#102 - Lessons from Amazon and high-performance cultures: Alex Szapiro, Softbank

<p><b>Alex Szapiro</b> is a veteran when it comes to working with tech in Brazil. He was part of the early <b>Submarino </b>team and served as the country manager for <b>Palm</b>, <b>Apple </b><em>and</em> <b>Amazon</b>, where he helped bring its operation to the country and stayed for over 8 years of incredible growth.</p><p>In April 2021, he left Amazon for <b>Softbank</b>, where he&apos;s now <em>Head of Brazil and an Operating Partner</em>. And it&apos;s an intense time for that position too, because Softbank is investing heavily in Latin America and especially in Brazil: the Softbank LATAM fund began with US$ 5 billion in 2019 and added another US$ 3 billion to it two years later.</p><p>Softbank is now investing in early stage, growth and digital transformation in the region and has many unicorns in its 60+ company portfolio, like Rappi, Quinto Andar, Gympass, Loft and MadeiraMadeira.</p><p><em>Alex and I talk about:</em></p><ul><li>How startup investing has changed in Latin America over the years;</li><li>The importance of talent management;</li><li>How Softbank makes choices now while thinking in the (very) long term.</li></ul><p>Set up an international corporate structure accepted by international investors with <a href="https://go.latitud.com/?utm_source=latitud&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=description-link"><b>Latitud Go</b></a>.</p>