[00:00:38] Good morning to you. My name is Enrique Alvarez and I’m your host for this new episode of your pizza and now in Spanish. It is a pleasure for me. This has been one of the first interviews I’ve had the opportunity to do, but today I think it’s going to be very interesting. I’m sure it’s going to be a pretty topical subject and with a person who has not only been very successful, but describes himself as intense, happy and family oriented. I’m sure you’ll like it and thanks again for joining us. Before I introduce today’s guest of honor, just a reminder that you can listen to us on any podcast platform you have or you can visit our page on Supply Chain Ya.com or also the YouTube channel with the same name Supply Chain Now. Thank you again for joining us on Supply Chain Now in Spanish and welcome José Luis Silva. Jose Luis is co-founder and managing partner of Ducks Capital de Capital. It is a Venture Capital fund specialized in early stage startups in the United States and Latin America, with presence also in both countries. We’ll let, obviously I’ll let him explain to us a little bit more what he does a little bit more of his life in a second more. José Luis, very good morning. How are you? I’m so glad you’re here.
[00:02:00] Thank you very much, Enrique. Thanks for the invitation and congratulations to you and your audience. For the invitation. Because of what they are doing in Supply Chain Now, which I thought was a really cool project since you introduced it to me. And happy to share it here with you.
[00:02:14] Thank you. Pulsares again of the first that give me the pleasure to greet and talk and this tell us a little more about you as a person. Tell us a little more about your life. Where did you grow up? Who are you? Who is José Luis Silva?
[00:02:29] Thank you very much. As you describe me, I am a person who is very much a family person, I am a home person. I was born in Mexico City, I grew up in the south of Mexico as well and I’m very passionate, very intense about things in general. I like to be with my family a lot, I like to exercise a lot. This archaeologist on the body is not very noticeable, but I like it.
[00:02:54] This year was difficult
[00:02:55] For me, it was very left, it was very passionate for the things that always motivate me. I don’t have one. I am married, I have a 10 month old son that I love Gonzalo this has been something padrísimo lately my life and and happy to do anything. They are very enterprising. I like new things, I like to take risks, I studied finance, so I like to combine the personal part, but also the part of taking risks, right?
[00:03:21] Well, thank you very much and welcome back. What is your favourite football team? José Luis Santos
[00:03:26] Appropriate
[00:03:28] Misfortune. Here we can end the discussion if you see the wrong answer.
[00:03:32] Unfortunately I love sports more doing them than watching them. However, for now my dad’s legacy I’m going to America americanista.
[00:03:42] Very
[00:03:42] Good view, but I’ve always preferred playing sports more than watching or following them. And how to study I also sent him there in Madrid. I love Real Madrid too,
[00:03:54] That is, just the two teams that are going to go totally against each other. I hope, but I’m going to Chivas and Barcelona. But hey, the good thing is that we’re going to be talking about Supli, Cheyne and Investments and it’s not going to be a football show, but again thanks. Tell us again going back to your childhood, because right now you gave us a very executive summary of who you are and what you like in life and your experience. But going back a little bit to your childhood. Some anecdotes that you remember. Something you want to share with the audience, of course.
[00:04:29] Taking advantage of that. That I really enjoyed meeting you and that you live in it in Atlanta. Very. I remembered a lot of anecdotes from there. I have had family in Atlanta, Georgia, south of Atlanta since I was a child. So when I was a kid I went there every summer and it was an incredible time with my brothers and sisters. I have two siblings, one older and one younger and every summer we did something different. And one of the coolest summers is that our parents got him into a tennis clinic called Dog Baby Tennis Center, which is there in Delbert, Georgia, in Atlanta. And we loved it because when we got there we were the only Mexicans, the only foreigners. And my brother and I who played together, tennis, we loved tennis. Since we were kids they called us from Mexican Connection hahaha to the tennis clinic on a staircase thing no, before it was like a tournament during the summer and we ended up winning the tournament and they called us from Mexican Connection and we made some great friends and it cost very healthy. Why do you think he hovered around tennis? I don’t remember much of a summer there.
[00:05:43] And that’s a little bit of the connection that you have with the United States, which then becomes important and obviously now you even have a fund in hosting Texas. I think that’s true.
[00:05:52] Exactly. In fact, this year my aunt, my sister, my mom went to the United States since she married a young cognitive native of Atlanta, Georgia, and that’s where the connection was. My dad also lived in California for 20 years as a young man. His first 20 years of life and so was the connection. Every summer we would go to Atlanta. This new one I talk about in more detail, but that’s where I worked since I was young. It’s no different, from mowing grass to wherever it is. And from there I moved on and my life was always very connected in the United States. In fact, I decided to Vallet. I am going to Europe to have also a clear expulsion in Europe. And that’s how, how, how I had the U.S. relationship. My brother is going to live in New York, I’ll be talking about him often and this and also in New York, Atlanta, Mexico and my business. As you rightly say it’s Ducks Capital, a right equity fund. We have offices in Mexico City and Austin, Texas.
