Latitud Podcast

Angela Strange is a multiple marathon winner and once achieved 7th place in Canada's distance running national ranking, but you may know her best as an investor on behalf of Andreessen Horowitz.Before joining the world of venture capital, Angela launched and scaled up Chrome for Android and Chrome for iOS during her time at Google, and her previous experiences have uniquely positioned her as an investor that's been in the trenches and knows what it's like to build something from scratch.As a General Partner at a16z, Angela focuses on financial services such as financial infrastructure, insurance and real estate, and she's taken special interest in Latin America after witnessing the transformation in its fintech space in the last 5 years.In this episode, Angela and I went over:Her thesis that every company will be a fintech companyNurturing relationships between investors and foundersAnd why she chose to invest in LatitudBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Francisco Larraín's professional journey tells a story of coming full circle.It all started as a founding team member for advertisement network Tapjoy. Having gotten a taste for the world of startups, he went on to found payment technology solution Zappedy and to have a $30 million exit to Groupon, where he stayed as Head of Local Engineering for 3 years.It wasn't long before Francisco got back on the saddle and founded Maxxa, the largest insurtech company in Chile, and he scaled it up to over 25,000 SMB customers before looking for a new challenge.When he felt ready to tackle the next big thing, Francisco decided to go back to his beginnings in the monetization space: he and co-founder Regina Ye started auction-based advertisement solution Topsort in 2021 hoping to bring innovation to marketplace advertisement.Having just raised a $8 million dollar Seed Round at a $110 million valuation from names like Pear Ventures, Quiet Capital and FJLabs, I'd say they're well on the way to accomplishing their goals.Today, Francisco and I are going over:His successful exit strategy for ZappedyThe challenges of tech leadership rolesTopsort's journey from idea to Product-Market fitBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Pierre Schurmann has never shied away from great adventure: he and his family left Brazil when he was 15 with the goal of sailing around the world, and after 4 years of traveling with them, he disembarked in the US to obtain a degree in Business Administration.Since then, Pierre has become an accomplished multi-time founder and an established investor through VC firm Bossa Nova, which he founded under the premise of "entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs".nuvini, his latest venture, is a B2B SaaS platform in Brazil servicing end-to-end business needs. They're making waves with their acquisitions as a strategy, and aiming for an IPO in Nasdaq in the not-so-distant future.In this episode, we talk about:The early days of LatAm tech startupsThe importance of experienced players in an entrepreneurial ecosystemAnd the future of founder liquidityBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Lolita Taub has made it her mission to create generational wealth in community.As the daughter of a Mexican immigrant family, providing underestimated founders and funders with resources is at the core of what Lolita has set out to do. With 15 years working in the Silicon Valley ecosystem, she's made +90 investments as an angel and VC at Backstage Capital and The Community Fund.Lolita also co-founded the Startup-Investor Matching Tool in 2020, which has since made over +3K intros and helped founders raise $6 million. Now working on building her own fund Ganas Ventures as a General Partner, Lolita's leveraging her online presence and community-building mentality to change the narrative about what being an investor means – you can find her on Twitter at @lolitataub and @ganasvc.Lolita had some insights to share about:The principles of community-led growthThe future of investing relationships between LatAm and the USAnd bringing diversity into the VC world.Building something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Born and raised in a chinese-brazilian family, Bedy Yang has a lengthy track record of consulting for global companies on go-to-market strategies in Brazil. She moved to the US at a time when there weren't many links between Silicon Valley and Latin America, and so she helped build and strengthen them.It started in 2009, when she founded Brazil Innovators, scaling its network from 0 to over 10,000 people. Two years later, she joined 500 Global as a consultant before tackling the role of Managing Partner and the challenges of ecosystem development.In the words of founder Dave McClure, “Bedy Yang is a super-connector who knows Brazil inside and out”.As a global operator, she's invested in the likes of ContaAzul, Descomplica and Viva Real.Bedy and I are catching up to talk about:The role of networking in an entrepreneur's journeyThe recent influx of capital in Latin AmericaAnd how founders can enter negotiations from a position of strengthBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Vicente Zavarce was born and raised in Venezuela, but went abroad to study in the US during his university years. He quickly found his way into their booming startup ecosystem, and went on to join Postmates' User Acquisition efforts in Silicon Valley before moving on to be Director of User Acquisition for Getaround.His experiences led him to a lightbulb realization: what if there was an app to combine all delivery and transportation needs for countries that don't have a consolidated digital infrastructure?That's how Yummy was born. Part of the YC21 batch, the SuperApp recently raised a $18 million Series A to accelerate their growth across Latin America, and they have presence in five countries and counting.On today's episode, we talk about: Seizing a time-sensitive business opportunitySmart ways to go about B2C user acquisitionThe challenges of building a business in VenezuelaBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Before he knew he wanted to build a company, Gerry knew he wanted to make people’s lives better.Born in Monterrey, Gerry Colyer left Mexico to attend Yale University, then went on to pursue a degree from Stanford Business School. His initial game plan was to go into public service, but he soon stumbled upon the realization that technology was the key to drive change at scale. Eager to learn, he relocated to Silicon Valley, and co-founded Uva Scooters shortly after.One successful exit later, he returned to Latin America to put the skills he’d picked up to good use, and thus Clara was born in the heart of Mexico City. Clara’s corporate credit card and spend management solution made them the fastest startup in LatAm to reach unicorn status, getting to a $1billion valuation in 8 short months. Backed by the likes of monashees and Coatue, they’ve partnered with Mastercard to support entrepreneurship in the region.Join Gerry and I as we talk about:Going from 0 to 1,000 B2B customers in 8 monthsLatin America expansion strategiesAnd the importance of partnerships in disrupting fintechBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Fabio Muniz is a product designer turned founder and CEO. He worked with clients such as Google and Viacom before transitioning to VC-backed startups until he found out we wanted to build his own.Awari came to be when Fabio realized that there were many career opportunities in tech and not enough qualified professionals. Awari's goal is to help Brazilian talent learn technical skills through a wide curriculum of courses, a strong community of like-minded individuals, and a mentorship program supported by thought leaders from some of the strongest companies in the world.In today's episode, Fabio tells us about:The most important early-stage lesson he learnedHow edtechs contribute to social mobility in Brazil and LatAm His vision for Awari and how it'll build new mental modelsBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

There's a famous anecdote in which a CFO asks the CEO: "What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?" To that, the CEO responds: "What happens if we don't and they stay?"Upskilling teams is vital for businesses to evolve and UBITS has made that decision a no-brainer for Latin American companies. The woman behind it is co-founder and COO Marta Helena Forero Sepúlveda. She sustains that with her constant purpose of  "designing and building extraordinary online courses, getting results, solving problems, beating the competition, and growing the business."And they're on their way to growth: Martha and her team just closed a sweet series B round led by Riverwood Capital to invest in more learning experiences and continue expanding to new markets – not only in Latin America, but also in Europe.Building something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Rafael Stark is an engineer with problem-solving in his blood. He started his own Product Studio called Hummingbird and came across a client wanting to automate refunds, and that's where he realized there was a market-wide opportunity to simplify several payment processes at scale.Stark Bank was born to modernize the financial infrastructure in Brazil through the power of integrations. They were a part of YC's 2020 batch, and are now helping companies such as Loft, Quinto Andar and Buser make operations smoother than ever.Today's episode will discuss:Problem-solving in fintechInnovation in traditional spacesThe impacts of open banking in BrazilBuilding something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.comBuilding good sh*t in Latin America? Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop