How Tallis Gomes left the sidelines to become a billionaire – 12/23/2023 – Panel SA

You may have never heard of Tallis Gomes, but it’s unlikely you don’t know Easy Taxi, Singu or G4. These three innovative businesses were created by him who, at the age of 32, became a billionaire. A native of Carangola, Gomes made the Forbes Under 30 list and, in 2017, was named by MIT, the renowned US technology institute, as one of today’s greatest talents. His goal, after making his fortune, is to create 1 million jobs.

Is entrepreneurship the best form of social promotion in Brazil?
It is the only driving force for growth. I started buying cell phones at a discount and selling them at a higher price to make money. Entrepreneurship was born in my life out of necessity. I’m a little against the glamorization of entrepreneurship, because, for the majority of Brazilians, this only means survival. Today, of the 22 million active CNPJs, half earn up to R$130,000 per year. In other words, they are people subsisting.

But what allowed your business to break through this barrier and become a wealthy entrepreneur?
When we come from very low, we need a different stimulus to change this reality. First, you need knowledge. If you don’t know math, you can’t calculate cash flow, you won’t be able to reinvest in the company. Second, is the appetite for risk. Third, discipline in executing the plan. It’s very difficult, when you start making money, to continue investing in your business instead of fulfilling a personal dream, like taking a big trip. Long-term thinking is the big difference.

You sold Easy Taxi for R$1 billion. How important is the internet to this success?
Before, it was almost impossible for a young man like me, from an extremely poor family in a small town, to build a business. The internet allowed social mobility because, cheaply, just with the effort of your knowledge, you can amplify what you do, using the web itself as a mass distribution channel.

Have your businesses always been successful?
I broke right at the beginning. I ended up moving to Rio de Janeiro to go to college, with a young daughter and a debt to pay. There, I was a security guard at a nightclub, at a restaurant, I distributed flyers at a friend’s party. I did odd jobs while learning programming [de computador]. I started making marketing ads on Google for doctors, physiotherapists, companies, so that they would appear at the top of searches, and I ended up paying my debt with that.

How did you come to your first successful business?
There was an event called Startup Weekend, an acceleration program from Silicon Valley in the USA, later bought by Google. I participated and there I came up with the idea for Easy Taxi. In 2011, Brazil only had 4% of smartphones. I had to convince taxi drivers that this type of cell phone would be the future, so that it wouldn’t end up in the hands of cooperatives. The trend at the time was Nextel [espécie de radioamador]. The business was successful and expanded to 34 countries in 18 months. I received the biggest investment at the time, R$10 million, which was infinite money, and we grew very quickly.

Taking a taxi to a manicure service is a huge distance. Where did the idea for Singu come from?
A girlfriend toyed with the idea that I should create an “Easy Manicure.” I went to check the market and saw that it was twice as big as the taxi market, around R$120 billion, and 40% of it was beauty services. Then I had an insight.
In this business, the success factor is the real state [imóvel, locação]. Successful salons serve wealthy locations and pay 30% to 50% for manicurists. I reversed the order. Our platform connected the professional to the client and I paid her 60% and kept 40%. It got rid of real estate and our software still managed finances. As a result, we increased her income, on average, twice. We sold this business in 2020 to Natura, but they won’t let me say for how much (laughs).

You created a “how to get there” course with G4 Educação. Do you even make money by teaching?

[Risos] I had a parachute accident in 2018 and was stuck in bed for about three months. I’m a very active guy and I thought about writing a book. The idea was to study the S&P 500 [Índice Standard&Poor´s] over the last 50 years to answer which tools were used by the companies that grew the most during this period. That’s where the techniques I use at G4 came from.
Instead of the book, a friend proposed that we launch an immersion course for entrepreneurs, because no one reads in Brazil. It would be R$10,000 per chair for 50 people. We sold half a million in one afternoon. I was shocked and thought: if we create an ecosystem and these people pay R$10,000, we will have a business worth R$5 million.
This is how the school was born, with the training program. In the first year, it was R$11 million [de faturamento] and 50% result. In the second year, R$22 million and 45% of results. Today, the fifth year, we surpassed R$200 million with R$43 million in net profit. We grow like unicorns [startup]but delivers results from a listed company [com capital aberto].

Do you have any dreams?
When I was young [ele só tem 32 anos], I would like to see my name on the Forbes, MIT list. Nowadays I value net profit, the company’s results. It’s much cooler to know that there are 357 thousand families that bring resources into their homes as a result of my work. My goal is to generate 1 million new jobs by 2030.

X-RAY | Tallis Gomes

Training: Degree in Marketing and Social Communication from ESPM (not completed)
Career: Marketing analyst at Unilever (2009-2010); founder of E-Spartan and TechSamurai (2010); marketing director at Ortobom (2011); CEO and founder of Easy Taxi (2011-2015); CEO and co-founder of eGenius (2014-2015); advisor Hotel Urbano (2015-2017); CEO and founder of Singu (2015-2020); president of the board of G4 Educação (since 2019)

With Diego Felix

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.