[00:06:56] And now. Well, for everyone who’s listening right now, we’re going to talk more in detail, obviously about your business, your multiple investments and a little bit about José Luis. Além the entrepreneur too and this the money laundering. But if you want to go back a little bit to that time, who was a good mentor for you? Or did you talk about your mom, your dad, your brother?
[00:07:17] I like to talk a lot about my brother
[00:07:20] Why don’t you tell us why it’s bigger than you, it’s bigger than you, it’s more
[00:07:23] Boy bigger than me, one year, one year, nine months.
[00:07:25] Fucked up?
[00:07:26] Eleven, nothing, but I will love me with him because throughout my life he was always an example for me to follow. This at the beginning of our lives in the sport no, the truth always beat me, ha ha, little chubbier than him, he was happier, but always for me. Appu helped me a lot to push me to always be better at sports and that translated a lot in school. He was also better than me. The east and already older school also translated to a theme of a professional experience. He’s a little more conservative than I am. He went down the D field. From employment you are no longer corporate.
[00:08:10] The world has mosquera
[00:08:11] By the death of his lawyer and this and he went to study his usually motto to Georgetown in Washington and from there he called him a synthetic office tested because he was voted. Pacquiao helped a lot, this was called by an office in New York that was mixed Gottlieb and my brother has been there for 15 years and became the first Mexican. Becoming a partner of that firm is not a firm.
[00:08:37] Pride was Amieva opening barriers. I imagine the Barrera that particularly in that industry, lawyers, law is a little bit even more closed to people from outside and more so coming from Latin America. So, for
[00:08:51] Right, not pride. Then my brother became a partner in the firm and that really motivated me to say anything goes. I went down the path of entrepreneurship, but at the end of the day the motivator is within you, isn’t it? If you want to become a partner I want you to become an entrepreneur or I want you to become a footballer. As we talked, I think the common denominator is the person, the desire to better yourself and to tell you today is my brother as a mentor, he always taught me since I was a child and helped me to go forward.
[00:09:22] Any particular advice that your brother has given you, that he has managed to observe? It feels more. More than you can hear from what you’re saying? I think you can feel that affection you have for him. It’s admiration, that respect. So he told me that you learned a lot by his example, but something in particular that he told you some that
[00:09:45] I would always put you in front of any situation. This one, no matter how hard it is, you will always be able to solve it.
[00:09:56] It is to face, to face the bull by the four as we say exactly.
[00:10:01] I remember his first interview in an office here in Mexico, a top office in Mexico, and I remember taking him in our little Chevy, there as interns, both of us. I was all student and he told me that he was zero nervous about his first job interview. At that time you were
[00:10:18] More nervous than him, I think
[00:10:19] Manitoba. There I went from Parfait, came to play the game we played volleyball and the one in the suit borrowed from daddy Atal. At that time we weren’t doing very well in the family, so we went out together and Makoke was perfectly prepared and they gave her the job. And it’s an example of that was presented with the, with the main lawyer, Manuel Galizia, who created a firm that Galizia very important lawyers here and Makoke coming out of there. He is super confident that he went out for a swim and got it and started his detos career. What I’m getting at is that in any situation, and now I’ll talk more about mine, you have to face it and you can do it.
[00:10:56] So tell us about what you mentioned, tell us a little more about your career. Brasi Moving on to the professional side. Tell us a little more about how you came to one? Things that I find interesting. One, at what point in your professional and personal career did you say hey, I want to be an entrepreneur, it’s not something you’ve had since you were a kid, but at what point did you say ok, well, now I’m going to bet on it and I’m going to do it. And tell us a bit more about how Ducks Capital came to be.
[00:11:25] And he tells a very quick anecdote about peeling them. Nothing. My first venture was blowing up my parents’ old clothes and selling them. The air is like a child’s mischief.
[00:11:37] Grabbing a clothes rack. You were a clothier.
[00:11:39] Electros las milicias primaros pichel and sold it to the people of Magdalena Contreras where my parents lived. And that was the first time.
[00:11:47] How old were you with us?
[00:11:50] Or already Buddhists? Marvelous Who?
[00:11:53] Who does that one come from? Who does it come from? That’s because your brother was obviously too young. In other words. Where did you get those kinds of entrepreneurial ideas?
[00:12:01] My dad is a builder and had his own construction company, so I am always, always, always part of the entrepreneur and also my mom, my mom too. This one had a lot of very good ideas as a child and as a young man selling things. Me than my parents in general. But really in the family there have been few cases at all, so I am flattered to be able to have been me as an entrepreneur and this also permeate the others. These bardes, you desist from
[00:12:32] Old clothes forward to those in old clothes at eight years old. Tell us a little more about how your story unfolds.
