The Vatican just hired a Latino (kind of)
Meanwhile, Rappi retakes the crown and Duolingo fires the humans
Hey there,
I was in Chicago for the weekend. And apparently, we’ve got a new Pope.
Billboards everywhere. “Congrats Pope Leo.” “Rome now serving deep dish.” One even said “From the South Side to the Vatican.” You’d think the Bears won the Super Bowl. People here are genuinely fired up. And I kind of get it.
Pope Leo XIV is American. White Sox fan. But here’s where it gets funny: Latinos are also claiming him. The guy lived in Peru for 30 years, became a citizen, served the Church, and now masses of people—literally—are saying, “He’s Latino.” Peruvians especially are treating this like a national win.
So on our Friday team call I asked, “If I continue to live in Latin America for 30 years, would you all consider me Latino?”
Hard no. Immediate. No hesitation.
Apparently the Pope gets to claim dual identity.
I don’t.
For the record, I’m from Ohio. But I’ve got history in Chicago. Obama used to work out at my gym post-presidency. Kanye was born here, but the Windy City is still figuring out how loudly they want to claim him. Either way, this place knows how to export influence.
So in the spirit of power moves, this week we’re talking about Rappi taking back the top spot, Apple lining up to punch Google in the face, and Duolingo cutting writers in favor of AI.
Let’s get into it.
🌐 News Shortlist
1. Duolingo’s Owl Just Got Smarter (and Scarier)
Recap: Duolingo is now “AI-first.” They’re replacing writers and translators with AI to scale content faster and cut costs. Backlash came fast, especially from users and contractors.
You’d think a language company would be the last place to fire the humans. But the owl did it with a smile.
Let me be honest. I don’t hate this move. In fact, as a founder, I respect it. Duolingo is doing what a lot of companies are too scared to admit they’re already doing. They looked at parts of the business that were bloated or slow and asked, "Can a machine do this faster?" Then they made the call.
We’ve crossed the line from experimenting with AI to actively swapping people out. No long blog post. No fake empathy. Just action.
The problem isn’t what they did. It’s how most other companies will try to copy it without thinking. Because yes, AI can replace certain kinds of work. But it can’t replace brand. Or taste. Or judgment. Duolingo has 14 years of product context to build on. Most of you don’t. If you try to cut corners without first building a foundation, your product won’t just feel worse. It will be worse.
At Lupa, we make a lot of content. And yes, everyone on the team uses AI. The content team has access to every tool they ask for. I know they’re using it constantly. I know they use it every day.
But let’s be honest. The quality doesn’t come from the tool. It comes from the person who actually understands the voice, the customer, and the market. AI helps. It doesn't lead. It accelerates. It doesn’t invent. The reason our stuff hits is because smart people are behind it. Not just a prompt.
Advice:
Cut what can be automated, but only after you understand what can’t. If your product depends on nuance or trust, don’t expect a model to build that from scratch.
Give your team the best AI tools and train them to use them well. Then double down on the humans who actually get your voice and your customer.
They’re not slower. They’re strategic. And they’re the reason people stick around.
2. Rappi Reclaims the Throne in Latin America
Recap: TechCrunch just dropped its updated list of Latin America’s top startups by valuation. After Kavak’s down round, Rappi is back on top at $5.25 billion.
I worked at Rappi. I’ve seen the inside. It’s chaos. But it works.
People love to criticize LatAm startups until they realize they’re scaling across six countries with broken banks, weird tax systems, and delivery drivers dodging craters, I mean, potholes. If you can build a unicorn in that mess, you’ve earned every cent of your valuation.
Most founders don’t even think about Latin America when they start hiring. And when they do, it’s usually for cost savings. That’s a mistake.
The talent coming out of these startups isn’t a cheap backup. It’s the engine behind billion-dollar businesses. These are operators who have scaled cross-border, managed chaos, led teams through layoffs, and still shipped. You’re not doing them a favor by hiring them. They’re doing you one by saying yes. Product leads, engineers, growth marketers. Local talent who’ve shipped more in a year than most coastal tech bros do in five. They don’t overthink. They just move. And move fast.
At Lupa, we’ve recruited these people. The ones who kept Rappi alive at 2 AM. The ones who turned Clip into the Square of LatAm. The ones who scaled Nubank while half the world was still figuring out how to spell fintech. These aren’t hypothetical hires. They’re real. And they’re ready.
Advice:
Use this list as a jumping off point to your roadmap. Study where these people worked, what markets they scaled, and what problems they solved. Then reverse-engineer your hiring. Look for operators who’ve already built the thing you're struggling to figure out.
Stop writing job descriptions in a vacuum. Start with the business problem, then find the person who already solved it somewhere harder.
Latin America is full of those people. We know how to find them.
You don’t need to settle. You need to aim smarter.
3. Apple Might Be Quietly Coming for Google Search
Recap: Apple just announced it’s testing AI-powered search in Safari, adding tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Anthropic. This follows a drop in Safari searches and growing pressure on their $20 billion default deal with Google.
