Category: Chile

Julian Deutschle, Recorrido: Optimizing Latin America’s Bus Industry, Ep 87

Category : Chile, Crossing Borders Podcast
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After a trip to Latin America with three other friends from college, Julian Deutschle and his future co-founders wanted to solve a problem that was already solved in their native Germany: booking bus tickets online. 

Friends and family back home were in disbelief when they heard they had to physically go to bus terminals to check out bus routes, and in some cases like in Bolivia, tickets were sold with pen and paper. This untapped opportunity was enough of a reason for Julian and his friends to move to Latin America and found Recorrido, an online platform that allows its users to search for and book bus tickets online. 

On this episode, I sit down with Julian to talk about his decision to move to Latin America to start a tech startup, why they picked Chile despite being rejected from Start-Up Chile, and the challenges faced in starting a business as a foreigner.  We also cover why Latin America is a great place to start a business and his vision on what the future holds for the region. 

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Matias Rivera, Fanatiz: Building Businesses and Replanting Patagonian Trees, Ep 73

Category : Chile, Crossing Borders Podcast
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What do Start-Up Chile, the Copa Libertadores, and Latin America’s largest crowdfunding campaign have in common? The answer is that Chilean entrepreneur and philanthropist, Matias Rivera, had some hand in their development. Matias loves to solve problems he sees at home or abroad. Once he sees a need, he tries to create a simple and effective solution. With that methodology, Matias has founded five ventures, including his most recent startup, Fanatiz, which received investment from investors including Magma Partners. Now based in Miami, Matias has specialized in creating clever solutions in his native Chile and quickly bringing them to a global audience.

I sat down with Matias on this episode of Crossing Borders to talk about his decision to get an MBA at Stanford, his work at Start-Up Chile and in Patagonian conservation, and his advice for startup founders looking for funding from Latin America. We also discuss his views on the Latin American ecosystem, how it’s developed in the past ten years, and how to grow a business from Latin America. Check out the rest of this episode to hear Matias’ story from Chile to Boston, to San Francisco and Miami, and the many startups, NGOs and initiatives he founded in between.

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Daniel Undurraga: The Story Behind the Cornershop Acquisition, Ep 65

Category : Chile, Crossing Borders Podcast, Mexico
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Daniel Undurraga never thought he would sell even one Latin American company to a company in the US market, but with the recent US$225M acquisition of Cornershop, a grocery-delivery app he has officially sold two startups to US companies. His first startup, Needish, was the basis for Clan Descuento, a Chilean Groupon clone that was acquired by Groupon in 2010. Clandescuento’s acquistion was before most people in Chile had heard of startups!

Daniel is a lifelong entrepreneur with his share of failed projects, but ever since he and his business partner Oskar Hjertonsson found their niche in Latin American e-commerce, they’ve become an example for the whole ecosystem.

I sat down with Daniel on this episode of Crossing Borders to talk about the Latin American startup ecosystem, living and working across borders, and advice for founders who are launching and scaling in Latin America. We also discuss the backstory behind Cornershop’s decision to not raise capital in Chile and their experience raising money from funds across in Latin America.

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Komal Dadlani, Lab4U: Turning Smartphones in Science Labs, Ep 63

Category : Chile, Crossing Borders Podcast
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From a very young age, Komal Dadlani has wanted to make a difference in the world. After studying the careers of people who had changed the world – Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Pablo Valenzuela – Komal realized that she wanted to be a scientist, specifically a biochemist. Studying science in Chile is not easy; up to 88% of schools don’t have lab equipment, and even those that do are not using it. This struggle inspired Komal to cofound Lab4U, a company that democratizes science by turning smartphones into scientific experiment devices. Komal has grown Lab4U across Chile, the US, and Mexico, while working alongside the Inter-American Development Bank to test her educational tools and overcoming the challenges of being an immigrant, female founder starting her company in Chile and doing business across borders in Silicon Valley.

I was glad to finally have a chance to sit down with Komal to talk about raising capital across Latin America and the US, growing up as the child of immigrant parents in Chile, and how a serendipitous Startup Weekend run by Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs launched her into her entrepreneurial career. Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to learn how Komal journeyed from Arica in the North of Chile to Santiago, and finally to Silicon Valley.

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