Jason Kirby: Everyone, welcome back to the show. Today we have Frank Licea joining us today from Howdy.com. Thanks for joining us, Frank.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): Jason, thank you for having me.

Jason Kirby: Yeah, I’m excited to hear your story. Let’s jump right in. Can you tell the audience a little bit about you and what you’re doing at Howdy?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): Welcome everybody. My name is Frank Licea. I am the co‑founder and CTO of Howdy.com. Howdy.com is a hiring platform focused mostly in Latin America. If you want to hire software developers or customer support and so on, you can go to our platform and we make it happen. We’ve got the local logistics for hiring, payroll and benefits, equipment and offices—whatever a team needs to expand their operations around the world.

Jason Kirby: And why’d you start it? What’s your background? Tell people a little about your technical background as well and how that influenced launching Howdy.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): My journey started around 2015 in Austin, where our company is headquartered. In 2014–2015 Austin got really hot in terms of competition for talented people. As an engineering leader, I struggled to hire and retain software developers. Big tech companies moved into the city, driving up prices and churn. I was a product manager on the hook for deadlines; it’s hard to hit a product deadline when key team members are rotating out because they’re being poached. There was frothiness and lots of VC. The problem I had to solve was talent risk—not salary arbitrage. Talented people know their worth.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We started Howdy because the best developers weren’t on freelancer platforms and didn’t want to work for big outsourcing firms. Top companies in Austin weren’t going to build amazing product teams with an army of freelancers, nor outsource their engineering values and culture. The idea behind Howdy.com: build a platform with local logistics so teams can recruit, hire, retain, provide offices, benefits and bonuses for their own teams in Latin America—so it feels like one team.

Jason Kirby: You chose to bootstrap before pursuing venture capital and YC. Why bootstrap, and how far did you get?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We bootstrapped because it’s not a particularly “sexy” business, and I didn’t think anyone would invest in a service‑oriented company—even though we have software and a growing platform. We could see the unit economics clearly per hire and extrapolate to a lifestyle we wanted. We wanted control over the business, its growth and strategy, and we were tired of being beholden to boards and investors from prior startup experiences. We also had personal savings to bridge until the business could pay us.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We decided to take outside money when the opportunity to join Y Combinator arose. We measure success by people hired on our platform. Around 50 hires we could pay ourselves. YC offered credibility, visibility, access to investors and mentors—compressing a seven‑year plan to maybe two or three. And it’s exciting to aim to be a huge player across North and South America.

Jason Kirby: Was YC also a biz‑dev channel since many YC startups could become customers?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): For us, just being part of YC was good enough. Trivia: tiny pre‑seed, pre‑PMF companies weren’t our sweet spot and can be risky for hiring platforms. Our best customers tended to be post‑Series A/B—big enough to expand to another country, not big enough to do it themselves.

Jason Kirby: You’re the technical founder/CTO and Jacqueline is CEO. How did you meet and decide to work together? Any advice for founders seeking a technical co‑founder?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We’d worked at the same company at different times and met through mutual friends. We had experienced the same problem from different perspectives—she owned sales quotas; I owned delivery. On finding a technical co‑founder: shared values about what a business should be are crucial. Equity splits matter—a small stake (5–10%) wouldn’t have gotten the best out of me. I needed a true partnership (we chose 50/50) to justify all‑in commitment and sacrifice. If you don’t need that level of ownership and sacrifice from a CTO, maybe you don’t need a co‑founder and can outsource.

Jason Kirby: Totally. Engineers have options and startups are risky. Investors also want to see a technical founder. Great insights.

Jason Kirby: YC application journey—did you apply once or multiple times? What was it like?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): It was my third time applying; Howdy’s second. The application itself is valuable—forces co‑founders to align. YC keyed on traction and founder dynamics more than being a classic SaaS. They even rapid‑fired questions and asked who’s CEO to ensure clarity. We both answered “Jacqueline.” Friends later asked why YC picked us—we’re not a typical SaaS—but YC saw traction and team fit.

Jason Kirby: Post‑YC, you raised ~$3M in seed shortly after, right?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): That’s right.

Jason Kirby: How did you approach the raise—before or after Demo Day?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We waited a week or two before Demo Day (standard advice). It was easier for us because we had a strong story, strong traction, and didn’t need the money. Inbound interest created urgency. We optimized for fewer, larger checks (e.g., institutional firms) to avoid a crowded cap table.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): Tactically, we avoided a standard pitch deck. We used a video to tell the story (problem, traction, unit economics, vision). When asked for a deck, we held the line. Valuing ourselves signaled others to value us; most were flexible. If someone made the deck a hard blocker, they probably weren’t a fit. Dating dynamics apply!

Jason Kirby: Where were the numbers at that time?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): Seed: ~30 developers on platform (roughly ~$100k gross per developer per year). Series A: 171 developers about a year later—helped by COVID‑era hiring winds. Then the market corrected—mass layoffs at big tech flooded talent and slowed demand. We hit the trough, then refocused on value prop in a tighter market. Our investors were understanding; hiring is cyclical. We ran experiments, repositioned, and rebuilt.

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): We raised the Series A as the writing was on the wall and chose to capitalize for a potential recession—building a war chest for 2–3 years. That period forced better selling/marketing. Today, we’ve doubled customers vs. before, and revenue/size have returned to pre‑layoff levels—healthier and more resilient.

Jason Kirby: Advice for founders looking to raise now?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): If possible, build a business that doesn’t require funding to survive—profitability or strong proxies like retention, subscribers, LOIs help. Also, avoid a scarcity mindset. Respect investor advice, but don’t over‑index on it. We briefly chased “more platform/SaaS” to look investor‑friendly; it didn’t move the needle. Trust your vision and what you see on the ground. Choose investors for cultural fit—board dynamics matter most when growth normalizes.

Jason Kirby: Where can people learn more and contact you?

Frank Licea (Howdy.com): Visit howdy.com. Email me at f@howdy.com if you’re interested in bootstrapping tactics, YC application reviews, mock interviews, or warm intros while fundraising.

Jason Kirby: Frank, thanks for sharing your journey and tactical wisdom with our audience!