Luiz Cent 🪙

Hire the top 1% of talent in LatAm in less than 21 days

I'm Luiz Cent, and it's great to meet you. 

If you landed here, I invite you to pause. LinkedIn is full of people trying to sell you something, and I am one of them, but only if you are buying. 

For over a decade I've been hiring talent internationally, as a hiring manager, as a business owner and as a consultant. Building top performing teams, fully remote has been a passion of mine for years and now it's our business. 

If you are looking to hire top talent, consider LatamCent, a nearshore staffing agency I founded helping USA-based companies discover the top 1% of talent in Latin America. We've helped VC backed, PE backed, and bootstrapped b2b companies find top talent in less than 21 days at 50-70% less than prices in the USA.

Taking the learnings from thousands of hires, our talent partners understand your business and goals. We've helped over 17 b2b tech companies hire Go to Market (Sales, CS, Marketing) and Engineering Talent in LatAm.

Previously, I led sales at Quolum, as a player-coach in the SDR/AE function. In less than 3 months we tripled our conversations and pipeline with half the resources. Through those conversations we re-positioned ourselves in the market, testing pricing strategies, and eventually pivoted from selling fintech to the CFO to selling cybersecurity to CISO. 

The 6 months at Quolum was a mini MBA, from board reports to Nexus/Sequoia, to selling ideas internally, it was as fast-paced as it could be taking early morning calls with India and late night calls with Australia. At Quolum I learned I never want to be a VP of sales again lol. 

Before joining Quolum, I led and grew the customer success and sales team at Mailshake, a product-led sales org that achieved over 100% YoY growth and 5+ million ARR. 

I also have a background in e-commerce growth, conversion rate optimization, SEO, and behavioral email marketing, having worked with 30+ eTailers and leading CRO programs for Optimizely's enterprise clients.

But my passion is entrepreneurship, having built eCommerce agencies, eCommerce stores, and hundreds of websites, keep shipping until one of them hits Product Market Fit. 

If you're in Miami Beach, come co work.

VP of Sales

Quolum is on a mission to save companies BILLIONS of dollars in unused SaaS applications.

Quolum is a full-stack SaaS Procurement product. We have created something out of thin air that sits at the intersection of Finance + IT + Procurement. 

To achieve responsible SaaS buying, we:

* Track feature-level utilization of SaaS apps
* Tame long tail spend via our own SaaS Card and accounting systems integrations
* Reduce FinOps drudgery by aggregating contracts and invoices
* Apply AI, Fintech, and IT workflow to reduce organizational friction.

A few years ago, I told my friend Arthur Frisch that I was starting a recruiting and staffing agency.

He said:

“That’s great. Hiring f**king sucks.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

The hiring that sucks:

• 317 inbound applicants and maybe 2 are actually qualified
• 97 interviews 
• Counteroffers
• Contracts
• Legal
• HR
• Onboarding

It’s crazy that sometimes it’s easier to hire in a different country than in a different U.S. state.

But here’s the part people forget.

The hiring that does not suck:

• Finding your WHO
• Building your GTM team
• Hiring someone who can do the job better than you
• Betting on high potential and watching them grow
• Hitting goals because you built the right team

That part is powerful.

If you want practical tips on hiring successfully in LatAm, whether it’s your first hire or your 50th, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned from hundreds of placements.

Hiring doesn’t have to suck.

You just need the right approach.

#Hiring #LatamCent

🦉 Luiz Cent

I help VC backed SaaS orgs build nearshore teams in Latin America

Founders don’t fail in LATAM because of the country.

They fail because of sequencing.

Here’s what usually happens:

They hear Colombia is hot. 🥵 🇨🇴
Or Argentina has great engineers. 👩🏻‍💻🇦🇷
Or Mexico is strong for sales. 🇲🇽 

So they pick a country first.

Then they try to reverse engineer a hiring strategy around that decision.

That’s backwards.

The right order is:

• What roles are mission critical in the next 12 months?
• How many hires do we actually need?
• Do we want a leadership spine in one country?
• Are we building a remote culture or a hub model?
• Who will manage this team locally?

