Cristobal Perdomo, Wollef: A closer look at Latin American Venture Capital, Ep 190

Cristobal Perdomo is cofounder and General Partner at Wollef, a Latin American VC firm. Five years ago, I sat down with Cristobal to talk about Latin American venture capital in what turned into Episode 34 of Crossing Borders, where we covered the state of play of VC in 2018. Listen to our conversation for an update into what’s changed since our last sit down. 

After getting an MBA and working in consulting in Brazil, Cristobal realized that there was a big opportunity to fund Latin American startups, especially in Argentina and Mexico. In that episode, Cristobal shares advice for managing a business in multiple countries, investing in startups across LatAm and tips for managing teams across borders.

Five years after that conversation, I sat again with Cristobal to discuss what’s changed in Latin America’s VC ecosystem in the last five years.

Changes in LatAm’s startup ecosystem

In this episode, Cristobal shares his take on how Latin America’s startup ecosystem is improving, with more and better quality investors and founders. In conversation, he talks about the tourist capital and the tourist founders, the ups and downs of taking money from governments and the changes in Wollef’s thesis from fund to fund.

Lessons learned investing in Latin America

Cristobal shares his thoughts on talent, investing in great founders, and in great teams. Cristobal invests a lot of his time trying to understand if the founders will be able to acquire and retain top talent to help them build their businesses.

Listen to this episode to know more about what has changed for Wollef from fund 1 to fund 3, which LatAm country is the most interesting for investments today, and all about Cristobal’s new podcast Indie vs. Unicorn.

Outline of this episode:

• [00:31] – Introduction to Cristobal
• [00:31] – Cristobal’s quick overview of changes in the ecosystem in the past five years
• [04:34] – Thoughts on tourist capital and tourist entrepreneurs
• [06:54] – Wollef’s evolution as a VC fund
• [12:10] – Changes in Wollef from fund 1 to fund 3
• [14:58] – Lessons learned from fund to fund
• [18:40] – The most interesting countries to invest in right now
• [21:41] – Thoughts on Colombia and the entrepreneur’s mindset
• [29:23] – Technology’s role in economic development
• [30:09] – Cristobal’s opinion on Web3 and crypto
• [33:12] – Documentaries and podcast recommendations
• [34:37] – Advice to a younger Cristobal
• [36:41] – Indie vs Unicornio, Cristobal’s new podcast

Resources:

• Cristobal Perdomo
• Crossing Borders Ep 34 with Cristobal Perdomo 
• Wollef
• Documentary: Something Ventured
• Documentary: General Magic
• Podcast: Indie vs Unicornio