#46 - An honest take on the VC game in Latin America: Hernan Kazah, Kaszek

<p><b>Hernan Kazah</b>&apos;s journey as an entrepreneur starts in 1999, in the early days of the internet in Latin America. Co-founder of <b>Mercado Libre</b>, he has witnessed firsthand, as a pioneer, the extraordinary evolution that the startup and VC ecosystem has experienced in the region. In 2011, hoping to help solve some of the pain points they&apos;ve faced themselves, Hernan and former Meli CFO Nico Szekazy launched <b>Kaszek</b>. Fun fact, the name originated from the combination of both of their last names.</p><p>Since then, the firm has raised $2B across 7 funds. Half of that sum was closed just two months ago in a duo of funds. In one decade, Kaszek has backed over 90 companies, nine of which spawned into unicorns. And Mercado Libre, now worth $60B, became the most valuable company in Latin America.</p><p>In this episode, Hernan shares:</p><ul><li>The mistakes that almost killed Mercado Libre</li><li>Painful misses as an investor</li><li>Risks they welcome and risks they avoid when investing</li><li>And what&apos;s broken in the VC game</li></ul><p><br/><a href='https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mTvv61Q9fictsaDcSY8I4Yh9ZFF4wHy9/view?usp=sharing'>Click here to see the Stop &amp; Go Strategy graph</a> mentioned in the episode.<br/><br/>Starting something new?<br/>Visit <a href='https://latitud.com/'>latitud.com</a> to learn about the Latitud Fellowship program.</p>