Scott Hartley was a researcher and went on to work with product and operations at companies like Facebook and Google. But the most well-known part of Scott’s journey began when he hit Sand Hill Road. Scott went on to become a co-founder of Two Culture Capital and Everywhere Ventures. Across these two VC firms, he invested in over 300 startups around the world — Latitud and LatAm included. In a world now ruled by AI, Scott talks instead about IA, or intellectual amplification. On a similar...

Back in 2018, Santiago Gomez and Alejandro Casas were just two young and hopeful founders, fresh into YC. However, with a team of 25 working on an e-commerce business, they struggled to find funding.  "There's no founder-product fit", the investors would say. After a while, it clicked that their passion was elsewhere. They were challenged by a mentor to kill the startup and start building something, just the two of them, that really lit a fire under their feet. Oh yeah, and they should also...

Over a decade ago, Matias Recchia created a startup to take home maintenance services online. IguanaFix expanded across Latin America, and eventually attracted the Brazilian unicorn Madeira Madeira. After the sale, Matias dived into a new challenge: bringing more efficiency to the US real estate market. Keyway uses data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to improve how Americans manage investments in commercial properties. In this episode, Matias and I talk about: —...

AI has been the talk of the town for a while. But have you seen it in your run-of-the-mill bank yet? Well, Hyperplane is changing that. About a dozen banks in Brazil are already getting all the information they have, running it by the startup's artificial intelligence, and then predicting customer behavior and building personalized experiences. The startup finally came out of stealth a few weeks ago, with a USD 6M round to boot. We're over the moon about being early investors in Hyperplane...

Unicorn stories generally look at the beginning and the end of the journey. There's not a lot out there about the messy middle, filled with patience and hard work. That's why we invited the co-founders of Pismo, 99, and Upload Ventures to our most recent Vamos Latam Summit. By the way, you can already click this link to pre-register for our next, incredible edition of VLS. In this episode, Daniela Binatti, Paulo Veras, and Rodrigo Baer talk about: - How previous failures and learnings played...

Most of the time, the road to startup success is not a straight and short one. Founders can face unexpected roadblocks and then take detours – especially in Latin America. Kristen Durham, the VP of SMBs and Startups at Zendesk, chatted with the founders of GetNinjas, Madeira Madeira, and Silverguard in our most recent Vamos Latam Summit. They shared the obstacles seen in their long journeys as entrepreneurs, from product development to employee retention. By the way, you can already click...

Fundraising the right way to end up with a healthy cap table isn't usually a top-of-mind priority for startup founders. But it should be. Making a dilution mistake in the earlier stages can bring you and your startup a lot of problems when it's time to raise new rounds. That's why we called experts from BZCP, Carta, Campbells, and Gunderson Dettmer. They shared the best cap table management practices during this year's Vamos Latam Summit. By the way, you can already click this link to...

A Series A is a crucial moment for every venture-backed business. Raising this round is a turning point for startups, from validation to scale. So at our most recent Vamos Latam Summit, we invited investors from Latitud Ventures, Canary, Valor Capital Group, and Fintech Collective to share their perspectives on the path to a Series A. By the way, you can already click this link to pre-register for our next, incredible edition of VLS. In this episode, Tomas Roggio, Carlos Torras, Marcos...

A founder-investor relationship is like a marriage: hopefully, you're both sticking to each other through thick and thin, for years to come. Finding the right partner and crafting this lasting relationship is no easy task. That's why we called founders and investors to share their experiences during this year's Vamos Latam Summit. By the way, you can already click the link in the description to pre-register for our next, incredible edition. In this episode, Cumbuca's founder Daniel Ruhman and...

Product-market fit can make or break your startup. Being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market is an essential but difficult task. That's why we asked the founders of BHub, Foodology, and Pomelo to come to Vamos Latam Summit and share their own journey of reaching PMF. By the way, you can already click this link to pre-register for our next, incredible edition. In this episode, Jorge Vargas Neto, Daniela Izquierdo, and Gastón Irigoyen talk about: - What were the...

Sebastian Mejia is the co-founder and president of Rappi. And for the past 18 months, he’s been focused on a single goal: having the best team in the world.  At Vamos Latam Summit, Sebastian shared how we went about it, and his journey as a startup founder.  This is only one of the impressive panels we’ve had at VLS. And by the way, you can already click this link to pre-register for our next, incredible edition. In this episode, Sebastian and I talk about: - Why and how to hire world-class...

Here’s Gina Gotthilf, co-founder of Latitud together with Brian and Yuri. You might have noticed this episode’s a bit different — but not only because I’m the one presenting it. This week onward, we’ll be sharing the most impressive panels we’ve had at Vamos Latam Summit. By the way, you can already click this link to pre-register for our next, awesome edition. There’s no better way to open this series than with the chat I’ve had with Hernan Kazah, co-founder of Mercado Libre and Kaszek...

