August 22, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode, Joel Palathinkal is joined by Anna Raptis of Amplifica Capital, to discuss her purposeful strategy targeting women investors and her journey into venture capital. Anna shares her early career influences, including her family's business and roles at the UN and World Bank, which shaped her focus on impact investing and financial inclusion. They explore the establishment of Amplifica Capital and its gender lens approach, along with the challenges Anna faces as a sole GP in the US. The conversation touches on mission alignment, advice for emerging fund managers, and educational content for LPs. They also cover investment strategies in Latin America, support for female fund managers, and audience interaction, concluding with networking insights and acknowledgments.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
We have purposely gone after women, even thoughI have been told by several people like Anna,
(00:05):
that is the wrong strategy and that women don'thave money.
Women don't care about investing.
So, but that has been a purposeful strategy.
That's I mean, and I think as a fund manager,for people here looking to start their own
funds, it's, what does your definition ofsuccess look like?
(00:28):
Welcome to The Investor, a podcast where I,Joel Palafinkel, your host, dives deep into the
minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
(00:52):
Even though it's not your style, but we'll kindof make it organized too.
I'll try to have some structure to thediscussion as well.
But look, you're here, excited to have youhere.
So for the other people, we're gonna let otherpeople join in.
We've got Anna Raptis here from AmplificaCapital.
(01:13):
Did I pronounce that right?
Pretty good.
Pretty good.
Okay.
No, it's maybe my accent that maybe threw youoff.
But you are located in Mexico, we met throughjust kind of some common communities
specifically, I think it was Transact Global.
So there's just a lot of great communities forthe emerging manager movement, people are now
(01:37):
able to start their own funds, build communityand content around that and, and, you know,
plug into each other's ecosystem.
So welcome to the show.
Thanks for popping in on Cinco de Mayo, eventhough I learned that they don't celebrate that
in Mexico.
Thank you so much for the invitation here.
Yeah, no, we don't actually celebrate Cinco deMayo in Mexico City, but it's great to know
(02:01):
that people in The US are celebrating it anddrinking tequila and having some guacamole.
Well, hey, let's jump right into it.
Just really excited to have you here and beenreally happy that we've been able to find some
ways to collaborate and find some synergies.
And that's what it's all about, helping eachother out and supporting each other.
(02:22):
So why don't we kick it off and maybe startwith your background, maybe where you started
out in your career.
From my understanding, you did not grow up inMexico, you kind of traveled to a couple
different countries.
So maybe just walk us through your story andhow you ended up in Mexico and how you started
Amplifica.
And then we could just take it from there.
Excellent.
And I'll try to gauge by people's faces, onesthat I can see, like, you know, if you're
(02:46):
actually interested or really bored and I needto cut it short.
So back to the things that the forces that havereally influenced me in my life.
I grew up in a family business environment.
And I think that was a fairly traumaticexperience for me because I saw my father just
working all the time and travelling.
(03:07):
So he started this business with his brother,right?
So was a family business.
So I grew up, the good thing about that, well,I was always involved in a business environment
and always learning.
And that was just kind of like our dailyconversation.
From a very young age in my dad's familybusiness was this fish processing factory.
(03:32):
And my dad grew up like selling cucumbers andtomatoes.
And so he wanted to make sure that weunderstood as well how money was made.
So my job was working the fish factory likepacking thorns.
Have you ever thought of a more boring job inthe world?
There probably isn't.
So I used to kind of like count the secondsaway of doing it.
And that's how kind of I learnt about businessand how I earned my bucket money and learnt
(03:57):
that it's not that easy to make money, right?
And one of the things that's always been reallyinteresting to me is economic development.
And I was a real nerd in the, when I studiedeconomics in Australia, I spent my time in the
library reading the world economic developmentreports.
And so when I finished my economics degree,went and worked an internship at the UN in
(04:21):
Bangkok.
And I was actually also on the side teachingeconomics at Thamesat University in Bangkok.
And that was a really interesting experiencefor me because, first of all, I know this is
going to go on YouTube, but between us, like itwasn't the best experience working at the UN.
(04:41):
It wasn't like I wasn't actually solving theproblems of the world that I thought I could
do.
I saw a lot of bureaucracy there and thought,Okay, this is not exactly that I want to do.
So it was a great learning experience for me.
Then I did my master's degree and then I wentand worked at I worked at the World Bank and I
(05:01):
was still very interested in developmenteconomics and how we can help other people.
So that led me to move into the energy spacebecause clean, efficient, safe electricity is
something that people need access to in termsof economic development to grow their
(05:26):
businesses.
And the people at the World Bank said to me,Anna, you are a high energy person.
Why don't you go out to private sector for awhile and see how that is?
And so that's how I started working developingenergy projects, large scale infrastructure.
And this was twenty years ago.
So
(05:46):
at that
stage, like natural gas was the transitionfuel.
And so I was working on natural projects, whichwas interesting at the time.
Maybe it's not twenty years later, but that'swhat took me to Mexico.
Mexico was looking to develop newinfrastructure and that's how I ended up in
(06:07):
Mexico.
So that's been a very interesting experiencefor me because in terms of like, how did it
help me get to VC?
Well, those kinds of projects are very capitalintensive and you really have to understand
project finance, corporate finance, and how youmake a business kind of work.
(06:30):
So kind of like fast forward years, I wasoutside of Mexico for a while and coming back
and I was really impacted by the negativedialogue around Mexico.
And I was like, I want to be part of positivechange.
I want to help change this dialogue.
And so I had been an investor pretty much mywhole life.
(06:51):
And how did that happen?
Kind of like saving up my pocket money.
And then when I went and did my master's degreeat The US that's when you could first really
start opening, this is like twenty years ago.
So you could open Al's Schwab account and youcould start doing a much cheaper trading.
And so I started doing that.
(07:11):
And so when I really believe that we learn bydoing, by making mistakes.
And so I made plenty of mistakes and I also hadsuccess.
So I invested in some companies that went brokein the .com boom and I've gone through various
economic cycles.
And what I've seen is things go up and down.
(07:35):
And they go down afterwards, they tend to go upagain.
So don't panic, right?
And so when I came back to Mexico and I wasvery I mentioned I was very interested in how
could I make a positive difference.
I really wanted to get into the impactinvesting space, but that was very immature
here in Mexico.
And so I started investing in a couple of fundsthat didn't have the exact thesis that I was
(07:59):
looking for, but it helped me learn.
And because Mexico, the venture space inMexico, I would say between us is about twenty,
thirty years behind where The US is.
Sure.
I could enter, put a small amount of money andget like invest in a fund.
And the funds in Mexico were invested havereally helped me learn as an investor and also
(08:24):
was an initial source of deal flow for me.
Yeah.
And so then I started investing directly incompanies and I've always been, when I'm doing
these direct investments, I'm motivated byhaving, making a positive difference, being
able to add value to the companies I'minvesting in.
And so I started investing initially infinancial inclusion before it was trendy and it
(08:48):
was called FinTech.
That's where I started.
And then I started to notice, get greatersensitivity and understanding of who it was at
the investment decision making table.
And what I mean by that is that people had saidto me, Anna, you seem to enjoy doing this, why
(09:11):
don't you start your own fund?
And I said, well, I'm not really interested intaking on the responsibility of other people's
money.
Sounds a bit scary to me.
And I also saw that Mexico was an undevelopedVC ecosystem.
And I saw a lot of people starting out as fundmanagers and I didn't really see what unique
(09:37):
value proposition I could add and how I coulddifferentiate myself.
Until I went to The US and that's when I reallyrealised how isolated I was and I wasn't
connected to where I needed to be connected.
And I went to an amazing meeting of the AngelCapital Association meeting in Boston in 2018.
(10:00):
And I met all of these amazing women who werestarting their own funds.
And that's when I realised, hang on a minute,all these people doing stuff in Mexico aren't
like me because they're all men, right?
Yeah.
Had seen, then it really helped me understandthrough also this conference I went to, all
(10:25):
these people that I spoke to, what I couldbring in terms of value add and something
different.
Because I did not see at the time in Mexico anyfemale fund managers starting their own funds.
So then I spent a couple of years doingresearch because this was April 2018.
(10:48):
And now we're in, now we're three years laterbecause we're in 2021, right?
So I spent time The problem I wanted to solvewas getting more women to invest, right?
So I'm talking to different platforms, angelgroups, clubs, understanding how they were set
up, why they were set up.
(11:09):
And that led me to create Amplifika as a fund.
Now the reason why it's as a fund and for thepeople on the call who are thinking about
setting up funds.
It's set up as a fund because the level ofmaturity of investment experience in Mexico is
quite low.
(11:29):
So it's really important to look at who youraudience is and how you wanna help them and how
you wanna serve them, right?
So I didn't feel that if I set up an angelgroup or some kind of syndicate where people
could invest in a couple of companies and maybenot get a diversified portfolio.
I was worried that they could end up with avery bad experience.
(11:52):
Sure.
And that's what often happens with angelinvestors.
In order to have a good experience, you need toinvest in a broad range of companies and have a
portfolio.
Whereas if you just invest in one or two Yeah.
You could just lose all your money.
So I wanted to have a structured disciplinedapproach where we have a well structured
portfolio.
And that's why I started up set up as a fundand not as a club, not as a platform, not
(12:16):
something else.
It took me a long time to set it up fordifferent reasons.
I knew by September 2019 that I've definitelywanted to fund.
Mexico was undergoing fiscal changes towardsthe 2019.
(12:38):
So I had to look into different structures, doI use The US?
Do I use Canada?
I spent a lot of time talking with differentlawyers about that.
I interviewed about at least 10 different lawfirms when I was looking structuring my fund.
Got quotes from between 15,000 through to$150,000 for fund structuring.
(13:02):
I
didn't choose the cheapest and I didn't choosethe most expensive.
And then I would also spend a long time lookingat fund administrators.
Yep, that's important.
So, and a lot of these decisions, it took me along time because I'm also a sole GP.
And why am I sole GP?
(13:23):
Well, you have to look at I love tocollaborate.
I love to work with other people.
But when you think about setting up a fund,it's a huge amount of risk.
It's a huge amount of commitment.
