Latitud Podcast

Latitud

Get inspired by Latin America’s most prominent tech founders and investors. They share personal and actionable insights on how to scale, raise capital, and become a better leader. Presented by Brian Requarth, Latitud’s cofounder.

Top 1% most shared globally on Spotify in 2022.

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Our Editor's Take

There are many podcasts dedicated to startup culture and investing. Only a few, like Latitud, focus on Latin American businesses. Each Latitud episode features an interview with entrepreneurs telling their business story.

South American businessman Brian Requarth is the creator and host of the Latitud podcast. He is also the cofounder of the Latitud Fellowship. His organization provides education, support, and funding to early-stage Latin American startups. Through his Latitud ventures, Requarth mentors those with big ideas for business. He also helps them handle the legal side of starting a company.

Whether they are in or from Latin America or not, listeners can enjoy the advice shared in this podcast. It includes stories told by experienced business people. This makes it relatable for anyone interested in entrepreneurial enterprises. In one episode, Requarth chats with Martín Escobari, copresident of General Atlantic. They discuss the benefits of a chaotic marketplace for different endeavors. Escobari also shares the good and the bad aspects he looks out for in potential investments.

Requarth spends time chatting with other Latitud founders about entrepreneurship. Tomi Roggio, who works in FinTech for the company, joins the show in another episode. He shares fundraising tips for startups. Roggio explains how the current economy affects valuation and fundraising. Plus, he shares some dos and don'ts for raising venture capital.

Requarth also speaks with cofounder Gina Gotthilf, who served as VP of growth at Duolingo. Gotthilf shares about what it's like inside a world-class startup. She also talks about pitching Duolingo to President Obama at the White House. Other guests include Marta Forero Sepúlveda of UBITS. She explains the importance of upskilling.

LatAm entrepreneurs and startups can rely on this podcast as a great resource. Latitud releases new episodes once or twice a month. Those who like Latitud may also enjoy the podcasts Moneda Moves and Latinas: From The Block To The Boardroom.

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Episodes

The Growth Playbook of André Penha, Quinto Andar
Aug 29 2024
The Growth Playbook of André Penha, Quinto Andar
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? 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 loveAnd follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop
#171 - Santiago Gomez, Simetrik: the journey to a $55M Series B
Mar 5 2024
#171 - Santiago Gomez, Simetrik: the journey to a $55M Series B
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? 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 loveAnd follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop