From AI-Driven Revenue Rockets to Global Innovation Wins: Meet Manuel Romero, the Colombian Engineer Redefining Go-To-Market Automation

~Akanksha Harsh

In today’s competitive business landscape, scaling revenue is no longer about working harder, it’s about working smarter, faster, and with precision. Imagine systems where artificial intelligence, automation, and strategy converge to turn every lead into measurable growth. 

“Revenue growth becomes predictable when execution is engineered, not improvised,” says Manuel Santiago Romero Aragón, the Colombian engineer transforming how companies go to market. At just 26, Manuel has built AI-driven platforms that enable small teams to manage thousands of leads, close hundreds of deals, and scale annual recurring revenue from $1 million to $6 million. 

His work doesn’t just optimize sales, it redefines the blueprint for how modern businesses grow efficiently and sustainably.

Modern go-to-market execution depends on systems that integrate automation, data, and disciplined execution into a single operating model. Across high-growth companies, revenue is increasingly treated as an engineered outcome, designed, tested, and scaled with the same rigor as software. 

This mindset has produced a new category of technical leadership, focused on building the infrastructure that efficiently and consistently moves products to market.

Foundations in Systems Thinking

Manuel’s approach to go-to-market engineering is grounded in Industrial Engineering training at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where systems modeling, optimization, and process control formed the core of the discipline. He learned early that technology is most effective when treated as part of an interconnected system, rather than isolated tools: “I thrive on experimenting with tools to create scalable solutions that deliver real value,” he says, highlighting his entrepreneurial drive to turn ideas into profitable realities.

During university, Manuel collaborated with peers on technically complex projects, including the development of a custom GTA V server. The initiative demanded full ownership of backend architecture, uptime reliability, moderation systems, and organic community growth, an early demonstration of his ability to combine engineering rigor with operational foresight. Sebastian Torres, Manuel’s long-time collaborator, recalls: “From the very beginning, Manuel didn’t just build technology, he directed it with purpose.”

That same sense of purpose shows in Manuel’s resilience and adaptability. As Sebastian adds: “I admire his resilience and adaptability. A clear example of his skill is his transition to Industrial Engineering while simultaneously scaling a professional network that reaches from Colombia into the United States, successfully navigating the requirements of elite tech startups.” The experience sharpened Manuel’s ability to align technical systems with real-world growth constraints across markets.

Sebastian further explains: “What sets Manuel apart is that he understands how to position technology within the right growth context. He knows where systems belong in the market. He has a rare ability to bridge engineering talent with elite growth environments.” This blend of technical mastery, operational discipline, and cross-border perspective would later define Manuel’s work in AI-driven GTM systems.

From Technical Projects to Market Execution

Manuel’s focus evolved to solving one critical problem and that is how to turn technical capability into scalable market execution. He treats GTM as a system that can be automated, measured, and optimized, rather than relying solely on manual processes or intuition.

This approach became central at Domu AI, where he joined as GTM Engineer – Revenue, AI & Automation in May 2024. At the time, the company had around $1 million in ARR and was facing growing operational complexity. Manuel’s mission is to design a system that scales revenue without proportionally expanding the team.

Manuel’s impact is best understood through those who have worked alongside him in high-performance environments. Syndel Callisaya, Operations Strategist in Business Creation and Business Development, first met Manuel through Makers, a highly selective fellowship that convenes the top 1% of technical and entrepreneurial talent in Latin America: “At Makers, Manuel wasn’t just participating, he was building,” Syndel recalls: “He played a key role in launching initiatives from the ground up, including Colombia Tech Week, which became one of the largest startup and technology events in the region.”

Their professional paths later converged again at Domu, a platform that uses generative AI agents to automate compliant, multi-channel debt collection and account resolution interactions. Syndel worked in Business Operations and Manuel joined as the company’s first Go-To-Market hire. From that point on, they collaborated closely across growth, operations, and execution: “What stood out immediately was how measurable the impact was. Sales and growth increased significantly as a direct result of Manuel’s GTM strategy and execution. He doesn’t just design systems, he makes them work in real operating conditions,” she explains.

Engineering AI-Driven Revenue Infrastructure

At Domu AI, Manuel built end-to-end GTM and revenue operations systems integrating lead management, outreach orchestration, analytics, and compliance controls.

His systems supported:

• 5,000+ qualified leads
• 150+ active enterprise deals
• A two-person GTM team executing multi-channel outreach at enterprise volume

Weekly operations included ~500 emails, 3,000 cold calls, and 200 LinkedIn interactions, all powered by automation rather than manual effort. Internal analytics and tooling provided real-time visibility and compliance in regulated markets.