After spending a decade at JP Morgan, all the way to becoming VP, Eduardo della Maggiora decided he wanted to go from company advisor to company builder.  Betterfly got 99 nos and 1 yes in the beginning, as Eduardo puts it. After fundraisings and pivots, the corporate benefits platform became a unicorn back in 2022. Now, it's focusing on its global expansion. In this episode, Eduardo and I talk about: How to practice essentialism in our personal and professional lives;Eduardo's transition...

Derek Hall and Miguel Burger-Calderon weren't born in Latin America but saw just how many opportunities the region has. They went from founders to angel investors in the US and LatAm, putting money into companies such as Clara, Cobli, and Nowports. Now, Derek and Miguel are venture capital investors for LatAm. At BFF, which is not "best friends forever" but "by founders for founders", they look for startups that can impact the 99%. In this episode, Derek, Miguel, and I talk about: - How...

We've been hearing startup founders all over LatAm for a while now. And we noticed a common reflection from those on a fundraising journey: how a simple and clean investment template could take much of the friction away. That's why we partnered up with law offices such as Gunderson Dettmer to launch MISTO in Brazil. MISTO is a document with optimized terms for investing, with language and practices understood and accepted by both founders and investors. Christel Moreno is a partner at...

Atlantico's back with its annual Latin America Digital Transformation Report. The study reflects on some of the forces transforming LatAm today, from the renewal of the entrepreneurial spirit in the region to the rise of artificial intelligence.  We had early access to these findings here at Latitud, and decided to chat with Atlantico's Ana Martins and Julio Vasconcellos about the most impressive insights. In this episode, Ana, Julio, and I talk about: How LatAm founders are currently...

Parker Treacy voyaged down from the US to Brazil back in 2014 for two reasons. First, for the adventure. Second, and that's in his own words, for being irrationally convinced that he'd be successful.  In the end, Parker stuck the landing. He took his experience in the auto industry to create Cobli, a startup that builds technology for fleet management. Now, Cobli has over 5 thousand clients and investors such as Fifth Wall, the IFC, and SoftBank. In this episode, Parker and I talked about: -...

From the Brazilian city of Recife, André Ferraz co-founded a startup out of a research project. That was In Loco Media, a company that used geopositioning technology for marketing. Eventually, the retail giant Magazine Luiza bought the startup. But years before that sale, André was already working for years on using that same technology to solve another huge problem: online security. His new company, Incognia, has gone on to raise a Series A and be present in 200 million devices worldwide. In...

Sujay Tyle sold his used cars marketplace to Naspers back in 2019. He could have stopped there. But he decided to double down on a segment and a market that still had a lot to offer. Sujay co-founded Merama, a marketplace that invests in and partners with e-commerces brands all over Latin America. Merama’s now a unicorn, and Sujay also became a startup investor to share what he’s learned with other founders. In this episode, Sujay and I talk about: - How he discovered and leveraged e-commerce...

Wanna win a free ticket to Vamos Latam Summit, and bring your friends along with a discount? Participate in our exclusive raffle for Latitud Podcast listeners! Click the following link and comment your favorite episode's title + tag two friends: https://bit.ly/latitud-podcast-vls-raffle Connections are really powerful — and even more so when we take the time to be together in real life. That’s why startups have adopted promoting their events as a brand and sales strategy.  We’re no...

Irit Epelbaum has managed product teams for more than a decade. From San Francisco to São Paulo, she's worked in companies like Trulia, Peixe Urbano, and VivaReal. Now, Irit makes use of that experience to coach founders on the best practices of product management. She's both the product operating partner at Atlantico and an independent product management coach. In this episode, Irit and I talk about: - The best practices on product management for startups before they reach product-market...

Manoela Mitchell went from investor to founder because she wanted to crack one of Brazil's most challenging markets: healthcare. She's now the co-founder and CEO of Pipo Saúde, a startup that currently has 100,000 lives under management. Pipo Saúde's growth is a lesson on focus and efficiency, ranging from sales and fundraising to culture and diversity. In this episode, Manoela and I talk about: - What she learned from going from investor to founder; - How to discover your ideal customer...

Latitud Podcast has been going strong for three years, and we’ve finally reached episode #150. So we decided to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some stories about how to survive through difficult times. These difficult moments can appear in your upbringing, in your startup’s ups and downs, in the market as a whole, or in your own limitations. Whatever your tough moment of the day is, we have a founder or investor who went through something similar. We’ll remember the challenges that...

Alejandra Ríos started her studies in the food industry. But she already had another plan in mind: entering the finance and business world. Now, Alejandra is the CEO of the culinary education and events company Ambrosía. She's also a shark at Shark Tank Mexico. We share the stage in the show's newest season, which airs on July 7th, 2023. In this episode, Alejandra and I talk about: - How she carved her own path in finance and business; - What she's learned so far from being an investor...