Startup Day Keynote by Gustavo J. Flores Echaiz, CEO & Founder of Aureo | Startup Day Guadalajara 2026

A story about persistence, building with people you trust, and what it actually takes to turn years of working in Bitcoin into a company.

Gustavo J. Flores Echaiz, CEO and Founder of Aureo, takes the Startup Day Guadalajara stage to share the journey behind Aureo, from discovering Bitcoin more than a decade ago and building his first mining startup with friends in Canada, to organizing Bitcoin communities across Montreal, Querétaro, and Mexico City, and eventually building a Bitcoin company focused on the realities of living and doing business in Mexico.

Gustavo walks through the evolution from Verify to Swapido and ultimately Aureo, explaining how the team started by solving a problem they experienced themselves: earning in Bitcoin while needing a simple way to move between Bitcoin and Mexican pesos. He shares the lessons that came from building on Lightning, depending on outside infrastructure, rebuilding their own banking integrations, raising $1.1 million, and continuing to adapt the product as the company grew.

The keynote also looks at Aureo today, including its direct to wallet and direct to bank products, more than 1,500 signups, 10,000 transactions, and roughly 40 million pesos in volume. Gustavo also announces two new services from the Startup Day stage: a way to buy or sell real estate in Mexico using Bitcoin and the return of third party Bitcoin payouts to Mexican bank accounts.

Recorded live on the Main Stage at PlebLab Startup Day Guadalajara 2026 at Ciudad Creativa Digital in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Subscribe to PlebLab YouTube for more videos from Startup Day coming out soonish!