A few days ago, CEO Advertising magazine interviewed Oscar Valente, CEO of MyTaskPanel Consulting. We share a reproduction below.
1- First of all, how are you and your team doing?
Pretty good, better than we expected. For a long time, we have been working remotely and decentralized, betting on agile methodologies, maintaining the infrastructure in the cloud and using our own project management software. This greatly facilitates our day to day.
Thanks to this way of working, we were lucky that the pandemic did not affect us in this regard. We were able to face and overcome the crisis and help many companies to achieve the same. We help them carry out their technological projects, working successfully in a decentralized manner, work that we were already doing before the pandemic.
2- Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded MyTaskPanel Consulting
I come from a middle-class Argentine family, like so many others. I never lacked for anything, but neither did I have too much. I had to work to be able to afford college and finish my degree. I went through several jobs and in all of them I learned something (I am grateful for it).
Back in 1993, having just graduated from Computer Science, I created my first systems consulting company, together with a friend from college. We focused on what we did best: developing software. We provided high-quality, personalized service at a fraction of the cost of the market average (we could do it, because we did all the work by ourselves). We began to be known and embarked on the next stage: growth.
After several ups and downs along the way, in 2018, we decided with my family to emigrate to Spain. From there, I founded a new startup with two partners, with the aim of creating the best software on the market for project management in agile methodologies. This is how MyTaskPanel Consulting was born, a Spanish company with a factory in Latin America, dedicated to software development and the provision of dedicated agile teams. This has allowed us, in a very short time, to obtain international awards for our quality and exponential growth rate (+300% in just one year).
Today, almost 30 years after my first startup, and with a consolidated and continuously growing company, I can consider myself a successful person. In addition to having a (relatively) good economic position, we have managed to create a company that I am proud of, in which respect, quality and the purpose of helping companies achieve their technological goals are above any other interest.
3- What is MyTaskPanel Consulting?
MyTaskPanel Consulting is a software development company, temporary outsourcing of IT professionals and dedicated agile teams. With a central office in Spain, a subsidiary in Miami and a factory in Latin America, it provides support to IT consultants, startups and companies with a strong technological base. It has a team that knows how to work together and knows the problems that technology companies face and how to solve them.
4- Why did you decide to become a business owner?
From a very young age, I have always wanted to have my own company. I wanted to create and run a business to my liking, to make a difference, although at the time I did not express it in these words. I was aware that being employed in a dependency relationship would give me more security, the possibility of professional growth and, surely, fewer work worries. But for me, staying in the comfort zone was never an option. From the beginning, my desire was to be able to manage my schedules, have independence and accomplish what I liked. Over the years, my idea took shape and became what it is today.
There is a phrase from Steve Jobs that says “If you don’t work for your dreams, someone will hire you to work for theirs”, I definitely always wanted to work to achieve my dreams.
5- What is your biggest success?
To this day, I think my greatest successes are two. On the one hand: having achieved a balance between my personal life and my professional life. In other words, having managed to develop a company that works as expected, without neglecting free time to enjoy with family and friends. On the other hand: seeing that the majority of our clients choose us again and thank us for helping them achieve their goals. This, without a doubt, is both professional and personal satisfaction.
6- How much time do you spend working on your business each day?
I usually work from Monday to Friday between 6 and 9 hours (the amount depends on the day). At first, I put in more hours. But, thanks to the business structure that we have created and the efficient team that I have, now I can dedicate myself to what I like best: defining the company’s strategy and ensuring its compliance, constantly trying to expand, developing new markets and new products/services or adapting them to the needs of our customers.
7- What piece of advice would you give to beginners who want to start their own Technology Company?
First of all, I would tell them to take the time to define specific objectives and be clear about why they want to create a technology company and what they want to achieve with it (beyond financial gain, of course). Secondly, I would recommend working with agile methodologies and advancing step by step in a scheme of continuous improvement towards total quality. And, thirdly, but very importantly, I would remind them to surround themselves with a good team and dedicate themselves fully to fulfilling their dream, being convinced that failure is not a possibility.
8- How do you advertise your business?
On the one hand, at MyTaskPanel Consulting, we have a good marketing team that leads inbound and outbound campaigns and actions. This allowed us to be recognized, in addition to receiving some awards that we appreciate and value. On the other hand, we take care of carrying out the projects in the best possible way; this effort ensures that customers are happy and recommend us. We constantly try to improve our processes, always putting the customer at the center. Fortunately for us, word of mouth has been working for us for a long time, so we understand that we are doing well.
9- What is the future of MyTaskPanel Consulting? Where do you see MyTaskPanel Consulting in the next 5 to 10 Years?
I see MyTaskPanel Consulting doing the same thing, helping technology companies, but on a much larger scale and without losing professional and human quality. We have the knowledge, experience and ability to become a technological company, recognized inside and outside of Spain, that develops products of the highest quality and provides the best IT professionals to those companies that need them.
10- What would you like to say to CEO Advertising readers? Your final thoughts?
I would like to tell you that we understand the problems of technology companies and that we will be happy to help with whatever you need. If you have any questions or problems to solve, you can contact us without any commitment. We believe that information and experience are meant to be shared, and mutual collaboration is the key to getting ahead and overcoming any challenge.
We thank CEO Advertising magazine for the interview.
