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From powder to purpose: how one founder turned niche know-how and crisis moments into a durable company.

Rafael “Rafa” Sierra, founder of EPSA Mexico, a specialist in automating powder handling for industries like food, chemicals, paint, and steel explains how EPSA launched during the 2008–10 downturn by offering alternative, budget-friendly automation options in an under-taught engineering niche. He shares early hiring struggles, how “human touch” and a clear purpose (improving plant operators’ health, safety, and comfort) keep teams aligned, and a pivotal 2019–20 leap from distributor to manufacturer during COVID-era supply disruptions, eventually exporting Mexico-made machinery to the U.S. 

Rafa also credits Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) forums for candid peer support, and Harvard’s OPM for practical case-driven experiments he’s now rolling out internally. He closes with routines that anchor hard days, a key lesson on shared information, and advice to “follow what you’re good at” because mastery can become passion.

Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:

1. Deep domain expertise creates unfair advantage: winning often comes from mastering what others overlook.
2. Constraints sharpen entrepreneurship: limited budgets and uncertainty can force smarter, more creative business models.
3. Early hiring is belief-based: people join a startup for the vision when you can’t offer big-company paths.
4. Purpose is a stress filter: if a problem doesn’t align with purpose, it drops in priority.
5. Stay human at scale: daily touchpoints and shared “good news” reinforce alignment.
6. Big pivots can be timed bets: COVID supply issues + demand surge justified becoming a manufacturer.
7. Peer forums accelerate courage: EO’s non-judgment space helped pressure-test a risky decision.
8. Operational excellence needs both KPIs and people: efficiency alone capped growth; HR became strategic.
9. Integrity compounds: correcting a pricing misunderstanding built customer trust and employee loyalty.
10. Mastery beats “passion first”: follow what you’re good at—passion often follows competence.

Books: Clockwork