“Tpaga, which is a mobile wallet where a person (so it is not banking) can receive money to his cell phone and then use it to pay bills, make cell phone recharges, transfer money to another person and even use it to pay in physical shops.Started in two018 and today is the fastest growing wallet of the continent ”.This is how Andrés Gutiérrez describes to Tpaga, the company he founded when he identified the need while undertaking with another transport business company.Por eso en two3 preguntas para emprendedores y sus emprendimientos nos cuenta qué fue lo que construyeron y a qué le están apuntando.

1.How old am I? That I studied?

39 years.I studied business administration.

two.What was my idea and when was born?What did I think?

We are creating a "bank" for non -banking.The idea was born within another entrepreneurship, called Tappsi, which would be the first app to ask for taxis in Colombia and would become the second largest of all Latam.In Tappsi, when someone paid the race with a credit card we did not have how to transfer the money to the drivers, because they were not bankrupt.That led us to create TPAGA, which is a mobile wallet where a person (so it is not banking) can receive money to his cell phone and then use it to pay bills, make cell phone recharges, transfer money to another person and even use it to pay inphysical shops. Arrancó en two018 y hoy es la billetera móvil de mayor crecimiento del continente.

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3.How did I come true and take it to the facts?

I think that much of the success is that we were in the right place at the right time.While in Tappsi we realized that this was a real need for hundreds of thousands of people.Then we realized that it was a problem not only of taxi drivers, but of messengers, cargo transporters, catalog vendors and almost 50% of the country's population.We were able to launch from this first client, Tappsi, and then we went step by step building the financial infrastructure, connecting with banks, low value networks, shops. Por los primeros two años fue muy duro porque el foco no era crecer en usuarios sino construir el producto.And sometimes investors want immediate results.

4.Where did I take the money to put it to walk and how did I pay it?

We contributed savings from the founders but we were very fortunate to be selected by the accelerator and combinator, such as the first LATAM Fintech, and from there we received capital fund capital from Silicon Valley.

5.What am I achieving with my entrepreneurship?What am I changing with my idea?

I am getting Colombians, Venezuelans and anyone living in Colombia can access financial services without having to move to an office.I am taking hundreds of thousands of people can save money in TPAGA investment funds, pay bills without having to make ranks or exposed to contagion at the current situation, and make people “forgotten” by the financial system can have all theBank services from your cell phone.

6.I'm happy?

Very.After the year we had to live, having family, a job with a social impact purpose is a fortune.

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7.Would my entrepreneurship sell my company?

After selling my first venture, Tappsi, I had a period of repentance and pain, but then I realized that it is part of the process of creating entrepreneurship.If I had not sold it, I would not have had the opportunity to create tpaga, my megaphone, to start investing in ventures and support other entrepreneurs.So from the sale a series of new opportunities and challenges came out that today I feel that it has done a lot of value to the ecosystem and me, personally.Now with Tpaga I would sell only if I know that the impact of what we are doing will be greater with the new partner.

8.How hard was it for me to undertake?

Very duro.It is a life decision that really changes your perspective, your availability of time, your respect for other entrepreneurs.Beyond the decision to undertake or not, I think the hard is the day to day not to surrender or throw back once you have decided to undertake.

9.Did I fulfill my dream?What I'm I missing of?

I feel that "my dream" is coming new "seasons" because when you are reaching the end, a new or enlarges.I want to see the country better than it is today, and I want to see that students want to undertake as a professional vocation.I want people to invest not only in the root farm or cows, but in ventures.And I want technology to change the lives of millions of non -banking people, as we saw it happened with the taxis industry.

On a personal level, every day with my family is a dream of a fulfilled.

10.And now that? Whats Next?

Continue to undertake.Continue to return to the new entrepreneurs' litter.

eleven.Is my venture scalable?

Total.TPAGA can become a product for 100% of adults in the country.

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1two.To grow, would you receive investment from a stranger?Would you give it part of my company?

Not a stranger.

13.What would you not do again?

Launch in more countries ahead of time.

14.Who inspired me?Who would I like to follow?

The truth, nobody as such.But they inspire me daily the hundreds of stories of people who continue to undertake daily.More than an Elon Musk or Bill Gates, I am inspired by the owner of the bakery or a grocery store.

fifteen.Did I fail at any time?I thought about throwing in the towel?

Yes, many times.Before TPAGA and TAPPSI, we create an entrepreneurship that did not survive.

16.Do I be part of some kind of community that helps me in this path of undertaking?

Yes, of Endeavor and Combinator.

17.What am I doing it?Can you impact new generations?

I hope that because that is part of the reason I am undertaking.

18.How do I see myself in 10 years and how do I see my entrepreneurship, my company?

I see myself supporting entrepreneurs, sharing my experience so that others can undertake.Being an angel investor and helping to specify Colombia with the US Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Ecosystems.

19.What role have my family and friends played?

Without them it is not possible.They are my support, my guide.They renew me with energy when I am exhausted.And they are also inspiration.

two0.I did it.Would you help other entrepreneurs to achieve it?

1.000%.

two1.What role did my team play?Who?

If you want to run fast, run alone;If you want to run away, run accompanied.I think without the team the projects do not grow, point.My team was Juan Salcedo and Sebastián Ortiz.Mentors like Alan Colmenares.

twotwo.What is my personal seal?What differentiates me from the rest?

A lot of passion, touch of creativity and endless fortune.

two3.What have I learned from all this?

That you have to be humble and be able to recognize that many times luck plays a very important role in the success of companies.That clearly success will not come without hard work, sacrifice, errors and some other successes.But the most important thing is to know who you surround yourself and have support circles.

Si conoce historias de emprendedores y sus emprendimientos, escríbanos al correo de Edwin Bohórquez Aya (ebohorquez@elespectador.com) o al de Tatiana Gómez Fuentes (tgomez@elespectador.com).