Signatures through Time | Alejandro Perez

The entrepreneurial journey is rarely linear. It is made up of trial and error, new beginnings, and, above all, hard choices.

Alejandro Perez's story is a good illustration of this reality. A Chilean entrepreneur currently residing in Alcácer do Sal, Alejandro has almost two decades of experience in logistics and e-commerce. Throughout his career, he has developed several business projects, learning from both failures and successes, and establishing a vision of practical, ethical, and deeply human leadership.

His entrepreneurial journey began in 2006, while he was finishing his degree in Chicago. At that stage, he was actively seeking opportunities, talking to professionals in different fields, and analyzing various sectors of activity. It was this exploratory process that led him to the logistics sector and, later, to his first business.

The decision to become an entrepreneur came when he found the right partners. Even so, the beginning was far from easy. The first idea failed in the first year, forcing the team to completely rethink the project. “In the beginning, we failed. We had to pivot, find other ideas, only the second one was really successful,” he admits.

In 2018, Farmex was born, one of the most remarkable projects of his career. The idea arose from the identification of a structural problem in the Chilean pharmaceutical market, where drug prices were extremely high.

“Chile was the most expensive country in Latin America, and there were three large pharmaceutical companies colluding.”, he says

At the same time, e-commerce was practically non-existent in this sector. Alejandro realized that digitization could be the key to increasing transparency and competition in the market. “I didn't know much about the industry, but I knew that e-commerce brings price competition transparency and I wanted to be there from the beginning,” he explains. However, Chilean legislation did not allow for the online sale of medicines at the time, which forced the company to start operating through a physical pharmacy, strictly complying with the legal framework.

The Covid-19 pandemic ended up accelerating this business model. With one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, online shopping became essential, consolidating FarmEx's value proposition.

Despite its success, the company remains focused on the domestic market. Experience with other projects, such as Shopex, taught him that internationalization requires caution and preparation. “One of the biggest mistakes I made was opening up too many countries at once, without a solid structure,” he acknowledges. The hasty expansion resulted in financial losses and left a clear lesson: “Before opening in a new country, you need to know exactly what resources and structure you have. It's not cheap and it's very complex.”

The growth of his businesses was mainly supported by equity capital and the assistance of passive partners. For those considering raising external investment, Alejandro leaves a clear warning:

“Raising capital is a good way to grow quickly, but my recommendation is to wait as long as possible.” According to him, raising investment too early can have high costs. “If you do it at the beginning, you can lose 50% of your company. If you wait, you will lose a much smaller percentage.”

On a strategic level, he believes that many entrepreneurs allow themselves to be overly driven by emotion. “Emotions are good, but they need to be combined with numbers,” he argues. This view is also reflected in the way he builds and manages teams.

As a leader, he values flexible, results-oriented work environments.

“I prefer to work with happy, flexible people who aren't so focused on schedules. I work based on results, not control.”

When it comes to remote work, his position is clear: “It's difficult to lead a company remotely.” Although he recognizes that some roles allow for it, he believes that leadership requires proximity. “I prefer to talk to people face to face.”

At the core of his leadership philosophy are simple but demanding values. “You have to be clear, trust your team, and not let people down,” he says. For Alejandro, honesty is non-negotiable. “If people don't believe what you tell them, it's impossible to work with them.”

If he had to give one final piece of advice to those just starting out, he sums it up bluntly:

“If you have a vocation for entrepreneurship, go for it. Start your own business, find partners, and do what you love to do. In life, it's important to do what you really enjoy. If you like being an entrepreneur, follow that path.”

Alejandro Perez's career shows that entrepreneurship is not just an exercise in ambition or economic growth, but a journey of continuous learning, responsibility, and personal consistency. Between failures, new beginnings, and tough decisions, he has built a vision based on ethics, clarity, and respect for the people he works with.

More than just success stories, his journey reveals the importance of knowing when to wait, of growing consciously, and understanding that leadership is, above all, an act of trust. 

In an ecosystem often marked by haste and the exaltation of growth at any cost, Alejandro reminds us that strength is built with time, rigor, and purpose.

In the end, his message is simple but powerful: entrepreneurship makes sense when it is aligned with who we are and the impact we want to leave behind. Because true success lies not only in the results achieved, but in how we get there.