Today we’d like to introduce you to John Pineda.
Hi John , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story really began when I moved to the United States from Colombia when I was about 20 years old. At that time, I did not speak English, I did not have a professional network here, and I was essentially starting from zero in a new country. My background was in architecture. In Colombia, I studied architecture and I had the opportunity to be part of a major project related to the feasibility study for the mass transit system in Pereira, which is my home region. So my early professional experience was very tied to what I had studied and to large scale planning and design work.
When I arrived in the U.S., through my mother I was introduced to a small company that was just getting started. There were only five of us working out of a garage in Miami Beach. The company was focused on inflight duty free, meaning tax free retail onboard airlines. Back then, duty free was still much more common in airport stores than it was onboard aircraft, and the technology ecosystem around inflight retail was very limited. I was hired for a basic role doing data entry. My job was to manually enter sales that were recorded on paper into a simple system that had been developed in London.
Over time, as the company grew, my responsibilities grew with it. I moved into different administrative and operational roles across multiple departments. At the same time, I have always been deeply interested in technology. I am naturally curious about new tools and systems, and I was consistently drawn toward the technical side of the business, even when my formal role was not a technical one.
That combination of business exposure, operational leadership, and a strong interest in technology eventually led me to the technology leadership track. Over the years, the company scaled dramatically and became the largest inflight duty free retailer in the world, working with more than 40 airlines. I ultimately became the Vice President of Technology, leading global initiatives and managing a team of more than 60 engineers distributed around the world. The role required constant travel and frequent meetings with senior airline executives across multiple regions. It was an incredible experience and a major leadership chapter for me, but it also reached a point where my quality of life was not sustainable. I was essentially living on airplanes. That reality pushed me to make a difficult but intentional decision to step away and build something with a better long term balance.
After leaving that role, I founded my own company in Florida, VP Group Development, LLC. Through that company, I focused on building software products, digital platforms, and websites for clients across different industries. One of the most meaningful phases of that journey was working with leaders in book distribution and education platforms across Latin America, from Mexico through Argentina. As our collaboration expanded, we built out a technology function to support new digital education initiatives, including platforms designed for K through 12 education. That work also gave me the chance to attend education conferences and industry events internationally, including in Europe and Asia, which broadened my perspective on global education trends and how technology is shaping learning outcomes for younger generations.
In recent years, my work has expanded into multiple parallel initiatives. One is a company called World Travelers Boutique, which I co founded with other executives from the inflight duty free industry. The focus there is to modernize duty free and inflight commerce with a new technology vision. We are developing next generation point of sale systems for the duty free industry, and we are integrating capabilities like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality to support better onboard experiences. The broader goal is to help airlines and travel operators deliver smarter retail, more personalized shopping experiences, and new models like product dispensing and other innovative distribution formats.
In addition to that, I am also building a passion project called Caffeine Stuff. As a Colombian, coffee is part of my culture, and I wanted to create something for coffee lovers that goes beyond just content. The platform is being designed as a community and toolkit where people can explore recipes, keep brew journals and brew logs, rate coffees by origin and roast profile, and use practical tools to improve their technique. It is a blend of community, education, and product thinking, built around a topic I genuinely enjoy.
So overall, my path has been a progression from starting over as an immigrant with limited resources, to growing inside a global company into executive technology leadership, and then transitioning into entrepreneurship where I build platforms across industries. The common thread has been technology as an enabler, and a consistent focus on building systems that improve experiences at scale, whether in travel retail, education, or consumer communities.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Overall, I have been fortunate because my path has been relatively smooth, but it has definitely not been free of challenges. The first real obstacle was language. When I started at that company, we were only five people, and I was the only one who did not speak English. That created an immediate barrier, not only socially but also operationally, because every part of the work involved communication, emails, instructions, and documentation. In the early stage, I relied heavily on technology to bridge that gap. I translated emails and internal communication using tools like Google, and I made learning English a priority while still performing at a high level in my role. That period taught me two things very early: humility and resourcefulness. If I did not understand something, I could not ignore it. I had to find a way to solve it quickly and keep moving forward.
As my responsibilities increased and the business scaled, the obstacles changed. One of the biggest recurring challenges was that the technology available at the time was often not ready for what we needed to achieve. In inflight duty free and onboard commerce, we were trying to implement solutions before the industry was prepared for them. Many of the systems we wanted to deploy did not have established standards, and in some cases there were no proven models to copy. We had to build new processes, new technology, and new operational frameworks, while still ensuring reliability and compliance.
