Category Visionaries Lucas Mendes, CEO of Revelo: $48.7 Million Raised to Build the Backbone of Tech Talent for the Age of AI
Revelo has emerged as a critical player in the intersection of talent acquisition and AI development, transforming from a Latin American job board to a comprehensive tech talent platform serving both traditional staffing needs and the booming human data market for LLM training. With $48.7 million raised and a network of 400,000 pre-vetted engineers, Revelo has positioned itself at the forefront of two massive trends: remote work acceleration and the AI revolution. In this episode, Lucas Mendes, Co-founder and CEO of Revelo, shares the company's evolution from a simple recruiting platform to becoming the backbone of tech talent for the age of AI, including their pivot during COVID that led to 6x growth in three years and their recent expansion into human data services for hyperscalers training large language models.
Topics Discussed:
Revelo's origin story and pivot from a Brazilian job board to a nearshoring platform during COVID The dramatic revenue swings during the pandemic - from 80% revenue drop to overwhelming demand The emergence of human data for LLM training as a new business line, growing from 0% to 25% of revenue in 18 months Building specialized platforms for code annotation and LLM training that differ from general-purpose data labeling tools The consulting layer required to serve hyperscalers and why workforce suppliers alone can't compete Revelo's M&A strategy with five acquisitions completed and plans for more transformational deals The long-term vision of becoming the go-to destination for AI implementation talent across all engagement models
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
- Respond to market signals rather than forcing your vision: Lucas admits that both major pivots - the COVID nearshoring boom and the LLM training opportunity - came from inbound customer demand rather than proactive strategic decisions. He emphasizes being responsive to market signals: "I wish I could claim credit for that, but it was again, us responding to inbound interest from clients." B2B founders should remain agile and let customer demand guide major strategic decisions rather than forcing predetermined visions onto the market.
- Build deep expertise to differentiate from commodity suppliers: When serving hyperscalers, Revelo learned that being just a "workforce supplier" wasn't enough. Lucas explains: "There's too many of these companies out there for there to be any meaningful demand for somebody who's just a workforce supplier. You need to have done this before." The company invested heavily in developing consulting capabilities and domain expertise. B2B founders entering competitive markets should identify what specialized knowledge or capabilities will differentiate them from commodity providers.
- Leverage your founding team for new market exploration: When building the LLM training business, Lucas deployed his senior leadership team rather than hiring external executives. He explains: "You need to have a founding team for that phase... it's exhausting, it's excruciating, it's stressful, but it is very much an early stage startup." B2B founders should use their core team's entrepreneurial skills when exploring new markets, even if it means senior executives taking on hands-on roles outside their typical functions.
- Treat enterprise sales as a repeatable process across teams: Lucas discovered that selling to different teams within the same hyperscaler required starting from scratch each time. His solution: "Build a core corpus of sales collateral, like case studies and materials that they can socialize internally." B2B founders selling to large enterprises should systematize their sales process and create reusable materials that can be adapted for different internal stakeholders, treating each team as a separate sales opportunity.
- Use transparency to build trust with sophisticated buyers: When dealing with hyperscalers, Lucas found that honesty about capabilities was crucial: "You have to be really clear about what you can do and what you cannot... Some of these companies are saying, hey, we want to do projects where you'll do human data for code, but also some human data for video. We have to say no to that." B2B founders serving sophisticated enterprise clients should be transparent about their limitations, as attempting to oversell capabilities will ultimately damage relationships with buyers who can easily detect gaps in expertise.
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