Building And Growing

Lucas Calleja

Lucas interviews founders and operators to provide the community with key insights about building and growing during difficult economic times.

  1. 3d ago

    #96 - Rebuilding LATAM construction software through an AI-driven ERP

    About Lucas GlustmanLucas Glustman is co-founder and CEO of Lebane, the AI-powered management platform for real estate developers and construction companies. Before Lebane he built his career in fintech: he founded Flimper, which he sold to dLocal's management, then as VP of Business Development helped take dLocal to its 2021 Nasdaq IPO - the debut that made it Uruguay's first unicorn, valued at US$9.5 billion. In 2023 he founded Lebane with four partners to bring that experience to an industry still running on spreadsheets: today more than 400 developers and builders across Argentina and Mexico manage their projects on the platform, which includes Lena, its AI agent layer, and is backed by Atlántico and Zacua Ventures.About LebaneLebane is the end-to-end management platform for real estate developers and construction companies: a vertical ERP with an AI layer that replaces spreadsheets and adapted generic systems. It covers the full business lifecycle - from land acquisition to post-sale and investor management - with modules for purchasing, construction management, treasury, sales, accounting and investments. On top of that foundation runs Lena, the platform's AI layer: an assistant that answers over WhatsApp and Slack, plus a family of agents that process documents straight from the inbox, generate natural-language reports and track the commercial pace of each project. More than 400 developers and builders across Argentina and Mexico already run on Lebane, with implementations taking 2–3 months versus the industry's typical 6–18. The company's next step is Lebane Payments: moving project money - collections and payments - inside the same platform.

    #96 - Rebuilding LATAM construction software through an AI-driven ERP
  2. 07/14/2025

    #92 - Transforming auditing for the modern era

    About IanIan Mitchell began his entrepreneurial journey in a modest double garage in East London, with little capital and while still recovering from a serious car accident. Despite the challenging start, he built a business that grew to employ over 1,000 people and earned multiple awards for growth and service excellence. Throughout this journey, Ian discovered the critical importance of building high-performing learning cultures—ones that are aligned, capable, and effective. After selling Direct Response, he turned his focus to his true passion: reimagining how organizations understand and improve performance using next-generation auditing techniques. This led to the co-founding of DeepFathom, a technology company at the forefront of audit innovation.About Deep FathomWith more than 25 years of experience in systems thinking, auditing, service innovation, and business process outsourcing, Ian has worked with global brands to design quality, risk, and compliance systems that go far beyond box-ticking. At DeepFathom, Ian leads the development of digital tools that blend behavioral science with data analytics, transforming audit from a backward-looking compliance exercise into a proactive driver of performance. He continues to explore the evolving role of quality in the age of AI, ESG, and agile organizations. In this podcast, Ian will challenge conventional audit thinking and share a bold vision for how quality professionals and business leaders alike can unlock greater value in fast-changing, complex environments.

    #92 - Transforming auditing for the modern era
  3. 06/16/2025

    #91 - Seed strappping to life changing outcomes

    🎙️ Matt Williamson founded Vizzly (acquired by WPP) to help B2B SaaS companies build customer-facing analytics dashboards quickly, without compromising on flexibility. Traditional embedded analytics solutions were rigid and slow, forcing companies to choose between speed-to-market through no-code tools or spending months building custom solutions. Vizzly bridged this gap with a hybrid approach that enabled rapid deployment while maintaining developer control. 🚀 Vizzly demonstrated that founders can achieve significant exit outcomes without chasing headline fundraising numbers. The company maintained strong revenue per employee ratios with a minimal team, proving that raising modest seed funding and focusing on profitability can create attractive acquisition opportunities. This approach offers a middle path between bootstrapping and traditional venture scaling, enabling life-changing exits without the extended timelines and dilution of aggressive growth strategies. 🤖 WPP acquired Vizzly in October 2024 to integrate analytics technology into their comprehensive service offering for enterprise clients like DoorDash, HSBC, and Airbnb. As the world's largest advertising company, WPP's acquisition strategy focuses on building complete solutions that address every client need through in-house capabilities or strategic acquisitions. This enables them to deliver integrated marketing effectiveness and attribution platforms that individual agencies cannot match.

    #91 - Seed strappping to life changing outcomes
  4. 04/29/2025

    #89: Diving into franchising: systems, growth and accounting essentials

    About Phil Mowat With over 15 years in franchising, Phil joined Ashtons Franchise Consulting in 2019. As the first point of contact for new clients, Phil assesses their needs and creates tailored franchise development plans, then delivers franchise development work to help business owners turn their companies into successful franchise brands. Phil’s franchising career began in 2009, when he helped transform his sister’s makeup artist booking agency into a franchised business, moving operations from paper-based systems to digital processes and growing the network through recruiting and training franchisees. Before joining Ashtons, Phil worked with other franchise brands, gaining hands-on experience in building systems, supporting franchisees, and developing franchise networks. Phil brings deep insight into business growth, strategy, and franchise success About Ashtons Franchise Consulting #TheFranchiseDevelopmentSpecialists Since 1981, Ashtons Franchise Consulting has helped businesses grow through franchising, supporting brands from startups to global expansions. The experienced UK-wide team includes former franchisors and franchisees, offering practical, real-world insight at every stage of the franchise journey. Ashtons tailors its services to each client’s goals, budget, and pace-avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. In recent years, three clients have been finalists for the British Franchise Association Emerging Franchisor Award, with Get A Drip (2023) and My Window Cleaner (2020) winning, and Radfield Homecare (2019) recognized as a finalist.

    #89: Diving into franchising: systems, growth and accounting essentials

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Lucas interviews founders and operators to provide the community with key insights about building and growing during difficult economic times.