The Medellín–Spain Bridge: How to Scale a Startup Across Two Continents
When I incorporated NYCRIS in Medellín in August 2023, I already knew that the problem I wanted to solve — lost reservations and calls in hospitality — had no borders. A restaurant in Medellín and one in Madrid share the same pain: the floor team can't handle everything. For NYCRIS to make a real impact, I needed to be where the key pieces actually move.
That's why I made the decision to relocate to Spain. It wasn't an escape or a whim: it was a strategic bet. Today, operating across two continents, I know that scaling a startup internationally requires far more than buying a plane ticket: it requires redesigning how everything works.
Why Spain and not somewhere else
Many people ask why not the United States or some other more obvious hub. The answer has several dimensions. Spain is the natural connector for a Latin American entrepreneur: access to the European market with a solid regulatory framework, but also real cultural proximity to Latin America. I'm not only talking about speaking the same language — I mean the codes, how things are negotiated, how relationships are built. In Medellín there is first-rate technical and creative talent; in Spain there is a more resourced and mature ecosystem. The combination of both is exactly what NYCRIS needs at this stage.
Two time zones: problem or advantage
Working with teams and clients across time zones can destroy productivity if you don't have clear systems. At first I tried to be present in everything — every call, every thread. That didn't last. I learned at Qué Código that systems always beat shortcuts, and that applies equally to team coordination.
So NYCRIS wouldn't stall while I slept — or vice versa — we built a culture of asynchronous work. No meetings for the sake of meeting: radical documentation, trust based on outcomes, and tools that do the glue work a transatlantic company needs. If something isn't written down, it doesn't exist.
Technology has no passport
One thing I've kept validating throughout this process is that great technology is a universal language. It doesn't matter whether we're talking to a restaurant in Madrid or one in Medellín: NYCRIS's value lives in what it does, not in where it's registered. Moving abroad forced me to delegate more, to trust the team, and to understand that a founder's job is not to control everything — it's to design the environment so things work without needing to be on top of every detail.
What has actually changed
Being physically in Europe while keeping roots and operations in Latin America has given me a 360-degree view of what independent hospitality needs in 2026. Not just in Colombia, not just in Spain: in both markets there are businesses with the same problem and the same drive to fix it.
Scaling a startup is not about where you stand. It's about how far your vision can reach with the systems you build.