Latitud Podcast

Kevin Efrusy is low-key. You won't find a lot of interviews with him, and that's by design. One of his reasons is that he believes entrepreneurs should be the ones taking all the credit, and that's a testament to what an outstanding investor he is. But truth be told: Kevin has done a lot for many founders, Brian included, both as an angel and as a partner at Accel, a top-tier global VC firm, which he joined in 2003. He has incredible experience as an operator, having worked with Elon Musk in his first company, in the late 90s, and then moving on to founding a couple of really successful startups. Kevin was also an early investor in Facebook, when no one wanted that deal, and a lead investor in pioneering companies such as Groupon, Couchbase, and Despegar. Because of his special connection with Latin America, which he'll explain in the episode, Kevin leads Accel’s initiatives in the region. It also got him involved with the creation of LALA, an amazing world-class leadership academy that finds, connects, and develops Latin America's most promising young leaders. This is a fun – and rare! – chat that covers tons of lessons and untold anecdotes, so stick around to hear about: The early days of his journey as an entrepreneur and how that shaped him as an investor. The story behind the early investment in Facebook. And his advice on building and managing boards. Starting something new? Visit latitud.com to learn about the Latitud Fellowship program. Building 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

Stop fishing in the sludge. There's a lot more healthy fish where people don't go as often. And while some investors care too much about other investors' signals and might see particular markets as small ponds, Claire Diaz-Ortiz uses that as an advantage by searching for overlooked big opportunities.Claire is a VC, angel investor, author, and speaker who was an early employee at Twitter. Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company and called “The Woman Who Got the Pope on Twitter” by Wired, she joined Magma Partners in 2020 as an investing partner in Latin America. There, she runs Brava, the first initiative of its kind to invest in female founders across the region.In this episode:Her journey at Twitter until she became a VCThe dynamics of leverage and signalingIdeas to shockwave change towards investments in underrepresented foundersAnd tips to get the right investor's attentionCome on in, the water's warm!Building 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

When Marcelo Abritta pitched Buser to a VC for the first time, he didn't have a lot of leverage. His operation was quickly blocked by authorities and incumbents. He wasn't yet working full time on the business. And the cherry on top: he had a six-figure debt from a recently failed company. He did, however, receive a great investment offer from a top-tier fund that same day. Everyone knew from the start that that would be a "make it or break it" type of deal — and it still is. In fact, Marcelo likes to make that clear even to potential hires. But with high risks come high returns.  In this episode, you'll find out: How that first pitch went down.  The behind the scenes of their whole fundraising process. How they stay scrappy and lean. And the challenges and measures you take when you're this heavy on uncertainty. --Go to book.latitud.com to get your copy of Viva The Entrepreneur!Building 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

Brian's book is now available! Go to book.latitud.com to get your copy of Viva the Entrepreneur: Founding, Scaling and Raising Venture Capital in Latin America .This episode is not about that, though, and even less so about him. Yes, sure, our guest today wrote the foreword -- but above all, she's a huge inspiration to me and thousands of other founders around the world.That's because Linda Rottenberg co-founded Endeavor and has led the global entrepreneurship movement since 1997. Back then, people would call her Chica Loca — or “the Crazy Girl”. Why crazy? Linda insisted that high-growth, high-impact entrepreneurs exist outside of Silicon Valley; almost no one believed her.Now with offices in 40 locations, Endeavor rigorously selects, scales up, and co-invests in the fastest growing founders in emerging and underserved markets. There are currently 2,500 Endeavor Entrepreneurs (Brian's one of them!).Endeavor shows how essencial it is for every founder to count on a network of people who are a few steps ahead in the game and then give back. And it proved it works.In this episode, Linda talks about:The key to building great connections and communitiesWhat makes people help other peopleThe importance of solving local problemsAnd the stories that turned crazy into global thought leader.--A couple of Linda's stories and a lot of Brian's are in Viva the Entrepreneur. You can get the ebook NOW for only $0.99 -- This is a limited offer, so make sure to move fast. Go to book.latitud.com to check it out. Building 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

