In 2011, three graduates of Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá moved into a room at a family house in Panama City with a plan to build a technology company from scratch. More than 14 years later, Rootstack has delivered over 400 projects across the Americas, expanded to three countries, and built a nearshore model grounded in adaptability, quality standards, and continuous learning.
The room belonged to Diego Tejera’s grandmother. It was 2011, and Alejandro Oses, Tejera, and Juan Daniel Flórez had just graduated from UTP with a decision already made. They would not pursue traditional career paths. They would build something of their own. The name they chose was Rootstack, drawn from the idea of roots and stacks, a metaphor for order built from the foundation.
They had started working from home the year before, taking on early projects while still finishing their degrees. One of their first clients was Nito Cortizo. By the time they officially launched, they had enough momentum to justify the move into Tejera’s grandmother’s house. It was cramped, makeshift, and nothing close to a conventional office. But it worked.
What the three founders wanted was simple in concept and difficult in execution. The company describes its founding vision as a desire to combine technology, software, and services into a single offering. They were not interested in being a freelance collective. They wanted structure, repeatability, and the ability to serve clients across industries and borders. That ambition led them to pursue work not only in Panama but also in the United States, Canada, Uruguay, and England. Early projects with international clients forced the team to adopt stronger internal strategies and best practices, raising the standard for how things were done.
Growth that did not always scale
The company moved offices three times in its first few years. From the family house, they relocated to Ciudad del Saber, known in English as the City of Knowledge, a technology and innovation hub in Panama. Then they moved to a location on Vía Brasil, and in July 2014, they settled into a house in Hato Pintado. Each move reflected growth, but growth brought complications.
One lesson came during periods of expansion when the team realized that what worked for a smaller group did not scale effectively. The company states that this realization became a turning point. To continue growing, they had to strengthen internal processes, standardize quality practices, and invest more in communication and structure. What began as a challenge became an opportunity to grow into a stronger, more organized, and more resilient company, according to the team.
Rootstack pursued formal certifications as part of that restructuring. The company implemented the ISO 9001 Quality Management System and later earned ISO 27001 certification for information security. These were not symbolic gestures. They represented a commitment to consistency, accountability, and trust, particularly as the client base expanded and project complexity increased.
Building a nearshore model
Rootstack positioned itself as a nearshore software development partner. The company offers IT staff augmentation, managed teams, managed services, and solution discovery. It serves industries including banking and finance, healthcare, government, education, hospitality, insurance, retail, and nonprofits. The model is built around bilingual talent, senior engineering expertise, and time zone alignment with clients across the Americas.
The company has worked with more than 300 clients and delivered over 400 projects. It surpassed 100 collaborators and expanded operations to Medellín, Colombia, and Austin, Texas. Early clients in Panama included the Superintendency of Banks, Panama Tourism Authority, Transit and Land Transportation Authority, and Ministry of Health. The company reports a 92% customer satisfaction rate and states that clients have praised responsiveness, professionalism, clear communication, project management, and overall value for cost.
The leadership structure remained consistent. Oses serves as CEO and co-founder. Tejera is CTO and co-founder. Flórez holds the role of People Manager and co-founder. The three have been with the company since its founding and continue to shape its direction.
Culture as infrastructure
Rootstack frames its internal culture as a core part of its business strategy. The company organizes monthly End Of Month activities, both virtual and in-person, to create connection points for team members. It holds an annual end-of-year party and recognizes collaborators each month for contributions. Employees who reached 10 years with the company were rewarded with trips, a gesture intended to honor long-term commitment.
The company describes its values as transparency, adaptability, proactivity, diversity, and teamwork. It states that success is defined as creating meaningful impact through technology while building a strong, healthy company culture. That definition extends to how the company approaches talent development. Rootstack has invested in initiatives designed to support junior professionals and help emerging talent gain hands-on experience in the technology sector.
Among these is RootLab, a learning and innovation initiative, and the First Work Experience program, which focuses on creating entry points for early-career professionals. As part of this effort, Rootstack launched Your First Commit, a new campaign created to promote the First Work Experience program and connect with young talent taking their first steps in the tech industry. The concept refers to that first meaningful contribution in a professional journey: the moment when learning, opportunity, and real-world experience come together.
Responding to a changing landscape
In 2026, Rootstack launched the Keep Learning Pledge, a personal commitment initiative focused on helping professionals adapt to rapid change in the technology sector. The pledge is built around seven practical commitments, including spending at least 20 minutes each day learning something new, documenting important decisions, asking questions early, and taking ownership of mistakes. The initiative was designed in response to industry data indicating that 44% of worker skills are expected to change within the next five years and more than 70% of employees feel overwhelmed by workplace technology changes.
The company also released a free resource called the Career Clarity Checklist, a self-audit guide that includes a personal skills self-audit, weekly focus tracker, productivity reset checklist, career growth action template, and reflection prompts. It followed that with a Tech Skills Self-Audit Guide aimed at helping professionals identify skill gaps and build stronger long-term career habits.
These resources reflect a broader position the company has taken on the state of the technology sector. Rootstack leadership has advocated for stronger talent development and sustainable growth practices. The company states that long-term success depends not only on technical execution but also on investing in people and building resilient systems. The team believes that the most important qualities in the industry are adaptability, continuous learning, proactivity, strong communication, technical excellence, and teamwork.
The process of staying relevant
Rootstack describes growth as something that should never stop, no matter how much success has been achieved. Staying relevant, the company states, means staying humble enough to keep learning and evolving. Technology evolves quickly, and success requires not only skill but also the mindset to learn, collaborate, and respond effectively to change.
The company frames resilience as a product of purpose and focus. In difficult moments, the team returns to its purpose, focuses on the value it brings, and relies on the strength of the team. Growth often comes from discomfort, according to the company, and resilience is built by continuing forward even when things are not easy.
Rootstack also emphasizes balance. The company states that true success is more sustainable when there is balance between personal and professional well-being. Professional achievement is important, but it becomes even more meaningful when people also feel motivated, supported, and fulfilled in their personal lives.
What Rootstack believes about success and the future
The company’s mission is to empower companies through digital transformation with innovative solutions, going beyond coding to become what it describes as architects of the future. Its vision is to continue growing as one of the premier software solutions partners in Panama and across the Americas while expanding its team with outstanding IT talent. The company states it wants to be known not only for the quality of its work but also for the strength of its culture, its commitment to its people, and its ability to create meaningful impact through technology.
Rootstack operates from the belief that what works at one stage does not always work at the next. That realization, repeated across years of expansion, has shaped the way the company approaches systems, communication, and growth. The team that once worked out of a room in a family house now operates across three countries, but the foundation it built in those early years remains. The question is not whether to scale, but how to scale in a way that sustains what matters.