[00:12:39] Sure, out of old clothes I’m going the corporate route. I study finance. Seriously, I feel the same way you do. This was the one in Mexico City. From there I became one of the first HSBC interns. The bank trains in Copper Investment Banking when I was ten, twenty years old, and I was there for almost ten years. So, from trainee to being a leader of one of a race
[00:13:06] Long for ten years. Now maybe the people who listen to us are younger than us. Maybe you don’t hear it as much, because there are faster changes. But at that time, ten years was already almost your whole career. You could have quietly stayed in that, in that place, that bench.
[00:13:22] Exactly. And more than that, it’s an industry of a few people, an industry that pays very well in the comfort it can give you. It’s the one you have at the bottom of the barrel and a lot of very redeemable people, of course, stay there. He does very good stories, but I was left with a thorn in my side because Felipes’ life is hard too. Chet Baker in general is me what I lost like about six, seven girlfriends that I left, that I had, etcetera this one and from there I decide
[00:13:53] And two or three that maybe you never met Jack because you were on the
[00:13:56] Office. No, I never knew the name and this one. And let me hook up to the lights real quick.
[00:14:04] No, no, don’t worry, we’ll see.
[00:14:10] This one already, then, eh? To light almost ten years I decide to undertake towards one in Biei and as I repeat, I chose to go to the Instituto Empresa Madrid to be able to have one more area of knowledge of network in my life, because the United States had already been a lot. I already decided to go to Europe and in the Lié of Madrid, I also did a dual digory in East Singapore. That’s when I started to learn about entrepreneurship. The truth is that in the bank, yes, I felt a little bit in a bubble because we were seeing triple A clients, which in fact in the bank was my first exposure. What is
[00:14:49] A triple A customer, for example, if someone doesn’t know us
[00:14:54] Speaking of the Consumer Retail Group’s Supply Chain sector in general. For example, the Bimbo group, of course, is a reference in Supply Chain in Latin America. I had this plus, we did one of my first transactions. It was when the Bimbo group bought George Weston in the United States and became the number one bakery in the world. In fact, if ever there are startups, where are they born? That was one of the strongest transactions that I did when I was a banker, because companies like Cinemex, Kimberly Clark
[00:15:29] They are big companies, companies that everybody knows in Mexico and probably, as you say, in Latin America and in the world, like Bimbo. A great example to follow in. Particularly in the supply chain. That’s one. A great, great example and very innovative also in Latin America. Central America.
[00:15:48] Yes, they of the programs and systems, especially towards the shopkeepers in the part of Supply Chain, have been spearheading Latin America in the world and incredible cases from Los Angeles. That they used to use 20 years ago for shopkeepers. This is to streamline your. His handling of the supli and even the playoffs have created a great story.
[00:16:12] It’s impressive and well, I think we could have a program exclusively dedicated to Bimbo. Maybe the young people could do our next interview with José Luis.
[00:16:23] We have a very good relationship with family physical record.
[00:16:25] Wouldn’t that be interesting? And as you say, I know Bimbo as a consumer, don’t I? And because I grew up in Mexico, but in every corner stall, in every village, in the most remote place in the world, where there wasn’t even pavement, there was fresh bread.
[00:16:42] We owe seats.
[00:16:44] But well, returning, returning to Madrid, we deviated, we deviated a little, but the father with the commercial of Bimbo and in fact already made me hungry, I hope hahahaha. But back to Madrid, so you’re going to Madrid to study?
[00:16:56] If I decide to remove myself from life this corporate Sludge Godin that we like so much word here in Mexico and I’m going to do bye bye. And to see, to change. And there he sees me. I’m starting to get more into the part of the Prendimiento. So the first thing I see over there is that one of the things that unfortunately hold entrepreneurs back, especially when they start out, is money, of course, of course. So I said how can I unite my previous experience in capital, in finance with entrepreneurship, you come back to Mexico and I finish my master’s degree padrísimo, I come back to Mexico without a penny and this Meck de topo with Daniel Santamarina, a very dear friend of mine. The totally entrepreneurial side. I totally side with Investment Bakker, Copper Banker. And then we decided that in order to put the two things together with that idea of capital with entrepreneurship where it was the best match, to put a Venture capital fund. We both jumped in with. with one hand in front and one hand behind because. For as good sends and returns to embezzle.
[00:18:09] In question and with more debt than exact.
[00:18:12] So this post obviously takes me back home to my parents. As a good Latino who is very rooted in family, this one took me back to my good old thirties and class because I was thirty-two years old. This living with the dads, creating Ducks Capital and we started to create the fund from scratch off-center.
[00:18:32] It started as Ducks Capital,
[00:18:34] Like a duchess ogre. In fact Coruxo Primará. We started this Daniel with myself and the other partner we started from scratch. It was him. It was the name that in fact the other partner already brought it to my mind. The name we say from the bottom three partners and we went forward making the bottom.
[00:18:54] Tell us a little more, then you launched the fund and what was your first of your first experiences? Isn’t that it then?
