Horacio Poblete

Turns out you can't surf your way into a GTM strategy. But we tried anyway. Location: Portugal Mission: GTM planning Reality check: We can't surf (except Erle) Key metrics: • Pastéis de nata consumed: 47 • Hours in techno work sessions: 5 • Features shipped: 4 • Knowledge base articles shipped: 36 • ICPs mapped: 4 😂 • Number of nosedives: 87 • Local surfers entertained: 100% • Dignity remaining: minimal Unexpected finding: Better GTM ideas flow when you're full of custard tarts and sangria. Status: Still at it. Sand everywhere. Plans solid. Surf skills questionable. Next time: Maybe we stick to MacBooks instead of surfboards. /Vouch team

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The SaaS Fallacy: A Wake-Up Call for Brazilian Startups In Brazil’s startup ecosystem, there’s a persistent myth: “If you want to succeed, you HAVE to be SaaS.” Now don’t get me wrong—SaaS is amazing, scalable, and highly profitable… eventually. But here’s the reality: You don’t need to be SaaS from Day 1 to build a thriving business. Say the word "consulting" during a meeting with a startup here, and they might take it as an insult. But why? It doesn’t matter if your business model is SaaS, consulting, or selling lemonade, what matters is that you make money. Startups are about survival first and scalability second. Here’s my advice: Grow organically. Especially in a market with funding scarcity like ours, bootstrapping is a superpower. Yes, SaaS can be a game-changer in the long run, but don’t be afraid to lean on consulting as a means to generate cash flow early on. Every dollar you make through consulting today buys you the time, space, and resources to eventually develop that killer SaaS product tomorrow. Think of consulting as your lifeline, profitable, flexible, and without the pressure of burning through VC funding at an unsustainable pace. You don’t need to impress investors with an instant SaaS model, let your sales and cash flow tell the story. So to all the startups out there: It’s okay to grow organically and embrace consulting as part of your journey. Consulting today, SaaS tomorrow. it’s not a failure, it’s a strategic move. Build, sell, and survive without the obsession of instant scalability. #BrazilianStartups #SaaS #Consulting #Bootstrapping #OrganicGrowth

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This is insane! Brazil's FinTech giant Nubank just posted another massive quarter. The growth & numbers NU is showing are out of this world and make it one of the best-run tech companies in the world 😳 Key facts and figures from Nubank's 1Q 2024 earnings: 👥 100 million customers globally (+26% Year-over-Year) 🌍 It's now the largest digital banking platform outside of Asia 🇧🇷 54% of the adult population of Brazil now uses Nubank 🇧🇷 It's now the 4th largest financial institution in Latin America 💰 $24.3 billion worth of deposits (+53% YoY) 💸 $2.7 billion in revenues (+64% YoY) 🤑 $378 million in profit (+160% YoY) What's also wild is that their average customer is now using more than 4 products 😳 But here comes the crazy part. NU's customer acquisition costs is something we have not seen before. Due to customer-friendly, low-cost products, #Nubank has a high NPS of around 90. Even a popular brand like Apple only has an NPS of 72, and banks are often in negative territory. That's why Nubank, to date, still acquires ~80% of its new customers cost-effectively through recommendations and word-of-mouth 😮‍💨 On top of that, despite serving more than 100 million customers, its monthly average cost per active customer remains below $1 🤯 This coupled with a stunning efficiency ratio of ~32% makes Nubank not only one of the best digital banks globally. It's probably the best-run tech company on the planet right now. Remarkable.

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New Framedrop.ai blog post straight from the oven by Filipe Pessoa. How you can monetize a podcast in 5 steps: 1. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲: Wait until you have an established audience base.     2. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Understand their interests, pain points, and preferences.     3. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: Sponsorship, affiliate marketing, donations, premium content, merchandise, events, memberships, product sales.     4. Click to read the full article 🎣     5. Click again 😅 It includes 10 tried-and-tested ways 🤓

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This fintech company disrupted the entire industry in 6 years. Its Brex. They turned a small startup into a $12.3B giant. How? Here’s the story: Henrique Dubugras and his co-founder, Pedro Franceschi, dropped out of Stanford to start Brex in 2017. They wanted to solve a real pain point they experienced firsthand, "startups’ difficulty in securing corporate credit cards". Traditional banks failed to serve startups with no credit history, so they thought of building a financial services platform that addressed these challenges. Built from scratch, no relying on third-party processors. Brex created a solution for startups: No personal guarantees, fast signups, and higher limits. Now it's $12.3B company. And here's how they did it in just 6 years: 1. Targeted User Acquisition Cold emails, billboards, and champagne, their growth strategy was unorthodox but effective. They built a pipeline by marketing where their users hung out, even on LinkedIn.     2. Nailing Retention Early Brex understood retention was critical. They used churn data to improve customer service and even developed white-glove support to keep customers happy. 3. Iterating for Scale From a simple corporate card, Brex grew into a financial platform. They created multiple revenue streams — expense management, bill pay, and even venture debt.     4. Creating a Moat The founders kept adding value with features like a cash management account and travel integration. Customers were more likely to stay, leading to strong expansion revenue.     5. Non-traditional marketing They experimented with unique tactics, driving demo bookings through creative campaigns — this set them apart from competitors.     When faced with growing pains, Brex doubled down on venture-backed startups, offloading SMBs to maintain their premium positioning. Brex’s journey proves that success comes from understanding your market’s pain points and solving them better than anyone else. What can you take from this? Focus on retention, find creative marketing channels, and don’t be afraid to pivot. #startup #casestudy

