Caracas's great wealth at that time lay primarily in two products: cocoa and tobacco (to which must also be added other colonial goods and leather). The Company would try to acquire these products in exchange for transporting European products in demand in the Province of Caracas. Among these manufactured goods, textiles stood out above all others, generally representing more than 70% of the value transported. These were followed at a considerable distance by iron goods, whose value did not exceed 8-10% of the cargo, spirits, flour, etc.
Before the arrival of the Guipuzcoans, it was the Dutch who, starting from Curaçao, had monopolized both colonial territories. Once the Caracas tobacco and cocoa had been transported to Curaçao and later to Amsterdam, it was the merchants of this place who distributed them in Europe. Even the cocoa from the Spanish colony reached the metropolis itself through Dutch hands at very high prices (around 100 pesos per bushel, when the cost at source was 6-8 pesos). Under these circumstances, one must understand the opportunity of the Guipuzcoan commercial project presented to the king in 1728, when the crown proved unable to control the smuggling carried out by foreigners in that colony on its own.
Once the regulations were drawn up in November 1728 ( Rules and Chapters by which the Caracas Company is to be governed ), the five directors who were to manage the new company were named in the text itself. These were: José Miguel de Vild sola , at that time Prior of the Consulate of San Sebastián; Domingo de Yunibarbia; José de Lopeola; Juan Antonio de Claessens (or Cleassens, according to different sources) and José de Ayerdi, all of them prominent members of the Consulate. One of the problems that the authors of the regulations encountered was how to proceed with the payment of royal duties that the goods had to pay in their trade with America. However, as the document was drafted at this point, its authors knew how to provide a satisfactory response to both the interests of the monarch and the Province in safeguarding their rights, since it was not subject to customs duties on the border. For this reason, it was established that payment of duties on trade with America would be made by "service route" and would be effective in the city of Cadiz, not in San Sebastián or in the port of Pasajes (at that time under the jurisdiction of the San Sebastián municipality). The formula satisfied both the Province and the king.