Building Global Bridges: How WeCollabify Came to Be

Amplifying Impact Through Offshoring

For too long, the potential impact of architects and their visionary designs has been constrained by operational limitations.

Brilliant minds bogged down by back-office busywork, creative energy sapped by general administrative overhead. But a pivotal shift is underway – a paradigm that unleashes architects to focus their talents on what truly matters: innovative ideas that shape our world. This revolution? The rise of strategic offshoring.

Imagine a world where architectural firms, no matter their size, could operate with the efficiency and global perspective of industry giants.

Where the most inventive minds are freed from the shackles of day-to-day management, allowing them to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Where diverse, borderless teams collaborate seamlessly, bringing fresh perspectives and unparalleled value to every project.

This is the world that offshoring unlocks. And it’s not just a hypothetical – it’s a transformation already underway, reshaping the very core of architectural practice.

It’s a journey that I’ve experienced firsthand, from unexpected beginnings in Medellín, Colombia to revolutionizing an Austin-based firm and beyond.

From Medellín to Austin and Beyond

My path into offshoring began unexpectedly in Medellín, Colombia in 2008. What started as a way to escape the U.S. economic downturn became a decade-long experience that reshaped my professional mindset.

It taught me that vast differences in market cycles exist between different countries and cities – a realization that set the stage for leveraging resources from two different cities in two different market cycles to benefit all parties involved.

Upon arriving in Medellín, I began working with a small three-person real estate company. I brought my architecture and construction management skills to the table, integrating them into the company’s competencies.

As the market boomed, my role quickly evolved into running the business as President of the company and sitting on its Board of Directors. Over the years, I learned how to effectively utilize the skills and market knowledge of the local teams while serving a USA-based client mindset.

Our success stemmed from combining advanced global financial investment strategies with a primarily Colombian team at our headquarters. This talent was central to our ability to provide exceptional service. Moreover, I discovered we could heavily invest in top talent to secure our business’s future without breaking the bank.

Imagine a Silicon Valley startup and the costs to build a product, market it, assemble a sales team, and bring that product into profitability. Depending on the product’s complexity, the investment in the USA would range from 5 to 10 million dollars.

In Colombia, I could get similar talent on a team, aligned, producing great work, and at a fraction of the cost to achieve the same in the USA. By the time I exited, we had built a company with a $30,000,000 valuation, with a mix of about 10% USA talent and 90% Colombian talent.

This experience was not only exciting but also eye-opening in terms of business strategy. I learned that the same dreams can be achieved with local talent and the same amount of effort, but at a fraction of the cost. The problems we were solving were the same, but we were able to grow the company much faster and with less investment than we possibly could have done in the USA.

The Austin Shift

Assuming the CEO role at an Austin-based architectural firm presented an opportunity to upend convention in the business of architecture.

This architectural firm specialized in high-end, bespoke projects that prioritized design exploration and creativity. The firm’s projects were characterized by extensive customization, generous budgets, and a design process that allowed for experimentation and iterative refinement.

The idea of offshoring emerged organically from my established network of talented professionals in Colombia who I had already been successfully assigning to USA-based projects with a colleague in NYC.

While new terrain for our Austin team, everybody quickly adapted work habits and began learning and loving the international collaboration. It served to empower and accelerate the career of the Austin-based staff as they shifted toward production oversight and management through what we call “Power-Pairs.”

Power-Pairs are the combination of an individual with great firm knowledge from the USA-based firm, paired with a production-focused individual in Colombia. The combined force can produce more, be more accurate, and collaborate with their different perspectives to improve the architecture they are working on. This works exceedingly well in Engineering as well.

Internally, concerns were plentiful—communication barriers, quality control issues, struggles integrating remote staff into existing processes. Palpable fears existed that offshoring could irreparably tarnish our brand reputation or lead to losing command over critical projects.

