The Enthusiast: Founders and VCs beyond the Valley
Pat Alex
"Entrepreneurial Talent is Global" - On The Enthusiast, Host Pat Alex chats with some of the most fascinating Founders, Operators and Investors Beyond Silicon Valley. Every two weeks, he sits down with the likes of Arjuna Costa (Flourish), Paulo Passoni, Jeffrey Paine (Golden Gate Ventures), Gerry Giacoman (Clara) and Monica Brand Engel (Quona) to dissect their challenges around scaling, fundraising, managing boards and company leadership. Taken together, the guests have raised venture capital in the hundreds of millions and are behind their regions' biggest business and venture successes paving the way towards a more equitable and diverse future. Follow the newsletter to always stay up to date with the latest episodes: https://linktr.ee/Patalex
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 10, 2023 • 54min
[Investor Journey] Yana Yasevich & Yash Vardhan Kanoi (Alter Global) on investment roles in venture, curating dealflow and building trust with founders
On this episode Pat sits down with Yana and Yash of Alter Global, a leading early stage investment firm that has backed companies in the seed to Series-A stage in LatAm, Africa, South East Asia, Middle East and beyond. We dive intoYana and Yash's role at AlterHow Alter is set up as a decentralised, global early stage VC with a lean team Identifying founder talent on the ground at the early stage You can find Yana on LinkedIn here and Yash here. Support the show
Sep 25, 2023 • 41min
[Investor Journey] Victor Chua (Vynn Capital) on raising capital & investing in SEA, adding value on boards, trends for the region
On this episode Pat sits down with Victor Chua, Managing Partner of Southeast Asian venture firm Vynn Capital to dive into Victor's investor journey, lessons learned along the way, raising as a first time fund manager and the evolution of the venture and startup ecosystem in the region. You will learn about:Victor's journey into ventureHis time at Gobi Partners and how it prepared him for launching his own firmFundraising and building LP relationshipsThe state of venture in region and th...
Sep 12, 2023 • 41min
[Operator Stories] Victor Noguera & Bernardo Cordero (Flat.mx) on fixing real-estate transactions in Mexico, the evolution of the industry and branching out into investing with Nascent.vc
On this episode Pat sits down with Victor Noguera & Bernardo Cordero, Co-Founders at leading Mexican proptech Flat.mx to discuss their founder journey, the evolution of the proptech space in Latin America, how Flat is adding valuable building blocks to a more inclusive real-estate market in Mexico and their angel investing activity through their vehicle Nascent.vcOn this episode you will learn about: Victor and Berni's journey into founding Flat What to look for in a co-founderH...
Jul 18, 2023 • 40min
[Investor Journey] Fersen Lambranho (GP Investments) on what makes a great CEO, looking back onto 30 years of investing and differences between PE in Brazil vs. US
On this episode Pat sits down with Brazilian investment icon Fersen Lambrahno, Chairman of GP Investments.We dive into his long career, the evolution of Brazilian PE and investment space, what makes PE in Brazil to operate fundamentally differently to the US or Europe and much more. You will learn about: Fersen’s way into investing and lessons learned looking back to a fulfilling careerThe evolution of the Brazilian economy in the last 40 yearsWhy PE in Brazil is a lot more operatio...
Jul 5, 2023 • 51min
Ganesh Rengaswamy (Quona) & Kulin Shah (Onsurity) on the insurtech landscape in India, the founder-investor relationship and scaling Onsurity
On this episode Pat sits down with seasoned entrepreneur and investor Ganesh Rengaswamy, co-founding partner of leading fintech inclusion fund Quona and Kulin Shah, Co-Founder and CEO of Onsurity, a leading Indian insurtech. We dive into the founder-investor relationship, the insuretech space in India and how to manage boards successfully. So much to unpack here with the two of the on the show. You will learn about: Kulin & Ganesh's journey into the world of entreprene...
Jun 15, 2023 • 42min
[Operator Stories] Karim Jouini (Expensya) how to avoid value destruction in M&A, scaling across borders and the expense-management space
On this episode Pat sits down with Tunisian tech entrepreneur Karim Jouini, Co-Founder and CEO of Expensya. We dive into his journey into tech, scaling out of his native Tunisia, drivers for M&A success and much more. You will learn about: Building an international company from day oneHow to reduce value destruction that comes with an M&A dealThe latest trends and developments in the expense management space You can find Karim on LinkedIn here. Support the show
Jun 6, 2023 • 40min
[Operator Stories] Razaq Ahmed (Cowrywise) on revolutionising retail investing in Nigeria, playing the volume game, and using social media as an engagement tactic
On this episode Pat sits down with Razaq Ahmed, Co-Founder and CEO of Nigerian Fintech Cowrywise, that is all but revolutionising the retail investment space in the country providing access to investment products to millions of young Nigerians. You will learn about: Razaq's journey into the world of startups and founding Cowrywise after a stint at Investment BankingThe particularities of building a retail investing business in an emerging market such as NigeriaHow to acquire users effect...
May 15, 2023 • 37min
[Operator Stories] Sandra Nolasco (Twinco Capital) on fixing global trade finance, growth potential for emerging markets SMEs and sustainability
On this episode Pat sits down with Sandra Nolasco, CEO and Co-founder of Spain based Twinco Capital, a B2B fintech focused on supply chain financing.On the episode you will learn about:The intricacies of supply chain financing and why the status quo is not helping SMEs in emerging marketsTwinco’s value proposition The role of supply chain traceability and ESG criteriaHow Twinco can become the standard in global trade financingYou can find Sandra on LinkedIn here.Support the show
May 2, 2023 • 27min
[Operator Stories] Pedro Conrade (Neon) dreaming up the future of financial services in Brazil, when is it the right time to introduce new products and lessons learned from 5 acquisitions
On this episode Pat sits down with one of LatAm Fintech greats, Pedro Conrade, Co-Founder and CEO of Neon, a leading challenger bank in Brazil that serves more than 23M customers and has raised an impressive $700M. We dive into the making of Neon, how the company has scaled, when is it right time to introduce new product features and how to manage acquisitions successfully.On this episode you will learn: Pedro's way into entrepreneurshipLeadership lessons along the way and why it is...
Apr 18, 2023 • 49min
[Operator Stories] Wiktor Schmidt (Netguru) on optimising for execution risk, scaling Netguru and the launch of Endeavor Poland
On this episode Pat sits down with Polish IT entrepreneur Wiktor Schmidt, co-founder and executive chairman of Netguru, a IT company that has scaled to 30M in revenues providing its services at a global scale. Aside from his role at Netguru, Wiktor is the founding board chair of Endeavor Poland. We dive into his role in the Polish ecosystem, his experience scaling Netguru and what is next for the country with the arrival of Endeavor. On this episode you will learn about: W...
