Tag: saas

Santiago Aparicio, Ontop: Building the future of work from Latin America, Ep 158

Santiago Aparicio

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [02:18] – About Ontop
  • [02:39] – Top line metrics from Ontop
  • [02:39] – Santiago’s background
  • [04:53] – On joining Rappi
  • [07:05] – Launching Fitpal
  • [08:48] – Santiago’s biggest lessons
  • [13:54] – Coming up with the idea for Ontop
  • [14:23] – Fundraising for Ontop
  • [17:13] – The crazy world of fundraising
  • [18:42] – On building a sales engine
  • [19:14] – The best salesman (or woman)
  • [21:00] – Predictable metrics
  • [23:52] – The big milestones
  • [27:33] – Being famous is not being successful
  • [28:13] – Advice for a younger Santiago
  • [31:06] – How to hit network effects
  • [32:48] – The importance of hard conversations
  • [34:11] – The future of work

Show notes on Latamlist.com

Pedro Moura, Flourish: Encouraging healthy money habits for a better financial future, Ep 144

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [1:90] – About Flourish
  • [3:35] – Pedro’s move to the US
  • [7:00] – Adapting to a new culture at a young age
  • [8:30] – Advice on attracting talent
  • [12:30] – From wealth management to Oportun
  • [16:30] – Why starting a company was the natural next step
  • [18:30] – How geography plays a part in the business
  • [22:10] – What is Flourish’s next step
  • [23:20] – What advice would you offer your younger self?
  • [25:30] – Where do you see Flourish 2 years from now?

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

An Overview of Edtech in Latin America

Global investments in education technology, commonly known as edtech, will reach $252 billion by 2020. In fact, the global e-learning market is growing over 14% annually, and this growth rate is likely to continue.

In Latin America, government focus on education increased significantly over the last two decades. As a result, Latin America is now the fourth largest edtech market in the world – behind North America, Western Europe, and Asia in terms of revenue – with expectations for the e-learning market to generate revenues of over $3 billion by 2023.

According to UNESCO, more than 12 million adults in 20 Latin American countries are participating in some form of online education. This is not just online courses; millions of people are now accessing written materials, webinars, podcasts, collaborative software, and more.

What’s driving edtech opportunities in Latin America?

The short answer is surging levels of mobile and Internet access.

Latin America is a world leader in mobile adoption, with more than 415 million out of approximately 690 million people connected to a mobile network. Approximately 60% of all mobile connections in Latin America are smartphones and there are predictions that by 2020, 63% of Latin America’s population will have access to the mobile Internet. This rapid growth is translating into endless opportunities for the edtech sector, even in the most rural and remote areas.

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