Latitud Podcast

Ten years ago, the entrepreneur and lawyer Cristobal Perdomo decided to "take a risk on those who risk it all." That's when he became the co-founder and general partner of Wollef. The Latin American VC firm has invested in over 30 companies since 2013. Five unicorns came out of this portfolio: Jeeves, Kavak, Konfio, Loft, and Nubank.Today, Cristobal and I talked about:His entrepreneurial mindset since the age of 17. How he moved from business development to VC. Great insights on how to pick the right company and founder to invest in. The importance of teamwork. 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

Ryan Bloomer founded the venture capital firm K50 six years ago, after building two companies, an accelerator, a venture studio, and a founder community. With K50, Ryan had an ambitious goal in mind: betting on startups building a better future for the 99% in the US and in Latin America.Since then, K50 has invested in no less than 180 startups, with pre-Seed and Seed rounds in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and future of work. Fintual, Frubana, Osana, and Tul are some examples of K50's thesis in action.Today, Ryan and I talk about:His trajectory up to K50 Ventures, and on what startups and founders the firm bets inside the early-stage space;Why Ryan started a founder community back in 2008, how it followed a decentralized support model, and the thesis of investing in diverse geographies;Ryan's vision on valuations for early-stage startups, the drive for solving huge problems and creating a legacy, and the one investment that exemplifies K50's thesis.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

Latin America is a giant. It's a market worth over 5 trillion dollars. A population of over six hundred million people. And a territory that stretches from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego.These big numbers also come with big challenges. You might be thinking that they are barriers we can't overcome. But we've seen time and time again that it works much like the opposite.Startup founders are diving head-first into opportunities that are as vast as The Amazon River. And some of them have yet to be seized.We've launched the first edition of The LatAm Tech Report (https://www.latitud.com/en/reports/the-latam-tech-report-2022) to provide new coordinates for your opportunity map. We took a deep dive into seven industries dear to Latin America – B2C Fintech, B2B Fintech, E-commerce, SaaS, Proptech, Healthtech, and Climate Tech. There, you can find all the data and interviews with industry experts to know the past, present, and future of each sector.We also wanted you to hear directly from the founders thriving in these seven industries and in Latin America. So, in this episode of the Latitud Podcast, the creators of Pomelo, Addi, Bitso, Morado, Nuvemshop, Xepelin, Clivi, Sami, and SuperPlants shared with us what insights startup founders in their industries can't miss.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

Federico Antoni had an extensive career in marketing, working for retail and e-commerce companies like Mercado Libre. But he found his calling in the venture capital world.Over a decade ago, Federico founded ALLVP, a Mexican venture capital fund focused on solving the hardest problems in Spanish-speaking Latin America. ALLVP now has a portfolio of over 40 startups. Their emblematic portfolio company is Cornershop, sold to Uber.Now, ALLVP's preparing its fourth fund, and Federico divides his time between ALLVP, boards of multiple startups, and lectures at Stanford.Today, Federico and I talk about:His leap from retail and teaching to the startup and venture capital segments, and what was the Mexican startup ecosystem like when ALLVP started;What gaps have been filled since then, and how the firm faces the macroeconomic uncertainty in Latin America as a feature, and not as a bug;What does ALLVP mean by team-market fit, its plans for a fourth fund, and Federico's view on the current market landscape and the development of a startup culture in Latin America.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

Every startup founder needs to know what their superpower is. Oso Trava knows pretty well which one is his – connecting people and helping them become the best they can be.That realization came with years of creating startups and being an advisor and angel to other founders. Now, Oso's a general partner at Cracks Fund, a firm that's investing in early-stage tech disruptors in Latin America.Today, Oso and I talk about:What exactly is a "crack"; why and how did Oso enter the startup world; and what lessons Oso took from his endeavors to his role as an investor;If founders should build their personal brand, and if it can or should be dissociated from their startups' brand; the growing presence of celebrities in the venture capital world, and the pros and cons of having them as investors in your startup;Oso's transition to general partner at Cracks Fund; how to go from virtual to real-life impact, and the importance of DMS, or doing meaningful shit.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

