# Gerardo Salandra

> Gerardo Salandra is the Salvadoran co-founder and CEO of respond.io, a Kuala Lumpur-based customer conversation platform founded as Rocketbots in Hong Kong in 2017. Educated in Germany and Hong Kong, with experience at Google, IBM and Runtastic, he helped build a company around the gap between messaging habits and business software. His public interviews discuss a decisive 2019 pivot, product-led growth, AI education and the importance of human escalation in automated conversations.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at respond.io
- **Organizations:** respond.io (formerly Rocketbots), Artificial Intelligence Society of Hong Kong, NDN Group, Google, IBM, Runtastic
- **Nationality:** Salvadoran
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in International Business, Reutlingen University, Master of Business Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- **Known for:** Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020, Enterprise Technology., Alibaba Cloud Most Valuable Professional recognition in 2018., TEDxCUHK speaker; talk published September 17, 2019.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2015** — Worked at Google, IBM and Runtastic; exact employment dates are not established in the reviewed sources.
- **2015** — Moved to Hong Kong to pursue an MBA at CUHK.
- **2016** — Completed the CUHK MBA.
- **2017** — Co-founded Rocketbots in Hong Kong with Hassan Ahmed and Iaroslav Kudritskiy.
- **2019** — Recalled making a final attempt to pivot that brought product-market fit; the company moved its headquarters to Kuala Lumpur.
- **2020** — Selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in Enterprise Technology; Rocketbots changed its name to respond.io.
- **2022** — Respond.io raised a $7 million Series A led by Headline Asia.
- **2026** — Respond.io announced a $62.5 million Series B led by Camber Partners on June 16.

## Achievements

- Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020, Enterprise Technology.
- Alibaba Cloud Most Valuable Professional recognition in 2018.
- TEDxCUHK speaker; talk published September 17, 2019.
- Reported acquiring respond.io’s first 1,000 customers before its first sales hire.
- Led respond.io through its June 2026 Series B announcement; the company reported $35 million ARR and operations serving over 10,000 businesses in more than 180 countries.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Respond.io announced $62.5 million in Series B funding led by Camber Partners with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors, for expansion into North America and Europe.
- **2026-01** — In an Authority Magazine interview published January 7, Salandra discussed human escalation, customer-focused AI and his public commitment against job losses solely because AI can perform the work.

## Links

- Website: https://respond.io/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerardosalandra/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/GerardoSalandra

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/gerardo-salandra
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14