Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Gonzalo Blanco, Co-founder of Quansa.

For years, Gonzalo Blanco and Mafalda Barros have seen how the misaligned incentives in Latin American financial products push the average person to make bad financial decisions. Due to this lack of guidance, people improvise and spend money without realizing the impact that their decisions have on their financial health.

This frustration with the lack of financial education led them to found Quansa, a corporate benefits platform focused on employee financial wellbeing. We invested in Quansa’s last round and are excited to support them on their mission to promote employee financial health throughout the region.

In this episode, I sat down with Gonzalo to talk about why the incentives in Latin American financial products are broken and how Quansa aims to change that. Gonzalo also shares his lessons learned from working in the corporate world, participating in Pear.vc’s accelerator, and going through the fundraising process in the US and Latin America.
Pushing for employee financial health with no hidden agenda
Latin Americans historically don’t trust financial institutions. Banks and financial institutions push products on their clients, and many make bad decisions. However, through Quansa’s digital diagnostic and personal financial coach, clients have transparency and can easily understand the impact of their decisions.

Learn more about how employees can incorporate healthy financial habits with Quansa in this episode of Crossing Borders.
Transitioning from 10 years in the corporate world

Gonzalo explains that there is no perfect recipe for a person’s decision to transition from the corporate world into entrepreneurship. For him, it was a matter of understanding the opportunities that would be available to him if he decided to continue working for a corporation. It was important for him to learn about company processes from larger organizations that had perfected them over time, but for the next step in his career, he wanted to be able to work with more speed and fewer limitations.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about the lessons Gonzalo learned from working for a corporation.
From Stanford’s GSB to the Pear Accelerator 2020
The idea for Quansa originated in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business when Gonzalo was taking a class called Startup Garage, part of his Master’s program. Gonzalo and Mafalda were focusing on solving for financial health in Latin America. At that moment, they met Mar Hershenson from Pear VC who invited them to participate in Pear’s Accelerator. It opened a world of opportunities for them.

Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about how they attracted investors from the US and Latin America.

Gonzalo Blanco is providing a financial solution to the Latin American market that has employees’ best interests in mind with Quansa. With Mafalda, they are striving to change the way Latin Americans spend their money, putting their financial wellbeing first.


Outline of this episode:
[1:46] - About Quansa
[4:55] - The entrepreneurial ‘itch’
[6:15] - Transition from the corporate world
[10:26] - On meeting his co-founder
[12:47] - Misaligned incentives in financial solutions
[24:30] - Quansa’s fundraising process
[28:00] - Advice to Gonzalo’s younger self
[29:49] - Books, blogs, and podcast recommendations
[31:20] - What’s next for Quansa?
[33:00] - Magma Partners and Quansa

Resources & people mentioned:
Gonzalo Blanco
Mafalda Barros
Quansa
Startup Garage
Pear Accelerator
Farnam Street
Naval
Startup School
Magma Partners
Francisco Saenz

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Maribel Dominguez, Founder, and CEO of Circulo de Belleza.

After graduating from university in the US in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis, Maribel Dominguez decided to move back to her native Mexico until the economy got better. While she was home, Maribel and her dad came up with a business idea. They identified a problem that affects many industries: excess inventory. Together, they decided to found a company that helped corporations sell company’s surplus stock and landed star clients like L’Oreal and United Colors of Benetton.

That company she founded with her dad in 2009 would set the foundation for the eleven-year journey that would lead to Maribel founding Círculo de Belleza, a specialized B2B marketplace that supplies beauty salons and independent hairstylists.

I sat down with Maribel to talk about why the distribution system in the professional beauty market is broken and the enormous opportunity it presents in an industry that is often overlooked.

An alternative to the traditional supplier

Maribel explains that there is a disconnect between big brands and the long tail of hair salons and independent stylists. With Círculo de Belleza, this unattended segment of the market has access to top name brands that they wouldn’t be able to buy elsewhere. In addition to access, these clients can buy products at wholesale pricing and get products delivered anywhere in Mexico.

Learn more about how Círculo de Belleza helps these small businesses overcome the traditional barriers to high-quality products in this episode of Crossing Borders.

