From Startup to Scale-Up: When to Build Your First LATAM Team (and How to Do It Right)
Scale smarter with experienced, cost-efficient teams from Latin America
For fast-growing SaaS companies, there comes a point when your Customer Success, Onboarding, or Support teams start to feel stretched thin. Renewals take longer. Response times slip. Onboarding new clients feels reactive instead of strategic.
That’s usually the moment founders and operations leaders realize: it’s time to scale.
The good news? You don’t have to grow your headcount exclusively in the U.S. to build a world-class team. For many successful SaaS companies, the smartest next step has been to expand customer-facing operations into Latin America - gaining access to experienced, English-proficient talent while maintaining high quality and cultural alignment.
At Altrio Consulting, we’ve helped dozens of SaaS leaders make that transition seamlessly. Here’s how to know when you’re ready — and how to do it right.
Why LATAM Is the Smartest Move for Scaling SaaS Teams
LATAM has become a powerhouse for nearshore talent. From Mexico to Colombia to Brazil, the region offers professionals who are fluent in English, operate in similar time zones as the U.S., and have strong experience working with global technology companies.
For SaaS businesses, that means you can:
- Build teams that work in sync with U.S. hours, without the delay or overnight coverage challenges of offshore locations.
- Find professionals with SaaS experience — Customer Success Managers, Implementation Specialists, Technical Support Reps — who understand your tools, KPIs, and customers.
- Reduce overall costs by 40–60%, while maintaining long-term retention. (At Altrio, our average resource tenure is 3.5 years — more than double typical U.S. turnover.)
The result? You gain capacity, quality, and sustainability — not just savings.
When to Know It’s Time to Build Your First LATAM Team
If you’re feeling the strain of growth, you’re not alone. Most SaaS companies reach an inflection point between Series A and Series C funding when customer demands outpace internal bandwidth.
Here are a few clear signals that it’s time to expand:
- Your U.S. team is overloaded with tactical work.
Senior CSMs are spending time on ticket triage or scheduling calls instead of driving renewals and expansion. - Onboarding and support aren’t keeping up with new customers.
If time-to-value or onboarding completion rates are slipping, it’s a red flag for scalability. - Coverage gaps are hurting customer experience.
You’re missing messages overnight or struggling with regional clients because your team isn’t available across all time zones. - You’re losing renewals because customers don’t feel supported. Customer Success depends on consistency. If your customers feel the strain of your growth, you risk churn just when ARR should be expanding.
When you see these signs, hiring in LATAM isn’t just about cost control — it’s about protecting your brand experience.
How to Build Your First LATAM Team — The Right Way
Expanding internationally can seem complex, but with the right process, it’s straightforward. Here’s how we guide companies through it at Altrio:
1. Define the mission of your first hires
Start by identifying the core outcomes you want to achieve.
Do you need to accelerate onboarding, manage renewals, or strengthen support coverage?
That clarity determines whether you start with a Customer Success Manager, Onboarding Specialist, or Support Representative — or a blend of the three.
2. Identify the right locations
Not every LATAM market offers the same strengths. Colombia and Mexico are hubs for bilingual SaaS professionals, ideal for Customer Success and Support. Brazil and Argentina have strong tech ecosystems and enterprise project experience.
At Altrio, we help clients select the right geography based on time zone, language mix, and cultural fit.
3. Set realistic budgets and expectations
One of the advantages of LATAM hiring is predictable, all-in compensation. For example, a seasoned CSM in LATAM typically costs between $60,000 and $90,000 per year, including all management fees and taxes — often half the cost of a U.S. equivalent.
And budgeting also makes good sense. You typically get more senior professionals — often with 10+ years of experience — for 40% to 60% less than what you’d pay for a 5+ year resource in the U.S. That means greater maturity, business acumen, and leadership capability at a lower overall investment.
4. Prioritize English fluency and SaaS experience
While cost is attractive, it should never come at the expense of communication. Top LATAM professionals are fully fluent in English and often have direct experience working for U.S. or European SaaS companies. We screen for both.
5. Integrate them like full team members
The most successful expansions treat LATAM hires as part of one global team — not an external unit.
Include them in your team meetings, give them customer ownership, and align KPIs with your U.S. team. The closer the integration, the faster they’ll ramp and deliver impact.
What Companies Get Wrong About Nearshore Hiring
A few myths often hold founders back from exploring LATAM talent:
- Myth 1: “It’s only for cost savings.”
In reality, nearshoring is about capability and coverage — it allows your U.S. team to focus on strategic work while your LATAM team handles execution. - Myth 2: “It’s complicated to manage.”
The truth: with partners like Altrio, all HR, compliance, and payroll logistics are handled for you. You simply work with your team as you would with any full-time employee. - Myth 3: “Quality won’t match local hires.”
Today’s LATAM professionals are among the most qualified global talent pools in Customer Success, Implementation, and Support. Many have worked for top SaaS brands serving global customers.
Success Story: How a SaaS Scale-Up Doubled Coverage Without Doubling Cost
One Altrio client, a U.S.-based SaaS company in the analytics space, faced rising customer churn and overloaded CSMs. Within six weeks, we helped them hire three LATAM-based CSMs and one Onboarding Specialist.
The results:
- Response times dropped by 45%
- Renewal rates increased by 18%
- Team retention after two years: 100%
The U.S. leadership team now calls their LATAM hires “the backbone of our customer experience.”
Final Thoughts: Build Global Strength Without Losing Local Control
Scaling doesn’t have to mean complexity. With the right partner, building your first LATAM team is a clear, low-risk way to expand capacity, protect customer satisfaction, and control costs.
At Altrio Consulting, we specialize in helping SaaS companies recruit and manage world-class Customer Success, Onboarding, and Support teams across Latin America — without upfront recruiting fees or long-term risk.
Ready to Explore LATAM Talent?
Let’s talk about your team goals. Book a call with an Altrio specialist.