Canary has its eyes on promising startup founders even if they still don't have an idea or a company name. That's how the early-stage venture capital firm has invested in more than a hundred startups throughout Latin America. And that's how it raised US$ 100M for its third fund at the end of 2021.Marcos Toledo is a co-founder and managing partner at Canary, together with Loft's Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz, and Peixe Urbano's Julio Vasconcellos. Izabel Gallera is also a partner at Canary.Today, Marcos, Izabel, and I talk about:The trajectory Marcos and Izabel traced up to Canary's foundation; how the LatAm startup ecosystem has evolved since then; and what will the next years look like for tech companies in the region.What's Canary's investment thesis; how the firm tracks the success of its portfolio and supports founders in various sectors; and the impacts of remote work on helping these portfolio companies hire talent;Canary's investment process, the strategy the firm followed in its third fund, and how Marcos and Izabel see the changes in startup valuations during the last months.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

Stori became the ninth unicorn of Mexico this year, after raising a US$ 150 million equity and debt round last July. And, with it, the credit card fintech got a valuation of 1.2 billion dollars. That's another proof of the impressive strength fintechs are showing in Latin America, even considering the slowdown in relation to 2021.Stori aims to offer credit card access to 100 million underserved Latin Americans – and about one million and a half Mexicans are already Stori's customers. One of its co-founders is Marlene Garayzar, who has almost 20 years of previous experience in financial services.Today, Marlene and I talk about:What it's like being the newest Mexican unicorn and growing a startup while growing your own family, and Marlene's trajectory in the financial sector up to Stori;The scenario of credit access in Mexico, and how Stori started, divided roles between founders, built trust with its first customers, convinced funds to invest, and then gained traction;The challenges the fintech faces daily, such as preventing frauds and educating customers, and what's next for Stori and the fintech sector in Latin America.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

Simon Baker is passionate about big ambitions and high growth – and he has built a portfolio with companies from all around the world to see that first-hand.Simon is not only an Australian serial investor and an expert in the global proptech industry. He's also the chairman of the CAV Investment Group, a private investment fund that invested in Viva Real when I was running it.The fund focuses on startups with a global mindset, but still in their early stages. And Simon makes it clear that his team wants to be hands-on, adding value to the business as it goes, from funding to human resources and strategic guidance.Today, Simon and I talk about:How you should approach investors, and how should angel investors create value for the founders they invest in;What common mistakes Simon sees early-stage founders make, and the importance of clarity, simplicity, and doubling down on what you're doing well in product and sales;Why you should reach out and have tough conversations with mentors and advisors, and how to keep one role, one focus as a CEO and in your startup's team while testing out new initiatives.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

Back in 2005, Alejandro Diez Barroso had the idea of building a venture capital fund to support the development of Latin America. He was a Mexican entrepreneur himself and saw the lack of capital for startup founders.His fund finally took flight in 2012. During this last decade, DILA Capital has raised four funds and invested in dozens of early-stage startups, including two that are now unicorns: Incode, from Mexico, and Kushki, from Ecuador.Today, Alejandro and I talk about:How did DILA Capital start, how being an entrepreneur shaped the way Alejandro invests, and what he looks for when selecting a startup;The differences between building a startup portfolio in Latin America and the rest of the world, what's DILA value proposition to LatAm founders, and how to go from local to global trust from startup investors;How does Alejandro deals with missed investment opportunities, how venture capital firms should go about bringing value to founders, and what's Alejandro's vision for the future of startups in Latin America.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

Prominent global venture capital funds already have startups from Latin America on their radar, and founders should be prepared to attract these VCs. I know that first-hand, with Andreessen Horowitz being one of Latitud's investors.To become closer to global firms, it's essential to understand their decision-making process. That's why we invited Gabby Cazeau, from Harlem Capital; Gabriel Vasquez, from a16z; and Matias Van Thienen, from Founders Fund, to talk about their investment strategies.We'll share right now the chat these VCs had with Fernanda Caloi, director of Special Projects at Latitud. During the Vamos Latam Summit, our connections and knowledge flagship event, they talked about:The one piece of their personalities that allows these VCs to be great startup investors, and how to invest globally and specifically in Latin America;What factor makes these VCs pay more attention to a startup, and what are some examples of outlier founders in their portfolios;How the current market environment impacts their investment strategy, and what they expect from the Latin American startup ecosystem in the next decade.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