A business where everybody wins

Throughout her journey as an entrepreneur, Maribel always had a clear vision of the type of business she wanted to be a part of. For one, she seeks businesses that challenge the status quo while making sure that everyone involved is winning.

Find out how Maribel’s values translated to the way she decided on her business model in this episode of Crossing Borders.

On her decision to raise capital
During Maribel’s first ten years as an entrepreneur, she was bootstrapping her business– taking the returns and reinvesting them into the company. However, she realized that to transform the family-run business into a scalable solution she needed to think bigger, create something new that was scalable, and potentially raise external investment.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Maribel’s experience raising money during a pandemic.

Círculo de Belleza is a great opportunity to connect underserved beauty professionals with the beauty products they need to run and grow their business.

Outline of this episode:
[1:39] - About Círculo de Belleza
[6:45] - Maribel’s path to entrepreneurship
[20:00] - Lessons learned from a nonscalable business
[23:00] - The fundraising process
[27:09] - Books, blogs, and podcast recommendation
[30:52] - What’s next for Círculo de Belleza?

Resources & people mentioned:
Maribel Dominguez
Círculo de Belleza
Books: Playing to Win, The Relationship Cure

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Agustin Feuerhake, Founder of Fintual.

For retail investors in Latin America, the options to invest are limited. This space is often dominated by traditional banks that charge very high fees and involve processes that are quite complex for non-experts.

As co-founder and CMO of robo advisor Fintual, Agustin Feuerhake intends to change that reality by helping Latin Americans invest well. Fintual is a digital platform that makes investing in mutual funds more accessible through lower fees and simpler processes.

I sat down with Agustin to talk about his endeavors over the years as one of the most prolific entrepreneurs we’ve had on the podcast. He shares with us his reflections on reaching an exit with QueHambre as a young entrepreneur, as well as what it was like to have co-founded the first Chilean company to get into YCombinator.

Exiting QueHambre

When Agustin and his team were building the food delivery startup QueHambre –a novel concept for Latin America at the time– they were not comfortable with the idea of raising capital. According to Agustin, they had the wrong approach and thought of it as asking for money rather than selling part of their company. Once they ran out of money, instead of pursuing growth, they decided to sell the business.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to find out why small exits are extremely important for budding ecosystems and what Agustin learned from this experience.

The best of both worlds

It was clear that Agustin and his team were on to something when they founded the software firm Platanus. There was high demand for their solutions which allowed them to filter through and pick the projects that they truly believed in. Sometimes, as in the case of Fintual and Buda, they would personally get involved with the projects. Agustin explains that this dynamic allows Platanus’ team to keep working together, while also working on individual businesses that each is passionate about.

Learn more about how Agustin works with his team and the success stories that have emerged in this episode of Crossing Borders.

Getting the YC badge

Agustin had been a fan of Paul Graham’s essays for a long time– before YC started to accept international companies into the program. So when his co-founder suggested they apply, it seemed like a long shot. But, much to his surprise, they got a callback and eventually became the first Chilean company to get into YC. Their investment prospects immediately changed after that.

Learn more about their experience applying for YC and why it was hard to raise capital in Chile before the program in this episode of Crossing Borders.

Agustin is changing the investment landscape in Latin America through Fintual. And by creating programs like Platanus’ Demo Day, he is giving back to the ecosystem by providing tech founders with the contacts and entrepreneurial know-how needed to transform their ideas into successful businesses.

Outline of this episode:
[1:28] - About Fintual
[5:03] - Early signs of a businessman
[7:24] - First job as a young professional
[8:42] - Getting into QueHambre
[10:50] - Major takeaways from QueHambre
[12:08] - QueHambre’s blog post series
[17:27] - About Platanus
[20:12] - Creating Buda
[22:57] - Agustin’s business strategy
[24:46] - Criteria for choosing a project
[26:18] - The first Chilean company at YC
[28:50] - Lessons learned at YC
[30:25] - Struggling to raise money in Chile
[32:47] - Changing his view on raising money
[33:34] - Advice to Agustin’s younger self
[34:44] - Books, blogs, and podcast recommendations
[36:44] - Platanus’ Demo Day
[38:34] - What’s next for Fintual?

