Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig By cover art

Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig

By: Nathan Lustig
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Hello and welcome to Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig, where I interview entrepreneurs doing startups across borders and the investors who support them, with a focus on companies that have some relationship to Latin America.
    Copyright Nathan Lustig 2017
    Show more Show less
Episodes
  • Santiago Aparicio, Ontop: Transforming the future of work, Ep 158

    Santiago Aparicio, Ontop: Transforming the future of work, Ep 158
    Nov 30 2021

    Santiago Aparicio, Ontop: Transforming the future of work, Ep 158

     

    The future of work is going to be remote and decentralized, according to Santiago Aparicio, Co-Founder and CEO of Ontop, a payroll software startup that allows companies to legally hire and pay anyone in the world. Santiago is a serial entrepreneur and sales passionate who believes in the influence of developing markets in defining the future of work.  

     

    After long nights working on Excel sheets back in his banking days, Santiago decided he wanted a change. He reached out to Felipe Villamarin, co-founder at Rappi, and joined the team as its seventh employee, which really helped him to become an entrepreneur.

     

    I sat down with Santiago to talk about his experience as an entrepreneur, while Santiago shared the story of Ontop and their meteoric growth in their first fifteen months (actively operating in over 190 countries, transacting over $2M per month).

    Fundraising and starting his first two companies

    For Santiago, the next frontier as a salesperson was fundraising, which pushed him to build his first company, Fitpal, a fitness and wellness platform for gyms in Latin America. But after Covid hit, Santiago and his cofounder decided to launch a second company, this time focusing on something becoming increasingly popular: remote working.

     

    Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn how Ontop raised its initial money from founders of all over the region.

    Building a sales engine for high growth

    Santiago shares why the best salespeople are the ones that focus on the input instead of the output, and how finding the most predictable metrics in the sales funnel are the first steps to create a replicable process that allows a company to grow internationally.

     

    Find out about Santiago’s advice on productizing a sales engine, how to hit network effect, and why you should focus on building something small instead of building something huge in this episode of Crossing Borders

     

    Biggest lessons as an entrepreneur

    Santiago offers advice on being kind, passing the ball to the team and being in constant pursuit of the best talent for Ontop. We also discuss the importance of staying grounded and not letting fame get in the way of creating a product that people will really love.

     

    Check out Santiago’s story in this episode of Crossing Borders and find out why you should exercise kindness and the importance of having uncomfortable conversations within a company.

     

    Outline of this episode:

    • [02:18] - About Ontop
    • [02:39] - Top line metrics from Ontop
    • [02:39] - Santiago’s background
    • [04:53] - On joining Rappi
    • [07:05] - Launching Fitpal
    • [08:48] - Santiago’s biggest lessons
    • [13:54] - Coming up with the idea for Ontop
    • [14:23] - Fundraising for Ontop
    • [17:13] - The crazy world of fundraising
    • [18:42] - On building a sales engine
    • [19:14] - The best salesman (or woman)
    • [21:00] - Predictable metrics
    • [23:52] - The big milestones
    • [27:33] - Being famous is not being successful
    • [28:13] - Advice for a younger Santiago
    • [31:06] - How to hit network effects
    • [32:48] - The importance of hard conversations
    • [34:11] - The future of work 

     

    Resources & people mentioned:

    • Santiago Aparicio
    • Fitpal
    • Ontop
    • Measure What Matters by John Doerr -  Book
    • The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

    Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott
    Show more Show less
    37 mins
  • Maricel Saenz, Compound Foods: Coffee without Coffee Beans, Ep 157

    Maricel Saenz, Compound Foods: Coffee without Coffee Beans, Ep 157
    Nov 23 2021
    Maricel Saenz, Compound Foods: Coffee without Coffee Beans, Ep 157 People continue to experience how global warming can have devastating effects on the world. Crop yields have already started to decline from rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and extreme weather events. Climate change is threatening the future of many foods, and that includes coffee. This threat and her love for coffee inspired Maricel Saenz to launch Compound Foods, a food science company to reinvent coffee. Originally from Costa Rica, where coffee is ingrained in the national identity, Maricel wanted to dedicate her time and energy to creating solutions fighting climate change. Maricel left her first startup to create a product that could recreate coffee in a sustainable way. Coffee is one of the most consumed products in the world and it comes with a large water footprint. Maricel’s idea for Compound Foods is to replicate the coffee experience with less environmental impact. In this episode, I sat down with Maricel to talk about Compound Food’s mission in tackling climate change, her career in science without being a scientist, her journey of building a company at the start of the pandemic and the future of the coffee industry. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Maricel Saenz.   From fighting bacterias to fighting climate change Maricel shares why she left her first startup to start Compound Foods to fight climate change. Maricel’s experience in biotechnology and her longing to impact the world positively were the catalyst to launch Compound Foods and ultimately, what happens on a coffee farm in the lab.  Find out why Maricel decided to follow her passion to tackle climate change in this episode of Crossing Borders. If you want to learn more about Maricel’s backstory, I talked to her in Episode 76 about the battle against drug resistant bacteria and the challenges of raising capital in Silicon Valley as a Latina entrepreneur.    Drawing inspiration from nature Research shows that 50% of the land we grow coffee on today may not be suitable for growing coffee in the future. A big chunk of coffee production could go away over the next few years due to environmental changes, for which Marciel believes we must take action and start producing coffee in an environmentally friendly way. Compound Food’s draws inspiration from nature and relies heavily on the fermentation process to create a product that has the same chemical composition of coffee beans. The microbes play a key role in creating flavors and aromas, and are grown efficiently and in a scalable way. Check out this episode to learn more about why Maricel wants to make coffee without coffee beans!   Changing the mindset around climate change Maricel conveys an empowering message to go from climate anxiety to taking action. We can still do something significant about climate change and the environment. Technologies and companies are being built around climate change and people have the power to make big changes through simple choices, like buying a product that has less of an environmental impact.  Listen to the rest of this episode to hear Maricel on changing the mindset and the advice she would give to her younger self.       Coffee is one of the most consumed products on the planet and the way we produce it today has a high environmental impact. Solving this global problem is not easy and needs all hands on the (coffee) table. If this resonates with you, Compound Foods is on the lookout for more passionate team members to join the team.  Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to hear Maricel tell her story in her own words and her enthusiasm about creating a climate-resilient future, starting with your morning coffee.   Outline of this episode:   [01:06] - The backstory of creating coffee without coffee beans[02:30] - Why is coffee the perfect target?[03:28] - Why does coffee contribute to climate change?[04:10] - Why do we need to brew coffee without coffee beans?[05:10] - Two minute background on Maricel[06:05] - First startup experience[06:40] - Singularity University and meeting her first co-founder [07:10] - From fighting bacteria to fighting climate change[08:03] - Can we do something for climate change now?[08:40] - From climate anxiety to taking action[09:27] - How to take action fighting climate change[12:00] - Opening jobs at Compound Foods[13:05] - What does it take to build a company like Compound?[14:05] - From Costa Rica to the Bay Area[15:33] - Fundraising for a live product[16:25] - Thoughts on fundraising [17:35] - Why is Compound not a synthetic food company?[19:50] - What does the future look like?[21:05] - Next steps for Compound[22:09] - What advice would you give to yourself when you were first getting into tech? Resources & people mentioned: Sci-Fi Book: Seveneves by Neal StephensonNewsletter: SnaxshotPodcast: Crossing Borders   This episode of Crossing Borders is brought to you by AWS Startups. AWS ...
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Juanma Gironella, Guros: Reshaping The Latin American Insurance Industry, Ep 156

