Episode 018 - Brian Requarth: CEO and Co-Founder, Viva Real in Brasil: Author of, “Viva The Entrepreneur”

Introduction

• Welcome to Distilling Venture Capital.  I am your host, Bill Griesinger
• Distilling VC is a visionary podcast that provides an insightful and informed view of the key trends affecting the VC and tech startup world.  My mission is to cut through and go beyond the hype that tends to dominate the tech landscape.  And provide you with information you can use.

Episode Introduction:

• Welcome back everyone.  Today, we have a really fantastic program b/c I have the awesome pleasure of welcoming to the show Brian Requarth – who is an entrepreneur and true veteran of creating and scaling a technology businesses in Brazil and LatAm. 
• Brian is the co-founder and former CEO of Viva Real, the leading real estate, property technology business in Brazil.  He raised over $74MM in venture capital for Viva Real.   He merged the company with ZAP Imóveis (owned by Grupo Globo) and became the Chairman of Grupo ZAP.  He later sold the business for $550MM
• He now invests in the most promising tech companies in Brazil and Latin America as an angel investor.  More importantly, he is dedicated to empowering the next era of entrepreneurs in the region. 
• Brian, welcome and thanking you for making the time to share your incredible story and journey on the program…
• This motivation to help entrepreneurs in the region is done in part, through his new company, Latitud which aims to democratize access to everything an entrepreneur needs to succeed in building a successful business in LatAm.
• And also through your new book, Viva The Entrepreneur – where Brian seeks to help demystify the obstacles you’ll face, teach what you won’t learn in business school, and offer you inspiration and encouragement on your journey.
• Viva The Entrepreneur is book where Brian shares lessons learned while building his company. He shows how to manage your own psychology and your operations, be it working with co-founders, building a culture, or managing a board of directors. 
• Brian also reveals the secrets of scaling a business and best practices for raising venture capital in Latin America. You will develop an understanding of the most critical parts of an investor term sheet, and gain perspective into the inner workings of the venture capital game.
• So, I’ve read the book almost in its entirety and really want to dig into some key takeaways that struck me as I read this amazing story… 
• We discuss Brian’s views on being “vulnerable” and willing to hear, accept and take advice you can act on.  Brian mentions he could not have built Viva Real to its scale and success w/o the partners, advisers and board members on the ground in the region.
• Brian thinks about vulnerability from the standpoint of your team and trust you can build.
• “A lot of entrepreneurs try to shoulder everything”… “reality is you need to share the burden with your founders and the rest of team.”  Key component to success
• Named Entrepreneur of the Year in Brasil.  Expressed it as the “best day and worst day, all in the same 24 hours.”
• Brian discusses formation of Latitud in Brasil in Sept. 2020;  Decided to “Scale my advice” for entrepreneurs and investors in the region.
• Initially, a growing community of founders;  organized cohort-based programs.  Eventually we’ll build a community of investors and talent.  
• Brian funded the costs of the foundation himself.  Aggregate talent and capital to founders and investors.
• “I didn’t have it”  - this type of support.  It’s why I wrote the book and formed Latitud.
• In this interview, you’ll find out why Brian is “bullish on the next decade” in Brasil and LatAm because there are so many customer experience challenges and problems to be solved.
• What sectors are hot?   Brian says, “pick a sector,” really!  There are so many that are consumer-facing industries where the customer experience and customer satisfaction metrics are simply terrible.  They “scream opportunity”
• Every sector is filled with massive opportunities.
• LatAm is twice the GDP of India and has received about half the venture investment.
• There is now a robust Angel investing community in Brasil, seeding the next generation of companies.  NuBank will eventually go public and the wealth from that will create the next generation of Angel investors.  They are seeing the deals before institutional capital and we have that communicy
• We have a Fellowship for entrepreneurs and Founders.  We’ll be launching and Investor Fellowship.  Including group of Angels, then opportunity for VCs looking to dive into the region.  We have a network and hub for all of that through Latitud.
• Start your journey with Latitud.  “We have great momentum.”
• Can be as early as “ideation.”   “We are actually the on-ramp to the VC ecosystem” for investing in the region.
• See Latitud Go.  Full-stack where you go to find talent, capital, community.

Closing Remarks

• Brian, what is a good way for Those seeking additional information and wishing to learn more about Latitud or get in touch? 
• • Latitud website:  www.latitud.com

• Order the Book, Viva The Entrepreneur, via Kindle or Amazon.com

Thank you for joining me for this edition of DVC.  I hope you found our discussion today with Brian Requarth interesting and it gave you things to think about regarding building a business in Brazil or LatAm. 

I look forward to joining you on my next edition of DVC,  Thank You…