Resources & people mentioned:
Agustin Feuerhake
Como vendimos una empresa de 2 empleados en cerca de $1M
Fintual
Jaime Bünzli
QueHambre
Platanus Ventures
Buda
Voxound
Betterment
Wealthfront
Books: Lifespan, Made to Stick, Thinking Fast and Slow

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Ximena Aleman, co-CEO and co-founder of Prometeo.

~70% of Latin Americans are unbanked or underbanked. That means that there’s a huge opportunity to improve access to financial products and services across the region by leveraging data and technology.

Ximena Aleman is co-founder and CEO of Prometeo, a startup that develops Open Banking APIs for fintechs and financial companies in Latin America. We invested in Prometeo in 2019 to support its mission to provide the infrastructure needed to help the region’s fintech ecosystem evolve with better products and services.

I sat down with Ximena to talk about LatAm’s fintech wave and how Prometeo is building the future of financial services in the region. We also discuss her impressive career trajectory – from journalist to entrepreneur– and what it means to be a non-elite Uruguayan female founder in fintech.

A concentrated financial landscape

Ximena explains that in Latin America, a very small number of banks (4-5 in some, 2-3 in others!) generally have 80% of the market share in each Latin American country, compared to the US where there are thousands of banks across the country. In addition to this market concentration, most banks are more conservative and invest less in innovation. This conservative mindset results in financial products and services that are outdated and don’t necessarily respond to the population’s evolving needs.

Learn more about how Prometeo is addressing this problem in this episode of Crossing Borders.

Jumping from journalism into tech

After conducting interviews with many tech entrepreneurs during her journalism days, Ximena was inspired by what was happening in the tech scene. It was while working at a publishing house that she learned about scalable business models for the first time. That experience convinced her that she wanted to create her own company.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Ximena’s path to fintech.

Embracing fundraising from Uruguay

For Ximena, being a Uruguayan female founder in fintech used to just be contextual information. It was when she started fundraising that she realized that these labels had a meaning. In understanding what it meant to be a non-elite or an underestimated founder, Ximena was able to make sense of why certain situations or processes weren’t following through as she had expected.

Learn about why Ximena considers that there’s power in understanding these labels and how she finds ways to reframe what it means to be an elite founder in this episode of Crossing Borders.

Ximena Aleman is redefining what it means to be an elite founder with her drive and passion for the fintech ecosystem. With Prometeo, she is powering the next wave of innovation in LatAm’s fintech scene.

Outline of this episode:
[1:35] - About Prometeo
[1:50] - Differences between LatAm and US markets
[4:58] - Being an entrepreneur from Uruguay
[6:58] - From journalism to creating a product that scales
[12:25] - Choosing to specialize in fintech
[15:45] - Understanding the ‘elite’ labels
[27:15] - The female founder in fintech experience
[30:54] - Advice to Ximena’s younger self
[35:23] - What’s next for Prometeo?

Resources & people mentioned:
Ximena Aleman
Prometeo

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Deepak Chhugani, CEO and founder of Nuvocargo.

Deepak Chhugani’s multicultural background was considered rare and unexpected in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he grew up most of his life. He was born in Kenya to Indian parents who migrated to Ecuador in their late 20s. Logically, after studying at university in the US, Deepak wanted to find a way to connect all of these experiences. When he worked in investment banking in New York and Mexico, he saw the intersection that existed between the US and Latin America. Specifically, in trade with Mexico– the US’ largest trading partner.

Coming from a family with a background in logistics, Deepak founded Nuvocargo, a digital freight forwarder and licensed customs broker that helps companies move physical goods between the US and Mexico.

