La Frontera Podcast - La Frontera Turns One (Month): Why We Launched La Frontera 🌵 and What’s Coming Next

This week, we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate what we’ve accomplished in the last month since launching and share a bit more about what we’re excited about in 2024. We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank YOU, our wonderful community of supporters, for the warm reception and for sharing La Frontera 🌵 with your friends and colleagues.

Thank you! 🙏

📅 One Month of La Frontera 🌵

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a month since we launched La Frontera 🌵. What began as an idea in the Spring of 2024 driven by our observations of challenges founders in LatAm face and a desire to contribute meaningfully to the LatAm startup ecosystem has quickly become something much more.

Over the past four weeks, we’ve had the privilege of releasing our conversations with founders and investors who are not only building businesses but also helping shape the future of the region. The response so far has been incredibly encouraging - from thoughtful feedback to new connections and a growing community of listeners who care deeply about what’s happening across LatAm and elevating its profile globally.

As we reflect on this first chapter, we wanted to take a moment to share what we’ve accomplished so far, revisit why we started La Frontera 🌵, and give a glimpse into what’s coming next.

🎧 What We’ve Released (So Far)

Over the past month, we’ve published four episodes—each one spotlighting a different voice from the LatAm startups and VC ecosystem. We’re also excited about the representation in our podcasts with two female founders so far (and many more incredible female founders and investors to come).

You can listen to all of these episodes, and future ones, on your favorite streaming service.

So, What the Heck Is La Frontera 🌵?

La Frontera 🌵 is a podcast and newsletter that explores Latin America’s startup and venture capital ecosystem. Our mission is to bridge the gap between Latin American startups and international capital by demystifying the fundraising journey, highlighting success stories, and helping build a stronger, more inclusive ecosystem from the ground up. 

We do this by spotlighting the founders, investors, and community builders driving innovation across the region - sharing our candid conversations with them and the actionable insights they share to educate global capital allocators and empower local entrepreneurs.

👋 Who’s Behind It?

Cyrus Bakhshi

Investor and former FinTech operator with experience across VC, product, and operations in both the US and Mexico City. He speaks a bit of Spanish and enjoys acquiring small businesses (ask him about his equestrian facility).

🔗 Connect with Cyrus

Thomas Barrett

MBA candidate at Kellogg with a background in capital markets and experience in VC. He now operates LatAm-based FinTech startups. He has spent time working or studying in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, and speaks fluent Spanish and intermediate Portuguese.

🔗 Connect with Tom

Why Did We Start This?

We’re often asked: Why are two non-Latinos producing a podcast about Latin America’s startup and VC ecosystem?

It’s a fair question (that makes us laugh from time to time).

Over the past three years, through both our work and personal travel, we’ve built meaningful relationships throughout Latin America. Along the way, we noticed a consistent theme: many founders in the region were seeking connections to capital allocators in the United States—such as Angels, VCs, and Family Offices—but those same allocators often weren’t actively engaged or investing in Latin America, due to various factors, but namely because they didn’t know enough about the region.

When we looked for podcasts or newsletters in English that effectively highlighted the region’s founders, investors, and operators, we found very few that truly captured the ecosystem’s nuance and potential.

So, we decided to create one.

La Frontera 🌵 is our way of supporting the many founders, investors, and community builders we call friends—and shining a light on a region with so much untapped opportunity.

Why the Name?

For our non-Spanish speakers, La Frontera translates to “the border” or “the frontier”.

To many outside the region, Latin America still feels like it’s “across the border”—unfamiliar, distant, and misunderstood. But we see it differently.

To us, it represents a frontier—one of opportunity, innovation, and global significance. Our goal is to make that frontier more familiar, more accessible, and more connected to investors in the United States and beyond.

🚀 What’s Next?

We’re just getting started.

In the coming months, we’ll be:

• Hosting in-person events

• Partnering with ecosystem builders across the region

• Publishing our Deep Dives and research into topics of interest

If you’re interested in partnering or sponsoring an event, we’d love to connect 🤝

📣 We’d Love to Hear From You

We’re building La Frontera 🌵 with our community in mind. If you have feedback, guest recommendations, or topics you’d like us to cover, please let us know.

📬 Reply to this email or reach us here.

Thanks for being part of this journey. We’re excited for what’s ahead, and grateful to have you with us.

Vamos!

— Cyrus & Tom

Thanks for reading!

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