How to Build Tech Startups in Latin America | Sramana Mitra

The 1Mby1M Methodology is based on case studies. In this course, Sramana Mitra shares the tribal knowledge of tech entrepreneurs by giving students the rare seat at the table with the entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders who provide the most instructive perspectives on how to build a thriving business. Through these conversations, students gain access to case studies exploring the alleys of entrepreneurship. Sramana’s synthesis of key learnings and incisive analysis add great depth to each discussion.

Latin America had a later start in the global tech startup movement than other emerging countries, especially India and China.

It may be interesting to look at why.

China had a thriving electronics manufacturing industry, and India had a thriving software services industry which became the starting points of their respective startup journeys. In addition, India, especially, had a tremendous diaspora in Silicon Valley driving their country’s development as a startup nation.

In contrast, Latin America’s footprint in tech was low. It started its startup journey on the back of e-commerce. In fact, one of the first major successes was MercadoLibre, out of Argentina, that went public in NYSE in 2007. In fact, I worked with MercadoLibre early on, and got to know a lot about the company’s thought process as they developed their strategy for dominating the continent’s e-commerce trend.

The Latin America startup movement has accelerated now. We’re seeing lots of e-commerce in various domains, of course, but also FinTech, AgTech, even B-to-B SaaS.

As other countries have figured out, if you are trying to build a global B-to-B tech company, typically, these days, a SaaS venture, you’d need to access the US market relatively early in your progression. You can validate in your local market, get some customers going, but quickly, start the process of penetrating the US customer base.

E-Commerce or FinTech are very different animals. These tend to be much more local businesses. You can build very large e-commerce or FinTech businesses without ever leaving Brazil or Argentina, Mexico or Colombia.

The other side of the startup coin - investors - have also started becoming more present in Latin America. Once upon a time, entrepreneurs had to pretty much bootstrap and look for funding in the US. No more. You can look at my How Latin American Investors Think course to learn more about how to navigate funding in Latin America.

Of course, my mantra remains the same. Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later. Please go check out that course and abide by the Do NOT Go to VCs as Beggars, go as Kings principle. There’s a host of the 1Mby1M methodology courses on Bootstrapping, How Investors Think, all of which should help you learn the fundamental building blocks of entrepreneurship - how to put one foot before the other. We’ve put together numerous case studies through which we show you how entrepreneurs have done it, their lessons from the trenches that you can benefit from.

So, let’s get started.

The 1Mby1M courses are all heavily based on interview-based case studies on Innovation, Business Models, Go To Market Strategies, Validation Principles, and various other nuances of an entrepreneur's journey. We offer extensive opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons from the trenches from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and Investors who support their ambition.