Yuri Danilchenko grew up in Russia during one of the most defining moments in history. He's had a knack for tech and entrepreneurship since before he noticed it, having sold cell phones for pocket money when he was only 13, and fixing his friends' computers even though he didn't own one. Then, after living in the US and getting his masters in AI, he moved to Brazil and worked at several startups.He liked the challenges of startup life so much he ended up co-founding a business himself, called Vemos. But they eventually had to move on, and Yuri joined Kaszek-backed Escale as CTO, bringing in dozens of new engineers to the team and scaling product development through series C.In this episode, he shares:Some of the early-stage pitfalls he fell intoHow to attract and select tech talent when you don't have a tech brandHow to factor in diversity during your hiring processAnd what kind of culture you need to build a tech and product companyStarting something new? Visit latitud.com to learn about the Latitud Fellowship programBuilding 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

It’s here: the last episode of 2020. We started this year by interviewing Paulo Veras, the co-founder of 99, the first Brazilian unicorn. Now, we end the season on the highest of notes with the guy that was managing the company when it was sold to Didi. Peter Fernandez held leadership roles at Google and was an angel investor and advisor for 99 before he joined the team in 2016, becoming CEO 10 months later. When he left the position, he went on a sabbatical that took him on an amazing journey of self-discovery. Today, he shares reflections on fulfillment, giving first, and making a positive impact. Also in this episode: The top 3 things that are critical for high-performance teams; What culture boils down to; And why taking care of yourself is also part of your job. - Learn more about the Latitud Fellowship Program at https://latitud.com!Building 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

In the early days of Love Mondays, co-founder Luciana Caletti was encouraged by her investors to talk to every player in the industry, including competitors. Not only did that accelerate their learning as a startup, but it also allowed them to build a relationship with their US-born more developed equivalent, Glassdoor. Fast forward 3 years, they joined forces as Glassdoor expanded and Luciana became the Managing Director for Latin America. But even though her title might have changed, her role did not. Today, we talk about her journey leading a venture-backed company and choosing where to focus her attention to generate growth. She also shares a few learnings on: Things to keep in mind when you start hiring How to create news pieces around your company And how to build employer branding organically ---Visit latitud.com to find out more and apply to the Latitud Fellowship.Building 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

Fabricio Pettená is a partner at Global Founders Capital, a stage-agnostic lifecycle global venture capital firm. If you’re wondering what that means, this is the episode where he explains it!  We also talk about: GFC's decision process and how they support startups; What good board meetings should look like; His analysis of Latin American markets; And the signals investors pay attention to. ---  Visit latitud.com to apply to our programs! Building 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

Gina Gotthilf was the VP of Growth at Duolingo, the most downloaded education app in the world, leading the team that built its user base from 3 to 200 million. She also led Tumblr's growth in Latin America and participated in the Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign to help oversee digital ad campaigns at a historical daily spend. In 2020, she joined Brian and Yuri as a co-founder of Latitud, to help engineer serendipity for the top doers and thinkers in the Latam startup ecosystem. In this episode, Gina talks a bit more about what we’ve been up to, but mostly about her own journey, challenges and learnings. Stick around to find out: What hyper-growing startups running seamlessly from the outside are really like in the backstage. Some of the growth tactics early-stage founders can benefit from. Her biggest F-ups. And her takeaway from pitching Duolingo to President Obama in the White House.  ---Visit latitud.com to apply to our programs!Building 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

A few years after getting his degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, and fresh out of his MBA at Harvard Business School, Antoine Colaço wanted to go into the VC world as an investor. But he’d always heard it’d be better to get operational experience first. So he joined Yahoo!. Then, in 2003, he took a risk and accepted a position at a small startup. It was called Google.Antoine was there for 9 years, founding Google’s operation in India and launching offices all over Latin America. Although it may seem glitzy to build startups within what would become one the largest tech companies in the world, it came with the same challenges any early-stage founder would face. Some of which weren’t the least bit glamorous.It was his impressive curriculum, but also his great feeling for business and love for Latin America, that led Antoine into becoming a partner at Valor Capital Group.In this episode:How different Latam cultures affect his investment approachHow he sees potential paths for founders looking to expand their businessA bit of Valor’s investment criteriaAnd how intuition and luck can play a big part in investing in winning companies.--- Visit 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