And there are not many people who are willingto step out of their careers and give up a paid
job to a job that is gonna pay nothing forseveral years.
(13:46):
Because when you're setting up your first fundin an emerging market, you're unlikely to raise
more than $10,000,000 So it's a verychallenging situation.
And that's another reason why it took me solong.
I was the only one reviewing the LPAagreements.
I was the one talking with the Choosing alawyer.
(14:06):
I was the one with the fund administrator.
In the end, I looked at lots of different fundadministrators, all kinds of pricing.
I chose to go with Carter and I've been reallyhappy with Carter because they really supported
me in the pre close process.
(14:31):
And now it's just so great to know that I justsend my documents to them and they put it into
the spreadsheet and I need to check it andstuff, but generally it's right.
I'm very happy with them.
And then the other thing that I have donethat's helped me in my journey, knowing that
here in Mexico, there's no one else that lookslike me or is doing something like me.
(14:54):
It's connecting to other people in The US whoare diverse or underrepresented fund managers.
Sure.
Like I know, I think Mac has been part of yourprogram, right?
He is, yeah.
He has been, yeah.
And like Mac has been amazing.
He's been amazing, yeah.
Like
a real source of inspiration for me becauseyou're like kind of like another outsider who
(15:20):
would people would say, Anna, I'm sure peopletold Mac he was crazy when he started doing
what he's doing.
And the same thing people said, So excepthaving other people who are a little bit out
there and a little bit different to follow hasbeen a real source of inspiration for me.
Yeah, look, one thing that you said resonateswith me, right?
I mean, we're not doing this.
We are doing it to provide hopefully, outsizedreturns and return capital.
(15:47):
But you could make a lot more money justworking at JP Morgan or working at a big
company or private equity.
I mean, so I listened to some of thesediscussions with some of these emerging
managers on, I think it was like Samir Kaji'spodcast.
Mean, if you really do the math, some of thesepeople could be making close to minimum wage.
You really factor in all the hours that you'reworking and all the time you're putting it in.
(16:11):
In the beginning, in the early days, you'redoing it for a certain purpose and it's not
always for financial return because it is astartup.
So you're building a brand, you're building awebsite, you're getting community.
I mean, it really is a small business in thebeginning.
So it's the Uber startup that invests instartups.
(16:35):
So you're really starting from zero to one andyou got to do it for the right reasons.
And I think it's really inspiring when we seepeople like you just get up and start, even
though there's a lot of research and planning,you did it.
And that's all that matters, right?
So.
(16:55):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And the purpose behind Ambrifica, for thosepeople who are in the audience and understand
the context, is that Mexico was ranked 124 outof 156 countries in terms of economic
participation and opportunities So for when Ithink about what am I doing and why am I doing
(17:20):
it?
Yes, we are there to generate outsized returnsfor our investors.
But we have a much bigger mission.
And it's about precisely that.
Through the existence of Ampleefica, throughour investments and our community, increasing
the opportunities and participation of women inthe economy.
(17:43):
And how are we doing that?
Well, one part is, at this stage, 80 per centof our investors are women.
And that's unheard of a fund in Mexico or LatinAmerica.
Normally, see if people try hard, they get fivepercent ten percent women, right?
But we have purposely gone after women, eventhough I have been told by several people,
Anna, that is the wrong strategy.
(18:05):
And that women don't have money.
Women don't care about investing.
So, but that has been a purposeful strategy.
That's I mean, and I think as a fund manager,for people here looking to start their own
funds, it's what does your definition ofsuccess look like?
I think it's very, that's something that I wasquestioned by some of my LP And I think that's
(18:31):
really important to define.
So, and when we invest, but not just throughour investments, through our whole being, we
use a very broad gender lens.
We use six different gender lens.
So we're looking at women as investors, womenas entrepreneurs.
(18:52):
We're looking at the supply chain, our ownsuppliers.
Are they consistent with our values and vision?
For example, when choosing a law firm, Iwouldn't work with a law firm that didn't have
female partners.
And then the other things, goods and servicesDo the companies produce goods and services
(19:17):
that improve the lives of women?
What's the diversity in the team that we'reinvesting in?
What's the labour policies in the companieswe're investing in.
Not everything has to be perfect on day one.
And if we try to make everything perfect on oneday one, we wouldn't achieve anything and we
(19:39):
wouldn't
be able to
invest in anything, but it's a journey, right?
So we're looking at that's what we're lookingto achieve through our investments.
And it doesn't mean that we only invest infemale founders because as people would know
here, 90% of investments go to all male teams.
(19:59):
So when we look at, we want to increaseparticipation of women.
We also can invest in those all male teams ifthey show intentionality that they understand
that the lack of diversity is a risk, and wecan help them with that, throughout their
investment.
And we have a few people in this group here, inemerging manager program, I have seed fund
(20:25):
managers, these are people that have actuallysource capital started the fund.
And then there's pre seed, that means peoplethat are thinking to start their fund, they're
really serious about it.
But they were probably where you were a fewmonths ago, or maybe even a year ago where
you're still kind of doing source selection.
You're trying to choose the right attorney,trying to choose the right fund admin.
(20:46):
So taking a step back, I think you startedtalking about this, which is like, think about
what success means to you.
What are some other frameworks that helped youthink about why you're even starting a fund?
Like, what's the point?
Should people start with like a missionstatement?
Should people think about maybe what their longterm goals are?
(21:08):
What do you think helps?
And then maybe I think a few other things,because you're always thoughtfully thinking
about planning is, what are the other tools andframework?
So I would think, just to tee this up, onething is probably a strong idea of portfolio
construction.
Are you doing a $5,000,000 fund?
Are you doing a $10,000,000 fund?
(21:30):
How many investments are you making?
So should they go to that level as well?
And so I guess high level frameworks andthoughts about like even thinking about doing a
fund and then maybe some of the artifacts likemaybe a fund model or anything else, maybe kind
of that package if you have that to maybeunpack that might be helpful to maybe tee up
(21:51):
some questions and comments.
Yeah, sure.
So once I'd gone and had my transformationalmoment by going to this conference where my
objective was very, very clear.
And the more I started to speak to people, itwas very clear to me the lack of representation
(22:15):
and what it means when they're trying to dosomething and they don't see anyone that looks
like them.
And that's been the same for me.
I had to find people that looked like me orthat I could identify with that could help
inspire me and help me say what you're doing ismake sense.
(22:35):
Real quick, this was not a female angelinvestor conference.
It was just a big angel investor conference.
But you were surprised to see so many femalesas fund managers from comparing that to Mexico?
Is that kind of what hit you?
It was an Angel Capital Association conferenceand on the side they had other wins.
(22:57):
And that's when there was a meeting of NextWave, which is a female focused fund and also a
portfolio which are female on the side that hadthis.
But also, and they had some very powerfulspeakers there, women speakers talking about
(23:18):
finance.
They need to have more women investors.
What are the consequences of not having womeninvestors?
He was hearing all those messages andunderstanding them for the first time because
honestly, I didn't know that data because Ididn't see it because I was investing myself.
I think, just as an aside here, I think oftenpeople who are a minority working in an
(23:42):
environment don't always notice that they arebecause it's a survival mechanism.
Like I'm not in the energy industry for twentyyears.
I was often the only woman in a meeting.
Don't think about that all day or night becauseif you did, you might get a bit miserable.
Right?
So you just like blend in like, and you don'tfeel
(24:02):
Well, maybe what's weird too is you kind oflook outward.
Right?
So you don't see yourself.
Right?
So you just see whoever you see.
So you forget that you're actually in the room.
Right?
Because you're like, this is all the peoplethat you're looking out.
Well, that's exactly right.
That's exactly And then talking about long termgoals.
I mean, yeah, I mean, I get those kinds ofquestions like, Anna, this is kind of
ridiculous.
(24:23):
You're studying a fund so small, what's yourplan?
Funds like that size don't work.
Like, yeah, like I'm not my ambition is notjust to create a 5 or $10,000,000 fund.
This is a long term vision where we createmultiple funds and we're going to grow and
we're to empower and help develop more andinspire more and more female fund managers.
(24:48):
So that when we look around, you don't say, Ohmy goodness, in Mexico, there's no female fund
managers over a million dollars.
You can say, there's 10 of them, there's 20 ofthem.
So we
want to be helping other people as well.
So that's our long term goal to develop morefunds, get to a viable level.
(25:09):
And what you typically see is you see peoplestarting out there.
I mean, I'm a first time fund manager.
An emerging market, it's a challenge to raisecapital.
But I know that I need to, in order to get tothe second fund and a third fund, have to have
a first one, right?
So knowing that having this first fund is notthe end game, that's really important.
(25:32):
And LPs will ask, what are you doing this for?
And what is your plan in the future?
And so I think it's really important to havethat.
And I feel like they can probably tell ifyou're just telling them what they think they
wanna hear, what do you think they wanna hearversus being authentic, right?
(25:53):
Yeah, no, I'm sure that's the case.
I'm sure that's the case.
Yeah.
And then what would you recommend to have inyour toolkit as you get started?
Obviously, probably like maybe a couple levelsof a pitch deck and maybe a one sheeter, fun
model, anything else as you start hitting theroad and starting to fundraise?
I think that's a really great question.
(26:17):
It depends on who your potential LPs are.
And for my case, my LPs have been people I'vemet and I've told my story to about what I'm
doing and why I'm doing it.
So I started off with a one pager.
There's some advice that I got from friends,fund managers in Mexico City was not, don't
(26:45):
just send your deck around.
And I think that's good advice because youwanna be able to control the narrative and tell
your own story.
And I think that's very, very important.
So what I developed was a one pager which kindof captures the essence of the fund.
And then I send that around and if someone'sinterested, I'll follow-up with a call and then
(27:11):
I will use the deck as kind of As a tool andtalk to that, but use the pages that I need so
that the conversation really flows because it'shard to make a relationship with people through
Zoom and it's hard to age people.
(27:32):
So it's really, I found it's really, reallyimportant to try and have a sense of people who
actually interested in what you're talkingabout.
Help really helps when people have theircameras on because otherwise you don't know if
they're just sending emails or checkingmessages or if they're interested in what
you're talking about.
(27:54):
So I've also other things that are very helpfulto have some kind of CRM.
I use HubSpot and that's been really, reallyimportant for me to be able to keep track
because I don't know about anyone else in thiscall, but I'm terrible with emails.
And I find that I get this inbox and I don'tknow, can't find the emails.
(28:14):
Don't know which ones I'm talking to.
But with HubSpot, I can go in there and say,okay, this person, when did we last talk?
What's going on?
I think that's really important to have someonelike that.
And I just use the free version of it.
So that would be helpful.
The other one is Docsend.
I have used that so that that's the way that Ialways send pitch decks to know if someone has
(28:40):
engaged with it.
That also helps HubSpot people, you know,people have read their emails that you send
them or not.
Although I have been told by some people thatwork in institutions like Morgan Stanley and
others like that, that they don't like Docsendand don't see a pitch deck via Docsend.
Otherwise I'm never going to open it.
(29:02):
So I think you have to be careful and flexible.
You can have the eightytwenty rule, I'm gonnasend it out to everyone by Docsent and if it
works, it turns out they don't, they won't readthe document.
I'll follow-up with them and then I'll beflexible and I'll send them and ask them just
not to pass it around because it's reallyimportant to be able to control who and how is
(29:24):
getting your deck.
Yeah, no, that's good feedback.
And I got similar advice from some of the LPs.
One thing that they said is, if you do useDocsend, just enable the ability to download
because most of these institutions, they haveto store all of this stuff in their archives.
(29:45):
But an interesting piece of feedback that'ssomething new, which I thought was brilliant
is, if you personalize the deck to the LP, ifyou write the LP's name on it, it's going to be
harder for the LP to share it, because thenthey're kind of sharing it.
And it's almost like it was given an attentionto you.
So there'll be probably, I mean, maybe not,maybe doesn't matter, but I thought that was
(30:10):
pretty interesting.
I feel like I would probably be less likely toshare it around because then it's kind of got
my name on it.
So it's almost like it was intended for me.
So maybe it indicates that I was interested init as an LP.
So I thought that was kind of a new piece ofadvice that I got that I thought was pretty
funny.
So that's really interesting.
Where do they put the name?
Like they put in the footer or they put thefront?
(30:31):
On the slide, on the front slide, it's likeattention to Anna.
Thanks for meeting me.
So you know, it's gonna be difficult for you toshare, right?
Because then it's like, wait a minute, like,why is your name on it?
So then people know that like, it definitelylike, personalized for you.
So they may just be more reluctant to kind ofjust spam it out, kind of going back to your
narrative.
So again, it's just a new piece of advice.
(30:53):
There's some benefits to running this emergingmanagement program.
You get kind of creative advice sometimes.
I think that's a really good idea because itonly takes you an extra minute to do that.
And it also, mean, the plus side is it showsthat you made it personal for them too.
So maybe at the same time, maybe the personfeels special because it's like you prepared
(31:16):
this special thing for them.
And in reality, you just swap the name, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They are really good.
That's a really good point.
The other thing that because we are, I mean,lot of our LPs don't have a lot of investment
experience.
We're doing a little bit differently isproviding educational content.
Oh, that's good.
(31:37):
And so people really like that.
They really like to think about VC.
They like to engage some way with theentrepreneurs.
They like to give their opinion about what'sgoing on.
So we've
found that
is very successful.
We do monthly webinars.
And the other thing that we do that's a littlebit different is that we generate our content
(32:01):
in Spanish.
Now I don't know if long term makes sense, butat the moment, all of our investors are Spanish
speakers.
So, and I think in a world where VC iscompletely dominated by English, sometimes
(32:21):
people like to be able to speak and read intheir own language.
Right?
So we try and do that as a point of friendship.
Now we end up getting a lot of checks frompeople that don't speak Spanish.
We're gonna have to change that strategy, butat the moment it's been helpful.
I think that's a good point because sometimesLPs also, they want to be part of the process.
(32:44):
So if you can bring them in and maybe even gettheir thoughts.
I've had some success with some deals that I'vedone where LPs have kind of shared their
opinion.
And sometimes even though they're stillinvesting, they'll have their own opinion of a
contrarian view.
And that could be helpful to you too, becauseyou don't want to be looking at these deals
(33:04):
with blinders on.
But just learning and kind of helping them,like allowing them to participate to a level of
comfort where they can kind of share theiropinions.
I think that inclusion brings a closer bond aswell.
Because then they feel like, hey, they're partof this with you as opposed to being because an
LP really in essence is a client relationship.
(33:27):
But if you can make it where they're kind oflike on the journey with you, I think it's
different.
And I think that could probably And I mean, thefeedback I get to is sometimes a lot of these
LPs are past entrepreneurs.
Maybe they're an entrepreneur that wassuccessful in the energy sector, but now they
want to learn more about FinTech and they justdon't have the expertise.
(33:48):
So sometimes they get excited to learn aboutwomen's health and FinTech and kind of the
sectors that you're doing.
And you, because you're naturally passionateabout it, you're just kind of talking about it
because the trends that you're seeing, butsecretly it's education too, right?
Because it's like all new to them as well.
So if you can do it and it's organic and you'reenjoying doing it, I mean, that's all I am.
(34:10):
Mean, because we've done energy too.
So for me, it's just kind of like, I getexcited to talk about it because I probably
just started doing some diligence and doing alot of reading on it.
So that helps to kind of like that excitementabout it, like in trying to talk about it to
tell somebody else about it, that helps to getsomebody else excited about it too.
(34:33):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
That's right.
And on the energy side, tell me what you thinkthe big trends are, you know, I mean, there's
hydrogen energy, there's other types of,there's solar energy that's evolving.
So what are you excited about?
What are some of the trends that you're seeingin just alternative energies and just the
evolution of energy?
(34:54):
Well, that's a really great question.
I mean, honestly, I wanna see us have a cleanerair.
I would like, what we're having in Mexico Cityat the moment is a lot of pollution through
industrial processes close to the city.
(35:16):
So I mean obviously you see amazing uptake ofrenewable energy.
I've seen a sort of proposal a couple of weeksago for a car in Mexico, beautiful looking car
with a hydrogen based engine.
You see a lot more expansion in solar, in wind.
(35:41):
But I at this stage I'm not looking to investin those kinds of projects because generally
they are very, very capital intensive andthey're not really suitable for VC financing.
Although in some ways and you've seen othersdoing really well through somebody like Tesla,
(36:03):
but that is very, very unusual experience.
Usually it's some other kind of financing.
So I am on the lookout.
I haven't seen any deals that I could investin.
But definitely keeping an eye out.
And we're seeing a lot of also innovation inthe waste space, waste to fuel, water.
(36:30):
So they're all things that I'm very interestedin but I haven't really seen a lot in that
space.
I mean, at the moment, what am I seeing moreof?
Huge amounts still in the FinTech space, allkinds of areas, some that are productive and
some that are just consumption based.
(36:52):
Then
also seeing a lot more interest in the whole,you know, the education space, the health
space.
So and a lot in agriculture as well.
And agriculture is an area that I'm reallyexcited about.
I think there's a huge opportunity to increasethe productivity of agriculture in Mexico.
(37:17):
It's a very important part of the economy.
Maybe people might not know this, but Mexico isone that is pretty much the largest supplier of
fruit and vegetable to The United States.
So to the extent you can make that supply chainmore efficient, it's beneficial to everyone.
And one of the companies I've invested isactually a player in that space.
(37:40):
So at the moment we've made four investments.
One is in the ag tech space, one is in theeducation space, one is in the mobility space
and one is in the insurance space.
And I think that is a very interesting space.
The insurance space, it's very under penetratedmarket in Mexico.
The
(38:00):
challenge is how do you get people to buy it,right?
I mean, no one wants to spend money oninsurance when there's so many other more
interesting fun things you can spend your moneyon.
It's something that's really important to helppeople manage risks.
And we've seen that particularly in this time,COVID people who don't have adequate health
(38:22):
insurance.
It can be a really life changing event.
So I'm always like, mean what part of whatwe're doing is we're looking to invest in
companies that improve people's lives.
So when we look at a investment like, I meantoday I saw one, right?
(38:42):
And it was you know, another kind of Afterpaything.
Now, everyone's gonna have different opinionsabout Afterpay, but you know, like, are you
really improving people's lives because theycan now buy four pairs of jeans rather than one
(39:02):
pair of jeans because they have to pay for itall once.
I mean, everyone's gonna have differentopinions, but I'm not a huge fan of continue to
fuel the consumption spending.
Yeah.
If I see consumption spending tool orproductive lending tool, I'll go for the
productive one because I wanna help, you know,create more than rather than just spend more.
(39:28):
Yeah, that's it.
And do you guys only focus on Mexico and LatinAmerica?
Are you guys open to investing globally aswell?
We're focusing on companies that are improvinglives in Latin America.
So it doesn't mean that we only invest incompanies that are based in Latin America.
They can be based anywhere as long as they'reserving markets in Latin America.
(39:50):
Actually would be very interested in having afew companies from other parts of the world in
our portfolio for a risk diversificationperspective.
Yeah, no, it's really helpful.
What are some things that people should thinkabout when they think about portfolio
construction?
So should it only be a function of how much youthink you can raise or do you think people
(40:17):
should also think about just their deploymentstrategy?
Like how many checks and the sizes of thechecks?
So any wisdom, I mean, because you kind of wentthrough that exercise already.
You can only share, I can share my 2¢.
And I'm also quite analytical.
I'm a chartered financial analyst and I like tounderstand risk and risk management.
(40:41):
So for me, one of the things I've learnt as anangel investor is that it's really hard to pick
winners, right?
Yeah.
I mean, you do your best, you do your duediligence, but at the end of the day, when you
look around and see who's successful and whowasn't, you can't always tell, there is a lot
(41:03):
of element in what was going on in people'slives and a lot of other things, right?
So it's very important to have a diversifiedportfolio.
And I think that means numbers.
And so from the beginning we've said, okay,we're looking to invest in around 20 companies.
(41:25):
So somewhere into that 20 to 25 range.
So we are looking and that's challengingbecause you don't know how much money you're
gonna raise.
