Artwork

Content provided by Lenny Rachitsky. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Lenny Rachitsky or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

How Mercado Libre built Latin America's most valuable company: 18k engineers, 30k deploys a day, and their own fleet of planes | Sebastian Barrios

1:19:25
 
Share
 

Manage episode 487529039 series 3359822
Content provided by Lenny Rachitsky. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Lenny Rachitsky or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Sebastian Barrios was the longtime head of product and engineering at Mercado Libre, the largest company in Latin America—valued at over $100 billion and home to more than 100,000 employees. There, he led a team of more than 18,000 engineers across 18 countries and oversaw an astonishing 30,000 code deployments a day. Before Mercado Libre, he founded multiple startups, including a ridesharing company that competed directly with Uber in Latin America. And at just 17, he got a personal phone call from Steve Jobs asking him to take his app off the App Store. Today, Sebastian is the SVP of Engineering at Roblox.

What you’ll learn:

• Why Mercado Libre operates with 95% fewer PMs than typical tech companies (and how it actually works)

• How to maintain product quality with 30,000 daily deployments and distributed ownership

• The weekly email system Sebastian uses to maintain alignment with leadership

• How to build a culture of radical candor and direct feedback in a traditionally hierarchical region

• The counterintuitive approach to product reviews that keeps 18,000 engineers aligned

• How to evaluate hype cycles (crypto, AI) pragmatically while staying innovative

Brought to you by:

Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app

Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business

Where to find Sebastian Barrios:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebas/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Sebastian Barrios and Mercado Libre

(05:03) Mercado Libre’s scale and unique ways of operating

(14:48) AI’s impact on operations

(19:19) Empowering teams and reducing fear of failure

(34:20) The importance of radical candor

(38:26) Weekly updates

(41:03) Avoiding hype cycles

(44:24) When Steve Jobs personally called 17-year-old Sebastian

(49:00) Building successful app businesses

(55:33) Unique personal habits

(01:04:00) Raising independent children

(01:07:15) Lightning round and final thoughts

Referenced:

• Mercado Libre: https://www.mercadolibre.com/

• Claude: https://claude.ai/

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/

• Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.com/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/

• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

• Uber: https://www.uber.com/

• OpenAI: https://openai.com/

• Marcos Galperin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcosgalperin/

• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/

• Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/

• Which companies produce the best product managers: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best

• Which companies accelerate PM careers most: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm

• How Revolut trains world-class product managers: The “local CEO” model, raw intellect over experience, and a cultural obsession with building wow products | Dmitry Zlokazov (Head of Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-revolut-trains-world-class-product-managers

• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice

• Managing up: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/managing-up

• Steve Jobs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook

Everything Everywhere All at Once: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710474/

Dune on Max: https://www.max.com/movies/dune/e7dc7b3a-a494-4ef1-8107-f4308aa6bbf7

Bluey on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-fa6973b9-e7cf-49fb-81a2-d4908e4bf694

• Mentava: https://www.mentava.com/

• Matt Bateman’s website: https://mattbateman.xyz/

• Beast Academy: https://beastacademy.com/

• David protein bars: https://davidprotein.com/

• Marc Andreessen on X: https://x.com/pmarca

• Tatami mats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami

Recommended books:

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509

High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/

The Odyssey: https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Homer/dp/0140268863

The Dream Machine: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-M-Mitchell-Waldrop/dp/1732265119/

Dune: https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Chronicles-Book-1/dp/0441013597/

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
  continue reading

269 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 487529039 series 3359822
Content provided by Lenny Rachitsky. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Lenny Rachitsky or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Sebastian Barrios was the longtime head of product and engineering at Mercado Libre, the largest company in Latin America—valued at over $100 billion and home to more than 100,000 employees. There, he led a team of more than 18,000 engineers across 18 countries and oversaw an astonishing 30,000 code deployments a day. Before Mercado Libre, he founded multiple startups, including a ridesharing company that competed directly with Uber in Latin America. And at just 17, he got a personal phone call from Steve Jobs asking him to take his app off the App Store. Today, Sebastian is the SVP of Engineering at Roblox.

What you’ll learn:

• Why Mercado Libre operates with 95% fewer PMs than typical tech companies (and how it actually works)

• How to maintain product quality with 30,000 daily deployments and distributed ownership

• The weekly email system Sebastian uses to maintain alignment with leadership

• How to build a culture of radical candor and direct feedback in a traditionally hierarchical region

• The counterintuitive approach to product reviews that keeps 18,000 engineers aligned

• How to evaluate hype cycles (crypto, AI) pragmatically while staying innovative

Brought to you by:

Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app

Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business

Where to find Sebastian Barrios:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebas/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Sebastian Barrios and Mercado Libre

(05:03) Mercado Libre’s scale and unique ways of operating

(14:48) AI’s impact on operations

(19:19) Empowering teams and reducing fear of failure

(34:20) The importance of radical candor

(38:26) Weekly updates

(41:03) Avoiding hype cycles

(44:24) When Steve Jobs personally called 17-year-old Sebastian

(49:00) Building successful app businesses

(55:33) Unique personal habits

(01:04:00) Raising independent children

(01:07:15) Lightning round and final thoughts

Referenced:

• Mercado Libre: https://www.mercadolibre.com/

• Claude: https://claude.ai/

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/

• Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.com/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/

• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

• Uber: https://www.uber.com/

• OpenAI: https://openai.com/

• Marcos Galperin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcosgalperin/

• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/

• Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/

• Which companies produce the best product managers: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best

• Which companies accelerate PM careers most: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm

• How Revolut trains world-class product managers: The “local CEO” model, raw intellect over experience, and a cultural obsession with building wow products | Dmitry Zlokazov (Head of Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-revolut-trains-world-class-product-managers

• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice

• Managing up: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/managing-up

• Steve Jobs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook

Everything Everywhere All at Once: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710474/

Dune on Max: https://www.max.com/movies/dune/e7dc7b3a-a494-4ef1-8107-f4308aa6bbf7

Bluey on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-fa6973b9-e7cf-49fb-81a2-d4908e4bf694

• Mentava: https://www.mentava.com/

• Matt Bateman’s website: https://mattbateman.xyz/

• Beast Academy: https://beastacademy.com/

• David protein bars: https://davidprotein.com/

• Marc Andreessen on X: https://x.com/pmarca

• Tatami mats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami

Recommended books:

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509

High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/

The Odyssey: https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Homer/dp/0140268863

The Dream Machine: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-M-Mitchell-Waldrop/dp/1732265119/

Dune: https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Chronicles-Book-1/dp/0441013597/

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
  continue reading

269 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Quick Reference Guide

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play