Get out of the building! If you've never heard this advice before as a founder… wait, what am I saying, of course you have. Today, we welcome a true titan of the startup world, the man who coined "GOOB" and pioneered the Customer Development methodology, which has been instrumental in shaping the Lean Startup movement. Steve Blank is not only a serial entrepreneur with 8 ventures and 4 IPOs under his belt, but he is also an accomplished author, having penned four influential books,...

Luis Lora has been in the media and tech scene for a long time – from writing a check into Napster and negotiating deals for iTunes to dealing with M&As, private equity, and venture capital deals in Latin America. Now, Luis is a managing partner at Globo Ventures. The investment firm writes checks for venture capital funds and startup founders transforming the Brazilian market. It also leverages the assets and know-how of Grupo Globo, the biggest media conglomerate in the country. In this...

Anna Piñol moved from Spain to Silicon Valley to become a startup founder. She not only got invested by the venture capital firm NFX but decided to join them to fund other startups. Anna's now a Principal at NFX. Day after day, she sees and writes checks for transformational business models in Latin America. In this episode, Anna and Brian Requarth talk about: - What she learned from being an executive at Amazon in Spain and a startup founder in Silicon Valley; - How LatAm founders can join...

Arthur O' Keefe is no stranger to pressure. He started his professional journey by working in a nuclear submarine for the United States Navy, but later decided to go to Harvard Business School and make a career in finance. Arthur has led M&A efforts for years at Movile, the Brazilian tech company best known for the delivery app iFood. Now, Arthur's the founder of Bamboo. The company brings the private credit market to the digital world. In this episode, Arthur and I talk about: Arthur's...

Rafael Costa has been investing in Latin American startups for a decade. He's seen the development of the tech investing scene in LatAm by being an investor in growth equity firms like Vulcan Capital, and by sitting on the board of companies like Loft and Neon. This experience has opened Rafael's eyes to the opportunity of bridging tech communities in Latin America and the United States. He's now a general partner at Across Capital. The cross-border investment fund aims to leverage that...

Born in Colombia but raised in the US, Brian York went back to Latin America a few years ago. He not only discovered his roots but also a mission -- driving value to the Colombian startup ecosystem, and generating economic and social progress with that. Brian's now a co-founder and the CEO of Cubbo, a startup that provides logistics to e-commerce players. He's also sharing everything he has learned and is still learning about tech entrepreneurship through social media, in the spirit of...

As a lawyer, Jorge Vargas Neto met fintech founders like David Vélez from Nubank and Sergio Furio from Creditas. He got so inspired that he decided to become a fintech founder himself. After exiting two startups to the unicorns PagSeguro and Rappi, Jorge is now on his third journey as a fintech founder. BHub offers back-office-as-a-service for startups and traditional SMBs. They have accomplished a ton in the last couple of years. We have the pleasure of being their first check. They're...

Tractian is part of a small LatAm startup club that focuses on hardware and software. This was a decision that Gabriel Lameirinhas, Igor Marinelli, and Leonardo Vieira took early on. And it was a necessary step to solve a massive global problem: making factories more efficient. The hard work has paid off, and Tractian now supports hundreds of clients and monitors thousands of machines in Brazil and Mexico. There's much to learn about identifying pains and winning over clients, even when...

Fabien Mendez grew up in France but discovered his entrepreneurial vein in Latin America. That calling led to one of Brazil's biggest startups.  Loggi became a unicorn back in 2019. Now, it moves 300 thousand packages every day across the country. But these numbers don't tell how hard the journey has been, from convincing early investors to adapting to regulations and new business models. In this episode, Fabien and I talk about: His first startup, and how that "epic fail" later helped in his...

Bernardo Cordero has always liked to be one of the first people to arrive at the scene. That was the case with Linio, an e-commerce company created more than a decade ago. That was also the case with STARTegy, his venture builder for fintechs. Finally, history repeated itself when he co-founded the real estate business Flat. These years in tech entrepreneurship have taught Bernardo valuable lessons on how to make the best use of blue oceans. His learnings go from retaining the best...

Mar Hershenson has done it all. She's been a VP of product development and a co-founder of three successful startups. With 14 patents under her belt and a passion for teaching, Mar has joined us today to share her insights on: What it takes to succeed in the startup world, Experience as a managing partner at Pear VC to Her early bet on DoorDash, Thoughts on the role of academia in the startup ecosystem and much more.   You won't want to miss a word of this conversation. Hey, open your...