[00:19:02] So, it’s actually what I’ve gotten the most out of my professional life. Those were the first years of the fund, because first of all, we had to learn a lot. That is, it is very different to study Lekeitio, Beachwood Capital test to open a fund. It’s very, very scrubbed and more. It is very different to study Prévert Equity in New, in Singapore, in Madrid, with my case in the United States than to bring it to Mexico, for example. So it was a lot of learning at the beginning. This was an apprenticeship from how to open a company, this that in my case, I repeat, as I was not. I had not opened companies before. This post was before I learned that, down to all the corporate governance that a fund should have. We started Daniel Santamarina’s dad, my partner who. That. That. For which I am very grateful. He always gave us a Kovak Chitta that we gave him the covacha Garona, a little cache in the back of his office in the Nápoles neighborhood in Mexico City, next to the World Trade Center. Not this one eating tacos on the corner Riario, because we couldn’t afford more. And there we started at the good old covacha from scratch. This man would take me to the chairs at my parents’ house. We sat down and started from scratch. The issue of funds and it is a very strong teaching. It’s just that this is a long, long term business. What funds do is invest in startups. To grow startups is to be on you have to sell them,
[00:20:31] That’s where you really make the money. It’s the book, if you don’t if you don’t sell the company, you don’t really have an interesting return.
[00:20:40] Exactly, so if you to learn a company that is created not from scratch, but from a very early age to sell it, it can take ten years. So our fund, for example, is for eight years, with the possibility of extending it twice a year, that is, up to ten years.
[00:20:57] And this is the first. Well, better than this is the first one they started.
[00:21:01] That’s the first one we started from scratch and having us we didn’t get a salary. Me in my case from 2014, which I went to epie and resigned from HSBC to the next time I got a peso back in my own portfolio, it was until 2018.
[00:21:22] Such is the life of the entrepreneur, not entrepreneur. Then a lot of people go through, go through the same thing and
[00:21:29] For the same reason, and even when INCAN Now that we invest in startups, I look a lot at people who have lived this experience of giving up everything for a dream and achieving it. So that was a very, very good thing to learn, difficult, very difficult. The first two years of the 2017 and 2018 fund were very complicated because you have to also had to live there. You notice when you have supportive friends or family. When you have unconditional people, not just for money, but even for advice, of course, for being with you, that when you need them, they will be there for you.
[00:22:10] As long as they don’t criticize you. Some people say hey, you’re crazy already get a job, get a job. I mean, that and the pressure, the more familiar one.
[00:22:20] And the light. And in Mexico it’s even more so in Latin America, because without naming names. My family told me no, now you would already be a director at the bank and my friends were already under a lot of pressure. I am. And so now, now, now I’m even hiring those friends. If it is the
[00:22:40] Turn around, life turns around a lot, obviously, but for people who are just starting out and well, your job is to meet and live with entrepreneurs at every stage and at the beginning more than anything else then a characteristic that you said then is that they have to be willing to sacrifice for their idea and that it’s their passion. It’s not the first thing you just mentioned, is it? Yes, without a doubt. What else do you see as human qualities in a good entrepreneur, in a leader, in someone that you would say Hey, this is the person I’m going to bet on?
[00:23:12] Yeah, look, when, when. You raffle yourself off like we did in Mexico and go for that passion with very little capital or even capital. Lulo You learn a lot from you. I learned a lot about the masks one can have over all the social masks, the capitalist masks. You begin to take care of your capital, your money, and you begin to give much more value to non-material things. This one thing that’s happening to you at that moment, like friendship, like family, like being able to cry in despair because no, no, nothing’s happening, you don’t go forward and learn from that process, you become a much more humble person and you become a much more effective person because you have the time on your hands and the laur. Above. Then you have to solve fast and well. So I think when you get to that moment that you see the only way to grow or Benetti of ways to grow with a lot of capital, which was also incredible for you, but I had to live with SEP, not to be capital, but very little capital. I think that bringing out the best in you at that time and unfortunately you can also throw in the towel so to speak and go back to a comfort of a job which is also very valid.
[00:24:34] Yes, of course. And well, in your case in particular and in your trajectory, this one. Two things one. Well, what masks did you realize you had that you might not have known about up to that point? And two. Tell us a little more about your companies. We see there in the background that you have. There are several, several logos. I imagine these are the companies that Ducks capital is invested in, but we’d like to know a little bit more about one or two that you think are interesting stories and tell us a little bit more about them as well.
[00:25:06] 100 percent the first part of the masks. For me the mask the most. Stronger than Messi. Attempted to remove is that of consumerism. Undoubtedly this the part of when I was a banker and that put much the subject of the tie, the new suit, the shoes, all this subject half of half, very external to one that the industry also takes you many times and clear, but that part, for example this one has gone me much to that we do not need in the life. Accept consumptive with you can consume few things and achieve many things, as with a little that you have. And that was what the mask that I could not take off because we are surrounded by
[00:25:52] Of difficult things not to all the. The world turns including, including logistics which is our industry and the industry we are talking about is all about consumerism. If you have consumerism, yes. Well, you don’t have much need to transport anything from anywhere anymore. So yes it is difficult and it’s getting more difficult now with the next generations, I imagine exactly.