Only after that should you ask:

Where does this make the most sense?

Country is an output.

Not the starting point.

If you’re thinking about scaling in LATAM and want help mapping this out before you commit to a geography, send me a message.

#LatamCent #Hiring

🇧🇷 Why global companies are looking at Brazil for their next tech hire, by the numbers:

📈 Economy
• 9th largest GDP in the world (~$2.1T USD)
• One of Latin America's most diversified and resilient economies
• Tech sector growing at double-digit rates year over year

💻 Software Developers
• Brazil has the largest developer community in Latin America, over 500,000 active software developers
• Consistently ranked in the top 10 globally on HackerRank for programming skills
• Deep expertise in Java, Python, JavaScript, React, Node.js, and mobile (iOS/Android)
• São Paulo alone rivals many European cities in developer density

🤖 Machine Learning & AI
• Brazil is one of the fastest-growing AI talent markets in the world
• Strong academic output in ML research, with USP, UNICAMP, and PUC-Rio producing world-class AI graduates
• Brazilian ML engineers are active contributors on Kaggle, consistently placing in global competitions
• Growing specialization in NLP (especially Portuguese-language models), computer vision, and data science

🗣️ English Proficiency
• Mid-tier nationally, but tech professionals skew significantly higher, I can attest when I visit, Brazilians don't want to talk in English outside of work 
• The remote work boom has accelerated English adoption across the dev and ML community

🎓 Talent Pipeline
• ~200,000 STEM graduates per year
• Booming bootcamp and upskilling ecosystem feeding the software and AI talent pool

Brazil isn't just a cost play. It's a quality play

The question isn't whether to hire in Brazil, it's whether you can afford not to. 

#Brazil #MachineLearning #SoftwareDevelopment #AITalent #LatAm #TechHiring #RemoteWork #GlobalTalent

I re-read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni  this week.

It hits harder when you’re actually leading a growing team.

Here’s my simple recap as a founder:

1. Conflict is good.

If your leadership team isn’t debating, challenging, and disagreeing, you don’t have harmony. You have artificial peace.

Healthy conflict means we care enough to push back.

Silence is more dangerous than disagreement.

2. Politics starts when people watch what they say.

The moment someone thinks,
“I can’t say this because…”
you’ve already lost trust.

When people filter their opinions to protect themselves, decisions get worse.

3. Lack of commitment doesn’t come from disagreement.

It comes from lack of clarity.

People commit when they feel heard, even if their idea wasn’t chosen.

4. Accountability is peer-to-peer.

Not CEO-to-team.

Not manager-to-employee.

Real teams call each other out respectfully.
If only the leader enforces standards, it’s not a team. It’s a hierarchy.


5. Results > ego.

If someone would rather be right than win as a team, you’ll feel it fast.

As we scale LatamCent , I keep asking myself:

Are we debating enough?
Are we being fully honest?
Are we holding each other accountable?
Are we aligned around results?

Strong companies aren’t built on talent alone.
They’re built on trust + clarity + healthy friction.

If you’re leading a team right now, which dysfunction do you see the most?

#TeamBuding #LatamCent #Hiring

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Candidate fraud is getting more sophisticated, and at LatamCent, we've seen it up close.

Here are real examples from our own hiring pipeline:

🚨 A candidate whose LinkedIn photo didn't match the person on the video call.

🚨 Paid actors posing as CTOs on reference calls, professionally scripted and completely fabricated.

🚨 Candidates using AI tools like Cluey during live technical assessments to generate answers in real time.

This isn't hypothetical. This is happening now, and it's becoming more common across the industry.

For hiring managers and recruiters: your instincts matter more than ever. If something feels off, dig deeper.

For the honest, talented professionals in our network (and there are thousands of you) this is why vetting matters. Your integrity is your competitive advantage.

We're raising the bar on our screening process so the right people always get through. 💪

Have you encountered any of these? Drop your experience in the comments. 👇

#CandidateFraud #Recruiting #LatamCent #HiringIntegrity #TalentAcquisition #RecruitmentFraud

Latam vs the World 🌎

When does it make sense to hire in Latin America vs the USA, vs the Philippines? 

