Interview with David Carrero, Stackscale

Interviews with clients and friends of Baud

Client: Stackscale.
Interviewed: David Carrero Fernández-Baillo, Cofounder & VP Sales.
Interviewer: Clara López, member of the Baud team.
Interview date: April 7, 2020.

Image: David Carrero, Cofounder & VP Sales at Stackscale.
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Many of Baud's customers and friends are carrying out commendable initiatives. And we wanted to help to give them a little more voice to continue contributing interesting and constructive stories to the global conversation.

Today we interview David Carrero Fernandez-Baillo, Cofounder & VP Sales de Stackscale, the expert brand in Private Cloud and Infrastructure. David is a benchmark in the world of internet and technology, having created and promoted several renowned companies in the sector. In his personal life, he is outgoing and sociable and maintains a very special bond with his hometown, Herencia, Ciudad Real.

At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, David along with others involved, start a project to provide respirators to Spanish hospitals. In this interview he tells us how "it got out of hand", as well as his future prospects.

Interviewer: David, how do you see the current situation regarding the coronavirus?

David: I see that it is a crisis that has affected us all at once and that the institutions, due to their structure, aren little able to respond with agility to help us. I see that the institutions have the resources, but not the agility in their processes; they would have to be 'more company'. It is por that from the beginning we thought that to save ourselves, we had to do it ourselves, united, from the union in the neighborhood to help a neighbor, to the union on a larger scale to help more people, creating a community.

respirators already in madrid barajas health aid and civil guard

Image: respirators from the Madrid Barajas Project with the help of health workers and the Civil Guard.
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I: How is it affecting you on a personal level?

D: Like everyone else, we have to stay home 24 hours. In fact, we only go down to throw out the garbage because we do the shopping online in the neighborhood stores. We'd like to go out, but we get along pretty well. The one who had it a little worse, especially at the beginning, was our 16-month-old son, who didn't understand why he couldn't get out, but he's more used to it.

E: And at the business level?

D: We thought we weren't going to affect, But in the end when something impacts everyone, it also impacts you. We work for various sectors so that some have fallen (travel, for example), others are maintaining myselfOthers are even growing a little bit. Our growth prospects have changed and now we will see as an achievement to remain the same or grow less than expected compared to last year.

In addition, on the other hand, we are considered critical infrastructure of the State due to the type of company and clients such as media, schools, universities, payment media companies, streaming, ...

“The institutions have the resources, but not the agility in their processes; they would have to be 'more company' ”.

I: How has your company reacted or transformed to face the coronavirus?

D: We have taken two fundamental measures. The first is teleworking, which we implemented a week before the State of Alarm. This has practically made no difference to us since we are an offshored company that works 24/7 and we have all met together in person only once since our founding. We teleworked between offices and now we also telework among colleagues in the same office.

The second measure has been the commitment to the team and the improvement of the company. We have done the improvement plan that we wanted to do in one year in just three weeks. We decided to work together to strengthen ourselves and be prepared for what might come. We think that, if we are prepared, we can give a better service to our clients when all this happens, but without hesitation also while it lasts.

"When something impacts everyone, it also impacts you."

I: To what extent have the values ​​of your company influenced in facing the transformation in this way?

D: mucho, our values ​​have accompanied us since the creation of the first technology companies. On the one hand, we have always been very brave, even reckless, we have always bet and thought about a better future. On the other hand, the value of people, of the team, which we have decided to keep 100%. Hence, we have taken this crisis as an opportunity to advance the improvements planned for the client, and an opportunity to do it as a team.

E: These days we have seen brands that transform and overturn, that do things that they would never have done, such as uniting for a common goal, we think for example in the initiative #together brands such as ALDI, LIDL, DKV Salud, Grupo Mutua ... How do you rate it?

