Episodes
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DOWNLOAD THE FULL STUDY HERE: https://www.latitud.com/latam-tech-report
We just launched the newest edition of The LatAm Tech Report, our annual deep dive into the region’s startup ecosystem. It's a powerful reminder that LatAm founders aren't just building solutions. They're building unique innovations for the global stage.
This year, we focused on key trends, opportunities, and challenges across fintech, SaaS, e-commerce, logistics, and artificial intelligence.
If you’re looking for one last read of the year, this is it. But if you're pressed for time, don’t worry. We've got you covered. In this episode, we’ll give you the highlights of The LatAm Tech Report in under 20 minutes.
And here's the fun twist: this episode was created with a little help from artificial intelligence, just like many of the innovations we dived into in The LatAm Tech Report report. Who says you can't combine human creativity with the power of AI?
Enjoy the summary and, when you get the chance, dive into the full report. My name’s Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm! Happy listening and happy holidays.Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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What’s the best way to make employees have skin in the game? Giving them a true chance at ownership. This is what employee stock ownership plans are all about.
An impressive 85% of Latin American startups have already set up an ESOP. That’s the headline of a study by Caravela Capital, Norte Ventures, and Credit Saison.
But there’s still a lot to be done. This episode is all about tactical advice when setting up an employee stock option plan for your startup. What you’ll hear:
— When to kick off an ESOP;
— How to mix salary and equity for employees, and define who can access stock options;
— How to mix ownership and cashing out for founders;
— What we think about the current vesting schedule;
— And even more tactical advice on building an ESOP.
My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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From his first days at university, Rodrigo realized he wasn’t going to follow a traditional path. An internship at the Brazilian payment company Stone was enough to inspire him to create his own startup.
Through a mix of expense management software and financial services, Conta Simples now helps tens of thousands of companies stay on top of their finances and unlock their full potential.Conta has also raised more than 60 million dollars with investors – and I was fortunate enough to have invested early in it as an angel. But that’s not to say that this was a smooth journey, fundraising included.
With time, Rodrigo nailed down the problem, the product, the customer profile, the expansion roadmap, profitability, and how to become a true leader. These are all part of the growth playbook he’ll share in this episode. What you’ll hear:
— How Rodrigo entered the startup world while still in university;
— What Rodrigo took from his years playing basketball to his startup journey;
— The journey of raising the first checks for Conta Simples;
— How Conta Simples refined its product and ideal customer profile;
— How Rodrigo had to change his leadership style as the startup grew;
— Conta Simples’ current journey of managing both break-even and product expansion;
— And the advice Rodrigo would tell himself if he could go back to his early startup days.
My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
Groupon, VivaReal, Nomad: Lucas Vargas spent over a decade sharpening his growth playbook for startups in Latin America.
The end result is the true embodiment of founder mode. Be it product or marketing decisions, Lucas went against the grain and trusted his intuition on the road building Nomad, a bank for Brazilians who include dollarization in their financial life planning.2 million customers later, Nomad is expanding its offers and combining financial and travel services. This episode is a masterclass on startup growth in Latin America: what has and hasn't changed in the past decade, and how to face prioritization and metrics as your startup expands.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
– What didn't change about growth in the past decade for Lucas;
– What both of us think about Paul Graham's founder mode;
– What was the fundamental ingredient when going from (Series) A to B;
– The difference between VivaReal's and Nomad's growth playbooks, including prioritizing or not when there's the opportunity to build multiple products;
– Nomad's main metrics to measure its health;
– How Nomad makes branding decisions and measures their ROI;
– What makes Lucas excited about building in fintech and in Latin America.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
If you're Brazilian or have lived in Brazil but you've never heard of Dr. Consulta, you've probably been living under a rock. So many people in the world don't have access to healthcare plans, and this is definitely the case in Brazil.