In this episode, Deepak shares stories about growing up in Ecuador as an Indian immigrant, his experience in investment banking in the US and Latin America, and the reason for pivoting into Nuvocargo after going through YCombinator. We also delve deep into the complexity of carrying out international trade and how Nuvocargo’s solution helps to streamline those processes.
The Lobby
When Deepak was starting his first company, he stood firm on the idea of working on a solution to a problem that affected him personally. At the time, one of his greatest accomplishments had been getting a job in investment banking despite having all the odds against him for that position. His first startup, the Lobby, originated from that experience, and was the vehicle that got him into YC as a single non-tech founder. Although he didn’t follow through with the model, it taught him valuable lessons on what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Learn more about Deepak’s major takeaways from his first startup in this episode of Crossing Borders.
Investors’ reaction to pivoting
It takes a lot of courage to scrap a fully-fledged business model and start over. Even more so when investors are already involved. Deepak did just that when he decided to pivot his first startup to what is today Nuvocargo. Even though some investors pulled out of the deal, the ones that stayed did so because they had invested in the team. Some of them even tripled their investments with the new business model. Deepak explains that how investors react in these situations can speak volumes of their character.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Deepak’s pivoting process and the reaction from investors.
“Everyday there are about 15K-20K trucks crossing the border”
Deepak explains that most people are unaware of the complexity involved in international trade, despite it being one of the biggest industries in the world. Transporting goods across borders is a highly complex process that can involve seven to eight different stakeholders, different currencies, laws, and languages. It’s an operation that requires a lot of knowledge and efficiency. Nuvocargo helps coordinate that complexity, and digitizes processes that oftentimes are still relying on analogue systems.

Find out in this episode of Crossing Borders how Deepak is bringing innovation to an industry that has yet to jump on the digital transformation other industries are already experiencing.

Deepak Chhugani is at the forefront of innovation in the trade and logistics industry in Latin America. He is leveraging his multicultural background, expertise on logistics, and passion for the region to bring transparency and visibility to trade between the US and Latin America.

Outline of this episode:
[1:46] - About Nuvocargo
[2:40] - A multicultural upbringing
[4:15] - An Indian immigrant in Ecuador
[6:50] - Choosing entrepreneurship
[8:55] - Pivot into Nuvocargo
[17:40] - Investing in the team
[20:36] - Deepak’s unfair advantage
[23:03] - Import-export process in US-LatAm
[27:00] - Trade market size
[29:16] - Nuvocargo’s fundraising process
[32:50] - Books, blogs, & podcast recommendations
[34:14] - Advice to Deepak’s younger self
[35:44] - What’s next for Nuvocargo?

Resources & people mentioned:
Deepak Chhugani
Nuvocargo
The Lobby
YCombinator
Magma Partners
ALLVP
Books: The Disunited Nations
Blogs: AVC
Podcasts: YCombinator, Dynamo

Izabel Gallera is a Partner at Canary, a venture capital firm born in Brazil that invests in early-stage Latin American startups. She describes Canary’s core business as leveraging its network to create connections and help founders fundraise for their startups.

Izabel is from Brazil, and as an engineer, only discovered the startup world after graduating and entering the job market. Working at Endeavor, she met the Canary partners which would pull her into the VC world.

In this episode, Izabel shares Canary’s thesis and explains why the firm chooses to work with very early-stage startups. She also describes how the startup ecosystem evolved since Canary’s beginnings and talks about why founders shouldn’t underestimate the power of connections.

Betting on early-stage startup founders

Canary does not focus on business models or industry sectors because they aim to get involved early with startups and accompany them through their journey. The firm wants to be the first institutional investor of startups that can disrupt markets and whose founders want to build massive businesses.

Listen to this episode to know why Canary invests in startups that are just starting to get off the ground to help them achieve great impact.


The importance of connections in the VC world

Izabel explains that Canary helps founders raise funds and connects them to networks of experienced people where they can exchange value. The advice she would give to her younger self is to reinforce her network, which is also her advice to founders of early-stage startups.

In this episode, Izabel explains why it is important to find the right fund at the right stage. For example, Canary is a top fund for early-stage ventures because its specialty is to leverage connections and relationships.

The evolution of the startup ecosystem in Latin America

Canary got into the VC game in Latin America before Latam startups took off: since then there was a wave of tech talent, while the market size was huge in countries like Brazil, and capital was flowing in from other continents.

