Darwin Romero’s Legacy Lives on at Applaudo

Part of what made Applaudo the largest software developer in El Salvador was the special synergy between José Giammattei and Darwin Romero.

Prior to Darwin’s passing in a car accident in 2023, the country’s tech community recognized him as a key actor in putting El Salvador on the map. Because of his unique intellect and tireless ambition, Darwin brought something to the country and Salvadorans that is impossible to duplicate.

Applaudo was partly born out of the question of how to construct viable tech careers in the country. Today more than half the company’s staff is Salvadoran, but Giammattei says it’s increasingly looking across borders, “or else we compete for a very limited amount of certified engineers at a very high cost. Also, we have to consistently compete for the very best talent. Not only in our country, but in the whole world.”

Back in 2020, when Applaudo was developing different solutions for Miami Heat’s tech evolution, Romero used to joke and mirror the sports team’s competitive mindset: “We actually do a lot of what you guys do – we are looking for the great talent out there. We are looking for the best players that we can bring to the team.”

A company bigger than its founders

José Giammattei was always the tech expert and Darwin the sales expert. The two of them met alongside Scott Kenyon, a tech executive from the US, in the early 2010’s. Scott had led Dell’s operation in El Salvador, with José working as a tech support supervisor.

When that operation diminished in size in El Salvador, Darwin, José, and Scott reviewed their paths. The three of them observed a lack of opportunities for IT professionals in the country as a common concern. They had all gone through major restructurings of their jobs at TACA, GBM (a Salvadoran remnant of IBM’s exit), Tecnasa, and now Dell, among other companies. Structurally, it seemed they were being pushed to move out.

After that, the three of them went on to different jobs. When they caught up with each other in 2013, Scott was head of Phunware, a mobile-game advertiser. José remembers telling them, “There is a big chance now for business in tech if we manage to get enough developers.” Applaudo was born that year as a side job but quickly turned into a full-throttle machine after NBC hired them to develop their app for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Although Scott left the CEO position in 2019, shortly after joining full-time, César Bendeck stepped in. José and Darwin thought that the idea of having a U.S.-based CEO was strategic for client confidence.

So far, that bet has proved successful. Starting with just 40 professionals ten years ago, the company now employs nearly a thousand people. Its operation extends to more than 18 countries, mainly in the Americas and Europe. Also, its client portfolio includes several Fortune 500 companies as well as a wide array of startups.

Resilience to honor a legacy

That type of coordination between Darwin and José was not limited to mentality or short-term strategy. “When the pandemic came, we realized young people in all sectors really were dying. Many companies ran astray. We were not leaving to chance our dream of giving Salvadorans good paying jobs in tech.”

Taking a head-start on precautions, Romero and Giammattei began to take less of an active role as company leaders.

José explains: “We were really complimentary and maintained our responsibilities. Darwin’s death left us with huge personal pain. But organization-wise, we could perfectly keep on operating except for the idea both of us had of looking for a new partner. Last year, we reported a 60% growth, which speaks volumes for our success in sustaining Darwin’s legacy.”

Applaudo’s success is now allowing it to explore inorganic growth opportunities through M&A. However, their services are evolving the most. From their humble origins as minor developers for in-game advertisements, Applaudo is now delving deeper into relationships with past clients, augmenting fan experience and talent management software for the Miami Heat. Additionally, Applaudo is collaborating on ambitious plans for El Salvador’s digital transformation.

Applaudo’s ability to stay on course to become a Latin American tech leader is due to the company’s forward-thinking. This underscores the crucial importance of developing redundancy within company hierarchies so that processes may continue even after catastrophe. Or, even better, so that legacies might grow even greater than what deceased loved ones were here to see.

“What Darwin mostly instilled,” José recalls, “was a drive for excellence and inconformity. The idea that we should always thrive to become better and reinvent ourselves”.