20VC LATAM: LATAM's Largest Fund, Kaszek Ventures on Scaling from $100M to $1BN, Why Capital is not a Source of Moat & Why LATAM is More Than Copycat Companies with Nicolas Szekasy, Co-Founder @ Kaszek Ventures
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2021
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nicolas Szekasy is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Kaszek Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in Latin America with a portfolio including the likes of Nubank, Notco, Creditas, Bitso and more. Before Kaszek, Nicolás was CFO for 10 years at MercadoLibre (Nasdaq: MELI), Latin America’s largest online commerce and payments platform, where he led its $333 million IPO in 2007. Before MercadoLibre, Nico spent 7 years as CFO @ PepsiCo. If that was not enough, Nico is also on the board of Endeavour, empowering a global ecosystem of entrepreneurs.
In Today’s Episode with Nicolas Szekasy You Will Learn:
1.) How Nico made his way into the world of startups with MercadoLibre? What were the biggest takeaways from his 10 years with MELI? How did his time with MELI and seeing the boom and bust impact his investing mindset?
2.) What have been the most significant changes in the LATAM ecosystem over the last 20 years? What has improved? What has become more challenging? Is Nico concerned by the sheer amount of capital now flowing into the LATAM ecosystem at such speed?
3.) How does Nico respond to the statement that LATAM just produces "copycats" of successful companies from other geographies? How does Nico respond to the common suggestion of the challenges in scaling engineering teams in LATAM? How does Nico respond to the assumption that exit opportunities and IPOs are less available to LATAM companies?
4.) How was the experience of raising the first Kaszek fund? What has been the biggest challenging in the scaling from a $100M fund to a $1BN fund? How has Nico seen his own investing style change over the last decade? What does he know now that he wishes he had known when he started Kaszek?
5.) How does Nico reflect on his own style of board membership? What does Nico believe makes the best board members? What takeaways did he have from his time @ MELI on what makes the truly special board member?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Nicolas Szekasy
Nico’s Favourite Book: Guns, Germs and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years
Nico’s Most Recent Investment: Notco
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So we haven't done a feature week here on 20VC in a while, and when I was thinking what the focus for this feature week should be, it was quite obvious to me. |
| 0:07.0 | My love and excitement for the Latam ecosystem is very well documented on Twitter. |
| 0:11.0 | And so the answer was clear. |
| 0:12.2 | This is Latam Week on 20VC. guest, Nico Zakazi, co-found and managing partner at Kazik Ventures, the largest venture capital |
| 0:21.8 | firm in Latin America, with a portfolio including the lights of New Bank, Notco, Creditas, |
| 0:27.0 | bit so, and more. Before Kazakh, Nico was CFO for 10 years at Mercado Libre, Latin America's largest |
| 0:32.8 | online commerce and payments platform, where he led its $330 million IPO in 2007. Before Macardo Libre, |
| 0:39.6 | Nico spent seven years as CFR PepsiCo. And I'd also want to say huge thanks to Marcos Galperin |
| 0:44.6 | at Macardo Libre and Hanan and Nico at Kazak for some amazing question suggestions today, a real team |
| 0:50.3 | effort on the schedule. But before we move into the show today, Mercury is building full-stack banking for startups, applying under 10 minutes from anywhere for FDIC-insured bank accounts, |
| 1:00.3 | physical and virtual debit cards, domestic and international wires, and integrations with |
| 1:04.9 | gusto, stripe, quickbooks and plaid, to name a few. They also offer unusual features, like |
| 1:09.9 | API access, custom team management, |
| 1:12.4 | and their newly launched Mercury Treasury, a cash management product for high-growth startups, |
| 1:16.6 | and they'll even help you build your startup with Mercury Rays, a program to connect you to Silicon |
| 1:21.4 | Valley's top investors, head over to Mercury.com forward slash sign up to apply. And speaking |
| 1:26.8 | of foundational infrastructure to run your |
| 1:28.5 | business with Mercury there, let's face it, this new world of remote work is here to stay, |
| 1:32.7 | and so are all the headaches that come with running a remote team. Ripling helps fast-growing |
| 1:37.5 | companies automate their HR and IT systems, and now they're making it super easy to manage |
| 1:42.8 | employees and contractors anywhere. |
| 1:44.9 | When you hire people in new states, Ripling can now automatically register your startup |
... |
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