Your favorite answer.. 

It depends.. it depends on the role, the hiring strategy, and company culture and vision. 

What's your hiring philosophy? 

#Latam #LatinAmerica #SaaS #Hiring #LatamCent

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Founder & CEO

Executive Member

President

English

Portuguese

In the 1930s, Mary Smith had a real job in London.

She woke people up for work by shooting dried peas at their windows.

They called her a “knocker-upper.”

Then alarm clocks were invented.

Her job disappeared.

Every generation thinks their work is immune to technology.

AI is just the next alarm clock.

Adapt accordingly.

#HireAiEngineers #AI #MachineLearnings #jobs

45,724 people laid off so far this year. Amazon, Block, eBay, Pinterest... they're all citing the same reason.

1,600 jobs. One memo. And the CEO basically admitted it. AI did this.

Not because the company was struggling.
$1.5B in quarterly revenue. Growing 26%.

This wasn't survival. It was a choice.

But here's the question nobody's asking out loud:

Is AI actually replacing these people, or is "AI efficiency" just the best cover story for companies that over-hired during COVID and now have a stock price problem?

It almost doesn't matter which one it is. The outcome is the same.

The real question is: does your skillset belong in the company that exists in two years, or the one that existed two years ago?

#AI #Layoffs #JobMarket

🇦🇷 Argentina has been on the global tech radar for years, and the numbers show exactly why:

📈 Economy:

• One of the largest economies in Latin America (~$640B USD GDP)
• Despite macroeconomic volatility, the tech sector has remained one of the most resilient and export-driven industries
• Software exports are among Argentina's top revenue earners, the talent is world-class and globally battle-tested

💻 Software Developers
• Argentina has one of the highest developer-per-capita ratios in Latin America
• Deeply skilled in Python, Java, Ruby, JavaScript, React, and backend architecture
• Buenos Aires is consistently ranked as one of the top tech cities in the region
• A long tradition of strong computer science education produces exceptionally rigorous developers

🤖 Machine Learning & AI
• Argentina punches well above its weight in AI and ML talent
• Top universities, UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires), ITBA, and UTN,  produce highly sought-after ML and data science graduates
• Strong presence on Kaggle, with Argentine data scientists regularly ranking in global competitions
• Growing specialization in deep learning, NLP, computer vision, and MLOps
• Several global AI labs and unicorns (Mercado Libre, Globant, OLX) built significant ML teams in Argentina first

🗣️ English Proficiency
• Among the highest in Latin America, ranked in the top tier regionally, though a thicker accent at times.
• Tech professionals, especially in Buenos Aires, are highly fluent and accustomed to working with US and European teams

🎓 Talent Pipeline
• Strong STEM graduate output with a culture that deeply values education
• Thriving freelance and remote work culture means Argentine devs are already wired for async, global collaboration
• Time zone alignment with the US (EST +1 to +3) makes real-time collaboration seamless

Argentina isn't just affordable. It's exceptional.

If you're building a world-class tech team and not looking at Argentina, you're leaving talent on the table. 👇

#Argentina #MachineLearning #SoftwareDevelopment #AITalent #LatAm #TechHiring #RemoteWork #GlobalTalent

Come join the dream team! Work with Eze Campodonico, Pablo Ignacio Ciocchini & I! 

Let's gooo 🚀

Helping Series A–B SaaS hire A+ talent they think is out of budget | Head of GTM & Ops @LatamCent 🦉

What if your commission didn't reset to zero every quarter?

That's not how most sales jobs work.
You close a deal. You get paid once. Next month you start from scratch.

Groundhog day. Forever.

Here's how this role works instead:
You close a client in January.
You get paid in February.
And March. And April. And every month after that until they leave.
Your book of business compounds.

Month 1 you're starting from zero.
Month 12 you have a base of recurring revenue before you dial once.

