The J Curve with Olga Maslikhova

January 24: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Francisco Jardim, co-founder and general partner at SP Ventures, a São Paulo-based pioneer venture capital investor in agrifoodtech space in Latin America whose portfolio include the likes of Agrolend,  Agrofy and Frizata and that's backed by corporate and industry giants like Yara Growth Ventures, Syngenta and Banco do Brasil. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. What are the ultimate traits that VCs look for in a founder? What makes an early stage startup VC fundable?2. What are do's and don'ts of pitching a startup to SP Ventures?3. What are the pros and cons of being a sector specific VC? 4. What makes Francisco and the team at SP Ventures so bullish on agrifoodtech sector in Brazil and LatAm? Why Brazilian agricultural sector is ready for mass production of unicorns? 5. VC exit environment in agriculture: how will it evolve?If you would like to get more insight from LatAm's leading tech founders and investors, subscribe to our newsletter on our website https://www.thejcurve.comand follow us on Spotify or Apple. The J Curve on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejcurvepodcast/Olga is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, mentor at Techstars and founder at The J Curve, Latin America's leading English speaking podcast about tech builders. She's been investing in the USA, SEA and Latin America for over 13 years. Companies she backed include tech unicorn ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody) and Vitalk (acquired by Gympass).Olga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/olgamaslikhovaOlga on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgamaslikhova/Olga on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olgamaslikhova/

January 17: For the first episode of the J Curve in 2023 I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Alan Glezer, co-founder and CFO at Agrolend that has recently raised over $27M in Series B led by Lightrock  and joined by Yara Growth Ventures, SP Ventures and Valor Capital Group. In today's episode we will learn:  1. Profitability vs growth. What should founders focus on during adverse market environment?2. What are the focus areas in agriculture Alan is excited about?3. What is Agrolend go-to-market playbook? How to leverage partnerships for new customers acquisition? 4. What are major challenge to agricultural development in Brazil today?5. What's Alan's take on the future of Agrolend if everything goes right?If you would like to get more insight from LatAm's leading tech founders and investors, subscribe to our newsletter on our website https://www.thejcurve.comand follow us on Spotify or Apple. The J Curve on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejcurvepodcast/Olga is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, mentor at Techstars and founder at The J Curve, Latin America's leading English speaking podcast about tech builders. She's been investing in the USA, SEA and Latin America for over 13 years. Companies she backed include tech unicorn ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody) and Vitalk (acquired by Gympass).Olga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/olgamaslikhovaOlga on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgamaslikhova/Olga on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olgamaslikhova/

In this final episode of the year we are taking a look back at top 10 most listened episodes of the year and sharing our favorite insights from each and every one of them.If you would like to get more insight from LatAm's leading tech founders and investors, subscribe to our newsletter on our website https://www.thejcurve.comand follow us on Spotify or Apple. The J Curve on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejcurvepodcast/Olga is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, mentor at Techstars and founder at The J Curve, Latin America's leading English speaking podcast about tech builders. She's been investing in the USA, SEA and Latin America for over 13 years. Companies she backed include tech unicorn ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody) and Vitalk (acquired by Gympass).Olga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/olgamaslikhovaOlga on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgamaslikhova/Olga on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olgamaslikhova/

December 12: For the final episode of the J Curve in 2022 I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Marcos Salama, founder and CEO at Inventa, Brazil's leading digital marketplace for small retailers and suppliers in Latin America that has raised over $80m in venture capital from the likes of Greylock, a16z, Founders Fund, Tiger Global, monashees, One VC and MAYA.In today's episode we will learn:  1. What are the unique challenges of building and scaling a B2B marketplace solution in Latin America?2. How did the product-market fit look like for Inventa?3. What is Inventa's high growth playbook? What are the key challenges of managing high pace of growth for Marcos and Inventa's leadership team? 4. What are the ultimate benefits of building a multicultural team from day Zero? How does being hybrid and multicultural impact corporate culture at Inventa?5. What's Marcos's take on the future of Inventa if everything goes right?

