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A Growing Assemble Team Has New Home in Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, the future of tech is already here. Boasting some of the best technology education and talent in the world, it’s no wonder why over 350 multinational businesses, including the likes of IBM, Intel, and HP, wanted to be part of it. And now, the Assemble family is proudly calling it home too.
Assemble & Partners, LLC is thrilled to announce our expansion into Latin America, as we team up with the most influential and experienced tech developers on the continent, who we are also fortunate to call long-time friends. This merger will bring together two incredibly talented teams on either side of the digital production process to deliver a superior service for our clients and create an unparalleled work environment for our employees.
The Why
In the words of Patrick Lencioni, “It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage. Both because it is so powerful and so rare.” And this is the defining motive for Assemble’s new partnership as it unifies the best in technology and project management from two different continents with the same distinctive values.
“This has been a long time coming,” Scott Peters and Kristy Rothenberger, CEO/COO & Co-Founders of Assemble, explain. “We met Geudy Marin, CEO & Founder of WAM Digital in Costa Rica, 12 years ago with the idea of creating a best-in-class digital production agency. We’ve developed this true friendship over the years, and we align on all the same things from a business perspective.”
And that includes what’s important culturally for an organization. “Our focus is on creating this amazing team and environment that provides great service for our clients and a great company for our workers,” Geudy adds. “We share the same dreams, and this makes it easy. We’re on different sides of the process, but we have the same goals.”
This culture-first mentality is what drew the two companies together in the first place and is building the foundation for their future as one agency. “Geudy’s team is world-class on the technical and development side with talented coders and developers,” Scott says, “and here in the states, we have best-in-class on the project management side at Assemble, so now, we have these two teams functioning together as one unit, so our clients get the very best of both worlds.”
And as a result, the whole internal process from kick-off to development to execution will become more streamlined, which not only benefits the teams from an operations standpoint, but their clients in terms of faster, high-quality delivery. “Together, we are just such a strong company,” Geudy shares. “It’s a remarkable fusion of business in the US with production in CR, and it’s creating a great future for our company.”
The How
With teams based out of two different parts of the world, you’d imagine there would be some challenges, but in reality, the countries themselves align as close culturally as their companies do.
In terms of innovation and business sophistication, Costa Rica tops all of Central America, also consistently ranked as having the highest quality service talent in the region, according to World Economic Forum. also earning the best quality human resources in the world. And this cultural compatibility is invaluable to the long-term success of any team, allowing Assemble to look forward to the future. “There’s such a hard-working mentality in Costa Rica,” Scott explains, “but at the same time they value the importance of life-work balance. So it fits right into the culture we are creating.”
That hard work is only furthered through the country’s commitment to outstanding technology education. Costa Rica leads Latin America across the board in terms of quality tech education and digital tech skills, graduating over 3,000 each year from their universities, reported by TECLA. “They’re working so hard here to continue to improve the quality of this field,” says Geudy. ”There are so many great universities focused solely on technology, offering free education to the people here. It’s allowing a lot of individuals who are willing to work to enter the industry well-educated.”
In addition to a shared work ethic and commitment to the field, the time zone and commutability – with over 1,000 flights to and from CR and the States every week – bring the two countries even closer. “So many low-cost providers are in the Eastern-Europe block, which could be 12 hours ahead of the states. So clients are waiting a full day to get feedback done,” Scott said. And in the production world, that doesn’t cut it. “We can turn stuff around in an hour or two. With Costa Rica in the Central time zone, we have West Coast and East Coast clients, and this allows us to be on either side for that.”
Specifically, Geudy and his team work out of Escazu the heart of business in Costa Rica with a vibe very similar to the Santa Monica or Silicon Valley tech hubs and a close proximity to the airport. As home to so many international businesses and modern services related to the tech industry, it’s been key for the team in terms of developing connections and meeting clients from all over the world.
The Future
As the two companies become one, the team will only continue to grow with talented, hardworking, and diverse individuals, sharing the same passion and drive. A process to which Geudy already has all figured out.
“Our goal has always been to help people who have what it takes to have a great future in production and development, but may not have been as fortunate with the same opportunities as others,” Geudy explains. “I try to detect this in potential team members, and then match their current talents with the right training in order to make those skills and abilities really stand out.”
But ability is only part of the job requirement. The other isn’t something you can teach. “We can always find people who produce quality content, but they also have to have the interpersonal skills that make them a good fit for the team. We’re creating an international family.”
And the future both in the states and in Costa Rica looks really bright, not only for the Assemble team, but for their clients as well.
“I think a lot of people have been burned by digital production companies in the states,” Scott and Kristy explain, “but our merger is all about bringing together the best of two worlds to serve our clients in a way they’ve never experienced before.”