[00:26:15] Then it is. And I say financier, because what more consumerist than a financier, right? Hahaha consumption is an uncovering ROI because it’s money and Vassine and about money. So what I’m going with this is that it has helped me a lot to take care and make more efficient consumption the basis of capital to achieve anything top, whether personal or professional. And speaking about this professional topic, I’m leaving. I would like to talk about some examples that are related to the Supply Chain part. In general our fund invests 3 in 3 technology-agnostic industries mind you, except for some industries in which we are not specialists, where obviously Supply Chain is clearly on the technology side. We are also in the Consumer Retail Group, which obviously Supply Chain is also a very important part of any consumer or White Label or related company and we also invest in Impact Investing or in impact investments. I mean impact and not me, but impact investments. They are investments that generate cultural, social, ecological and economic utility.
[00:27:35] I mean, basically that third branch of the companies or industries that you invest in is to improve the world. I mean, is the world going to be a better planet, giving to others, helping people who need it most?
[00:27:47] No doubt about it. For example, there the last mile companies and Dentre Supply Chain are an example of a company with an impact investment, which are, for example, those of Everis with collaborative economy, because they generate a cultural utility because they give business to the whole economic sector of people who are wanting to be workers and earn their own money. They reduce these emissions because obviously if I am a delivery man and I bring the supermarket to 6 families today, then I don’t make those six families take out their garage to go to supermarket 2. Sure, I reduce pollutant emissions, I improve the, the, the, the, I improve the roads, there is less traffic in the city and obviously it is an investment that will generate profits, not from our portfolio. I would say that Epica is an example related to the Epicas chain, a startup that was born from two Colombians in Miami, some Colombians, a team that is not Google and a serial entrepreneur who are now ours. Our partners. This start pappa was born in 2016, it’s more or less in Miami and they create a a a new industry that they called prediction as a service their software as a service preaching us of service retraction as a service. Then Epic creates this industry or their industry with a proprietary technology and artificial intelligence that they created from scratch. This one with many, many years of innovation and many years of programming, no, they are born programmers. So they created this technology to help initially to help retailers predict trading patterns and inventory patterns as well. For example, that is where the supli part is. Then they launched themselves into the U.S. market and began to generate some very interesting contracts with companies like Unilever, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Avocados for enMéxico, etcetera. In Pred Withers well big and they start helping them to predict
[00:30:19] And your demand projection to better control your inventory profile.
[00:30:24] And Bilam and commercial patterns.
[00:30:26] Badenes also trade patterns, not just demand.
[00:30:30] Exactly. To give you a very clear example, when you point to Netflix, the initial carousel tells you what your tastes and preferences are. So, if you saw Kings Gambit last week, you’re going to get a plug, a similar series of Jedediah’s overcoming, of geniuses, and so on. And it puts you there a new series that is related to Gigabit because of your past taste patterns. Take that to a retail store. So, if I go to the Haridas page, which is a real case, it’s on the Haridas page. They take my my patterns, I as their customer, both manufacture morta in the stores as well as in the retailers’ and covers, goes learning and predicting. I Jose Luis Silva, that I love golf, that my next purchase will be the new ultra bust spikes from Adidas.
[00:31:27] And that and it starts and that information is what this epic company not only consolidates, but analyzes, and I imagine that then they are the ones who turn around and say Adidas Hey Jose Luis, is such a size, such a color and you listed their studs because you will dance them buy next
[00:31:45] And it’s bad at heavy golf
[00:31:47] And what is it that makes him an excellent customer of all of these
[00:31:51] Products, because surely the blogs, the golf games are going to be thrown out very quickly. Exactly Verdeliss, even more so,
[00:31:58] Better consume better customers. At the end of the day, if you’re already fast, strong, athletic and skilled, they can’t sell you the story that with this driver you’re going to get another 20 feet or more,
[00:32:14] Because then if you have it in you. What started to be epic is that if you take that started as the commercial part, but really the value is not only in the, in the, in the clear, in the EM, in the final part of the consumer, but it’s also in the distribution and the ability of inventory so that Luis has availability of his spikes in such and such store here in Santa Fe. Then they began to see that their technology can also help in the supply chain of retailers to improve costs, improve routes, improve volume, improve inventory type, for example, so that these straps can meet better and lower cost inventory needs of their kits.
[00:33:02] And how long ago did you start BiobÃo with this relationship with Épica? It sounds like a company to a very good idea, obviously, and a company that has done well successful. One of the successful startups, I imagine in your portfolio, have been in the market for a long time.