And so our cheque sizes will be smaller orgreater depending on how much money we raise.
(41:46):
But we are planning to be in that round 20companies.
Now the challenges that you have when you writereally small checks is that you have a lot less
influence and you have a lot less abilitygenerally to support the founders depending on
(42:06):
the level of expertise and experience that thefounders have.
And so just to give a couple of examples.
There's a couple of companies where I investedin and wrote small checks, 25,000.
In one of them, I basically never talked to thefounder because he doesn't need me.
(42:29):
Like he has This is his third company.
You know, if I Yes.
Okay.
He does send me messages and ask me, you know,like what do you think about this and what do
you think about that?
And how's my deck letter, you know, look and Isend, you know, the deck checker and send some
spelling mistakes and stuff like that.
But not substantial contributions because hedoesn't need my help.
(42:52):
But the other team where I invested a smallcheck, we're messaging every day.
And that's because that team needs moresupport.
So when people say, how much do you supportyour portfolio companies?
It's not a one size fits all.
(43:15):
It's about developing a relationship ofconfidence so you can help them where they need
help.
And when you mentioned before about your LPsbeing your clients, that's exactly true and so
are the portfolio companies.
So I see I've got these two sets of clients.
One, my portfolio companies and I do the bestby them.
(43:36):
And the other group is the LPs and I have toserve them as well.
And it's important to keep in a balance andbeing able to respond to everyone.
And that's another question when you thinkabout portfolio construction.
Like how much can you really support yourportfolio companies and can you give them what
(43:58):
they need?
I want my portfolio companies to be my bestambassadors.
And when someone asks them about me as aninvestor that they provide really good
feedback.
And I know that that doesn't happen for allfunds because I talk to other entrepreneurs.
I say, well, you've got this company on yourcap table.
(44:21):
This, you've this fund manager on your captable.
Tell me about them, you know, like tell me whatyou've been happy with.
And they will be okay.
If you have a relationship of confidence, theywill be generally very honest and tell you,
well, like these people add value and thesepeople have been a waste of time.
And actually these people, I wish they weren'ton my cap table, because they're just a pain in
the ass, right?
(44:41):
Yeah, I will say though, sometimes it's like wein our heart, we wanna add value, but there
just isn't enough time in the day.
I mean, I've been in that situation where it'snot that I'm ignoring anybody, but there's, I'm
just underwater with just a couple otherinitiatives, and I try to get back to them.
(45:01):
But just sometimes it just takes a littlelonger.
So I can empathize a lot of times now whenpeople get back to me after some time because I
just kind of I'm assuming they're super busy.
So I think sometimes I know funds hire somebodyor bring somebody on that's like portfolio
support, because I think you definitely need asecond set of hands for someone because this
(45:22):
doesn't always have to be the GP, right?
It could be someone that you trust, that'sreliable, that's actually very diligent, they
can help somebody roll up their sleeves, likemaybe that person needs some product support.
But you kind of really do need different skillsets, right?
Like some founders might need some help withfinancial modeling.
That might be you, right?
Because you have really strong financebackground.
I have a product background, right?
(45:43):
So if somebody wants me to like, play withtheir app and give feedback, that's my
superpower.
So I think if you can have somebody that cansupport because portfolio support is very
broad.
So there's different things that you cansupport portfolio companies with, but you just
can't, there just isn't enough bandwidth, Ithink for you to be all in and support somebody
(46:05):
20 fourseven.
So I think that's an interesting role that I'veseen recently in some of these VC firms that
support role, because I think it's superhelpful if you can help them.
Yeah, I would agree.
The other thing, the other challenge that I'vehad setting up the fund has been, how do you
build a team?
(46:26):
And I get people approaching me, not every day,but definitely a couple of people every week
saying to me, Oh Anna, I really love whatyou're doing.
How can you help?
And at this stage, answer is like, you knowwhat, I need to raise more capital.
That's hard.
But a lot of people saying to me, oh, I'd liketo help you.
(46:48):
How can I help?
Can I raise money for you and then you pay methis or can you pay me cash for this and
whatever?
And I'm like, you know what, at this stage,I've only raised $2,000,000
I
can't pay a team.
I've got volunteers working for me.
And if I'm going to pay anyone, it's thosepeople I want to be able to help.
(47:11):
So I think that's been really challenging.
And I would recommend to people to, you need towork with people and understand what they can
add value that they can add.
Or you give people titles and part of your fundand a lot of people talking about different
kinds of venture partners.
(47:31):
And that's something I've been looking at too.
But you kind of need to think carefully aboutthe roles of those other people that are going
to be supporting you.
Because if you give people part of your fund,well, the fund lasts for ten years.
And then if they don't do what they said theywould do, what are you going to do?
(47:54):
So just thinking through those thingscarefully.
And sometimes the venture partner or themechanisms to kind of compensate you, that
might actually impact the structure of the fundas well.
So there may be some updates and then that's awhole revision and an update and the structure
(48:14):
of your fund in the general partnership.
There may be some probably some downstreamimpacts.
So just kind of thinking through that andmaking sure you're able to kind of integrate
that into the way you have your fund set up isanother complexity too.
I don't know if you've kind of faced that orseen that.
But yeah, you're right.
(48:34):
I think the whole industry is an opaqueapprenticeship type of model where you can earn
your stripes by learning by doing,collaborating.
And it is a startup.
To be honest, it's very similar to a couple cofounders going to a startup event, and maybe
(48:57):
just deciding to build an app.
But then sometimes people just fizzle out.
I remember I did this thing called startupweekend.
I mean, the funniest thing was, I reallythought it was going to be like, we built this
kind of ecommerce company.
So I was so into it, I thought it was going tobe like, I'm like, man, I'm going to quit my
job.
And like, this is going be like Dollar ShaveClub.
(49:18):
And then it just like fizzled out.
So I feel like sometimes people, they just losetheir engagement, they just lose interest.
And then you just kind of, so there's only afew people that will stick around and actually
be committed to it.
So there's, I feel like there's also like athroughput of that, right?
And then with interns, the people move on, theywant to, they're kind of looking at this as a
(49:39):
stepping stone, like, hey, I want to getAmplify on my resume for the summer so that I
can work at Goldman.
And sometimes that short term view may not be agood fit for your mission.
So I think there's kind of that throughput thatI think happens sometimes as well.
I don't know if you face that.
Yeah, no, definitely.
(50:00):
But we've also had like a lot of, I've reallyappreciated the time people put into to work
with us and help us get some stuff up.
Some really simple stuff that I didn't havetime.
I can't possibly do everything in the day.
And I've been really happy that we've hadpeople work for us and then go on and do other
(50:23):
things that's really interesting.
And they also help to spread the word aboutwhat we're doing.
And one of my interns, she worked for us forsix months last year and she's now she's gone
to work for an investment bank, always send me
messages.
She
sends me messages saying, I can't wait till Ican come back and work for Amplifika full time.
(50:46):
So it's really nice, those little messages too.
But I like to see people learn and grow andit's just part of like life today, right?
Yeah, mean, it's a small world.
Mean, those people you never know, they maystart a startup and you get to invest in them
or maybe they become an LP, who knows?
So it's small world.
(51:09):
Do you at least see the female fund managerecosystem evolving a little bit like in Mexico?
Do you think it's, are you seeing a little bitof a catalyst now?
Or
In Mexico, it's very, very slow.
But you are seeing a little bit of change.
Yeah, I'm seeing a little bit of change.
But what's been very helpful for me has beenthe TRANZACT community with the working And
(51:33):
then we a couple of other groups where we havefemale investors in Mexico.
There's women in VC is another one too, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Women in VC is another one.
And we're seeing more women getting interestedin investing and starting investing.
I'd like to see a lot more women starting theirown funds.
(51:54):
That would be great.
Yeah, me too.
I mean, I think just in general, right?
Just more emerging managers.
They just all share a lot of their knowledge.
And then I learned so much too, because somepeople are talking to some fund managers and
some attorneys and different vendors and youfind out about new platforms that you didn't
know about.
(52:16):
Tips like putting people's names on DeX, justlittle things like that.
You just kind of hear from other people and itjust kind of helps.
But we've been talking for a while, maybe wegot like seven minutes.
Anybody have any questions?
We do have a couple female emerging managers inthis cohort.
There's a few people actually that have talkedto me about starting their own fund.
So anybody here have any questions aboutstarting a fund, emerging managers, sourcing
(52:44):
deals.
Any questions, guys?
Hi, Anna.
I'm Engels.
I'm I'm a guy.
So I'm from Nigeria.
Although I work in The US in the pharmaceuticalindustry and although I'm not in Dwells fund
(53:10):
program for my fund management program, I dohave interest in maybe doing something like
that downstream.
So I know that in emerging markets, Nigeria,for example, there are different expectations
with regards returns from funds.
I was having a discussion with a couple offriends and they were asking me if I were to
(53:32):
set up a fund, much could I guarantee in termsof returns?
And I couldn't really answer that question.
So for you in Mexico, what kind of returnswould your investors be happy with as a lower
threshold?
That's a really great question.
Thank you for that question, because I try tobe very clear about setting expectations.
(53:57):
Now a lot that people in Mexico are morefamiliar with the private equity model than
venture capital.
So, and in the private equity model, I don'tknow about The US but in Mexico, you always see
a hurdle rate, which is not something youtypically see in VC.
So in Mexico, this hurdle rate has beenimported into the VC model in a lot of funds.
(54:25):
And so there's a hurdle rate of somewherebetween 8% to 10% in a lot of funds, which I
say I do not have a hurdle rate in Amblypicabecause I say, my God, like, you know, the cash
rate is less than one.
Can't, I'm not going to guarantee you a return.
(54:49):
And so I'm very clear about that.
I'm like, if you want to go invest in stockmarket, you've got a certain return.
If you want to invest in bonds, you've got acertain return, but this is venture capital,
it's at risk.
And so I'm very clear when I explain toinvestors, particularly if I think that they
don't understand the asset class, this isventure capital.
(55:14):
Our objective is to generate excellent returns,but it could be zero.
But also explain to people that the worst thingthat could happen is it's zero.
Like it's a limited liability structure.
So that's not like they can end up with, theycould lose more money than what they put in.
Right?
So that's also important.
(55:34):
I'd be interested to hear your feedback onthis.
What I have said to my investors, that ourobjective is to generate a minimum 3X return
with an IRR, a minimum IRR of around 15%.
And the way we set that was like, first of all,and this is in US dollars, right?
(56:00):
So I was saying, okay, for me as an investor, Ithink that's a minimal acceptable return
considering how long people's money is lockedup.
So that's not a great return, but I'd say it'sa minimal acceptable return.
And also looking at the Cambridge Associatesreturn profile and seeing what that looks like
(56:23):
and what I think is reasonable.
And It's not a number completely pull out of anair.
It's not a number that's very aggressive.
Some people might say that their target is fouror five x return.
But I wanted to set that kind of what I thoughtwas a reasonable level.
(56:44):
I'd just
hear what you guys think about that.
Yeah, I think look having some type ofbenchmarks for guidance is helpful and having
that framework, I think is gonna allow you tothink about what's realistic and what's not.
And I think there's other functions too.
How big is a fund?
(57:06):
Do you have the infrastructure in place?
And one question that I was gonna ask as wellis, guess the domicile, did you end up going to
Mexico to be domiciled?
What were your thoughts?
This was your question I had.
What was your thought process?
And what were some of the observations whenlooking at Canada versus The US?
(57:26):
So it sounds like, yeah, I forgot which one younetted out at, but what was the pros and cons
and maybe thought process with those differentcountries?
Sure.
So first thing is I wasn't gonna do Mexicobecause I wanted to attract international
capital and completely understand that peopledon't feel comfortable.
They've invested in the Mexican structure.
So after that it was Canada versus US.
(57:48):
I
chose The US because I could get access to fundadministrators.
When the time I set it up, which was you haveto remember that I was thinking about all of
this stuff like fourteen months ago.
So if you were to set up a fund today, I'm notsure if some like, I don't know if Carter now
(58:13):
works with Canadian funds.
Canada is a much easier jurisdiction to workwith from a fiscal point of view.
And it depends, you have to do your ownresearch.
You have to look at what's Where are yourinvestors coming from?
That was something that influenced me a lotbecause Mexico was going through these changes
(58:34):
in the fiscal structure and Canada is differentfrom The US.
I went with The US because it seemed to makemore sense to me at the time.
The regulatory burden is a lot lower in Canada.
And also can in Canada you don't have the samefat cut restrict restrictions that you do in
(59:00):
The US.
Like them demand like in The US you have tofill out, if you're not from The US, have to
fill out a W8.
You have to provide that information.
You do that in Canada.
You don't have to provide your tax ID number.
So those, you need to know where your investorsare coming from and based on that work out,
(59:24):
does Canada make more sense?
Does The US makes more sense?
But I was of the fiscal situation in Mexico andthat Mexico is requiring all of this
information that they require in The US.
I just thought, you know what?
We'll just do it this way.
It's gonna make it easier for me in terms ofcompliance.
(59:46):
But it's something you need to look atcarefully because I've had people say to me, I
don't want to invest in that because it's inThe US and I want to give the US government all
my tax information.
Sure.
Yeah, no, that's fair.
Well, know we're a little over time, but I, youknow, I guess, Anna, you got time for like
maybe one or two questions?
Sure.
Cool.
Alright.
So guys, you got any other final questions?
(01:00:09):
Quiet group tonight.
All right, well, know, feel free to rattle offany other questions.
Yeah, I don't have a question.
The comments.
I really enjoyed hearing your story, yourcareer journey and how you started kind of
gives me inspiration.
(01:00:32):
Because I feel like I'm very much in the facethat you were many, many years ago.
And, you know, we'll see what the future holds,but I appreciate you coming to speak with us.
No, that's a real pleasure.
And don't be afraid to reach out to people.
I mean, I had never done this before.
I mean, I had not used I've not really usedTwitter very much before.
(01:00:57):
Now I use it more and more.
I use it my way of meeting people who havesimilar interests or going through a similar
journey and to talk to them, like you send thema message and that's how I met Mac.
I met Mac through Twitter.
I've met other people that are going throughthe same experience so you can share and learn
(01:01:17):
from each other.
Yeah.
Now one thing that's interesting about Mac isI'll mention him or something and then somebody
is like, oh yeah, I'm actually catching up withMac next week.
So I think part of it too, which is reallyimportant is just trying to meet new people
every week.
I think I try to do that and that's reallyhelpful for me, just kind of proactively just
(01:01:39):
trying to meet new friends because that's alsokind of how you build your proprietary deal
flow as well.
Just kind of because have access, friends wantto invest with each other.
So you have a really interesting deal thatyou're looking at and then you hear their side
of it, why they're excited about it, and thenmaybe you'll end up investing because you
discovered something that you didn't haveaccess to earlier.
(01:02:01):
So I think definitely like for me at least, Imean, whatever works for me may not work for
everybody else.
But I think just naturally for me trying tomeet make new friends every week has been
really helpful.
And I'm glad that you're a new friend Anna.
No, me too.
Thank you so much everyone tonight forlistening and thanks very much Joel.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks a lot Anna.
(01:02:22):
See you guys.
We have purposely gone after women, even thoughI have been told by several people like Anna,
(00:05):
that is the wrong strategy and that women don'thave money.
Women don't care about investing.
So, but that has been a purposeful strategy.
That's I mean, and I think as a fund manager,for people here looking to start their own
funds, it's, what does your definition ofsuccess look like?
(00:28):
Welcome to The Investor, a podcast where I,Joel Palafinkel, your host, dives deep into the
minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
(00:52):
Even though it's not your style, but we'll kindof make it organized too.
I'll try to have some structure to thediscussion as well.
But look, you're here, excited to have youhere.
So for the other people, we're gonna let otherpeople join in.
We've got Anna Raptis here from AmplificaCapital.
(01:13):
Did I pronounce that right?
Pretty good.
Pretty good.
Okay.
No, it's maybe my accent that maybe threw youoff.
But you are located in Mexico, we met throughjust kind of some common communities
specifically, I think it was Transact Global.
So there's just a lot of great communities forthe emerging manager movement, people are now
(01:37):
able to start their own funds, build communityand content around that and, and, you know,
plug into each other's ecosystem.
So welcome to the show.
Thanks for popping in on Cinco de Mayo, eventhough I learned that they don't celebrate that
in Mexico.
Thank you so much for the invitation here.
Yeah, no, we don't actually celebrate Cinco deMayo in Mexico City, but it's great to know
(02:01):
that people in The US are celebrating it anddrinking tequila and having some guacamole.
Well, hey, let's jump right into it.
Just really excited to have you here and beenreally happy that we've been able to find some
ways to collaborate and find some synergies.
And that's what it's all about, helping eachother out and supporting each other.
(02:22):
So why don't we kick it off and maybe startwith your background, maybe where you started
out in your career.
From my understanding, you did not grow up inMexico, you kind of traveled to a couple
different countries.
So maybe just walk us through your story andhow you ended up in Mexico and how you started
Amplifica.
And then we could just take it from there.
Excellent.
And I'll try to gauge by people's faces, onesthat I can see, like, you know, if you're
(02:46):
actually interested or really bored and I needto cut it short.
So back to the things that the forces that havereally influenced me in my life.
I grew up in a family business environment.
And I think that was a fairly traumaticexperience for me because I saw my father just
working all the time and travelling.
(03:07):
So he started this business with his brother,right?
So was a family business.
So I grew up, the good thing about that, well,I was always involved in a business environment
and always learning.
And that was just kind of like our dailyconversation.
From a very young age in my dad's familybusiness was this fish processing factory.
(03:32):
And my dad grew up like selling cucumbers andtomatoes.
And so he wanted to make sure that weunderstood as well how money was made.
So my job was working the fish factory likepacking thorns.
Have you ever thought of a more boring job inthe world?
There probably isn't.
So I used to kind of like count the secondsaway of doing it.
And that's how kind of I learnt about businessand how I earned my bucket money and learnt
(03:57):
that it's not that easy to make money, right?
And one of the things that's always been reallyinteresting to me is economic development.
And I was a real nerd in the, when I studiedeconomics in Australia, I spent my time in the
library reading the world economic developmentreports.
And so when I finished my economics degree,went and worked an internship at the UN in
(04:21):
Bangkok.
And I was actually also on the side teachingeconomics at Thamesat University in Bangkok.
And that was a really interesting experiencefor me because, first of all, I know this is
going to go on YouTube, but between us, like itwasn't the best experience working at the UN.
(04:41):
It wasn't like I wasn't actually solving theproblems of the world that I thought I could
do.
I saw a lot of bureaucracy there and thought,Okay, this is not exactly that I want to do.
So it was a great learning experience for me.
Then I did my master's degree and then I wentand worked at I worked at the World Bank and I
(05:01):
was still very interested in developmenteconomics and how we can help other people.
So that led me to move into the energy spacebecause clean, efficient, safe electricity is
something that people need access to in termsof economic development to grow their
(05:26):
businesses.
And the people at the World Bank said to me,Anna, you are a high energy person.
Why don't you go out to private sector for awhile and see how that is?
And so that's how I started working developingenergy projects, large scale infrastructure.
And this was twenty years ago.
So
(05:46):
at that
stage, like natural gas was the transitionfuel.
And so I was working on natural projects, whichwas interesting at the time.
Maybe it's not twenty years later, but that'swhat took me to Mexico.
Mexico was looking to develop newinfrastructure and that's how I ended up in
(06:07):
Mexico.
So that's been a very interesting experiencefor me because in terms of like, how did it
help me get to VC?
Well, those kinds of projects are very capitalintensive and you really have to understand
project finance, corporate finance, and how youmake a business kind of work.
(06:30):
So kind of like fast forward years, I wasoutside of Mexico for a while and coming back
and I was really impacted by the negativedialogue around Mexico.
And I was like, I want to be part of positivechange.
I want to help change this dialogue.
And so I had been an investor pretty much mywhole life.
(06:51):
And how did that happen?
Kind of like saving up my pocket money.
And then when I went and did my master's degreeat The US that's when you could first really
start opening, this is like twenty years ago.
So you could open Al's Schwab account and youcould start doing a much cheaper trading.
And so I started doing that.
(07:11):
And so when I really believe that we learn bydoing, by making mistakes.
And so I made plenty of mistakes and I also hadsuccess.
So I invested in some companies that went brokein the .com boom and I've gone through various
economic cycles.
And what I've seen is things go up and down.
(07:35):
And they go down afterwards, they tend to go upagain.
So don't panic, right?
And so when I came back to Mexico and I wasvery I mentioned I was very interested in how
could I make a positive difference.
I really wanted to get into the impactinvesting space, but that was very immature
here in Mexico.
And so I started investing in a couple of fundsthat didn't have the exact thesis that I was
(07:59):
looking for, but it helped me learn.
And because Mexico, the venture space inMexico, I would say between us is about twenty,
thirty years behind where The US is.
Sure.
I could enter, put a small amount of money andget like invest in a fund.
And the funds in Mexico were invested havereally helped me learn as an investor and also
(08:24):
was an initial source of deal flow for me.
Yeah.
And so then I started investing directly incompanies and I've always been, when I'm doing
these direct investments, I'm motivated byhaving, making a positive difference, being
able to add value to the companies I'minvesting in.
And so I started investing initially infinancial inclusion before it was trendy and it
(08:48):
was called FinTech.
That's where I started.
And then I started to notice, get greatersensitivity and understanding of who it was at
the investment decision making table.
And what I mean by that is that people had saidto me, Anna, you seem to enjoy doing this, why
(09:11):
don't you start your own fund?
And I said, well, I'm not really interested intaking on the responsibility of other people's
money.
Sounds a bit scary to me.
And I also saw that Mexico was an undevelopedVC ecosystem.
And I saw a lot of people starting out as fundmanagers and I didn't really see what unique
(09:37):
value proposition I could add and how I coulddifferentiate myself.
Until I went to The US and that's when I reallyrealised how isolated I was and I wasn't
connected to where I needed to be connected.
And I went to an amazing meeting of the AngelCapital Association meeting in Boston in 2018.
(10:00):
And I met all of these amazing women who werestarting their own funds.
And that's when I realised, hang on a minute,all these people doing stuff in Mexico aren't
like me because they're all men, right?
Yeah.
Had seen, then it really helped me understandthrough also this conference I went to, all
(10:25):
these people that I spoke to, what I couldbring in terms of value add and something
different.
Because I did not see at the time in Mexico anyfemale fund managers starting their own funds.
So then I spent a couple of years doingresearch because this was April 2018.
(10:48):
And now we're in, now we're three years laterbecause we're in 2021, right?
So I spent time The problem I wanted to solvewas getting more women to invest, right?
So I'm talking to different platforms, angelgroups, clubs, understanding how they were set
up, why they were set up.
(11:09):
And that led me to create Amplifika as a fund.
Now the reason why it's as a fund and for thepeople on the call who are thinking about
setting up funds.
It's set up as a fund because the level ofmaturity of investment experience in Mexico is
quite low.
(11:29):
So it's really important to look at who youraudience is and how you wanna help them and how
you wanna serve them, right?
So I didn't feel that if I set up an angelgroup or some kind of syndicate where people
could invest in a couple of companies and maybenot get a diversified portfolio.
I was worried that they could end up with avery bad experience.
(11:52):
Sure.
And that's what often happens with angelinvestors.
In order to have a good experience, you need toinvest in a broad range of companies and have a
portfolio.
Whereas if you just invest in one or two Yeah.
You could just lose all your money.
So I wanted to have a structured disciplinedapproach where we have a well structured
portfolio.
And that's why I started up set up as a fundand not as a club, not as a platform, not
(12:16):
something else.
It took me a long time to set it up fordifferent reasons.
I knew by September 2019 that I've definitelywanted to fund.
Mexico was undergoing fiscal changes towardsthe 2019.
(12:38):
So I had to look into different structures, doI use The US?
Do I use Canada?
I spent a lot of time talking with differentlawyers about that.
I interviewed about at least 10 different lawfirms when I was looking structuring my fund.
Got quotes from between 15,000 through to$150,000 for fund structuring.
(13:02):
I
didn't choose the cheapest and I didn't choosethe most expensive.
And then I would also spend a long time lookingat fund administrators.
Yep, that's important.
So, and a lot of these decisions, it took me along time because I'm also a sole GP.
And why am I sole GP?
(13:23):
Well, you have to look at I love tocollaborate.
I love to work with other people.
But when you think about setting up a fund,it's a huge amount of risk.
It's a huge amount of commitment.
And there are not many people who are willingto step out of their careers and give up a paid
job to a job that is gonna pay nothing forseveral years.
(13:46):
Because when you're setting up your first fundin an emerging market, you're unlikely to raise
more than $10,000,000 So it's a verychallenging situation.
And that's another reason why it took me solong.
I was the only one reviewing the LPAagreements.
I was the one talking with the Choosing alawyer.
(14:06):
I was the one with the fund administrator.
In the end, I looked at lots of different fundadministrators, all kinds of pricing.
I chose to go with Carter and I've been reallyhappy with Carter because they really supported
me in the pre close process.
(14:31):
And now it's just so great to know that I justsend my documents to them and they put it into
the spreadsheet and I need to check it andstuff, but generally it's right.
I'm very happy with them.
And then the other thing that I have donethat's helped me in my journey, knowing that
here in Mexico, there's no one else that lookslike me or is doing something like me.
(14:54):
It's connecting to other people in The US whoare diverse or underrepresented fund managers.
Sure.
Like I know, I think Mac has been part of yourprogram, right?
He is, yeah.
He has been, yeah.
And like Mac has been amazing.
He's been amazing, yeah.
Like
a real source of inspiration for me becauseyou're like kind of like another outsider who
(15:20):
would people would say, Anna, I'm sure peopletold Mac he was crazy when he started doing
what he's doing.
And the same thing people said, So excepthaving other people who are a little bit out
there and a little bit different to follow hasbeen a real source of inspiration for me.
Yeah, look, one thing that you said resonateswith me, right?
I mean, we're not doing this.
We are doing it to provide hopefully, outsizedreturns and return capital.
(15:47):
But you could make a lot more money justworking at JP Morgan or working at a big
company or private equity.
I mean, so I listened to some of thesediscussions with some of these emerging
managers on, I think it was like Samir Kaji'spodcast.
Mean, if you really do the math, some of thesepeople could be making close to minimum wage.
You really factor in all the hours that you'reworking and all the time you're putting it in.
(16:11):
In the beginning, in the early days, you'redoing it for a certain purpose and it's not
always for financial return because it is astartup.
So you're building a brand, you're building awebsite, you're getting community.
I mean, it really is a small business in thebeginning.
So it's the Uber startup that invests instartups.
(16:35):
So you're really starting from zero to one andyou got to do it for the right reasons.
And I think it's really inspiring when we seepeople like you just get up and start, even
though there's a lot of research and planning,you did it.
And that's all that matters, right?
So.
(16:55):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And the purpose behind Ambrifica, for thosepeople who are in the audience and understand
the context, is that Mexico was ranked 124 outof 156 countries in terms of economic
participation and opportunities So for when Ithink about what am I doing and why am I doing
(17:20):
it?
Yes, we are there to generate outsized returnsfor our investors.
But we have a much bigger mission.
And it's about precisely that.
Through the existence of Ampleefica, throughour investments and our community, increasing
the opportunities and participation of women inthe economy.
(17:43):
And how are we doing that?
Well, one part is, at this stage, 80 per centof our investors are women.
And that's unheard of a fund in Mexico or LatinAmerica.
Normally, see if people try hard, they get fivepercent ten percent women, right?
But we have purposely gone after women, eventhough I have been told by several people,
Anna, that is the wrong strategy.
(18:05):
And that women don't have money.
Women don't care about investing.
So, but that has been a purposeful strategy.
That's I mean, and I think as a fund manager,for people here looking to start their own
funds, it's what does your definition ofsuccess look like?
I think it's very, that's something that I wasquestioned by some of my LP And I think that's
(18:31):
really important to define.
So, and when we invest, but not just throughour investments, through our whole being, we
use a very broad gender lens.
We use six different gender lens.
So we're looking at women as investors, womenas entrepreneurs.
(18:52):
We're looking at the supply chain, our ownsuppliers.
Are they consistent with our values and vision?
For example, when choosing a law firm, Iwouldn't work with a law firm that didn't have
female partners.
And then the other things, goods and servicesDo the companies produce goods and services
(19:17):
that improve the lives of women?
What's the diversity in the team that we'reinvesting in?
What's the labour policies in the companieswe're investing in.
Not everything has to be perfect on day one.
And if we try to make everything perfect on oneday one, we wouldn't achieve anything and we
(19:39):
wouldn't
be able to
invest in anything, but it's a journey, right?
So we're looking at that's what we're lookingto achieve through our investments.
And it doesn't mean that we only invest infemale founders because as people would know
here, 90% of investments go to all male teams.
(19:59):
So when we look at, we want to increaseparticipation of women.
We also can invest in those all male teams ifthey show intentionality that they understand
that the lack of diversity is a risk, and wecan help them with that, throughout their
investment.
And we have a few people in this group here, inemerging manager program, I have seed fund
(20:25):
managers, these are people that have actuallysource capital started the fund.
And then there's pre seed, that means peoplethat are thinking to start their fund, they're
really serious about it.
But they were probably where you were a fewmonths ago, or maybe even a year ago where
you're still kind of doing source selection.
You're trying to choose the right attorney,trying to choose the right fund admin.
(20:46):
So taking a step back, I think you startedtalking about this, which is like, think about
what success means to you.
What are some other frameworks that helped youthink about why you're even starting a fund?
Like, what's the point?
Should people start with like a missionstatement?
Should people think about maybe what their longterm goals are?
(21:08):
What do you think helps?
And then maybe I think a few other things,because you're always thoughtfully thinking
about planning is, what are the other tools andframework?
So I would think, just to tee this up, onething is probably a strong idea of portfolio
construction.
Are you doing a $5,000,000 fund?
Are you doing a $10,000,000 fund?
(21:30):
How many investments are you making?
