Nathan Lustig

Laura Mendoza, Unima: Developing Low-Cost Diagnostics for 3 Billion People, Ep 108

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
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You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [1:21] – About Laura and Unima
  • [3:12] – Benefits of low-cost diagnostics
  • [5:22] – Becoming an entrepreneur
  • [8:25] – Founding her first company
  • [11:44] – On tech transfers
  • [14:31] – Reaction of family and friends
  • [16:20] – Pivoting at Mass Challenge
  • [20:13] – Human health as a business
  • [22:52] – Raising money in LatAm 
  • [25:24] – Building a COVID-19 test
  • [29:00] – Recommended books, blogs, & podcasts
  • [31:27] – Advice to Laura’s younger self
  • [33:02] – What’s next for Unima?

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Maya Dadoo, Worky: Revolutionizing the HR Industry for Mexican SMEs, Ep 107

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
Posted on by

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [1:12] – About Worky
  • [2:23] – Reality of SMEs in Latam
  • [5:52] – First experience in tech
  • [8:58] – From corporate to CEO
  • [10:30] – Choosing HR tech
  • [13:05] – insights on the Mexican HR market
  • [15:24] – Payroll loans market 
  • [20:30] – Reacting to COVID-19
  • [23:04] – Worky’s fundraising journey
  • [25:30] – Recommendations on books, blogs, or podcasts
  • [25:57] – What’s next for Worky?

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Vitor Torres, Contabilizei: Helping Brazilian SMEs with Tax Compliance, Ep 106

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
Posted on by

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this Episode:

  • [1:19] –  Tech ecosystem in Curitiba
  • [3:12] – About Contabilizei
  • [5:24] – Benefits of tech-enabled accountants
  • [8:15] – From Porto Alegre to London
  • [14:56] – Lessons learned from the military
  • [16:13] – Starting from scratch in the UK
  • [17:24] – Reaction of friends and family
  • [19:37] – Finding the product-market fit
  • [22:01] – Inflection point for Contabilizei
  • [24:24] – Evolution of Brazil’s tech ecosystem
  • [25:24] – Advice to Vitor’s younger self
  • [26:43] – Doing business in Brazil
  • [27:57] – Recommendations on books, blogs, or podcasts
  • [29:19] – What’s next for Contabilizei?

Show notes on LatamList.com.

Geoff Michener, dataPlor: Closing the Latin American Data Gap with Human Verified SME Data, Ep 105

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
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Growing up in Denver, Colorado, Geoff Michener was interested in international trade and economics. During his undergrad, he got the opportunity to study abroad in Nicaragua and learn about foreign investment. There, he quickly fell in love with Latin America and promised himself that he would come back and do business in the future.

Geoff kept his promise and is now CEO and founder of dataPlor, a Magma portfolio company that provides quality data on small businesses in Latin America. He noticed that there was a huge information gap in the region where up to 75% of SMEs have no online presence. DataPlor’s team of “explorers” captures and validates data to build a database that provides enterprises with accurate information on small businesses.

In this episode, I sit down with Geoff to talk about the value dataPlor brings to large enterprises as well as the challenges of collecting data in Latin America compared to the US. We also discuss some of the lessons he’s learned from shutting down his first startup, and also some of his reflections on the future of data.

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