Izabel has witnessed the ecosystem’s evolution and helped support some of Latin America’s top companies. Izabel shares that the number of startups they interview per month in Canary rose from 30 when they started to 500 or more now. Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to understand how Izabel thinks about Latin America’s startup ecosystem.


Outline of this episode:

[01:20] - About Canary
[03:20] - Early-stage startup thesis
[07:01] - Izabel’s background
[09:21] - Evolution of the startup ecosystem
[13:48] - Expanding to other countries in LatAm
[16:04] - Lessons learned as an investor and advice for founders
[20:27] - Why did Canary choose to invest in early-stage startups?
[24:17] - Advice to founders that want to partner with Canary
[25:51] - Biggest leverage points for founders and lessons learned helping entrepreneurs on their journey.
[27:57] - Advice to younger self
[29:20] - Podcast recommendations

People & Resources mentioned:

Izabel Gallera
Canary
Endeavor
a16z Podcast
Masters of Scale Podcast

For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Caterine Castillo, CEO and co-founder of Neivor.
In Latin America, a building manager typically has to handle thousands of apartment units and tenants. This means simultaneously dealing with building maintenance, reconciling payments, and meeting tenant and landlord requests. Currently, this is done manually with pen and paper, maybe an Excel spreadsheet or through WhatsApp which leads to inefficiencies and unhappy residents.

Caterine Castillo, Neivor’s co-founder and CEO, is trying to make living in Latin America’s apartment buildings and condos better. Neivor is a vertical SaaS platform that simplifies condo fee collections and streamlines management and communication between residents, property owners, and building managers. Neivor processes tens of millions of payments per month and help manage 3000+ apartment buildings in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.

I sat down with Caterine to talk about the pain points of property management in Latin America and the differences in Neivor’s reception between the Colombian and Mexican markets. We also talk about her experience in finance before becoming a founder and what it was like fundraising for the first time.
Growing Neivor’s team

One of the biggest lessons Caterine learned from working at corporations was managing large teams. These skills are extremely critical in Neivor’s roadmap with a team that is currently growing from 18 employees to 75 in under a year. Caterine also explained that hiring won’t solve a company’s problems immediately. It’s important to understand that people are managing a big learning curve when they join a new team.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Caterine’s main takeaways from her experience working in corporations.
The importance of connections in VC
Caterine’s first fundraising experience was with Neivor. She explains that having a great solution and an underserved market with low-hanging fruit sometimes isn’t enough. Having the right connections is key. She had connections in the corporate world, but not in the VC world. Besides funding, Caterine considers that those first warm introductions are game-changers for any entrepreneur that is new to the space.

Learn more about Caterine’s fundraising journey with Neivor and the connections that were key to their growth in this episode of Crossing Borders.
Property management: Colombia versus Mexico
Expanding to a new market in another country involves a lot of risks. Consulting with others who have done it before can be really helpful. However, there’s so much more insight that can be gained from being on the ground and talking to clients before making a decision to expand. During her time in Mexico, Caterine discovered that their target market was much more receptive to Neivor’s product, requiring a different marketing approach than in Colombia.

Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about the differences between the Colombian and Mexican property management markets.

Caterine Castillo brings her expertise in business development, sales, marketing to propel Neivor’s solution forward in Latin America. Her innate passion for team building and creating solutions that disrupt the market will be key to Neivor’s success.

Outline of this episode:
[2:34] - About Neivor
[5:20] - Dealing with fraud
[6:35] - Where Neivor operates
[7:02] - Becoming an entrepreneur
[8:20] - From fintech to founder
[9:14] - Biggest lessons learned in fintech
[10:24] - Growing Neivor’s team
[13:40] - Fundraising process
[15:30] - Jumping to Mexico
[18:00] - How to sell in Mexico
[20:27] - Books, blogs, and podcast recommendations
[21:20] - Caterine’s advice to her younger self
[22:09] - What’s next for Neivor?