    Juanma Gironella, Guros: Reshaping The Latin American Insurance Industry, Ep 156
    Nov 19 2021
    Juanma Gironella, Guros: Reshaping The Latin American Insurance Industry, Ep 156   The traditional insurance experience in Latin America is an inefficient, non tech process. Most people don’t want to buy it but know they have to. At the same time, customer expectations of instant digital transactions sustained seamlessly across digital channels are increasingly the norm. This is exactly what Juanma Gironella is providing with Guros, the operating system for insurance in Latin America.    After working in financial services consulting, Juanma decided to build digital tools to help bring the insurance industry into the digital age.    In this episode, I sat down with Juanma to discuss how Guros is making inroads into the insurance industry and gaining market share with a digital model that is democratizing access to insurance and bringing new opportunities to innovate, improve customer experience, and ultimately, driving growth.   Improving the insurance experience Juanma contrasts the experience of comparing and purchasing auto insurance in Guros as easy as booking a flight or a hotel online. But the innovation opportunities do not stop there: on top of offering a better buying experience, what sets Guros apart is the fact that they provide value to the customers after purchase with new products, like a wallet that allows users to have multiple insurance products, and an API integration for fintech companies. This integration works like an embedded marketplace, enabling fintech companies to rapidly deploy integration into their app and allowing users to self-serve with a few clicks.   Learn more about how Guros is helping customers and fintech partners in this episode of Crossing Borders.   The insurance opportunity in Mexico and Latin America Guros is building their business model by addressing the pain points customers experience in their relationships with incumbent insurers. Of the $240 billion a year industry in Latin America, no player has over 5% of the market, which reflects that the (poor) value proposition essentially is pretty much the same in the entire region.   Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about this massive opportunity in Latam and why Guros is already thinking of other verticals.   Fundraising during Covid times Juanma’s first fundraising experience was with Guros during the Covid pandemic. He explains that finding the right partners and bringing in the right people is key to getting the insights that allow things to start happening at a faster pace.    Learn more about Juanma’s fundraising journey with Guros, and how it is to have never met in person over 95% of his team in this episode of Crossing Borders.   In Mexico and other relevant Latin American markets, insurance in general, and especially auto insurance, are radically fragmented markets. Consumers have to go through a painful experience when signing up for and purchasing insurance, and even after purchasing, it's hard to get value from the insurer provider. Guros is leading the change to disrupt innovation in the insurance industry. Outline of this episode: [03:01] - About Guros[03:44] - Before and after for insurance retail users[08:20] - Doing partnerships with potential partners[14:51] - From the idea to real traction[18:27] - Insurance opportunities in Mexico and Latin America[21:47] - The growth opportunity in the insurance industry[25:00] - The fundraising experience during the pandemic[28:20] - Resources and recommendations[29:49] - Advice to Juanma’s younger self   Resources & people mentioned: Juanma GironellaGurosGrowth Series by ReforgeTraining courses at ​​ConversionXLFirst Round Review Mexico Investment %of GDP"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." ― Thomas Alva Edison“What the mind can conceive and believe, and the heart desire, you can achieve.” ― Norman Vincent Peale This episode of Crossing Borders is brought to you by AWS Startups. AWS Startups supports entrepreneurs in Latin America across multiple programs, including Cloud Credits to help startups test features and extend runway, technical support to help optimize AWS solutions and integrations with your product, and – on the business side – help you build strategic contacts with investment funds, accelerators, and corporations to accelerate your growth. For more information, check out aws.amazon.com/es/campaigns/founders, where you can access $1,350 in AWS credits for your startup.
    Show more Show less
    35 mins
Economics
Show more Show less

What listeners say about Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available