Over a decade ago, Thomaz Srougi started working on this problem. And now, Dr. Consulta has already supported over 6 million Brazilians. Thomaz recently embarked on a new startup journey to disrupt healthcare once again. With the help of artificial intelligence and backed by a16z, Carecode is a personal assistant for those who already have health insurance.
But to every A side, there's also a B side. This episode wouldn't be a masterclass on how to build a startup serving large and complex markets in LatAm without Thomaz sharing both ups and downs. As many who have attempted to build world-changing startups know, it's now always that you see hockey-stick growth in your first two years – but things can suddenly fire up with the right approach.
What you'll hear in this episode:
– Why Thomaz entered the startup and health worlds;
– How he views building in the US vs building in LatAm;
– The challenges faced at the beginning of Dr. Consulta, including how Thomaz worked through its initial growth problem;
– Thomaz's view on traditional healthcare and the challenge of making preventive care a habit;
– Thomaz's new healthcare startup built with the help of artificial intelligence, Carecode;
– And the gaps and opportunities he still sees in LatAm healthtech.
I'm Gina Gotthilf and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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Download Atlantico’s Latin America Digital Report 2024: https://www.atlantico.vc
The new edition of Atlantico’s Latin America Digital Report is out today — and it’s all about how LatAm does it best when it comes to creating winners in tech.
Ana Martins, Julio Vasconcellos, and I sat down and chatted about the biggest findings from the report, and what they mean for founders and investors in the region.
Mercado Libre, iFood, and Nubank are just the beginning for Latin America. What you’ll hear in this episode:
— What changed in this year’s Atlantico Digital Transformation Index;
— Why LatAm does it best, and how regional constraints affect this in the middle to long term;
— What made the big three in LatAm: Mercado Libre, Nubank, and iFood;
— How and why venture capital investors in LatAm have outsized returns;
— How artificial intelligence development and adoption has been growing in the region;
— What surprised Ana and Julio the most as they finished the report.
My name’s Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
Lautaro Schiaffino and Ezequiel Sculli are two startup founders with a clear mission: enabling small and medium businesses to compete with players of all sizes.
Working with these SMBs for over a decade in Latin America, they've conquered both an exit and a new frontier to work on: artificial intelligence.
Darwin AI brings companies not only software, but an employee capable of making decisions that'll boost their sales.
Darwin AI has raised 2.5 million dollars with investors, Latitud included, and it's on its way to processing over a million conversations by the end of the year.
In this episode, Lautaro gives a masterclass on creating an AI-first startup and seeing the real challenges and opportunities for artificial intelligence in LatAm. What you'll hear in this episode:
– The start of Lautaro's journey supporting SMBs with Sirena;
– The creation and traction of Darwin AI;
– How to train AI to become like an employee;
– Where's the sweet spot in LatAm between AI foundational models x integration tools x applications;
– The constant discussion of building either horizontal or vertical solutions;
– What is the Meta Sandwich and why it matters;– Darwin AI's go-to-market strategy, inc. biggest value delivered and biggest challenge;
– What's next for Darwin AI;– And what makes Lautaro the most excited about building in AI and supporting SMBs across LatAm.
I'm your host Tomas Roggio, and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos LatAm!
Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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The Latitud Podcast is back with a new season — but that’s not all. We’re entering a new phase: Tomas Roggio will join me, Brian Requarth, as we uncover the playbooks used by founders and investors transforming Latin America. We hope you’ll leave each episode with a new approach to take your startup to 0, 1, and beyond.
We couldn’t have found a better first guest than André Penha — the computer scientist who saw metrics that were better than he ever forecasted when he co-founded and became the CTO of Quinto Andar.