November 21: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Guilherme Weigert, founder and CEO at Conexa Saude, Brazil's leading telemedicine and digital health platform that manages over 20M lives and that has recently raised ~$40M Series C from the likes of  General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs and Igah Ventures.In today's episode we will learn:  1. When, why and how to pivot a healthcare business: Conexa's experience2. What were the most challenging aspects of managing Conexa's rapid growth during Covid-19? Spoiler alert: it had everything to do with hiring. 3. How to build a sustainable Product-Led Growth Strategy: Conexa's playbook4. Why Data Science is the ultimate competitive edge and value driver for Conexa?5. What are the unique challenges of disrupting the healthcare market in Brazil?

November 7: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Eduardo Carone, founder and CEO at Atlas Governance, Brazil's leading software platform for corporate governance management that has recently raised $5M Series A from the likes of  Volpe Capital and DSK Capital.In today's episode we will learn:  1. What's subjectivism and how to apply that philosophy to business?2. What are the biggest mistakes startups make as they build enterprise sales?3. What does it take to build a diverse organization? How do you test for ethics and values as you hire?4. What are the mission critical things startups should learn from large corporates?5. How do you optimize for sustainability as an early stage startup?

October 31: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Marcelo Lombardo, founder and CEO at Omie, a São Paulo based ERP platform that has raised over $138M from the likes of SoftBank, Tencent, Riverwood Capital, Dynamo, Velt, Bogari Capital, Hix Capital,  Brasil Capital and Astella. In today's episode we will learn:  1. Why is it so hard to build partnerships as a core sales channel? What was the impact of switching from digital ads to partnering with accountants on Omie's unit economics?2. How to build, retain and scale trust with partners and customers in a low trust environment?3. What are the unique characteristics of SMBs in Brazil? What are the unique challenges of launching an SMB-centric ERP platform in Brazil?4. What's Marcelo's take on pricing model and why charging by the number of users or features doesn't work? 5. What's Marcelo's advice to the founders who have to switch from 'growth at all cost' mindset to sustainability mode?

October 17: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Rodrigo Tognini, a founder and CEO at Conta Simples, a São Paulo based financial platform for SMBs that has recently raised $24M Series A from Tinder founders Justin Mateen's JAM Fund, Valor Capital, Base10 Partners, Y Combinator and Big Bets.In today's episode we will learn:  1. How do you define a product market fit? What are the actual signs of it?2. How to think about market segmentation when launching fintech for SMBs?3. What are the potential consequences of the inter charge fee reduction introduced by Brazilian Central bank for the fintech ecosystem in Brazil?4. What's the most counter intuitive thing Rodrigo learned while doing business in Brazil? 5. How being an athlete impacts Rodrigo's entrepreneurial mindset? 

October 3: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Daniel Ibri, a founder and General Partner at Mindset Ventures, an early stage Sao Paulo based VC firm that invests in B2B startups in Israel and the United States, that just did the first closing of their brand new $100M Fund IV and whose portfolio includes tech unicorns Brex and  Turing.In today's episode we will learn:  1. How to build a high performing portfolio on competitive markets like Israel and the US?2. What's Daniel's biggest investment mistake and what are the key learnings from it?3. What is the logic of raising 3 subsequent funds in 6 years?4. Why recession in the best time to invest in startups?5. What are the challenges of valuating early stage tech companies?

September 14: For this episode of the JCurve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Benjamin Gleason, founder and Head of Strategy & Corporate Development at Kamino, Sao Paulo-based end-to-end financial hub for high growth businesses in Latin America that has recently raised over $6M in pre-seed capital from Inspired Capital, Global Founders Capital, Fontes, Picus Capital and Flourish. In today's episode we will learn: 1. What are Benjamin's key learnings of building Guiabolso and how the experience is different with Kamino?2. What are the fintech trends in Brazil Benjamin is excited about?3. What's Benjamin's advice to founders who have to raise in adverse market environment?4. What are the critical elements of building productive teams?