So should they go to that level as well?
And so I guess high level frameworks andthoughts about like even thinking about doing a
fund and then maybe some of the artifacts likemaybe a fund model or anything else, maybe kind
of that package if you have that to maybeunpack that might be helpful to maybe tee up
(21:51):
some questions and comments.
Yeah, sure.
So once I'd gone and had my transformationalmoment by going to this conference where my
objective was very, very clear.
And the more I started to speak to people, itwas very clear to me the lack of representation
(22:15):
and what it means when they're trying to dosomething and they don't see anyone that looks
like them.
And that's been the same for me.
I had to find people that looked like me orthat I could identify with that could help
inspire me and help me say what you're doing ismake sense.
(22:35):
Real quick, this was not a female angelinvestor conference.
It was just a big angel investor conference.
But you were surprised to see so many femalesas fund managers from comparing that to Mexico?
Is that kind of what hit you?
It was an Angel Capital Association conferenceand on the side they had other wins.
(22:57):
And that's when there was a meeting of NextWave, which is a female focused fund and also a
portfolio which are female on the side that hadthis.
But also, and they had some very powerfulspeakers there, women speakers talking about
(23:18):
finance.
They need to have more women investors.
What are the consequences of not having womeninvestors?
He was hearing all those messages andunderstanding them for the first time because
honestly, I didn't know that data because Ididn't see it because I was investing myself.
I think, just as an aside here, I think oftenpeople who are a minority working in an
(23:42):
environment don't always notice that they arebecause it's a survival mechanism.
Like I'm not in the energy industry for twentyyears.
I was often the only woman in a meeting.
Don't think about that all day or night becauseif you did, you might get a bit miserable.
Right?
So you just like blend in like, and you don'tfeel
(24:02):
Well, maybe what's weird too is you kind oflook outward.
Right?
So you don't see yourself.
Right?
So you just see whoever you see.
So you forget that you're actually in the room.
Right?
Because you're like, this is all the peoplethat you're looking out.
Well, that's exactly right.
That's exactly And then talking about long termgoals.
I mean, yeah, I mean, I get those kinds ofquestions like, Anna, this is kind of
ridiculous.
(24:23):
You're studying a fund so small, what's yourplan?
Funds like that size don't work.
Like, yeah, like I'm not my ambition is notjust to create a 5 or $10,000,000 fund.
This is a long term vision where we createmultiple funds and we're going to grow and
we're to empower and help develop more andinspire more and more female fund managers.
(24:48):
So that when we look around, you don't say, Ohmy goodness, in Mexico, there's no female fund
managers over a million dollars.
You can say, there's 10 of them, there's 20 ofthem.
So we
want to be helping other people as well.
So that's our long term goal to develop morefunds, get to a viable level.
(25:09):
And what you typically see is you see peoplestarting out there.
I mean, I'm a first time fund manager.
An emerging market, it's a challenge to raisecapital.
But I know that I need to, in order to get tothe second fund and a third fund, have to have
a first one, right?
So knowing that having this first fund is notthe end game, that's really important.
(25:32):
And LPs will ask, what are you doing this for?
And what is your plan in the future?
And so I think it's really important to havethat.
And I feel like they can probably tell ifyou're just telling them what they think they
wanna hear, what do you think they wanna hearversus being authentic, right?
(25:53):
Yeah, no, I'm sure that's the case.
I'm sure that's the case.
Yeah.
And then what would you recommend to have inyour toolkit as you get started?
Obviously, probably like maybe a couple levelsof a pitch deck and maybe a one sheeter, fun
model, anything else as you start hitting theroad and starting to fundraise?
I think that's a really great question.
(26:17):
It depends on who your potential LPs are.
And for my case, my LPs have been people I'vemet and I've told my story to about what I'm
doing and why I'm doing it.
So I started off with a one pager.
There's some advice that I got from friends,fund managers in Mexico City was not, don't
(26:45):
just send your deck around.
And I think that's good advice because youwanna be able to control the narrative and tell
your own story.
And I think that's very, very important.
So what I developed was a one pager which kindof captures the essence of the fund.
And then I send that around and if someone'sinterested, I'll follow-up with a call and then
(27:11):
I will use the deck as kind of As a tool andtalk to that, but use the pages that I need so
that the conversation really flows because it'shard to make a relationship with people through
Zoom and it's hard to age people.
(27:32):
So it's really, I found it's really, reallyimportant to try and have a sense of people who
actually interested in what you're talkingabout.
Help really helps when people have theircameras on because otherwise you don't know if
they're just sending emails or checkingmessages or if they're interested in what
you're talking about.
(27:54):
So I've also other things that are very helpfulto have some kind of CRM.
I use HubSpot and that's been really, reallyimportant for me to be able to keep track
because I don't know about anyone else in thiscall, but I'm terrible with emails.
And I find that I get this inbox and I don'tknow, can't find the emails.
(28:14):
Don't know which ones I'm talking to.
But with HubSpot, I can go in there and say,okay, this person, when did we last talk?
What's going on?
I think that's really important to have someonelike that.
And I just use the free version of it.
So that would be helpful.
The other one is Docsend.
I have used that so that that's the way that Ialways send pitch decks to know if someone has
(28:40):
engaged with it.
That also helps HubSpot people, you know,people have read their emails that you send
them or not.
Although I have been told by some people thatwork in institutions like Morgan Stanley and
others like that, that they don't like Docsendand don't see a pitch deck via Docsend.
Otherwise I'm never going to open it.
(29:02):
So I think you have to be careful and flexible.
You can have the eightytwenty rule, I'm gonnasend it out to everyone by Docsent and if it
works, it turns out they don't, they won't readthe document.
I'll follow-up with them and then I'll beflexible and I'll send them and ask them just
not to pass it around because it's reallyimportant to be able to control who and how is
(29:24):
getting your deck.
Yeah, no, that's good feedback.
And I got similar advice from some of the LPs.
One thing that they said is, if you do useDocsend, just enable the ability to download
because most of these institutions, they haveto store all of this stuff in their archives.
(29:45):
But an interesting piece of feedback that'ssomething new, which I thought was brilliant
is, if you personalize the deck to the LP, ifyou write the LP's name on it, it's going to be
harder for the LP to share it, because thenthey're kind of sharing it.
And it's almost like it was given an attentionto you.
So there'll be probably, I mean, maybe not,maybe doesn't matter, but I thought that was
(30:10):
pretty interesting.
I feel like I would probably be less likely toshare it around because then it's kind of got
my name on it.
So it's almost like it was intended for me.
So maybe it indicates that I was interested init as an LP.
So I thought that was kind of a new piece ofadvice that I got that I thought was pretty
funny.
So that's really interesting.
Where do they put the name?
Like they put in the footer or they put thefront?
(30:31):
On the slide, on the front slide, it's likeattention to Anna.
Thanks for meeting me.
So you know, it's gonna be difficult for you toshare, right?
Because then it's like, wait a minute, like,why is your name on it?
So then people know that like, it definitelylike, personalized for you.
So they may just be more reluctant to kind ofjust spam it out, kind of going back to your
narrative.
So again, it's just a new piece of advice.
(30:53):
There's some benefits to running this emergingmanagement program.
You get kind of creative advice sometimes.
I think that's a really good idea because itonly takes you an extra minute to do that.
And it also, mean, the plus side is it showsthat you made it personal for them too.
So maybe at the same time, maybe the personfeels special because it's like you prepared
(31:16):
this special thing for them.
And in reality, you just swap the name, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They are really good.
That's a really good point.
The other thing that because we are, I mean,lot of our LPs don't have a lot of investment
experience.
We're doing a little bit differently isproviding educational content.
Oh, that's good.
(31:37):
And so people really like that.
They really like to think about VC.
They like to engage some way with theentrepreneurs.
They like to give their opinion about what'sgoing on.
So we've
found that
is very successful.
We do monthly webinars.
And the other thing that we do that's a littlebit different is that we generate our content
(32:01):
in Spanish.
Now I don't know if long term makes sense, butat the moment, all of our investors are Spanish
speakers.
So, and I think in a world where VC iscompletely dominated by English, sometimes
(32:21):
people like to be able to speak and read intheir own language.
Right?
So we try and do that as a point of friendship.
Now we end up getting a lot of checks frompeople that don't speak Spanish.
We're gonna have to change that strategy, butat the moment it's been helpful.
I think that's a good point because sometimesLPs also, they want to be part of the process.
(32:44):
So if you can bring them in and maybe even gettheir thoughts.
I've had some success with some deals that I'vedone where LPs have kind of shared their
opinion.
And sometimes even though they're stillinvesting, they'll have their own opinion of a
contrarian view.
And that could be helpful to you too, becauseyou don't want to be looking at these deals
(33:04):
with blinders on.
But just learning and kind of helping them,like allowing them to participate to a level of
comfort where they can kind of share theiropinions.
I think that inclusion brings a closer bond aswell.
Because then they feel like, hey, they're partof this with you as opposed to being because an
LP really in essence is a client relationship.
(33:27):
But if you can make it where they're kind oflike on the journey with you, I think it's
different.
And I think that could probably And I mean, thefeedback I get to is sometimes a lot of these
LPs are past entrepreneurs.
Maybe they're an entrepreneur that wassuccessful in the energy sector, but now they
want to learn more about FinTech and they justdon't have the expertise.
(33:48):
So sometimes they get excited to learn aboutwomen's health and FinTech and kind of the
sectors that you're doing.
And you, because you're naturally passionateabout it, you're just kind of talking about it
because the trends that you're seeing, butsecretly it's education too, right?
Because it's like all new to them as well.
So if you can do it and it's organic and you'reenjoying doing it, I mean, that's all I am.
(34:10):
Mean, because we've done energy too.
So for me, it's just kind of like, I getexcited to talk about it because I probably
just started doing some diligence and doing alot of reading on it.
So that helps to kind of like that excitementabout it, like in trying to talk about it to
tell somebody else about it, that helps to getsomebody else excited about it too.
(34:33):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
That's right.
And on the energy side, tell me what you thinkthe big trends are, you know, I mean, there's
hydrogen energy, there's other types of,there's solar energy that's evolving.
So what are you excited about?