[00:33:19] If you would make me start 2016 and in life there are many, many. I think my components and one of them is luck and also one of them is networking, which is very important. I like both of them very much and then I through the LIE of the institute company where I studied. This one made me judge one of an accelerator, an event that is very important in Europe. This, uh, I don’t remember the name right now and I’ll tell you, so I became a judge of their enterprise, where we helped this company. What they do are badge entrepreneurs for PPero to make their pitch, a kind of Shark Tank but much more massive. And I was one of those that I am, one of those that evaluate in this, in this, in this of our events globally. Then I was invited to one in Colombia. This is the two girls Maria Benjumea, the amazing Spanish Dorita. Today I tell you the name because I want to remember it. The thing is that I’m going to Colombia. They made their event in Colombia and one of the start ups that went to pitch was Diego Paramo, one of the founders of Pika. I like it so much that I stand up, I say it Bett Tatita, let’s talk and I say I would love to talk more in detail about Piquà and two months later we are investing well.
[00:34:53] It doesn’t sound like you say, a very interesting networking and meeting opportunity for someone who is doing funding and investing in startups. Well, I think it’s him. I think it is the ideal complement to meet this kind of people.
[00:35:10] Not exactly. In fact I’m here doing a search for María Benjumea.
[00:35:17] If you look for the good stuff and if you don’t put it in the notes.
[00:35:20] What is it called? South Summit? South Summit? If Epsom every year is not one of Europe’s most important events of entrepreneurship.
[00:35:28] Okay, Soult, Samet, we’re going to put it up as well for all of you who are listening to us and are entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs at heart, ready to jump in at any time. This is the link for what? For you to see it, because it seems to me that it could be interesting.
[00:35:42] I don’t know inside. Then it’s history with epic and we become partners with them in two thousand nineteen. We invest our maximum ticket right because the company is one of the best sellers of our portfolio in terms of manual reven and we have helped them a lot to grow, especially here in Latin America, Mexico we have connected with retailers and Mexican consumer companies, even as key the scene of Bimbo, and so on. This so that Epic can collaborate and offer its technology also to the UITA and Mexicans?
[00:36:23] So, a little bit. Your role is not just to fund the companies, but at the end of the day. Once you become a partner and you are collaborating with the startups, obviously you try to help them in all the other segments, in all the other areas. The commercial part, the operational part, the administrative part. And how much potential do you see in Latin America? You told us at the beginning that you specialize in both the United States and Latin America. This could be a good story of a company that was successful in. He started in the United States, in Miami. These two Colombians and now they are starting to go all over Latin America. This is for the Supply Chain Now audience in Spanish. To learn about this kind of thing and the growth in Latin America, well, it’s exciting because we all live there or have family there. How then? How do you see Latin America for the next five to ten years in terms of companies growing in Latin America?
[00:37:22] Well, look, Javy, we have some incredible stories in Latin America in terms of Venture Capital, which is the area where we have made our picture. Do you already have stories of incredible Latin American unicorns? This horse. This was the last one that came out here in Mexico. One start optimize from scratch for used car resale, this one becoming Unicorn Status and Unicorn. For those who do not know, it is a company that is worth more than a billion dollars this billion dollars. They got Blue Unicorn status in their last round because they grew so much. So, this is this technology. It made them become a reference, but you have many more, others in Latin America. You have a Rappi, for example, that many from the audience know about. Rapi is a delivery company. Also, obviously on the debit side. Yes, in AM, in Supply Chain. It is a very important reference in delivery in the region. Rapi was also granted unicorn status a long time ago. You have a Corny Shop. It is also an incredible case with the shop of Chilean entrepreneurs who start up strongly in Chile and Mexico. With the soportà are just the National Competition Commission here in Mexico. I just tried them because Hugues is buying them, for example Wharf. You have an example that I love to say from my friend and advisor because he’s an advisor to our Ricardo Weider fund, a great entrepreneur. This Mexican guy that I would love to invite to Supply Chain OWW the I think just right is one of the natural food delivery companies of natural products. So it’s the first eh? The first digital food and natural products supermarket in Mexico.
[00:39:36] 100 percent natural 100 percent
[00:39:38] To your house makes for gold case. How about this one? Incredible because he started from zero and today we have a very interesting round of becho capitals, one of the biggest in the world that invested and it’s becoming a phenomenal story as well. So I mean, I wanted to speak well,
[00:39:59] Looks good. So the outlook for Latin America
[00:40:03] It is certainly the engine for that outlook going forward, that our five-year octal is already moving forward. I think it’s very much in the entrepreneur’s, that for us the entrepreneur is the rockstar of our business. It’s always the people who jump in and go back to my talk with my brother’s, that people jump into the well to swim, to see, to learn to see how things can be accomplished. And entrepreneurship I think is the engine of the next five years. We are seeing today that the traditional assets are being totally this lagging, being taken out lagging by the active, dilettante technology assets and the entrepreneurs are the ones that are carrying that boat of the digital assets DE’LOS. So that coupled with the capital that goes hand in hand, which is not the only thing. The capital, because the creation of funds like ours throughout the region helps that entrepreneur does not throw in the towel at least because of lack of capital,
[00:41:10] Of course, it is definitely not an indispensable support to be able to take the next steps. Sooner or later, I think what you say is very important to have the tenacity and the east, the mentality and the passion for what you’re doing. But at some point, as you say, you need help, you need luck. And well, there’s Ducks Capital, helping all entrepreneurs who have a good idea and need capital to take the next step. José Luis Changing a little bit the late, the topic that we had now you with all these interactions that you have had as a judge of this very important event as a partner of many companies that are starting, what three things do you think are important for a culture to be successful in a company? I mean, if you had to say three things, look, what I see from successful companies and startups are these three characteristics. What would they be?
[00:42:10] Look, Jorge, a very important one. It is the focus. Hey, if you throw yourself into this well of fire, throw yourself in the right direction. I mean, many, many entrepreneurs want to have 6, 7, 8, 9 ideas and they want to do all 9. I believe that those who focus on one, go down that path and put all the strength and all the energy into that one, into that idea, this one, have a better chance of succeeding. And no, there’s no need because they might go bankrupt, but they’ve learned so much that they specialize in one thing, that if they go for the next idea they might do very well because they’ve already learned a lot. 2 The focus of an entrepreneur is super important. For example, when we get startups      we invite them to invest with us. One of the deciding factors is whether or not your startup is your core business and your only business. For example, when it is a sitt business or business that is not your main business. We don’t go in because we like the entrepreneur to be 100 percent involved and focused on his idea and his baby, not positive. As was the story with Ducks Capital that I for what we achieved it was clear the percentage focused on one thing, that would be the first, the second, an environment of respect. Family and friendship. It is very important. You also have to enjoy the road. It’s not just this growing up and having a success, it’s enjoying the pure path of respect.
[00:43:56] And he voted, you even put it. You mention friendship and family. I mean, it’s not just respect, it’s your glass. 2, 3, 4 steps beyond that, full. For it to be a successful company there has to be a kind of camaraderie, a kind of clear culture of friendship.
[00:44:11] Yes, and that culture is being created. And when you go to work happy, you go to work happy because you respect and respect yourself. You create a family that you choose. This things can be more successful that way, because for example, my partner Daniel I see only my wife and my son together and he was my equal. So, if I didn’t have respect for him in bed, I should be like family and be seeing the other two. Capital Ducks would have been over two years ago. Very, very
[00:44:45] Good, very good point. And well, it’s actually one of those comments that you rarely hear. I mean, it’s very very important, but this question has been asked to several entrepreneurs and several investors and. And it is very true. I’m sure if it could be asked again everyone would agree 100 percent, but it’s something not everyone is aware of. So it speaks, it speaks not only very well of you as a person, but also a little bit of the atmosphere that Ducks Capital and your team must have. No, I think that I think it’s a very important point. And what would be your last one if we had to list all three? You have the focus of family atmosphere, friendship, respect, obviously. And what would be another thing that you see as a mix for success?
[00:45:32] I really like the looking for the needs. Not always startups their first, their first of their first slides of a of a pitch deck is opportunity or need. Then the entrepreneur who is finding those needs in the market. First of all, the market in which you have to look for the opportunity tection broad market not because, because especially in the face of a venture capital with a market that does have a good potential and that need. If you start attacking it with a good product and a good team, and this is when it becomes an incredible moment for the entrepreneur, no, because you might have found that it’s difficult today, with so much information in the marketplace and with so much innovation they found. You need to be the one who has the opportunity to meet that need. It is very complicated, it is practically impossible. And today TextView very few startups have no competition. I would say that no one has competition, but if you are serving a need, be visible in your market, which is a very important part to have for success, as
[00:46:50] Today they have it. It’s not three. Three simple steps, but they are easier said than done, surely, but it is the unique and exclusive approach to something, a family friendly environment and that is filling or solving a need in a market that is large, that is attractive or healthy. It is a very small or punctual need. José Luis, thank you very much. Something you said in the beginning that you were talking about the focus is no matter what you break, I didn’t hear it. You said that casually as an entrepreneur who knows that going bankrupt is part of being successful, right? Making mistakes is part of making the right decisions. Any mistakes that you have made that you could share and that you learned something from them that
[00:47:43] Of course, it’s a mistake that I burned, that I go back to my cowboy days because it was hard this one where I was looking for one of these big companies here. This one in fact of retail I will not say the name,
[00:48:01] But no, no, you don’t
[00:48:02] Worry, it was a long time ago, it was in 2009. The thing is that I was looking as a banker very much for that relationship with those retailers to be able to lend them capital, not as a bank, obviously huge loans that made a lot of difference to the bank. And it was my turn to look for that client and many more that day. And I was trying, trying, trying, trying, trying. Then one fine day the treasurer of that company speaks to me and tells me Jose Luis is studying today ok, perfect to see what was to help? So this one says well look, we need this 500 million loan. Of pesos at that time in terms of pesos for that, for, for, for growth, for capital, for work, et cetera. It’s amazing how you don’t, no, give me 15 minutes. Then I’ll go to the lazy bank and undo all this. I talk to the director Pancho Fierro, who is also a great guy and we managed to give him 500 million pesos in one day. Then we lend you the capital. Padrisimo, obviously, being a triple A name, I as a banker, with my eyes closed, Ruidíaz.
