César Salazar had years of building successful products for Latin America, but it was only after visiting Silicon Valley that he started considering that his ideas had the potential to go global. The realization that he lacked ambition was the first step to start supporting founders that might have been feeling the same way.

From that experience, he decided to start Mexican.VC, the first Silicon Valley seed fund dedicated to Mexican startups. In 2012, 500 Startups acquired Mexican.VC and brought César in as the 6th member of its investment team. He helped put 500 Startups on the map in Latin America, and consequently put Latin America on the radar of international investors. As the leader of the first 500 Startups office outside of the US, he was critically involved in making dozens of investments in the region.

César is now the founder and CEO of Beyond, where they aim to accelerate a global sphere of remote collaboration by helping companies build a dream team of creative problem solvers.

Stick around to find out:

His takes on Latam's challenges and mindset shifts
Why tropicalization may not be the best strategy
Less obvious opportunities for founders in the region
And what he'd have done differently as an investor today

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

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#40 - Finding the confidence to go global: César Salazar, Beyond and ex-500 Startups