Resources & people mentioned:
Caterine Castillo
Neivor
Books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Lean In

Santiago Suarez is the CEO and co-founder of Addi, a Latin American fintech company. Addi promotes and enables digital commerce in Latam. As Santiago puts it, Addi’s mission is to enable every Latin American to buy and shop digitally. Addi offers “buy now pay later”, and is currently active in Colombia and Brazil.

Originally from Colombia, Santiago moved to the US on a full scholarship. After university and working in the finance industry, he decided to move back to LatAm. In this episode, Santiago talks about his background in financial services, and how it helped him become an entrepreneur.

Latin America’s payments problem

Latin America has over 90% smartphone penetration. However, most Latin Americans are not full participants in the digital economy. Santiago realized this was a big problem, but also a great opportunity to create a startup by solving it.

Listen to this episode to learn how Addi allows customers to buy online using installments. We also discuss why Santaigo views “buy now pay later” as a payment option, not a credit business.

The organic approach to idea building

Santiago's background in finance, passions and interests drove him to start a fintech. We discuss metrics and the importance of timely launching and iterating a MVP. Also, Santiago discusses how to solve the payment problem they first had to focus on trust.

In this episode, find out Santiago’s advice to entrepreneurs. Some of his advice is on empowering teams and in which level to operate as a CEO.

Fundraising advice

Santiago knows that when you raise venture capital, you're paying for forward growth. We also discussed expanding, and how you package your business is critically important.

Listen to this episode to learn why the biggest problem in fundraising is to think that investing is a rational decision. We also discuss the power of engaging investors with your story and the asymmetry in the investor-founder dynamic.


Outline of this episode:

[01:57] - Overview of ecommerce and payments in Latam
[03:31] - On becoming an entrepreneur
[04:52] - Coming back to Latam to start a company
[06:04] - Things learned in the financial industry
[07:50] - Differences between launching a startup in the US vs launching one in Latam
[10:11] - The process of picking an idea
[12:51] - Discussing product
[14:50] - The real problem around payments in Latin America
[16:20] - Starting operations
[18:25] - Advice to other founders
[20:07] - Talking about fundraising
[22:22] - Founders’ mistakes in fundraising
[26:11] - The future for Addi
[27:23] - Advice to Santiago (before launching a startup)

Resources and people mentioned:

Rob Frey Podcast
Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork by Reeves Wiedeman
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business. Written by Patrick Lencioni
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer
Conscious Leadership
The Alpinist documentary of Marc-André Leclerc

​​For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Gabriela Estrada, CFO and co-founder of Vexi.
Only one in ten adults in Mexico have access to a formal credit card, according to Gabriela Estrada. That’s more than 70 million people that are not able to build a credit history. As cofounder and CFO of Vexi, Gabriela is on a mission to make credit accessible to Mexico’s underbanked population.

Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, Gabriela was at the peak of her career at Citibanamex in Mexico City when she decided the corporate world wasn’t for her. She was the only female director as well as the youngest among her peers by 10 to 15 years. After leaving the bank, her friend convinced her to cofound Vexi with him, where she quickly fell in love with the power of impacting her community through fintech.

I sit down with Gabriela to talk about her experience as a woman in finance in Mexico and some of the challenges she now faces as a female founder when seeking investment. We also discuss why she decided to tackle financial inclusion and how Vexi is helping increase financial literacy in Mexico.
Vexi’s clientbase
Gabriela discovered that Vexi was a way of helping the local community by leveraging her extensive experience in finance. She explains that, although Vexi’s clients come from diverse backgrounds, they have two common denominators: resilience and loyalty. These individuals are used to rejection from traditional financial institutions. When they find a bank that believes in them, they want to repay that trust.

Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about how Vexi is helping make credit accessible to underserved Mexicans.
Credit vs. debit
Debit cards are a huge success in regions like Europe. However, Gabriela explains that in Latin America the financial needs are different and the real game-changers are credit cards. However, finding a way to underwrite people that have never been underwritten before can be a daunting task. Gabriela explains that it requires a lot of creativity to be able to change the lives of the underbanked.