In aviation specifically, innovation comes with extra complexity. Introducing new technology onboard aircraft is not as simple as deploying software in a normal commercial environment. There are strict requirements, approvals, and validation processes. Getting the necessary authorizations from aviation regulators, including in the U.S. and internationally, was a major challenge. On top of that, the logistics of bringing products onboard, managing inventory and sales in a highly controlled environment, and coordinating with airline operations added another layer of complexity. Those constraints often slowed progress and forced us to be extremely disciplined in how we designed, tested, and implemented solutions.
From a technology leadership perspective, another ongoing challenge has been staying ahead of the curve. Technology evolves quickly, but not every new tool or trend is ready for enterprise deployment, and not every client environment can adopt change at the same speed. The real challenge is to identify what is truly valuable, implement it in a way that is stable and secure, and deliver it in a way that actually solves business problems. That requires balancing innovation with practicality, and it requires strong alignment across technical teams and business stakeholders.
So, while I would describe my career as a positive and steady progression, the challenges were very real at each stage. The difference is that each challenge pushed me to build stronger skills, better systems, and a more resilient approach to problem solving.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
World Travelers Boutique is a travel retail technology company building the next generation of inflight and travel commerce. We focus on modernizing duty free and onboard retail by combining aviation proven operational expertise with a forward looking technology stack. Our mission is simple: help airlines and travel operators deliver a smarter, more personalized, and more profitable shopping experience for passengers, while making execution easier for crew and operations teams.
We specialize in end to end solutions for inflight and travel retail, including modern point of sale platforms, product catalog and content management, pricing and promotions, inventory and logistics workflows, and data analytics that help operators understand what sells, when it sells, and why. We are also designing new passenger facing experiences that go beyond a traditional paper catalog, including digital discovery, personalization through AI, and immersive storytelling through emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality. The goal is to make travel retail feel current, frictionless, and engaging, while still meeting the strict requirements of an aviation environment.
VP Group Development, LLC is a strategic partner of World Travelers Boutique and serves as the core technology development arm behind our innovation roadmap. VP Group Development is directly responsible for designing, engineering, and delivering the new technology ecosystem that World Travelers Boutique is creating, ensuring that our platforms are modern, scalable, secure, and built to meet the operational and compliance demands of aviation environments.
What sets us apart is the combination of real industry experience and a product first approach. Our leadership team has lived the operational realities of inflight duty free at scale, so we design with compliance, reliability, and crew usability in mind from day one. At the same time, we are not just modernizing legacy processes. We are building a new ecosystem that connects inflight commerce, airport and lounge touchpoints, and new distribution models such as smart dispensing and remote fulfillment. That broader vision allows airlines and operators to deliver consistent experiences and unlock new revenue opportunities across the full travel journey.
Brand wise, what we are most proud of is our commitment to practical innovation. We are building technology that is advanced, but also deployable in the real world. Our work is focused on creating measurable outcomes: better passenger experience, higher conversion, stronger basket size, improved operational control, and clearer insight through data. For readers, the key message is that World Travelers Boutique is not just a platform. It is a long term partner for airlines and travel retail operators that want to modernize, differentiate, and lead the future of travel commerce.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I like most about our city is closely connected to what I value about Florida overall. Florida offers an exceptional mix of people, cultures, and backgrounds, and that diversity creates a very enriching environment. You feel a unique blend of Latin, American, and tropical influences that is difficult to find in many other parts of the United States. It shows up in the energy of the community, the food, the conversations, and the way different cultures live side by side. For me, that multicultural character is one of the strongest qualities of this place and a big reason why it feels like home.
What I like least is mostly related to factors that come with growth and geography. At times, traffic can be frustrating, especially as the population continues to increase and infrastructure has to catch up. Hurricane season is another reality of living here. It is not something anyone controls, but it does require planning and awareness every year. That said, I also see these as challenges that a fast growing state naturally faces, and over time there tend to be improvements and solutions that reduce those inconveniences.
Overall, I consider Florida an excellent place to live. It has been my home since I arrived in the United States, with the exception of about three years when I lived in North Carolina. But Florida has always been the place I return to. It is where I built my career, where I grew professionally, and where I have created the foundation for what I have today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vpgroupdevelopment.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vpgroupdevelopment/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vpgroupdevelopment/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjpineda/
- Other: https://caffeinestuff.com
