The Enthusiast: Founders and VCs beyond the Valley

On this episode Pat sits down with legendary operator and former MELI CFO, and of late CEO of dLocal, Pedro Arnt, to dive into his learnings of 20+ years of company building.We discussWhy he is bullish on emerging market's potentialHis learnings around the early innings of MELI riding the wave of digitisation in commerce in the 2000s and why long term building beats short-term CAGR ambitionsThe parallels he sees across verticals around digitisation in emerging markets from commerce to payments and how slower consumer adoption calls for more discipline and consistency but allows you to grow at +30% CAGR for many yearsHis take on balancing startup agility and processes and org. complexity of a big corporationHis new chapter with dLocal and why going from emerging market to emerging market makes all the sense Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Camila Vieira, Partner and head QED’s Brazil operation. We dive into the fund’s evolving commitment on the region, how they got it right investing in Nubank in 2015, what their thesis and structure looks like today 10 years later and whether LatAm’s next outbreak success will also be Fintech? How do sector specific funds differentiate from generalists in their way how they look at FintechTaking a unit economic and defensible moat lens instead of following a themes based investing approachThe last whitespace in Fintech in Brazil How should founders think about liquidity and how QED is preparing their portfolio You can find Camila on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Michael Lints, Partner at leading South East Asian VC firm Golden Gate to dive into their expansion into MENA, his move to Qatar, why now and how he sees the two regions complementing each other in terms of ecosystem maturity, VC and LP landscape. You will learn about:Doing business in MENACross pollination opportunities between the two regionsLiquidity and exit opportunities and t he importance of Secondaries in SEA You can find Michael on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Mihai Faur, CIO of UiPath to discuss his 10 year journey with the company from a small startup in Romania to the global automations company it is today. We dive into the IPO readiness piece, how as a Chief Accounting Officer he set the company on the path for IPO following Daniel Dines' vision in 2019 to bring the company public in 2 years. You will learn aboutWhat does it take to get a company from startup mode to IPO ready How to get to operational predictability The role AI will play in UiPath’s 2nd act merging AI and Automations You can find Mihai on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Managing Partner of Across Capital, Rafael Costa, to dive into his journey building Across investing cross-border in the US & LatAm after a successful career at Summit Partners and Vulcan Capital, how he things around portfolio construction and liquidity for growth stage, getting to conviction when deciding to invest and a lot more.You will learn aboutHow Rafael broke into VentureWhy he decided to position Across as early growth stage cross border fundWhy he is all about high conviction, concentrated betsHis take on driving liquidity and how it influences his decision making around portfolio constructionYou can find Rafael on LinkedIn hereWant to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Milena Oliveira, Partner of Latin American early-growth fund Volpe Capital to dive into the dynamics of investing post Series-A, portfolio construction and making concentrated bets in a few select opportunities. We dive into why LatAm Tech entrepreneurs and VCs can produce top tier returns, and Volpe has the data to back it up. You learn about- Volpe's investment thesis- How to convince LPs to bet on the asset class and invest in multi-vintages- The maturity of LatAm tech entrepreneurs and how they are thriving not only despite the adversity but because of itYou can find Milena on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes? Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley. Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Alexis Pantazis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of European insurtech Hellas Direct to dive into the insurtech playbook, succeeding in smaller yet profitable markets in Southern and Eastern Europe, and how to go about vertical integration as a moat to build maximum value for consumers. To date Hellas has raised more than $85M from the likes of5G Ventures S.A | Phaistos Investment Fund,Portage ,ETF Partners - The Environmental Technologies Fund ,IFC - International Finance Corporation,EBRD,Convex Insurance andEndeavor Catalyst and since its founding has expanded to Romania and further grown their insurance offering through vertical integration.You will learn about- The Insurtech playbook on going direct to the customer but also through brokers- How to go about expansion from smaller markets and under penetrated segments that in aggregate have significant value creation potential - How Greece made their way out of the slump and are now one of the best performing and dynamic economies in EuropeYou can find Alexis on LinkedInhere.Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes?Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedInhere to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley.Follow Pat on LinkedInhere.

On this episode Pat sits down with Jimena Prado, Partner at Latin American VC firm Hi Ventures, which has backed the likes of Cornershop and Fintual. We explore Jimena's journey from one of the first female founders in Mexico to becoming an investor, how she thinks about navigating the current AI craze and where LatAm entrepreneurs can play at and capture value. Hi Ventures is one of the leading early stage funds in LatAm, having backed the likes of Cornershop (exited to Uber at 3Bn), Sequoia backed Fintual and Clau.com. Founded by Federico Antoni, it has raised more than US$170M over 4 vintages. We dive into: - How to filter through the AI noise and where LatAm entrepreneurs play in the space - Transitioning from founder to funder - How Hi Ventures has formulated their investment thesis around AI You can find Jimena on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes? Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley. Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Izabel Gallera, Partner at Canary, one of the leading early stage VCs in Brazil. We dive into: - The evolution of the Brazilian VC ecosystem and Canary alongside it - How to get to conviction and structure your investment decision process at the seed stage - Professionalizing a VC firm through recycling capital, driving DPI and creating liquidity when possible You can find Bel on LinkedIn here. Want to stay up-to-date on latest episodes? Follow The Enthusiast wherever you are getting your podcasts and make sure to check out our newsletter on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠ to stay up to date on our latest episodes with founders and investors beyond the Valley. Follow Pat on LinkedIn ⁠here⁠.

On this episode Pat sits down with Christine Kenna, Managing Partner of Ignia, a pan-american VC firm that invests in early and Series-A stage tech businesses. You will learn about: Playing the Venture Game in emerging markets, how to think about liquidity The importance of building track record through multiple vintages Is the American style Venture model even applicable to LatAm? You can find Christine on LinkedIn here.