October 22, 2020

#9 - Expansion and venture capital in Latin America: Antoine Colaço, Valor Capital Group

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A few years after getting his degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, and fresh out of his MBA at Harvard Business School, Antoine Colaço wanted to go into the VC world as an investor. But he’d always heard it’d be better to get operational experience first. So he joined Yahoo!. Then, in 2003, he took a risk and accepted a position at a small startup. It was called Google.

Antoine was there for 9 years, founding Google’s operation in India and launching offices all over Latin America. Although it may seem glitzy to build startups within what would become one the largest tech companies in the world, it came with the same challenges any early-stage founder would face. Some of which weren’t the least bit glamorous.

It was his impressive curriculum, but also his great feeling for business and love for Latin America, that led Antoine into becoming a partner at Valor Capital Group.

In this episode:

  • How different Latam cultures affect his investment approach
  • How he sees potential paths for founders looking to expand their business
  • A bit of Valor’s investment criteria
  • And how intuition and luck can play a big part in investing in winning companies.
Gabriela Levy

Head of Marketing at Latitud

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