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From lawyer to founder: the story of Rindegastos

Article

From lawyer to founder: the story of Rindegastos

Article

From lawyer to founder: the story of Rindegastos

Business insights, Innovation and development

Article

From lawyer to founder: the story of Rindegastos

Business insights, Innovation and development

From lawyer to founder: the story of Rindegastos

Before becoming the CEO of a fast-growing SaaS company, Sebastián Ferrer spent nearly two decades practising law. Working in a profession defined by precision, discipline and careful decisions, technology startups were never part of the original plan. And somehow, that’s exactly where he ended up. 

Leaving his legal career

Sebastián Ferrer is one of the founders of Rindegastos, a platform that helps companies automate and manage corporate expenses, from reimbursements and approvals to policy compliance. Today, the company serves more than 4,000 customers across Latin America and employs close to 160 people.

In the early years, Ferrer was involved from the outside, supporting the business as legal advisor and board member while continuing his legal career.

“I was always involved, but not in the daily execution,” Ferrer says.

As the company grew, that distance became harder to maintain, and the business reached a stage where it needed stronger founder involvement.  So four years ago, Sebastián made the difficult decision to leave his legal career and join the company full-time, becoming CEO two years later.

Where Rindegastos really began

The story of Rindegastos began with Paymox, a company Ferrer launched more than fifteen years ago with his brothers and his father to help businesses optimise early payment processes.

In theory, the opportunity looked clear. In practice, the market was not ready, since electronic invoicing was still emerging and most financial documentation was handled manually. The project never reached the milestone every startup hopes for and never issued a single invoice.

Then, during a sales meeting, something unexpected happened. A potential client listened to the proposal and asked a simple question that changed everything:

“This is interesting… but do you also have an expense reimbursement module?”

Expense reporting existed in every company and industry, yet it remained manual, inefficient and frustrating. Once the opportunity became visible, it was impossible to ignore it. The first version of the product was simple compared with what exists today, but it solved a real problem. Within a month, the company issued its first invoice.

“That first invoice meant everything,” Ferrer says.

From that moment, the company began to grow steadily. For more than a decade, Rindegastos expanded without external capital, reaching profitability early.

“We reinvested everything back into the business,” Ferrer adds. “Again and again.”

The product was built around a simple philosophy: instead of forcing companies to adapt to rigid software, the platform adapts to the way organisations actually operate – allowing policies, approvals and workflows to be configured according to each company’s internal processes.

“The product adapts to the customer, not the other way around.”

Learning the importance of focus

As Rindegastos grew, new opportunities started to appear, from new markets to new ideas and the possibility of expanding beyond the company’s original focus. International growth soon became one of the paths the team decided to explore.

The company first entered Peru and later opened operations in Colombia and Mexico. Colombia showed early traction, but Mexico proved far more difficult.

“Looking back, the company expanded too quickly,” Ferrer says. “Opening several markets at the same time required time, energy and resources that could have been used more effectively elsewhere.”

The experience helped the team realise something important. Opportunities will always appear, but trying to pursue everything at once can dilute a company’s efforts.

Instead, the team made a deliberate decision about where to concentrate.

“We decided to focus on becoming the best expense management platform in Latin America,” Ferrer says.

Since then, every improvement to the product and every decision on the roadmap has reinforced that commitment.

When Visma entered the picture

Rindegastos was not actively looking to sell. At the time, the company was discussing a different question internally: whether to continue growing at its current pace or raise capital to expand more aggressively across Latin America.

Several investors and potential buyers had already approached the company. Many of those conversations felt largely financial.

Visma stood out for a different reason.

“What mattered to me most was culture and the promise that the company would not lose its identity,” Ferrer says.

The appeal was not only the economic terms but the long-term approach. The idea was not to replace what was already working, but to support the company as it continued to grow.

“Visma was the only option that truly checked both boxes,” Ferrer says.

Being part of the Visma ecosystem has also opened new possibilities, particularly at the intersection of finance and human resources, where expense management naturally connects with other parts of the portfolio.

“There is enormous potential to create value together,” Ferrer adds.

What success really means

Running a growing company demands time and energy, but Ferrer tries to protect the parts of life that keep him grounded. He is married and has three children, and family plays a central role in how he thinks about work and success.

“I am very much a family person,” Ferrer says. “That is what keeps me grounded.”

For him, the success of Rindegastos is also about building something through years of effort and focus while still being able to enjoy the life around it.

At the same time, he believes one of the most important lessons along the way has been the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people.

“Build a great team,” Ferrer says in closing. “Hire people who are better than you. Trust them. Empower them. Step aside when needed.”


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