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Square, Mercado Libre, Rappi, Zillow, and Stripe alumni have founded 1,511 startups over the last decade. That's a lot! And about 12% of these founders are building a fintech company. What is it about the DNA of these firms that they attract a lot of would-be founders? Some of the great fintech companies founded by ex-employees of this group include Pomelo, Ontop, Persona, Mundi, AgentSync, Divvy Homes, and Pacaso Square - 355 total startups, 32 in fintech Mercado Libre - 282 total startups, 37 in fintech Zillow - 294 total startups, 22 in fintech Rappi - 290 total startups, 28 in fintech Stripe - 290 total startups, 25 in fintech Read our full report ➡ https://bit.ly/GGMVFF Andrew Endicott Paula You David Erickson Kirstie Irmana Kristofer Jenk Josh Jagota Gilgamesh Ventures The Wharton School

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Brex is one of my favorite fintechs. Ever wonder what their journey from $0 to over $300M in revenue within 7 years looked like? 2017-2018: The Birth of Brex • Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, both 22-year-old Stanford dropouts, decided to flip the fintech world on its head by launching Brex, a corporate credit card tailored for startups. • With their co-CEO model (which has become popular), they doubled their management bandwidth. Internal & external duties? No problem when you have twice the number of CEOs to lead folks 2019-2020: Rapid growth • Brex quickly partnered with big names like DoorDash, Flexport, and Roblox. • In 2019, they secured $300 million in funding, catapulting their valuation to $2.6 billion. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you’re swimming in a pool of investor cash. 2021-2022: Diversification and challenges • Brex expanded its product suite to include expense management, bill pay, & travel booking services. If you’re going to burn through cash, you might as well make it convenient. • Despite their success, they faced some “minor” hiccups. Layoffs in 2022 were a delightful reminder that even fintech unicorns aren’t immune to cutting costs by cutting people. 2023: Strategic shifts • Transitioning to a single CEO model, Pedro took the helm while Henrique became chairman. Having two brains was slowing things down? • They continued to innovate, integrating AI into their platform. By the end of 2023, Brex hit over $300 million in revenue, proving that even with all the chaos, they were still making bank​. 2024: Path to profitability • With a goal of being cash-flow positive by 2025, Brex halved its cash burn by chopping 20% of its staff and focused on sustainable growth. Making money instead of burning it is always a sound strategy. • Serving 30K+ customers globally, Brex’s commitment to transparency & customer-centric solutions has kept them in the game. They’re not just participating – they’re rewriting the rules. Want to copy their homework? 1. Identify a significant pain point in an industry and create a solution that addresses it. Please don't start a business without doing this. 2. Utilize a strong co-founder dynamic to maximize efficiency & divide responsibilities effectively. Two heads are better than one, until they aren’t. 3. Secure early partnerships with influential companies to build credibility and a customer base. It’s always about who you know. 4. Listen to your customers. & Expand your product offerings to meet their evolving needs. 5. Maintain a strong focus on transparency & trust to build a loyal customer base. People surprisingly prefer not being lied to. 6. Strategically manage growth, and make tough decisions like layoffs when necessary to ensure long-term sustainability. 7. If you want to go public, be profitable. Did I miss anything?

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🔔 Excited to invite you to these upcoming events on ScaleupStream! Join me for: 1. From Zero to Growth: Marketing Strategies for Lean Startups:(https://lnkd.in/gi2QazWx)  2. Marketplace Mastery - A Comprehensive Marketing Dive (https://lnkd.in/gevhqKDy)  3. Marketing Strategies for Early-Stage Startups (https://lnkd.in/g7mHvWbE)    Don't miss out on these insightful discussions and networking opportunities! 🌟 #StartupMarketing #ScaleupStrategies #MarketplaceSuccess

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Software SaaS VC firms list. Find #SaaSVC firms. Access 850 #Software #SaaS venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/d7hRz3tS #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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VCs don't want you if you're not throwing tons of 💸💸💸 at outbound marketing... 😮 From Matheus Darós Pagani's experience, this is why taking Venture dollars was not an option 🙅‍♂️ As an offshore development shop (located in Brazil), he experienced first-hand how cold email was a money pit 😣 Too many of his ideal clients were resistant to accepting software development labor from an offshore team that they'd never met. What did he do? He focused his marketing on building relationships and taking an organic approach to growth. Was it slow-going? Yes. But it has proven more successful than when he was pursuing cold email campaigns. Is this unique to offshore dev agencies? Is this true for all dev shops? I'd love to hear your thoughts below! 👇 _____________________________ Are you a software development agency looking for a little guidance on your journey to growth? Subscribe to the Dev Launch podcast! We interview software dev agency owners as they share their startup journey and what they're learning in the process. This isn't some generic entrepreneurial podcast with "rah rah" advice - we're talking about specific industry challenges. Find us on YouTube and Spotify. We are changing things up in the format as we launch into Season 2, so stay tuned!

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FinTech VC firms list. Find #FinTechVC firms. Access 700 #FinTech venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/dKWs6J5F #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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FinTech VC firms list. Find #FinTechVC firms. Access 700 #FinTech venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/dKWs6J5F #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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FinTech VC firms list. Find #FinTechVC firms. Access 700 #FinTech venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/dKWs6J5F #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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FinTech VC firms list. Find #FinTechVC firms. Access 700 #FinTech venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/dKWs6J5F #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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