in seven years. I was actually on one of the last ones out in 2019, so there’s something that feels full circle about this. I’ll be attending the Venezuela Tech Week Conference: 494 international attendees, 48 countries, 6 world regions. That’s a clear signal that people are paying attention and that something real is moving there.
The country is going through a real moment of transition and the energy is hard to ignore. Investment is coming back, entrepreneurs are doing serious work, and a tech ecosystem is starting to take shape. The people I'm most excited to see are the ones who stayed through the hardest years and kept going anyway, just like my parents did. My goal is to show up and genuinely contribute, not just because there is opportunity, but because I feel a real responsibility to give back to the place I come from.
I’m not trying to tie this up too neatly because life doesn’t really work like that. But when I look at everything happening at once, starting ODS, going back to Venezuela, watching what AI is making possible, it feels like alignment. Like I’m finally building something that’s actually mine and pointed at things I actually care about. I always wanted to do this and the timing just finally made sense.
If you’re a business leader trying to figure out your AI strategy and want to talk to someone who’s been in the weeds on this and not just in theory, I’m happy to connect. And if you’re part of the Venezuela tech world or just curious about what’s happening there, reach out. I’ll be on the ground next week and glad to share what I see.