To methodically dispel these doubts, we adopted a curated rollout strategy. I developed a plan for management and leadership education and support on the USA side. We built our mentorship network in our community of Colombian team members so that they could help teach each other components of their work, reducing the inevitable teaching time spent in any architectural or engineering practice.

As these early trials met and exceeded expectations, we incrementally expanded responsibilities, allowing our local staff to build first-hand confidence.

We granted more and more autonomy, and just a year later, their Studio Director of Multifamily projects pulled me aside and told me, “I will never build another team without nearshore talent.” He was our biggest skeptic at the start because he highly valued the in-office experience. Just a short while after, he came to love and rely on the expanded collaboration.

Growth Through Offshoring

The pivotal moment arrived when assigning a large, high-profile project to our integrated team. This initiative didn’t just succeed—it showcased offshoring’s exponential impact on efficiency and innovative thinking. It crystallized that global integration represented far more than potential cost savings—it was a strategic force multiplier for overall capabilities and client value.

One of our clients shared how they loved the fresh and different design ideas they got from collaborators with totally different perspectives. The unification of ideas, they felt, led to a vastly improved final product.

As our offshore team grew, so did our capabilities. More importantly, our revenue and profitability began to reflect the positive impact of our expanded team. Another remarkable development was the reduction in turnover, which had traditionally been very high in the Austin team—over 30% every single year—and dropped down to nearly zero.

The additional hours the team was called upon to work on a weekly basis was reduced significantly. I believe that this more standard and reliable work schedule was a major contributing factor to the greatly reduced turnover.

This growth served as tangible evidence that offshoring was not only financially beneficial but also a significant enhancement to our overall team commitment and ability to produce.

The Unexpected and Intangible Value-Add

Along the way, we discovered several unanticipated benefits. Our office of 35 people still physically fit in our office that only had room for 14 people comfortably. The obviousness of this reality was right there, yet I hadn’t foreseen it.

I hadn’t planned for it or amended my budgets for future office rent until I realized that we didn’t need to invest in an office that could hold 35 people—we really only needed to fit around 12. So we cut the cost of rent in half or more, given our team size and the fact that we did not have to relocate offices to accommodate a much larger staff.

This was just one example, but looking at the cost of doing business, the computer costs dropped because we were buying less, the payroll taxes we no longer needed to pay for remote talent helped, the fact that we could leverage nearshore talent to fulfill administrative business functions kept our expenses to manage the team low, and on and on.

When I first arrived at the Austin studio, I encountered a disengaged and dissatisfied staff. Groups of employees were huddled together, discussing their plans to leave the company as soon as they could find other opportunities. The atmosphere was one of low morale and high turnover, with a constant need to train new hires.

However, as we introduced offshoring and integrated new team members, the dynamics began to shift. We focused on supporting the development of our existing Austin staff, providing them with opportunities to lead, manage, and delegate.

As they stepped into these new roles and worked closely with their offshore counterparts, their engagement and job satisfaction skyrocketed.

The impact on employee retention was profound. The once-rampant turnover all but disappeared, and the company entered a period of stability. Instead of constantly scrambling to fill vacant positions and train new employees, we could finally focus on what mattered most—producing exceptional work.

It was a remarkable transformation. The same employees who had once been planning their exits were now fully invested in their work and the success of the company. They embraced the challenges and opportunities that came with leading and collaborating with a global team.

As we introduced the new team members and supported the development of the existing staff as they learned to lead, manage, and delegate, the turnover all but ceased, and for a long time, the company stabilized and was able to stop focusing on re-training new people and start focusing on producing great work.

It seems that when the existing staff were responsible for the success of others working under them, they really rose to the occasion and became more invested in the work. They could also exercise new muscles in quality control and oversight, which helped prevent stagnation and motivate growth.

All of these experiences shifted my perspective entirely. It dispelled any remaining doubts about the efficacy of offshoring and underscored its role as a strategic asset rather than just a back-office function. We realized that integrating global talent didn’t just fill a temporary need—it could elevate our entire approach to architecture and engineering.