Learn more about how gaining access to credit can change the lives of Latin Americans on this episode of Crossing Borders.
The risk bias in venture capital
As a female founder, Gabriela explains that she gets asked weird questions when raising money, making it difficult to build relationships with male venture capitalists. It took her some time to realize that investors weren’t asking her about the risks of the business because she was CFO of the company. It was because of her gender.

Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn about how Gabriela learned to turn those questions into opportunities

Gabriela Estrada took a leap of faith when she left her job at one of the largest banks in Mexico. Since then, she has been using her knowledge to help thousands of people gain access to credit with Vexi. Her story is an example for women to continue to break the glass ceiling.

Episode outline:
[1:17] - About Vexi and Gabriela
[3:25] - On Vexi’s client base
[7:54] - From Chihuahua to chilanga
[9:32] - Falling in love with entrepreneurship
[12:11] - Being a woman in finance in Mexico
[13:50] - Lessons learned from working in banks
[15:56] - Reaction from friends and family
[17:39] - Choosing Vexi and financial inclusion
[19:34] - Credit vs. debit
[22:24] - Avoiding loan sharks
[24:01] - Tackling financial illiteracy
[25:50] - Raising money as a female founder
[29:45] - Recommendations on books, blogs, or podcasts
[30:56] - Advice on taking the leap
[32:02] - What’s next for Vexi?

Resources & people mentioned
Gabriela Estrada
Vexi
Book: Delivering Happiness

Stefan Moller, CEO of Klar, a Mexican fintech democratizing access to banking, wants to change the way Mexicans think about money.

Stefan grew up between Mexico and Germany and worked traditional jobs to finance his own ventures. His experience working traditional jobs and startup companies led him to start Klar to try to make Mexicans' lives better.

According to Stefan, traditional banking in Mexico is monopolistic and most Latin Americans have a negative experience dealing with banks. Klar makes it easy for Mexicans to use their smartphones to access better loans, savings, and investment products.
In this episode, Stefan shares his entrepreneurial experience growing up in different cultures. We also talk about fintechs in Mexico and how Klar builds trust with its users.

Lessons from growing up in Mexico and Germany

Spending time between two different countries gave Stefan a unique perspective. Stefan spent time between Mexico and Germany, giving him a unique perspective. He saw how experiences and motivations can be completely different in each culture, which helped him decide to build better financial solutions for Mexico.

In this episode, you'll learn how Stefan built a team with top-tier talent.

Klar's long-term strategy for success

Before Klar, Stefan created several successful ventures, including selling 2 million Chinese Hologram bracelets in Mexico. In Germany, he built a market intelligence company that packaged business research papers to sell to large companies.

The lessons learned while starting this company allowed Stefan to launch Klar. This also helped him to create a strategy to build the users’ trust in the product.

Check out this Crossing Borders episode to learn Klar's thesis and why it is compelling for both users and investors.


Simplifying access to financial services for Mexicans

In Mexico, opening a bank account involved signing many papers and long waiting times for service. Stefan describes Mexicans’ relationship with banks as a “necessary evil.” Klar is developing better relations between banks and their users to change how people think about money. For example, Klar allows Mexicans to access payroll advances with the click of a button.

In this episode, learn how Klar provides effective, tailored, and secure financial services.

Outline of this episode:

[01:35] - About Klar
[02:01] - How Klar is an alternative to traditional financial services
[03:55] - The problem with traditional banks
[05:30] - Stefan’s background
[07:35] - Growing up across different cultures
[09:16] - Stories of Stefan’s past businesses
[11:25] - Lessons learned through his path in entrepreneurship
[13:00] - Why did Stefan fund Klar?
[15:50] - Creating Klar from the start
[18:38] - Stefan’s take on neobanks
[20:58] - Discussing the exit of Citi’s retail banking from Mexico
[22:58] - Fintech’s strategy of bundling services and products
[25:05] - Raising funding rounds for Klar
[27:15] - Advice for younger self
[29:26] - Book recommendations
[30:30] - The future of Klar

Resources & people mentioned:
Stefan Moller
Klar
Citi exiting retail banking from Mexico
Book How Will You Measure Your Life? By Clayton Christensen.
Nathan Lustig