D: I had not heard of this initiative since at home we have reduced the consumption of news, but many have come out and I see them well. Anything that inspires confidence in people and takes a bit of uncertainty away from them is always fine. I also believe that this situation is not going to affect the big brands so much and that they take advantage of it to position themselves. I believe that the most affected are going to be the SMEs and the self-employed who, on the other hand, are the fundamental fabric of this country.

I: How have you transformed? Tell us about the Respirators Project.

D: I am involved in two initiatives. One in Herencia (Ciudad Real), my town, has a referral hospital that also helps residences. He needed material that was difficult to obtain and the institutions did not collaborate with the agility that was required. It cost me very little to help them get it, and I did.

Another is that of respirators, which is part of the Entrepreneurs' Organization de Madrid of which I am a member, along with other businessmen such as Eduardo Fernández from ShuttleCloud, Alex Marín from Restaurantes Lamucca, Cristina de Santisteban from Boss Continental, Sascha Badelt from IE Business School ...

"Our values ​​have accompanied us since the creation of the first technology companies."

We started out wanting to buy them in China, but shopping there is very complicated, you have to pay in advance, they don't assure you when it will arrive or in what state ... So we came up with the alternative of buying second-hand respirators in Europe, thanks to Eduardo Fernández and his wife Thea.

We brought 11 on an Iberia plane that helped us altruistically, like all those involved who have been involved in this project: police, doctors, civil protection, civil guard ... From there we continued with crowdfunding and private donations and we left hands.

We have been very agile, today we have invested close to € 1.000.000 and more than 90 respirators in 20 hospitals in 10 cities of the country, and now it seems that the needs are slowing down because it is assumed that the Administration is already arriving with your new respirator purchasesyou. We will be left with having helped doctors save lives when it was most needed.

leoni respirator

Image: Project respirator in operation.
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E: Tell us about other initiatives that positively surprise you.

D: A friend of Redexia, alex briszkowski, has deployed a LoRaWan network, together with other technology brands, developed and distributed a wireless alarm button for patients free of charge in a field hospital in Barcelona that could be quickly deployed in this type of facility. So if the patient pressed it, the doctor could immediately know which bed he was in.

Another initiative that I know is Albacete Ayuda, which has bought material, has provided social aid ... for which they have raised almost € 200.000.

In addition to aid initiative of my town, Herencia, which has raised more than 30.000 euros to help the hospital, home help, nursing homes and those who may need it in the town and other surrounding towns.

There are many more, but knowing them and being aware of all of them is complicated.

I: How do you think post-coronavirus life will be? How are things going to change?

D: Everyone says that after this everything will change, but we don't know what will change.

One of the things that I think will change is the relationships and the valuation of the human and social aspects as the most important thing on other matters such as work.

Another thing that I hope will happen is the greater commitment to the local. Before we bought everything outside and somehow, the money went outside. I hope that we value going to the greengrocer next to home, buying at the local store ... They are the same or better and you also help your community and generate less waste. For example, these days we shop online in local stores and they are much more agile, before we went to buy personally. And in my town it is also being noticed a lot. In Herencia there are 10 gardeners who can provide you with fruit and vegetables, and the neighbors are realizing that they receive the same service that a large area can provide.

"I would like us to re-learn the value of community."

Another topic is teleworking. Many companies said that it was impossible and now that they have been forced, it turns out that they can and it works just as well or better. There is more time for people, more work-life balance, quality of life, time savings, company savings, less waste… Some companies are even considering not having an office or having it only for meetings. Of course, we will see how the real estate sector takes it, which is already lowering rental prices.

E: Anything to add?

D: Yes, I would like to emphasize as a lesson from what is happening that all of us together add more and can do many more things than we think, without having to wait for the institutions. Each one is tiny, but togetherness and community can lead us far away. I believe that we are recovering that culture, that of the community, knowing it, exploiting it and taking advantage of it all. It is something that in many cities was being lost, before you hardly even greeted each other, now we do the shopping for an older neighbor. I would like us to re-learn the value of that community.

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Images provided by Stackscale.