In the beginning, you only have a dream. So you’ll have to take the lead and do things that don’t scale, just like André did. Now, Quinto Andar has over forty thousand active listings. Every three minutes, there's a new property ad on their website.This chat was a masterclass in how to build an exceptional product from scratch and scale through excellent user experience. What you'll hear in this episode:
– The early days of André Penha and Quinto Andar;
– Doing things that don't scale: a necessity for initial traction;
– Impactful product tweaks for user acquisition and retention;
– Optimizing unit economics and dealing with investor skepticism;
– Finding partners and overcoming resistance between incumbents;
– AI as an exception handler;
– Building IPO-readiness;
– Which startup André would build if he were to start today.I'm Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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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 note, he’s also the author of The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World.
In this chat, Scott and I talk about:
• What makes him confident about investing early on and in multiple countries;
• The difference between fuzzy and techie entrepreneurs;
• And the advice Scott shares most often with startup founders.
My name’s Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 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 be generating revenue in 6 months.
Santiago reached out to his network and signed a 3-month contract with Rappi to map out problems within the company that they could solve through software. After an intense quarter, they came up with a platform to conciliate all the financial transactions ran through the super app, and an easy and reliable way for any company to manage their financial data.
Simetrik was born, with Rappi's founders investing 2 million dollars in its pre-seed round. The product naturally evolved and now has customers in over 35 countries. Santiago and Alejandro also got a lot more funding – including a $20M Series A in 2022 and a $55M Series B announced just a few days ago.In this chat, we talk about:
How Simetrik's culture contributed to its success The tricky balance between technical excellence and rapid growthAnd the challenges in fundraising that they didn't see comingBuilding good sh*t in Latin America?
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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:— Whether it's harder to operate a startup in LatAm or the US;
— His company-building lessons, including how to efficiently use AI in your startup;
— And how to divide roles between co-founders.
Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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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 and participating in this new round as well.
In this episode, co-founder Rohan Ramanath and I talk about:
The problems Hyperplane is solving through artificial intelligence;The benefits of taking your time to learn and develop your startup;What companies investing in AI often overlook, and how the convergence between AI and fintech will play out in the next few years.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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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 into success later on;
- How to deal with competition and choose co-founders;
- And how to survive through tough times and create a valuable company.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
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 this link to pre-register for our next, incredible edition of VLS.
In this episode, Eduardo L'Hotellier, Daniel Scandian, and Marcia Netto talk about:- Early product development and fundraising challenges;
- How to deal with and learn from business crises;
- And how to attract, engage, and retain top employees.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 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 Toledo, and Antoine Colaço talk about:
- The state of early and late-stage fundraising in LatAm in 2023 and 2024;
- The metrics and milestones VCs take into consideration at the Series A stage;
- And the perspective for downstream capital in LatAm, from Series B onward.
My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!Building good sh*t in Latin America?
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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 pre-register for our next, incredible edition.In this episode, Eduardo Zilberberg, Reed McBride, Alexandra Clynes, and Adan Muller talk about:
- The different corporate structures for fundraising and their trade-offs;
- How founders and their startups should legally prepare for fundraising;
- And what's the current state of fundraising and exits in LatAm.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 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 the investors Jonathan Lewy, from Investo, and Mercedes Bent, from Lightspeed Venture Partners, talk about:
- How investor relationships changed in the past few years;
- The signs of a good and a bad partner, no matter if they're founders or investors;
- How startups can differentiate themselves from competitors, and how founders can sell the value prop to investors.My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
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.
In this episode, Jorge Vargas Neto, Daniela Izquierdo, and Gastón Irigoyen talk about:- What were the strategies to acquire their first customers in competitive markets;
- What metrics they use to measure product-market fit;
- And why achieving PMF, making small pivots, and talking to investors are constant efforts.
My name's Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!
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 -
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 talent;
- How to develop a “killer instinct” and deal with self-doubt as a founder;
- And why Sebastian is optimistic about Latin America.My name’s Brian Requarth and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, Latam!
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 -
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 Ventures.
In this episode, Hernan and I talk about:
- His biggest learnings as a startup founder;
- What made Mercado Libre a success;
- And how he evaluates segments, types of founders, and the current state of the market as a startup investor.
This is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, Latam!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 - Show more
