February 27th, 2023 by Adam Sandman
The Inflectra partner team has an ambitious travel schedule for 2023. Our first stop was 20-24 February in Mexico City.
Day One - Getting Oriented
México City is vast and bustling, and is rapidly becoming the tech hub of the Americas. It is experiencing tremendous growth both in terms of its population as well as the number of tech companies being founded in the region. Adam, Jorge and Jessica convened to meet with partners and customers, learn more about business processes and opportunities in México, and do a little exploring in this vibrant city.
We caught up over chips, guacamole and tacos (naturally) and prepared for the week.
Day Two - Partner Meeting with Avalanche
The meetings commenced on Tuesday with our long-standing partner Avalanche. We met Sergio, Rafael and Francisco who hosted us at an office near our hotel in Cuauhtémoc. Adam and Sergio originally met at an event in Washington, DC; however, it was the first time getting both teams together in person. The agenda called for a two hour meeting followed by lunch which morphed into a four and a half hour meeting followed by dinner. Topics included product and partner program updates, marketing brainstorming and product positioning.
After an exciting discussion, we meandered to Salon Ríos for some excellent food. Being adventurous eaters, and having a “when in Rome” moment, we decided to try crickets on maiz (delicious but don’t think about it too much) as well as other local delicacies (I’ve never met a fried cheese I didn’t like.) And it wouldn’t be an evening in México City without a sampling of Mezcal.
Day Three - Partner Meeting with Nexion
Our next day began with a team breakfast, cruising through the previous day’s email and preparing for our next partner meeting with another long-standing partner, Nexion. With offices in México City and Argentina, Nexion has a broad reach in the LATAM region. This was our first in-person meeting with the team. Bernardo joined us at the hotel where he and Jorge connected over their shared Argentinian heritage and stories of legacy tool implementations gone wrong. Fortunately we have a modern tool to solve those problems. ;-)
We covered a lot of ground with Bernardo and learned more about Nexion’s projects and their customers’ needs. We provided an overview of our suite’s new features and what partners and customers can expect to see in 2023 and 2024. We then shared a spicy lunch at the hotel over a spirited discussion of the history of futbol championship games through the ages.
Day Four - Customer Meeting and Local Meetup
Day four consisted of customer meetings and exploring opportunities. Two thirds of the team had departures today, while Adam remains for the very culturally meta experience of an Oxford Alumni Association happy hour, at The Duke of Lisbon, a British pub, in México City. OK!
The work was driven by business and a desire to meet our partners in person, but we also found a bit of time to enjoy the history and culture of México City. Jorge had visited several times, but the rest of the team was new to the extraordinary sights, sounds and smells of the former epicenter of Aztec culture. The Archeological Museum was a highlight, and we also enjoyed the Historic center of the city and The Blue House, Frida Kahlo’s home.
It was truly wonderful to spend time with our partners-turned-friends, build deeper connections, and plan for future visits and opportunities. We say goodbye to México, but turn our sights to our future travels including London, Houston, Paris, and Antwerp. We hope to visit you in your neck of the woods soon!