Growing up in the Bahamas gave Stevon Darling an interesting world vision. He started his career studying to be a doctor but later was exposed to finance education and found his calling.  He was, until very recently, the CIO of H2O Capital,  an investment company that focuses on large and valuable companies in LatAm.  Stevon faces another key moment in his career, founding a neobank for the Caribbean and Central America.  We discussed his upbringing, the work and numbers of H2O, investing...

Hugh Strange worked as a VP of product at Nubank. As you know, being a company devoted to innovation and product development, his work there was full of rich and broad experiences.  In our conversation, Hugh shared how to choose the right technology, build the ideal team, use product development for growth, incorporate the company's culture into the work, and some history behind product decisions. It was an insightful conversation, and I look forward to hearing about his next...

This is an open and honest conversation full of lessons and ideas from a dynamic and curious founder: Marcelo Lombardo. As a kid, He used to build electronic equipment for fun, buying parts, dismantling, and building them back again.  His obsession with understanding how things work led him to start coding, giving him the critical thinking he needed to envision product development opportunities.  In this episode, you will see that Marcelo loves to share his learnings, processes, journey,...

This is a special episode about a product we have been working on for some time now.  Meridian is the business account for LatAm startups. You can manage your company's runway, move capital across borders, and keep your flow of funds compliant.  To learn more about Meridian, go to https://meridian.latitud.com/ In this conversation with Patrick Kolencherry, we discussed the latest developments with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), our decision to launch Meridian, and why it is a revolutionary...

Mercedes grew up in a household where inventions, product ideas, and web development were discussed at the dinner table.  That unique environment created a curious-minded person who started her professional career on Wall-street but later became a startup founder and investor. Today she is part of Lightspeed venture partners.  We discussed her interest in fintech, crypto, NFTs, LatAm investing, and much more.  Show notes:  Mercedes Bent's article on Crypto...

It's 2023, and all startups are trying to find answers to profound questions that may affect their present and future existence.   We invited back Dan Green from Gunderson Dettmer for a series of special episodes where we will focus on vital legal and financial information. Dan works with all corporate and securities law areas, including company formation and financing, debt transactions, and investor-side financings. He got an exceptional eye for the Latam Startup universe.  In this...

Yuri Danilchenko is Latitud's tech-co founder, and I have introduced him many times before.  Personally, what I find very compelling about his story is that we can see clearly how his personal experience helped shape who he is and how he works.  He was born naturally curious about technology and is a great translator between product x business, and tech. He grew up in Russia during some history-defining moments and moved to the US, where he got his masters in Artificial Intelligence. He...

It takes an effort of titans to elevate the startup ecosystem in Latam. At Latitud, we know it's not possible to do it alone; that's why we partnered with Jeeves to help provide access to financial tools to help founders in the most critical stages of their startups. In today's episode, we will have an honest conversation with four great talents: Dileep from Jeeves, Antonia from ALLVP, Gabriel from a16z, and Jonathan from Investo. We will focus on demystifying fundraising for Latin American...

While searching for a new home for her family, Brynne saw an opportunity to introduce much-needed transparency and speed into the real estate market in Colombia.  Today, the company she co-founded, Habi, is a leading start-up in the field.  Brynne and I talked about:  The journey to start a business in Colombia. Her personal experience with real-estate technology.  How they adapted their business and work due to the pandemic.  Hey, apply to be a fellow, open your startup or sign up for...

In the world of startups, Elad Gil has done it all. He's been an executive, entrepreneur, investor, or advisor for so many successful companies: Airbnb, Gusto, Stripe, Square, Google and Twitter, to name a few.  Today he is the co-founder of Color Genomics and describes himself as A Startup Helper. We couldn't agree more. In a conversation with the entire Latitud Team, Elad talked about: the current state of startupsheadcount and budget adjustmentsaccess to investmentand how he chooses where...

Before being COO at Milo, a consumer internet startup eBay acquired in 2010, Wenyi was a consultant with McKinsey & Company in the Middle East, Africa, & South Asia.  Today she is the CEO and co-founder of Polymath, a venture studio that builds digital platforms to empower the middle class in Latin America.  Wenyi and I talked about her passion and reasons for developing companies specifically for the middle class in Latam and Polymath's model based on co-building with corporate...

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...

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...

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...