LSG: A 7,000-employee staffing company [An interview with FTV Capital]

“The best companies are ones that solve a big problem, and that’s true for LSG” - Robert Cadena, CEO of Lean Solutions Group.

As a staffing company, LSG focuses on growing and expanding into new industries. Therefore, searching for an outside investor became the next natural step. Fortunately, we were able to connect with FTV Capital, a company that would help us accomplish our goals.  

FTV Capital is a growth equity investment firm focused on investing in high-growth companies offering solutions in three main sectors: enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing.  

Through the $42.5 million growth equity investment from FTV Capital, we have expanded our business to new countries, invested in technology, and enhanced our overall service offering.  

An interview with FTV Capital

Our CEO, Robert Cadena, sat down with FTV Capital to talk about our company’s incredible growth, our unique selling point, the strategies we have established to manage this growth, technology implementation, and the future of LSG.  

These are some of the highlights from the interview.  

The Beginning

Lean Solutions Group started in 2012 after our CEO sold his brokerage business. With all this valuable knowledge and experience in the transportation and logistics industry, Robert decided to create a company that solved a big problem: available talent.  

“As someone who has worked in T&L for decades, I knew firsthand the daily hurdles that T&L companies face, and one of the biggest is hiring [...] I thought, why not set up a nearshoring company with operations in Colombia to help all T&L companies tackle their staffing challenges?”

Growth efforts

Adapting to change is one of the things LSG does best. As our reality drastically changed, we leveraged the power of our satellite offices and the shift in culture, where employers realized that remote work could be done right. Our expertise and high-quality services allowed us to continue our growth path even during the pandemic.  

“Just before the pandemic hit, we had 1,300 employees, and now have 7,000 and are still adding many new employees each month”

The turnover rate at LSG is less than 5%, which we are incredibly proud of. We are always thinking about our employees and searching for ways to improve their experience with us.  

“To create a culture that employees love, ask them regularly what they need to feel supported […] Employee feedback has influenced many of our practices, such as training, regular management check-ins and career path planning.”

Tech implementation

Technology is the backbone of the entire LSG operation since it helps bring people together and create seamless processes. We are focused on developing and implementing new technologies to enhance our service offering and customers’ experiences while working with us.  

“Our portal is a hiring tool, allowing us to source talent from all over Latin America. But it’s also an employee engagement platform used by LSG management and all our customers. On the portal, we can hire, onboard and set KPIs for each employee, and our customers can engage with their remote teams to help them set and reach goals.

The future for LSG

Moving forward for LSG means continuing to provide high-quality services for our clients as well as valuable opportunities for people across the globe.  

“My personal goal is to become the largest employer in Latin America. I see LSG helping support and grow local economies in Latin America while enabling U.S. T&L companies to benefit from the fantastic talent there.”

At LSG, we are focused on becoming the number one nearshore and offshore service provider for companies from various industries in the U.S.  

Connecting with companies such as FTV Capital helps us accelerate our growth efforts, allowing us to achieve our company goals and continue providing high-level services for all our clients.  

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