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Key Takeaways Herrera’s firsthand experience working at a call center helped inspire the outsourcing startup Horatio.
The company launched in 2018 with its first location in the Dominican Republic.
Today, Horatio leverages AI without losing sight of human value to see 9-figure annual revenue.
After starting his career at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Dominican founder Jose Herrera couldn’t shake the “entrepreneurial bug.” He began investing in direct-to-consumer startups and noticed a common pain point: The businesses consistently struggled with customer service. Herrera had firsthand experience on the other side, having worked a summer job at a call center before college.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Horatio. Jose Herrera.
“ The environment in the traditional call center is super dark, dingy, feels like a prison,” Herrera tells Entrepreneur. “They really don’t invest in the employee experience, and it’s an industry that has convinced itself that this is just how outsourcing worked.”
Columbia MBA classmates launch Horatio in 2018
At Columbia University’s MBA program, Herrera (CEO) connected with co-founders Alex Ross (COO) and Jared Karson (CFO), who would help him launch the outsourcing startup Horatio, named for Hamlet’s trusted friend in the Shakespearean play, in 2018.
The co-founders didn’t raise any money, relying on their savings alone to open their first location in the Dominican Republic.
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