Tech Talents LatAm #24
Brazil at Silicon Valley Highlights, ex-Head of Innovation at Banco ABC Brasil in stealth, ex-Head at Stone Seguros launches a new venture, and much more...
Welcome to Tech Talents! In this newsletter, I share real-time key talent movements in the LatAm tech ecosystem, including founders entering and exiting stealth mode, executive-level movements in unicorns, and partner-level changes in local VC firms.
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in Brazil at Silicon Valley representing Mindset Ventures. The event, organized by students from Stanford and Berkeley, aims to serve as a bridge between the Brazilian and Silicon Valley tech ecosystems. This was my third time attending, and once again, it proved to be a great source of insights and meaningful connections with founders, fellow VCs, and corporate leaders.
So, before we dive into this week’s movements, I thought it would be valuable to share a few quick highlights from some of the panels I attended.
Global Playbooks, Local Wins: Adapting VC Strategies for LatAm (with Anna Piñol, Camila Vieira, Maria Tereza Azevedo, and Mariana Moura)
For the first time, thanks to AI, enterprises are more willing to sign contracts with Seed or even Pre-Seed startups. This presents a major opportunity, as some startups are now going directly to enterprise clients from day one, rather than starting with SMBs and moving upmarket.
AI layers on top of legacy solutions can unlock higher revenue per customer. This is especially relevant for LatAm since it helps VCs be more convinced about Total Addressable Market.
Revenue per employee is becoming an increasingly important metric for investors in the AI era.
AI coding tools have significantly eased talent constraints in the region. Building large software engineering teams is no longer as critical as it once was.
Beyond the Cloud: AI Into the Physical World (with Igor Marinelli and Debjit Mukerji)
Igor is a great example of how founders should wear many hats. At Tractian, he codes, manages product, handles sales, and even visits customers on-site.
There’s no such thing as an inside vs. outside co-founder. In the end, everything is internal.
Founders should consider global expansion from day zero—not just after achieving product-market fit in their home market.
Tech Pioneers, AI Visionaries (with Divesh Makan and Hugo Barra)
Agents are intelligent systems that operate in loops, learning about you and your goals to act on your behalf.
Current apps make you work too hard and agents could change that. But we still need a new kind of operating system that enables people to build agents as easily as we build apps today.
AI is evolving beyond just IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient)—Action Quotient (AQ) is becoming equally important.
Born in Brazil, Built for the World (with Felipe Meneses, Anderson Thees, and Taci Pereira)
Resilience may be the most important trait a founder can have. Luck matters—but if you stick around long enough, luck tends to show up.
Everyone’s talking about how AI could enable a 3-person unicorn or a trillion-dollar company with fewer than 100 employees. But that same potential applies to solving Brazil’s biggest problems—healthcare, education, public safety, and more.
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Cayman Islands corporate partner Trevor McCabe advises Latin American start-ups, growth companies and venture capital firms on their investment rounds, M&A and exits across all stages of company development. Trevor has an established track-record of helping entrepreneurs and management in the technology sector solve complex legal matters. For more information, please contact Trevor.
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth
Talents with relevant experiences who have just entered stealth mode.
Tiago Pessoa Fernandes – Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Ex-Corporate, Ex-Big Tech, Unicorn Experience, Investor
Previous Experience: Ex-Head of Innovation at Banco ABC Brasil, ex-Business Development Manager at Linx, ex-Credit, Collection and Analytics Leader at Mercado Libre, ex-Pricing, Credit and Collections Expert at Creditas, Global Executive MBA from IESE Business School, Graduation in Construction Engineering from Instituto Militar de Engenharia.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Jader Correa – Founder and CEO at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: Building a platform to revolutionize how businesses sell and customers shop online.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder
Previous Experience: Ex-CTO at Appmax, ex-Staff Engineer at Code Climate, ex-CTO at Árvore, ex-CTO at Me Salva!, ex-Co-founder / Senior Software Developer at Leef Tecnologia em Negócios, Professional Certificate in Technology in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from IFSUL.
Headquarters: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 9 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Carolina da Costa Carvalho – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Masters, Ex-Corporate, Ex-Investor, Top University
Previous Experience: Ex-Credit, Risk & Structuring at Credix, ex-Investment Professional at Noon Capital Partners, ex-Investment Professional at CPP Investments, ex-Investment Professional at Mubadala, ex-MBA Associate at Cartesian Capital Group, Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, BA in Economics from Insper.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 11 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Juca Oliveira – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: Building something big in Retail Tech.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Previous Exit, Ex-Corporate, Ex-Big Tech
Previous Experience: Ex-Commercial Director at Grupo MOVE3, ex-Exited Founder at B2Log, ex-Co-Founder at Epasse, ex-Key Account Manager at CVC Brasil.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 2 years
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Fernando Ezequiel Martín – CEO & Co-founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters, Ex-Big Tech
Previous Experience: Ex-Engineering Manager at Coderhouse, ex-Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder at Bonder, ex-Senior Software Engineer at POAP - Bookmarks for your life, ex-Software Engineer at Salesforce, ex-Software Engineer at BINIT SRL, Master's Degree in Software Engineering from Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, Bachelor’s in Economy from Instituto Agustiniano.
Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
🎊 Startup Launches
Founders who have just publicly announced what they are working on.
FOUND IT
Overview
Startup Description: FOUND IT helps talents make their transition in a structured way, respecting their time, their history and their reality — with method, support and clarity.
Industry: Human Resources
Team Size: 2
Time in Stealth: 1 month
Founder Profile
João Guilherme Marques Gozetto - Founder at FOUND IT
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Tech Talents #22.
Founder Highlights: Ex-Corporate, Top University
Previous Experience: Ex-Head of Operations & Technology at Stone Seguros, ex-Group Product Manager at Stone, Bachelor of Business Administration from FGV EBAPE, Bachelor's degree in Business from WU.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Mileto
Overview
Startup Description: Internship Platform for a new source of talent: High School integrated with Technical Education.
Industry: Edtech, Human Resources
Team Size: 11
Time in Stealth: 1 year
Founder Profile
Giuliano Amaral - Co-Founder & CEO at Mileto
Co-Founders previously featured as Stealth Founders in Tech Talents #22 and #21
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Top University, Ex-Corporate
Previous Experience: Ex-CEO at Red Balloon Escola de Inglês, ex-Marketing Director at Saber Educação, ex-M&A Manager at Cogna Educação, ex-Investment Research Analyst at Galloway Capital, ex-Associate Analyst at Moody's Investors Service.
Headquarters: Brazil
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Co-Founders: Victor Bolonha (COO) & Priscilla Fraga (CMO)
🦄 Unicorn Movements
Promotions, new hires, and other movements in local unicorns’ executive-level.
Rafael Castro – CPO at QuintoAndar
Previous Role: Ex-Distinguished Engineer at QuintoAndar
Previous Experience: Ex-Principal Engineer at Google, Master's Degree in Cryptography from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Headquarters: United States
Time in Current Position: 1 month
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