Hear from Partnerships Manager, Cesar, on his experience, what it’s like working remotely, and how he likes to unwind
Briefly describe your role and how it directly impacts Codat’s mission
I’m responsible for managing Codat’s Strategic Technology Partnerships in North America. My objective is to identify and build strong relationships with key technology vendors, enhancing our joint value proposition and ultimately making the lives of SMBs easier.
What led you to pursue this career path, and what about Codat specifically intrigued you?
Although my academic background is in Mechanical Engineering, I realized very early in my career that my interests lay in technology and its capacity to add value and change markets through disruptive innovation. Partnerships primarily interested me as I enjoy analyzing how technologies help solve problems and identifying synergies that enable sales and benefit multiple stakeholders at the same time. Codat was especially interesting to me as it underpins the growth of Open Finance as it evolves beyond retail consumers by enabling SMBs to unlock the value hidden in their financial data.
What’s unique about your day to day that might not be obvious to others?
I try to find time every day to walk. Not only do I enjoy the light exercise, but I really enjoy this time to gather my thoughts, disconnect, and be mindful.
How does your role directly impact new business and the expansion of our organization?
I aim to help grow Codat’s business through the flywheel effect – a joint product takes both parties beyond the sum of their parts. For example, integrating our data platform with technology partners with existing relationships with financial institutions helps elevate our brand, gives more visibility to our suite of applications, and boosts our direct and indirect revenue.
What’s been the most challenging aspect of working remotely?
Although remote working offers many benefits, I really enjoy working side by side with colleagues. From my point of view, the hardest part is missing out on the serendipity that emerges when you work shoulder to shoulder in the same space. That said, Codat has been a pleasure to join remotely, and everyone I have interacted with is helpful, kind, and cheerful. This culture adapts well to remote onboarding and collaboration.
If someone is interested in working at Codat, what’s the best way for them to learn about what we do?
I would suggest going directly to our docs for those who are more technically minded – there’s so much to learn and absorb from this open resource. For those that like to kick back and listen (and are podcast junkies like myself), I would suggest this interview with Pete Lord to get a great summary in under 20 minutes.
What personal or professional goals do you have for 2022?
From a professional perspective, my aim is to build a partner ecosystem in North America that generates the relationships, trust, and value that leads partners to position our solutions and brand as the best-of-breed SMB data platform.
From a personal perspective, my goal this year is to learn a second language with my daughter and travel to a country where we can practice our new skills later in the year! At the moment, it’s between Bonjour and Bom dia.
What’s a podcast or book that’s had you hooked lately?
I am a podcast addict and follow many with a general tendency to macroeconomics, technology, and business. So it’s hard to pick one out specifically.
One episode that stands out is Tim Ferris’s interview with Naval (AngelList) and Chris Dixon (a16z) discussing the future of technology, decentralized applications, and web 3.
A book I really enjoyed in 2021 was the story of Sam Zemurray, “The fish that ate the whale – The life and times of America’s Banana King” – a fantastic story of entrepreneurship, grit, and character.
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