Founding partner of Plus Partners and prior to that, Letgo. Named 40under40, the IESE award recognizing top entrepreneurs. IESE MBA 2006.
At 43, Enrique Linares had achieved every entrepreneur’s dream: he had launched a startup, which became a market leader and reached unicorn status. But after its sale, he faced a daunting question: what next?
Enrique Linares’ entrepreneurial success came sooner than he imagined. After a brief foray into fintech in Latin America, this Spanish lawyer-turned-entrepreneur joined forces with two business partners, Alec Oxenford and Jordi Castello, to found Letgo in 2015. This mobile app was an online marketplace to buy and sell secondhand goods. Initially offered for free, it quickly amassed millions of downloads. And within 502 days, the startup reached an astonishing valuation of $1 billion, earning unicorn status, so named because of the rarity of the achievement.
Undoubtedly, one of the keys to Letgo’s success was its global strategy from the start. “Letgo was born international,” Linares explains. The founders lived and worked in different cities around the world — Linares in São Paulo, Oxenford in Buenos Aires and Castello in Singapore — which facilitated them entering multiple markets simultaneously. Linares recommends this approach, especially for B2C internet-based business models, emphasizing the strategic value of doing so for faster, expansive growth.
Along the way, Letgo merged with Wallapop, and in 2020 was acquired by a U.S. competitor, OfferUp, marking the end of a thrilling ride.
For Linares, however, his primary challenge in 2020 wasn’t just navigating the COVID-19 pandemic back in Spain, but grappling with a profound personal and professional shift. “Something that frequently happens with entrepreneurs is that they get so caught up with their company that it becomes their whole identity. This thing to which you devote so much of your energy and dedicate so many hours can end up becoming pernicious,” he warns.
He was experiencing this himself. He had reached the highest of heights and was financially set, yet he felt bewildered and empty inside. “Everyone talks about how to sell your business,” he says, “but no one ever tells you what happens the day after the sale. Nobody prepares you for what comes next.”
Finding a new purpose
According to Linares, people commonly respond to such times of transition in one of two ways. They either immediately dive into new ventures, constantly seeking to replicate their past success in new emerging businesses, as serial entrepreneurs. Or they embark on a long period of reflection to discover a new purpose in life. He chose the latter.
He started trying new things that would take him out of his comfort zone, stretching him personally and professionally, but without demanding full-time commitment, given that he still wasn’t entirely clear about what he really wanted to do. He jokingly refers to this as his “casual dating” period.
He taught some classes, did some mentoring, invested in other startups with development potential, and served as an independent adviser. He also took advantage of this time to expand his network of contacts, listening to those who had gone through a similar experience and could offer their perspectives.
It was then that he realized what he most liked doing was sharing experiences with other entrepreneurs. One day, he got up, fueled by a newfound energy and eager to get started again. He decided to set up a professionalized version of what he had been doing all along: mentoring, investing and consulting. In 2024, Plus Partners was born.
Investing in others
Plus Partners is a venture capital (VC) fund focused on early-stage startups. Linares launched it with a friend, Oriol Juncosa, another prominent figure in the Spanish startup scene scene (both pictured). They seek to raise 40 million euros to support entrepreneurs in Southern Europe in three key sectors — health and nutrition, finance and property, and work productivity — where artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are already playing crucial roles in innovation.
This new venture allows Linares to combine his personal and professional passions. “It involves entrepreneurship, but isn’t about me being an entrepreneur in another startup,” he explains. “But I’m still following my calling, using everything I’ve learned about entrepreneurship to help others.”
As implied by its name, Plus Partners will add more than capital as they hold entrepreneurs’ hands, actively supporting them in navigating the complicated early stages of a startup, from business development and seed funding to strategies for growth. “We’re the partners that I wish I’d had during my own startup journey,” he says.
All the time and energy Linares dedicated to finding his path eventually illuminated the way: “It took me a while to see it,” he admits.
What he’s most proud of is not taking the easy path. “In thinking about next steps, it was coming to the realization and accepting that I’m not capable of putting in the same number of intense hours that I did in my 20s and 30s. Now, there are other, better ways that I can add the most value to companies, teams and communities. As our professional journeys evolve, so must our thinking on how we can contribute best.”
LISTEN: Enrique Linares discusses his journey in the podcast, “Éxito internacional y reinvención personal” (“International success and personal reinvention”), part of the Talent Pills series.
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