When I think about why Holafly exists, I always come back to one thing: a mix of frustration and curiosity that turned into purpose.
The idea for Holafly didn’t start in an accelerator, a boardroom, or a pitch deck. It started in real life — on a plane, getting off in Lima after a work trip and discovering I had already spent nearly €50 on roaming charges just by checking a few messages. Before that, my boss had come back from the United States with a huge phone bill and a bitter lesson about how expensive travel could be.
That shared experience — the anxiety of unexpected costs and confusing options — was the seed that grew into Holafly. It wasn’t born out of a desire to disrupt an industry, but out of a simple question: why does staying in touch have to be so hard and so expensive?
In 2017, Yingyan (Lidia) Hu and I took that question seriously. We were just friends then, meeting first as classmates and later travelling together to Thailand. During that trip, we realized how often travellers were left guessing what would happen with their mobile data abroad. That moment became the starting point for something much bigger than either of us expected.
We launched Holafly with a very clear mission: make mobile data abroad easy, transparent and traveler-first — with no confusing logistics, no guessing games, and no nasty surprises at the end of the trip.
The early days were chaotic. We packed physical SIM cards ourselves, answered customer emails late into the night, and delivered products out of living rooms. It felt like improvising at every step. But with each small sale, we learned a little more about what real travellers needed.
When eSIM technology began gaining traction, we saw an opportunity. It wasn’t just about replacing physical cards — it was about making the experience immediate. In a few taps, millions of users could have service waiting for them the moment they landed. That was a turning point in our trajectory: from a logistics-based startup to a global digital travel solution.
Holafly’s growth hasn’t been linear. We faced huge obstacles, like the COVID downturn when demand collapsed and we had to renegotiate our survival. During those months, the stakes were personal — I even faced temporary financial strain as the business teetered. But that period taught me something foundational: entrepreneurship is resilience. You feel the problem. You take ownership. And you solve it with relentless iteration.
Today Holafly isn’t just a service. It’s a team united by one question: how do we eliminate the stress and uncertainty of mobile data abroad? That focus on simplicity and human experience has driven exponential growth, now serving millions of travellers across more than 200 destinations worldwide.
My role has also evolved. In the beginning I was solving tactical problems: fulfillment, customer questions, logistics. Now I’m building culture, setting long-term direction, and ensuring we never lose sight of the human side of what we create. Growth isn’t just numbers on a page: it’s about how people feel when they use what we’ve built.
What’s surprised me most about leading Holafly is how fast the travel landscape changes and how simple principles stay constant. We focus on empathy first, simplicity always, and purpose over hype. Our product may be digital plans for travellers, but our purpose is human: we provide peace of mind. That remains our north star and the reason we get up every day.
Because behind every data plan is a person with a story: someone who wants to share a photo with loved ones, check in after a long flight, or simply know that they won’t be hit with a bill they didn’t expect. If Holafly can ease that moment, even a little, then we’ve done something meaningful.
