Nico Barawid, Casai: Providing Consistently High-Quality Hospitality in Mexico, Ep 147

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:

  • [1:42]- Identifying the problem in the hospitality industry
  • [4:43]- Standardizing the variability of accomodations
  • [7:09]- Who is Nico Barawid?
  • [9:23]- What did your consulting and startup background teach you?
  • [11:39]- What is the best advice you have for someone starting a startup?
  • [13:26]- Picking your startup; what should you look for?
  • [15:53]- Why start Casai in Mexico?
  • [18:18]- Hiring local talent
  • [20:10]- Getting Casai off the ground
  • [22:43]- LatAm and US funds; how did you raise capital?
  • [26:30]- Growing from the first fund to pre-COVID-19
  • [28:40]- Surviving COVID-19 in the hospitality industry
  • [33:30]- What advice would you give your San Francisco self?
  • [38:14]- What is next for Casai?

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Greatest Hits Episode: Daniel Bilbao, Fighting Fraud in Latin America, Ep 146

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:

  • [1:30] – Nathan introduces Daniel
  • [2:14] – Why is fraud a big problem to solve in Latin America?
  • [7:08] – The difference between background checks in LatAm and the US
  • [9:42] – Growing up in Cali, Colombia
  • [12:48] – How startup failure led to Paladin Cyber
  • [14:10] – Where did you get the attitude to give back to your home country?
  • [16:14] – Lessons learned in Daniel’s childhood
  • [19:32] – Why Truora likes to hire very junior engineers
  • [20:21] – Lessons learned from Beepy
  • [22:38] – How does experience with Beepy and Rappi influence Truora?
  • [25:37] – Why transparency is important at a startup
  • [26:14] – How to build the Truora team
  • [27:16] – How does the app work?
  • [28:35] – How to raise money for Truora
  • [30:51] – Top tips for companies applying to YC
  • [32:41] – How to get the most out of YC?
  • [33:30] – Advice for founders raising money in LatAm
  • [35:36] – What’s next for Truora?
  • [36:53] – Daniel’s recommended resources
  • [38:12] – Daniel’s advice to his younger self

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

How to Ask (Me) for Help

Category : Personal Thoughts
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Note: If I sent you this post in response to you reaching out, don’t feel bad. Read the post and use the template and I’ll be very likely to respond. I didn’t learn this method until someone taught me. I wrote an original post in 2012, this is the update.

I get ~100 inbound requests for help or advice each week. As Magma Partners grows, the volume keeps going up. Most of them are cold. The template I lay out below is how to get me to respond.

I have used this template to get advice from extremely, busy, successful people who I never thought would respond. I can’t remember a single person who has reached out using this method who I didn’t respond to. 

While I can’t guarantee that I’ll respond, if you want to improve the odds 10x that I’ll respond, use this template. I highly suggest trying it with other people too.

If you’re a founder, the absolute best way to get my attention cold is via a Magma Memo. Our investment team responds to 100% of these cold inbounds, and many of our best investments came in cold, including Albo, Yana, and many more. If you want to send an email or DM to say you’ve filled out the form, feel free, but the Magma Memo guarantees a response.

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Greatest Hits Episode: Federico Vega, Transforming Transport Logistics in Latin America, Ep 145

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

  • [1:24] – Federico’s background and current business – CargoX: Uber for trucks
  • [4:03] – How did a guy from a small town in Patagonia build this kind of business?
  • [8:12] – The response of family and friends when Federico decided to leave his cushy job
  • [11:07] – Running his startup from a toilet stall – breaking into his own
  • [14:39] – How Federico shut down his startup, regrouped, and started with a new USP
  • [15:51] – Starting over: raise funds or find clients?
  • [19:55] – The turning point that made the business take off
  • [23:57] – Advice to founders about raising money
  • [28:28] – Why silicon valley investors should consider Latin American companies
  • [30:14] – What would Federico tell himself if he could advise himself from the start
  • [34:58] – The next steps for CargoX

Show notes on Latamlist.com.