[00:49:23] Trust and Confidence
[00:49:26] And then it happens, it happens. The credit was for six months, so after a month he talks to my boss and says Hey, I want you to see this. And he shows me a preliminary message. That it was going to be sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange that day saying that the company went bankrupt.
[00:49:48] No, jojojo,
[00:49:50] Then it was one of the 2 000 strongest financial scandals of the LAP crisis in Mexico. Indeed, this company broke the public company. Indeed, the bank will go bankrupt more than me. Well, I provoked him, of course. This bank lost a lot of capital from that money and I was on the board and they were running me off and I was just running off. But my reputation as a financier this one was not going away. She was going to be very hurt. This the only thing that saved us was that this in the use of this credit was not in the most correct way used this dorama. It was us, it was sixteen other banks, this one suffered the same. The company lost in derivative bets about 2.6 billion dollars a day and the money it is asking all the banks for was to be able to bear these losses from its derivatives. And really Nof was not with malice rather it is not ours, it is the granting of credit was without having all the complete information. So that’s what saved me and the bankers, but that was my mistake of not investigating where that capital was going, not that I had seen it, right?
[00:51:24] Well I tell a story, I imagine at the time quite stressful, but, but, but I imagine a good teaching for you. Well, more so now that you have your own company making loans. I guess it’s a mistake that probably won’t happen again.
[00:51:41] Parents who then some time later at Envy, there one of the classes was the case of this company. So when I saw the glossary I said to the teacher hey, give me a chance to give the case and
[00:51:54] You know two,
[00:51:55] Three things today in the flesh. Of course it was cool, because I was able to give that part of that case that we saw in the strategy class, I think it was from ahead of the jobs.
[00:52:05] Hey, well, thank you very much for your trust and for sharing such a personal story in this post before closing today’s show. Thanks again to Jose Luis Silva Conduct Capital it has been a very entertaining talk, I think we could continue talking for a couple of hours more, but let’s cut it short and have another two or three sessions in the future. I think I have not only enough notes, but I was left with several questions, but the last one I would like to tell you is if you had to all those who listen to us destroyed remain a challenge not for the year we have had the pandemic of a difficult year for many, a sad year, a year with many changes in our lives. What? What could you say to the people who are listening to us, some challenge or some words for the next year, something that could motivate?
[00:53:03] Look, a touch-up that I think is pretty tough. What? What I was thinking just now. And what I’ve already, what I’ve always had in my mind is the next one. Resign tomorrow. Kathe without capital. Try to pursue that idea you’ve had in the back of your head for a long time. And let’s see how you’re doing? Anything can be accomplished if you put your mind to it. And as complex as it is, even if it has, even if you need unemployment of that money, it’s not the driver of humanity. Money then is a very difficult challenge. But quit tomorrow Kathe with no money and do what you love to do.
[00:53:57] Quit and do what you love to do. That’s it. That’s a good challenge. It is a very, very good challenge for those who listen to us and for all those who have the opportunity to share this planet, which is something that as a human being is important. We don’t just have a life of quitting and get on with doing what you. What you like most is José Luis Silva’s challenge to the rest of the Supply Chain Now Spanish-language audience. Once again, Jose Luis confuses Managing Partner of Ducks Capital. A pleasure to have you with us today before closing. Where can people find you? What is the best place or way to contact you? For all the entrepreneurs out there? For all those who are going to resign tomorrow and need to talk to you to ask you for some support where you are located
[00:54:53] Something good before, before going there. Thank you very much Enrique Gatilla Supply Chain OWW! Incredible what they are doing the podcast padrisimo because it is the opportunity to see several that they have done. Thank you for the invitation. I am very flattered and honored to be here and to be here and that we can continue to work together. We can be found on our website Desdoble WWE, V.N, Ducks Capital Dot BC V of Vaca is married right on the captain and will gladly. If you want I send you Enrique lee a link in which I offer to all entrepreneurs who want that in that link can apply to start the investment process with which Ducks capitas.
[00:55:34] Of course it is. Please send us the link and well, obviously all your contacts will also be in the notes of this episode. Again Jose Luis with Ducks Capital and for all of you who joined us today or those of you who are just getting into this podcast from your Chinese or Spanish play. I thank you. I hope you liked it as much as I did. A pleasure to talk with José Luis. Have a great day. On behalf of everyone here at Supply Chain Now in Spanish. Thanks for sharing this and see you next time. Thank you all. Thank you. See you later.
