The Nearshore Cafe
Hear from Nearshoring veterans about what it's like living and doing business in LATAM. Join our hosts and numerous guests from LATAM & the U.S. with interesting real life experiences. This podcast is full of great stories and useful advice on how to navigate the world's most untapped talent market along with travel tips.
Episodes
In this episode of the Nearshore Cafe Podcast, hosted by Brian Samson, we sit down with Oleg Baranov, Founder & CEO of FlameTree AI, to break down how AI agents actually work in real-world business environments.
Oleg shares why AI should be treated like a junior team member—not a finished product—and how continuous training, iteration, and feedback are essential to unlocking real value.
They also explore how companies can combine...
In this short clip from The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, Brian Samson discusses why Venezuela may become one of the most exciting high-risk, high-reward talent markets in Latin America.
He explains what the country looked like before the recent political shift, what Venezuelans are experiencing today, and why companies looking to hire globally should keep an eye on the country’s evolving talent landscape.
Watch the full episode:
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In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, Brian Samson speaks with Joe Helleny, Founder & CEO of CourtMoney, about building a 24-hour nearshore call center in Central America.
Joe shares how his background in ATMs, online payments, and government software led him to outsource customer support — first in the U.S., then nearshore in Nicaragua. He discusses the challenges of English proficiency, professionalism, background che...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson sits down with entrepreneur and expat founder Chad Smalley to explore what it really takes to build and scale businesses in Panama and Colombia.
Chad shares how his journey began in Panama in 2007, where he built and scaled a Spanish-language CRM serving nearly the entire real estate market. From there, the conversation moves into Colombia — comparing Bogotá vs Medellí...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson is joined by JP Trouillot, Deal Advisory Partner and Regional Advisory Leader for the Americas at KPMG, and Alan Riddell, Head of Deal Advisory for Brazil and South America at KPMG Brazil.
Together, they explore the evolving M&A landscape in Latin America and why investor confidence is rising heading into 2026. Drawing from KPMG’s global executive research and real...
Welcome to The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, hosted by Brian Samson and sponsored by 💻 Plugg Technologies (plugg.tech), a nearshore talent partner connecting U.S. companies with English-speaking software engineers and digital talent across Latin America.
In this episode, Brian sits down with Marvin Martinez, CEO and Founder of Bandsaw AI, to break down how businesses are practically implementing AI today. They explore the diffe...
In this final episode of 2025, Brian Samson sits down with Ruben Santana, President of Plugg Technologies, to break down how nearshore hiring evolved this year—and what U.S. companies should expect in 2026.
They discuss why companies are moving away from traditional offshoring toward nearshore teams in Latin America, focusing on time zone alignment, project delivery speed, English fluency, and long-term retention. Ruben shares real ...
Thinking about nearshoring? Wondering how it compares to outsourcing, offshoring, or onshoring? In this value-packed episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson — CEO of Plugg Technologies — answers the 7 most frequently asked questions about nearshoring in 2025.
From cost savings of 40–70%, to real-time collaboration with Latin American developers, Brian explains how nearshoring can help U.S. companies scale tech team...
How fast can companies build high-performing nearshore teams?
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson, Founder of Plugg Technologies, explains how U.S. companies can go from zero to fully onboarded nearshore talent in as little as 14 days.
Brian breaks down why nearshoring in Latin America outperforms traditional offshoring, focusing on time zone alignment, communication, cultural fit, and long-term performan...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson sits down with Ricky Michel, founder of Ualett, to talk about building a fintech company from the Dominican Republic—and why the gig worker and rideshare driver economy is still underserved by traditional banks.
Ricky shares how Ualettwas founded in 2018, how the team designed a mobile-first, low-friction liquidity experience by spending time directly with drivers, and...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson sits down with Ximena “Xime” Aleman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Prometeo, one of Latin America’s leading fintech infrastructure companies. Xime shares her unlikely journey from journalism to fintech entrepreneurship, and how her storytelling background became a strategic advantage in building a company that now connects 1,000+ financial institutions across 11 countrie...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson sits down with Agustín Guerra, CEO & Co-Founder of Vangwe, to explore one of the fastest-growing sectors in the region: Latin America’s fintech and wealthtech ecosystem.
Agustín shares his global journey from Montevideo to China, Germany, Poland, London, and the Netherlands, and how living across continents shaped his perspective as a fintech founder. He discusses ...
Global hiring is shifting — fast. In 2025, U.S. companies are moving away from India and Asia, turning instead to Latin America for tech talent, loyalty, and time-zone alignment.
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson, Founder of Plugg Technologies, talks with Evan Greenberg, Director of Client Solutions at Plugg, about what’s really driving this transformation.
They discuss the massive rise in nearshoring, ...
Host Brian Samson, founder of Plugg Technologies, breaks down the Trump administration’s proposed $100K H-1B visa fee and how it’s reshaping the global tech talent market. He explains why this massive policy shift could reduce opportunities for engineers in India and China—and accelerate the nearshoring movement across Latin America.
Brian dives into the geopolitical motivations, trade tensions, and economic ripple effects driving t...
Host Brian Samson talks with Denis Champagne, a Fractional CRO and Strength Coach, about how leadership, culture, and adaptability drive nearshore success across Latin America. Denis shares his journey from growing up bilingual in Canada to discovering the depth and resilience of Latin American culture through language, travel, and business.
Together, they explore how empathy, communication, and cultural intelligence shape stronger ...
🎙️ The Nearshore Cafe Podcast | Hosted by Brian Samson
In this episode, Brian Samson — founder of Plugg Technologies and host of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast — shares a powerful success story from a booming Series A tech startup based in Atlanta. With over $50 million raised, this company had the resources to hire from anywhere in the world. But instead of battling the fierce 2022 Silicon Valley talent wars, they chose a smarter path...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson (founder of Plugg Technologies) dives deep with Fernando Soto, a senior Business Analyst working remotely from Guadalajara, Mexico. From humble roots in Tijuana to leading global tech projects, Fernando reveals the real story of life as a nearshore tech professional.
📉 Laid off after 16 years at HP.
🚀 Reinvented his career through remote work.
🌐 Now shaping produ...
What happens when a Series B startup in San Francisco realizes they’re paying over $200K per year for a remote engineer—and getting no extra value from being in the Bay Area?
They go nearshore.
And they win. Big.
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson (Founder of Plugg Technologies) shares the true story of how one founder turned to LATAM developers to scale faster, cut costs, and build better—without s...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson, founder of Plugg Technologies, chats with Amir Reiter, CEO of CloudTask, about how Medellín, Colombia has become a hidden gem for building high-performing global sales teams.
From building his first team in an Airbnb to scaling a $6M+ revenue operation with over 265 contractors, Amir shares how CloudTask evolved from a service agency into a full-blown B2B marketplace ...
In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson, founder of Plugg Technologies, sits down with Jared Andreassen, executive at Blue Coding, to break down the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model—an emerging strategy reshaping how mid-market and enterprise tech companies scale teams across Latin America.
From setting up entire operations in Mexico City and Bogotá to navigating employee severance laws in LATAM, Jared sha...
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