The Pomp Podcast
#493 Brian Requarth on Startups in Latin America
- Brian Requarth's journey from the Bay Area to Colombia, where he bootstrapped Viva Real into Brazil's leading real estate marketplace despite 30 investor rejections during the 2008 financial crisis.
- Latin America's emerging startup ecosystem: the region receives half the venture funding of India despite twice the GDP, but recent mega-rounds (Nubank at $25B, Rappi) have put it on the global stage.
- Evolution from copycat companies to locally-innovated solutions; examples include Quinto Andar (solving cosigner requirements for renters) and La House (combining marketplace and verticalized real estate services).
- Requarth's new Latitude fund and mentor network, launched to support early-stage founders in Latin America by connecting them with successful operators and global talent.
- The book *Viva the Entrepreneur: Founding, Scaling, and Raising Venture Capital in Latin America*, which hit #1 on Amazon's venture category and draws on Requarth's operational experience.
- COVID-19's acceleration of remote work and fundraising, democratizing access for Latin American entrepreneurs to global investors, mentors, and engineering talent without geography constraints.