Adrian Mastronardi — bridging engineering and the business

For over 20 years, I have helped organizations bridge that gap, turning technical possibility into business clarity, strategy, and execution.

From joining Globant as employee #10 and helping shape Latin America's professional technology services industry through its pre-IPO years, to scaling OLX into the leading second-hand goods marketplace across Brazil, India, and dozens of emerging markets, to building FinTech infrastructure at Rappi and leading technology transformation at Habi, one of Latin America's most ambitious PropTech unicorns, my career has been about turning technical complexity into scalable business outcomes.

After years of building and scaling technology organizations, one thing is clear to me: adoption is never just technical. It is cultural.

AI adoption rarely fails because the model does not work. It fails because organizations treat it as a technology rollout, when it is really a change in how people work, collaborate, decide, and learn. A copilot does not replace your team. It changes the grammar of how your team operates. Miss that distinction, and you will likely make one of two costly mistakes: moving too slowly out of fear, or too quickly because of hype.

I have spent my career translating between two worlds: the depth of engineering and the urgency of business. I can sit with senior developers and go deep into architecture, systems design, and technical trade-offs. I can also sit with founders, CEOs, and boards, and turn that same complexity into clear strategic direction.

That ability to move between technical depth and business impact is not common. And in the age of AI, it matters more than ever.

My perspective on AI and technology is neither hype-driven nor alarmist. It is grounded in evidence, engineering principles, and operational reality. I challenge easy narratives, care about sources, and think in decades, not news cycles.

I write Al Sur del Río Grande, a weekly newsletter on technology, software, and entrepreneurship from Latin America, helping leaders navigate the age of AI copilots.

I also write books. For me, writing is less about passing on what I know than about working it out — an exercise in thinking, where ideas settle, get tested, and finally come into focus.

If you are a founder or senior technology executive working to turn AI conversations into real organizational change, I would be glad to connect.