On top of that:
Weekly feedback from a CEO who was VP of Sales twice at US companies. Not theory. Real reps, real calls, real pipeline.
A team that actually wants you to win. 

I used to hold most of the company records here. Month 2 Pablo broke two of them. 
And I couldn't be happier.

$46K–$54K OTE. Remote. Latam only. Phone heavy. Full cycle.
Send a Loom to eze@latamcent.com. Subject: "AE Role"

Sell me on you. That's the first test.

"Half the world is scared AI is going to take their jobs. The other half is excited it's going to take the crappy parts of their jobs so they can do the more human parts."

We are constantly hiring top talent in Latin America, if you don't see a role on our careers page, feel free to connect with our recruiters to chat about leveling up your skills to join a b2b tech company in the USA.

#LatamCent 
#Hiring

What happens to software in 5-10 years via Sam Senior at TestBox.

Open article: What Happens to Software in 5-10 Years by Sam Senior • 9 min read

Epic role at SpendHound + you get to work with Tom Ruello.

SpendHound is hiring for a Sales Executive on our Enterprise team!

SpendHound is a rocketship growing from 0 to almost 1000 customers in 2 years and from 5 employees to 100+.

We're a startup within the resources of a more mature start-up of YipitData.

If you have experience closing $50k+, 3-month sales cycle deals then this could be a fit for you.

Please reach out or apply below!


https://lnkd.in/epUPJBdy

Troy Wheeler John Cunningham Michael Facci Harry Gable-Newkirk Siham Adous Tyler McDonald

Open article: SpendHound Sales Executive by job-boards.greenhouse.io

A role coined by Clay less than 2 years ago, now EVERYone wants one.

GTM Engineer, sitting besides RevOps to plug together the sales and marketing tech stack. 

It's going to be interesting to continue to watch this role evolve. 

#GTMEngineer #Hiring #LatamCent

CEO, Founder at Pave | Building Paige AI

A new role rapidly growing because of AI: GTM Engineer. 13x growth in 20 months.

A role that barely existed 18 months ago now exists at 1.3% of companies in Pave’s dataset, and the adoption is accelerating quickly across the market.

________________

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

–The Citrini thesis: “Payroll receipts [will] fall because fewer people are employed at prior compensation levels. Income tax receipts [will] fall because the incomes being earned are structurally lower. Productivity [will] surge, but the gains [will] flow to capital and compute, not labor.”

–The Citadel thesis: “It seems more likely that AI will be a complement rather than a substitute for labor in many areas.”

For today, let’s lean into one example where AI is creating roles, not killing them:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼-𝘁𝗼-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 (𝗚𝗧𝗠) 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿.

________________

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀:

Pave’s data science team took a look at what percentage of its 9,600+ clients include at least one employee with the title “GTM Engineer” (or similar). And then they mapped this onto a time series to see the overall trend.

________________

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:

1️⃣ The GTM Engineer role is on the rapid rise from 0.10% of companies as recently as May 2024 to 1.30% in January 2026. The trend line was mostly flat until late 2024 at which point it quickly inflected.

2️⃣ Meanwhile, I would also call out that it’s still a very small group of “early adopter” outlier companies that are adopting “GTM Engineers” on their org charts. But these early adopters can become the norm fast. And the general concept of embedding AI-skilled engineers within GTM teams could extend to other job families as well.

If 1.3% of companies have GTM Engineers today, what does 10% look like? And what does that mean for how sales and marketing teams are structured?

Incredible opportunity to work with Harry Gable-Newkirk. 

Imagine a product that typically cost over 100k a year but saves you over 300k a year. 

Then in exchange for your data on SaaS contracts you keep your 100k, and end up saving 400k. 

That's SpendHound.

GTM @ SpendHound

We're #hiring for both a Sales Executive AND a Sales Development Rep for SpendHound.

If you’re excited by high-growth environments, love building pipeline from the ground up, and thrive in a fully #remote setting, we should talk. 

Reach out directly or apply below.

Sales Exec: https://lnkd.in/gWF8_bUE
Sales Development Rep: https://lnkd.in/g8xfZ2dU

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