This might sound like a small update, but it’s not. Years ago, I worked on building search infrastructure inside one of the fastest-scaling tech companies in Latin America (Rappi, sounds familiar?).
It taught me that search isn’t neutral. It decides what gets seen, what gets buried, and how users build trust. And when that system changes, everything downstream changes with it.
My gut says Apple is testing the waters now, but one of these AI engines will end up as the default. Not because it's perfect, but because users won’t change the setting. Most people never do. That makes this less about search and more about ownership of attention.
If you're not present in that first answer from the AI, you're invisible.
Advice:
Assume that being discoverable will soon mean being selected, not just indexed. Your messaging needs to be simple enough to surface, strong enough to stand alone, and specific enough to match intent.
If you rely on SEO, start adapting now.
If your product isn’t clear in one line, fix that before someone else takes your spot.
AI search rewards focus. Make sure you’re worth finding.
🎬 Behind the Hiring: Say the Thing You Don’t Want to Say
We were working with a traditional company in Latin America. Mid-transformation. Trying to modernize. Backed by foreign investors who didn’t really understand the region, but liked to send long emails about it. They came to us looking for a critical hire to push things forward.
At first, it seemed like a good fit. We aligned on the profile, the scope, the urgency. But then we got into it.
We sent them strong candidates. The kind you normally have to fight to even get in front of a client. But nothing moved. They’d get excited, then stall. Ask for more options. Request another “market scan.”
It became clear they weren’t ready to hire. They wanted to feel like they were making progress without actually committing to anything.
I saw it coming. I’d seen it before. But this time, I didn’t let it drag on.
We usually work on success fees. You hire, we get paid. But after weeks of back-and-forth, I sent them a message and said, “We’re not sending any more candidates unless there’s an upfront payment in place.”
They removed me from the group thread the same day. No explanation. No pushback.
A few weeks later, someone from the team reached out. Not to re-engage. Just to ask if one of the candidates was still available for an interview.
No acknowledgment of the work we’d done. No mention of the conversation they ghosted. Just a casual, “Hey, can we talk to this person again?”
They hired that candidate two weeks later. We still got paid. Not the point.
The point is this: when you’re building a business, there will always be a moment where it feels easier to just stay quiet. To keep the client happy. To avoid rocking the boat.
That’s the trap.
Founders and recruiters fall into the same trap all the time. They think keeping things smooth is good business. Say yes a little longer. Keep the client happy. Avoid the awkward conversation.
But what it really does is drag everyone through a slow, expensive waste of time. And it tells the client your work is flexible, your standards are negotiable, and your time doesn’t matter.
Takeaway:
If something feels uncomfortable to say, say it anyway. You might lose the client. You might lose the deal. But you’ll keep your clarity. And clarity is what makes you fast. Clarity is what makes you credible.
The longer you avoid saying the hard thing, the more expensive it becomes.
Rip the band-aid. Let the right people stay in the room.
🔎 Remote Jobs Shortlist
Here’s what smart companies are hiring for this week.
Even if you’re not job hunting, it’s worth knowing what great teams are building (and who they’re looking for).
1. Lead Architecture Engineer
One of our clients is building the next phase of their digital platform and looking for a grown-up engineer to own the system design. This is a “real architecture” role. Not just picking the stack, but shaping how it all actually scales, runs, and stays up.
You’ll lead backend and infrastructure decisions across a serverless AWS setup (Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, EKS). You’ll also shape internal tooling, testing frameworks, and deployment pipelines. This role partners directly with product and design, and the expectation is that you come with opinions and receipts.
Must have 10+ years of experience shipping production systems in TypeScript or Python, designing APIs, managing databases, and making hard decisions around trade-offs. Bonus if you’ve worked in ecommerce, healthcare, or security-sensitive environments.
💵 $8,300 - $10,000 USD
📍LatAm Remote
2. Digital Designer
Fast-scaling media company backed by major studios and streaming platforms. They run massive video channels across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
They need a designer who can keep up. You'll be making high-converting video ads, animated graphics, display creatives, and social assets. You'll work alongside two smart creatives who don't have time to explain how Figma works.
If you've spent the last few years making cool motion ads and (really) know your way around After Effects, this one's for you.
💵 $2,500 - $4,000 USD
📍Colombia
3. Frontend Engineer
A profitable legal-tech company with real revenue, real customers, and zero investor nonsense is looking for its first frontend hire. The founder still writes code and talks to users, and now it's time to level up the product.
You'll take ownership of the frontend and help build the design system, UX, and component architecture from the ground up. Stack is React, TypeScript, Next.js. Clean, modern, no weird surprises.
Looking for someone with 5+ years of experience who can go deep on product, move fast without breaking things, and cares about building software people actually use. Legal, fintech, or healthcare background is a plus.
💵$4,000 - $6,000 USD
📍LatAm Remote
That's it for this week.
If you're scaling, hiring, or just quietly questioning your job's AI survivability, we should talk.
Share this with someone who still thinks Latin America is just a cost play.
Or someone who thinks the Duolingo owl is just a meme.
Talk soon,
Joseph Burns
CEO & Founder, Lupa