Manuel explains the principle driving these systems: “If a process can’t be observed, automated, and measured, it will eventually break under scale.”

Using Python, SQL, and cloud infrastructure, he engineered tools that reduced execution latency, standardized workflows, and enabled predictable revenue growth, demonstrating that small teams can achieve results that usually require much larger organizations.

Positioning Technology Within Growth Contexts

Manuel’s effectiveness comes from more than technical execution. His GTM systems are deliberately designed with market context, buyer behavior, and organizational readiness in mind. He applies AI selectively to remove bottlenecks, orchestrate lead flows, and ensure teams focus on high-impact 

Manuel has applied GTM automation to environments beyond enterprise software. In 2024, he led customer experience automation for Colombia Tech Week, an international technology event with over 20,000 attendees.

He deployed cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud, supporting 5,000+ active users, and delivered 120,000+ automated messages via WhatsApp and email. AI-driven engagement tools managed attendee interactions while automated data pipelines served sponsors, demonstrating that GTM automation principles—segmentation, orchestration, and feedback loops- apply across diverse operational contexts.

Systems Thinking Applied to Talent and Ecosystems

Manuel’s GTM expertise extends to talent and network orchestration, bridging technical execution with strategic opportunity placement. One example involved connecting a peer to Harmony, a startup led by former Google executives and experienced founders with successful exits. 

Nicolas Diaz, CEO and Co-Founder of Domu AI, shares his perspective on Manuel Romero's exceptional talent in identifying, hiring, and organizing high-performing teams: "I'm incredibly happy with Manuel's contributions—not just in building our scalable GTM and revenue systems, but also in his sharp eye for talent and team-building. From the very beginning, he spotted a critical gap in our organization: we were missing exactly the right profile to help us scale operations efficiently and strategically. Manuel didn't hesitate—he recommended a standout candidate who perfectly fit that need. She's been phenomenal from day one, delivering outstanding results and quickly growing into the role of Chief of Staff at Domu. 

“That single recommendation has had a massive positive impact on how we hire, structure, and organize our team in this fast-growing, high-stakes environment. Manuel has a real gift for not only engineering automation and growth systems but also for recognizing and bringing in the people who make everything run better. His intuition in talent acquisition is one of the many reasons our team performs at such a high level."

There is no doubt Manuel’s approach aligns human resources with systemized GTM growth, emphasizing scalable, strategic connections rather than ad hoc networking.

Entrepreneurial Application of Revenue Systems

Manuel also applies his GTM systems philosophy to his ventures. In 2024, he founded Hewks.net, a self-funded venture generating $50,000+ USD in revenue in its first year. He built automated financial and operational systems integrated with cloud infrastructure and stablecoin liquidity providers: “The automations and algorithms used in these operations were abstractions of the things that I was studying in my career, and I was able to bring them to an actual financial context”, Manuel says.

“Those same optimization algorithms are used to find the shortest path between two points - a very common problem to solve in industrial Engineering,” he adds. The project underscores Manuel’s central thesis: revenue grows through engineered systems, not scale alone, enabling small teams to achieve outsized results.

Recognition for Revenue Systems Leadership

Manuel’s work has earned international recognition and his innovation extends beyond revenue. His participation in the NGDA Innovation Bootcamp (2024–2025) in Denmark and Vietnam yielded a game-changing multilingual AI-IoT solution for Kenya’s nomadic tribes, earning him a spot as one of two finalists out of 32 global teams at the P4G 2025 summit. 

He says: “My ability to build from scratch, rooted in my engineering background, enabled a voice-activated system that bridges accessibility gaps.” This project, featured in Colombian media like ADN and Caracol Radio, underscores his entrepreneurial vision to solve untapped problems.

Manuel’s work has not also gone unnoticed beyond internal teams. According to Syndel, his GTM expertise has earned recognition in highly competitive environments.”He has been recognized among the top GTM professionals in the U.S., and his work was even showcased in Times Square. That level of visibility reflects the quality, rigor, and scale of the systems he builds.” she shares. 

Defining Modern GTM Engineering

Manuel exemplifies a new breed of GTM engineer, one who fuses AI, automation, and systems thinking to transform revenue from a function into a predictable outcome. Across enterprise engines, global events, and entrepreneurial ventures, his work demonstrates that growth can be systematized and scaled with discipline.

Manuel himself sums up the philosophy: “When systems are designed correctly, growth becomes a function of discipline rather than effort.”

Through this blend of engineering and strategy, Manuel is redefining what it means to take products to market, bridging technology, execution, and growth to deliver measurable impact across industries and continents.

About the Author: Aakanksha Harsh is a business and technology writer covering digital innovation, startups, and industry trends.