From then on, my strategy shifted. I began to see offshoring as an essential component of our project planning and execution. This approach allowed us to take on more ambitious projects, scale our operations more effectively, and deliver exceptional value to our clients.

COVID-19 served as an accelerant. As businesses globally adapted to remote work models and reluctantly began to practice in a remote environment, new skills were learned, new technologies developed and adopted, and above all, many people opened their minds to the idea of working remotely as a strategy that could be woven into the company culture in a post-COVID world.

Over time, it evolved from a discrete initiative into an integral part of our DNA, reshaping architecture philosophies alongside execution.

I became so passionate about the value-add nearshore and fully integrated staff could bring to the visionaries of the Architecture and Engineering worlds that I decided to dedicate my career to it.

I realized that I can have a far greater positive impact on the built environment by empowering a large number of Architects and Engineers across the country. By incorporating and integrating remote talent, I can truly realign the focus of the great minds in management at these firms to free mental energy to solve the big problems in the field.

When I first arrived in Austin, the firm’s management was focused on immediate survival, constantly asking, “How can we make it through next month?” Today, they still utilize remote talent, but their discussions have shifted to long-term vision, pondering, “What impact do we want to have by 2030?”

Imagine if all firm owners and managers could reach this stage. The progress and innovations they could bring to our world would be truly remarkable.

WeCollabify: The Next Chapter

Launching WeCollabify represented a culmination of all aspects of my varied professional journey—from the lessons I learned in Medellín managing a real estate investment company to integrating offshoring in architecture firms in New York City and in Austin.

The decision to start WeCollabify was motivated by the success stories I had witnessed firsthand. I saw the profound impact that access to global talent had on project efficiency, creativity, and profitability.

My vision for WeCollabify was to replicate this success on a larger scale, making offshoring accessible and effective for more firms and turning it into a cornerstone strategy within the industry.

Launching this company was propelled by my confidence that what we were offering could fundamentally change how firms approached their business challenges.

By taking the edge off the survival pressures through improved profit margins and talent longevity, we can buy back some time for firm management and team members to access their higher-level thinking which ultimately translates into a vastly improved built environment for all of us.

What Lies Ahead

As I reflect on the transformations within the architecture and engineering industries, it’s clear that we are at a pivotal moment. The shift towards integrating overseas talent is not just a trend but a significant evolution in the way professional services operate across all market sectors. We can do more than we could before, with the same amount of effort, if those efforts are targeted in new ways.

The architecture and engineering fields are experiencing a profound shift, particularly in the career trajectories of architects. Those nearing the end of their careers have witnessed a drastically different professional landscape compared to newcomers. Traditionally, the workflow was confined within local offices, with colleagues collaborating closely on projects. This model is rapidly changing.

Nowadays, there is an increasing reliance on remote teams who can perform tasks just as effectively at a fraction of the cost. This shift is not merely about reducing expenses but about redefining the architecture practice itself.

For architects in the U.S., this means a transition from being producers to managers and leaders. The focus will increasingly be on honing delegation and management skills early in their careers, ensuring a prosperous future.

This change is propelled by the economic realities of the industry—where profit margins are traditionally thin and getting slimmer, necessitating innovative approaches like offshoring to sustain business growth.

Small to medium-sized firms, in particular, face the risk of being outcompeted unless they adapt to this new model. Larger firms are already capitalizing on the benefits of offshoring, and without embracing these changes, smaller firms might find it increasingly difficult to offer competitive services.

The adoption of offshoring is less about outsourcing tasks and more about creating an integrated global team that functions as a single cohesive unit, irrespective of geographical boundaries.

In the future, architectural firms leveraging offshoring will likely dominate the industry, driving major innovations and significantly impacting the global landscape of architecture. These firms will be at the forefront, shaping the next generation of architects and the communities they serve.

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