What are some of the trends that you're seeingin just alternative energies and just the
evolution of energy?
(34:54):
Well, that's a really great question.
I mean, honestly, I wanna see us have a cleanerair.
I would like, what we're having in Mexico Cityat the moment is a lot of pollution through
industrial processes close to the city.
(35:16):
So I mean obviously you see amazing uptake ofrenewable energy.
I've seen a sort of proposal a couple of weeksago for a car in Mexico, beautiful looking car
with a hydrogen based engine.
You see a lot more expansion in solar, in wind.
(35:41):
But I at this stage I'm not looking to investin those kinds of projects because generally
they are very, very capital intensive andthey're not really suitable for VC financing.
Although in some ways and you've seen othersdoing really well through somebody like Tesla,
(36:03):
but that is very, very unusual experience.
Usually it's some other kind of financing.
So I am on the lookout.
I haven't seen any deals that I could investin.
But definitely keeping an eye out.
And we're seeing a lot of also innovation inthe waste space, waste to fuel, water.
(36:30):
So they're all things that I'm very interestedin but I haven't really seen a lot in that
space.
I mean, at the moment, what am I seeing moreof?
Huge amounts still in the FinTech space, allkinds of areas, some that are productive and
some that are just consumption based.
(36:52):
Then
also seeing a lot more interest in the whole,you know, the education space, the health
space.
So and a lot in agriculture as well.
And agriculture is an area that I'm reallyexcited about.
I think there's a huge opportunity to increasethe productivity of agriculture in Mexico.
(37:17):
It's a very important part of the economy.
Maybe people might not know this, but Mexico isone that is pretty much the largest supplier of
fruit and vegetable to The United States.
So to the extent you can make that supply chainmore efficient, it's beneficial to everyone.
And one of the companies I've invested isactually a player in that space.
(37:40):
So at the moment we've made four investments.
One is in the ag tech space, one is in theeducation space, one is in the mobility space
and one is in the insurance space.
And I think that is a very interesting space.
The insurance space, it's very under penetratedmarket in Mexico.
The
(38:00):
challenge is how do you get people to buy it,right?
I mean, no one wants to spend money oninsurance when there's so many other more
interesting fun things you can spend your moneyon.
It's something that's really important to helppeople manage risks.
And we've seen that particularly in this time,COVID people who don't have adequate health
(38:22):
insurance.
It can be a really life changing event.
So I'm always like, mean what part of whatwe're doing is we're looking to invest in
companies that improve people's lives.
So when we look at a investment like, I meantoday I saw one, right?
(38:42):
And it was you know, another kind of Afterpaything.
Now, everyone's gonna have different opinionsabout Afterpay, but you know, like, are you
really improving people's lives because theycan now buy four pairs of jeans rather than one
(39:02):
pair of jeans because they have to pay for itall once.
I mean, everyone's gonna have differentopinions, but I'm not a huge fan of continue to
fuel the consumption spending.
Yeah.
If I see consumption spending tool orproductive lending tool, I'll go for the
productive one because I wanna help, you know,create more than rather than just spend more.
(39:28):
Yeah, that's it.
And do you guys only focus on Mexico and LatinAmerica?
Are you guys open to investing globally aswell?
We're focusing on companies that are improvinglives in Latin America.
So it doesn't mean that we only invest incompanies that are based in Latin America.
They can be based anywhere as long as they'reserving markets in Latin America.
(39:50):
Actually would be very interested in having afew companies from other parts of the world in
our portfolio for a risk diversificationperspective.
Yeah, no, it's really helpful.
What are some things that people should thinkabout when they think about portfolio
construction?
So should it only be a function of how much youthink you can raise or do you think people
(40:17):
should also think about just their deploymentstrategy?
Like how many checks and the sizes of thechecks?
So any wisdom, I mean, because you kind of wentthrough that exercise already.
You can only share, I can share my 2¢.
And I'm also quite analytical.
I'm a chartered financial analyst and I like tounderstand risk and risk management.
(40:41):
So for me, one of the things I've learnt as anangel investor is that it's really hard to pick
winners, right?
Yeah.
I mean, you do your best, you do your duediligence, but at the end of the day, when you
look around and see who's successful and whowasn't, you can't always tell, there is a lot
(41:03):
of element in what was going on in people'slives and a lot of other things, right?
So it's very important to have a diversifiedportfolio.
And I think that means numbers.
And so from the beginning we've said, okay,we're looking to invest in around 20 companies.
(41:25):
So somewhere into that 20 to 25 range.
So we are looking and that's challengingbecause you don't know how much money you're
gonna raise.
And so our cheque sizes will be smaller orgreater depending on how much money we raise.
(41:46):
But we are planning to be in that round 20companies.
Now the challenges that you have when you writereally small checks is that you have a lot less
influence and you have a lot less abilitygenerally to support the founders depending on
(42:06):
the level of expertise and experience that thefounders have.
And so just to give a couple of examples.
There's a couple of companies where I investedin and wrote small checks, 25,000.
In one of them, I basically never talked to thefounder because he doesn't need me.
(42:29):
Like he has This is his third company.
You know, if I Yes.
Okay.
He does send me messages and ask me, you know,like what do you think about this and what do
you think about that?
And how's my deck letter, you know, look and Isend, you know, the deck checker and send some
spelling mistakes and stuff like that.
But not substantial contributions because hedoesn't need my help.
(42:52):
But the other team where I invested a smallcheck, we're messaging every day.
And that's because that team needs moresupport.
So when people say, how much do you supportyour portfolio companies?
It's not a one size fits all.
(43:15):
It's about developing a relationship ofconfidence so you can help them where they need
help.
And when you mentioned before about your LPsbeing your clients, that's exactly true and so
are the portfolio companies.
So I see I've got these two sets of clients.
One, my portfolio companies and I do the bestby them.
(43:36):
And the other group is the LPs and I have toserve them as well.
And it's important to keep in a balance andbeing able to respond to everyone.
And that's another question when you thinkabout portfolio construction.
Like how much can you really support yourportfolio companies and can you give them what
(43:58):
they need?
I want my portfolio companies to be my bestambassadors.
And when someone asks them about me as aninvestor that they provide really good
feedback.
And I know that that doesn't happen for allfunds because I talk to other entrepreneurs.
I say, well, you've got this company on yourcap table.
(44:21):
This, you've this fund manager on your captable.
Tell me about them, you know, like tell me whatyou've been happy with.
And they will be okay.
If you have a relationship of confidence, theywill be generally very honest and tell you,
well, like these people add value and thesepeople have been a waste of time.
And actually these people, I wish they weren'ton my cap table, because they're just a pain in
the ass, right?
(44:41):
Yeah, I will say though, sometimes it's like wein our heart, we wanna add value, but there
just isn't enough time in the day.
I mean, I've been in that situation where it'snot that I'm ignoring anybody, but there's, I'm
just underwater with just a couple otherinitiatives, and I try to get back to them.
(45:01):
But just sometimes it just takes a littlelonger.
So I can empathize a lot of times now whenpeople get back to me after some time because I
just kind of I'm assuming they're super busy.
So I think sometimes I know funds hire somebodyor bring somebody on that's like portfolio
support, because I think you definitely need asecond set of hands for someone because this
(45:22):
doesn't always have to be the GP, right?
It could be someone that you trust, that'sreliable, that's actually very diligent, they
can help somebody roll up their sleeves, likemaybe that person needs some product support.
But you kind of really do need different skillsets, right?
Like some founders might need some help withfinancial modeling.
That might be you, right?
Because you have really strong financebackground.
I have a product background, right?
(45:43):
So if somebody wants me to like, play withtheir app and give feedback, that's my
superpower.
So I think if you can have somebody that cansupport because portfolio support is very
broad.
So there's different things that you cansupport portfolio companies with, but you just
can't, there just isn't enough bandwidth, Ithink for you to be all in and support somebody
(46:05):
20 fourseven.
So I think that's an interesting role that I'veseen recently in some of these VC firms that
support role, because I think it's superhelpful if you can help them.
Yeah, I would agree.
The other thing, the other challenge that I'vehad setting up the fund has been, how do you
build a team?
(46:26):
And I get people approaching me, not every day,but definitely a couple of people every week
saying to me, Oh Anna, I really love whatyou're doing.
How can you help?
And at this stage, answer is like, you knowwhat, I need to raise more capital.
That's hard.
But a lot of people saying to me, oh, I'd liketo help you.
(46:48):
How can I help?
Can I raise money for you and then you pay methis or can you pay me cash for this and
whatever?
And I'm like, you know what, at this stage,I've only raised $2,000,000
I
can't pay a team.
I've got volunteers working for me.
And if I'm going to pay anyone, it's thosepeople I want to be able to help.
(47:11):
So I think that's been really challenging.
And I would recommend to people to, you need towork with people and understand what they can
add value that they can add.
Or you give people titles and part of your fundand a lot of people talking about different
kinds of venture partners.
(47:31):
And that's something I've been looking at too.
But you kind of need to think carefully aboutthe roles of those other people that are going
to be supporting you.
Because if you give people part of your fund,well, the fund lasts for ten years.
And then if they don't do what they said theywould do, what are you going to do?
(47:54):
So just thinking through those thingscarefully.
And sometimes the venture partner or themechanisms to kind of compensate you, that
might actually impact the structure of the fundas well.
So there may be some updates and then that's awhole revision and an update and the structure
(48:14):
of your fund in the general partnership.
There may be some probably some downstreamimpacts.
So just kind of thinking through that andmaking sure you're able to kind of integrate
that into the way you have your fund set up isanother complexity too.
I don't know if you've kind of faced that orseen that.
But yeah, you're right.
(48:34):
I think the whole industry is an opaqueapprenticeship type of model where you can earn
your stripes by learning by doing,collaborating.
And it is a startup.
To be honest, it's very similar to a couple cofounders going to a startup event, and maybe
(48:57):
just deciding to build an app.
But then sometimes people just fizzle out.
I remember I did this thing called startupweekend.
I mean, the funniest thing was, I reallythought it was going to be like, we built this
kind of ecommerce company.
So I was so into it, I thought it was going tobe like, I'm like, man, I'm going to quit my
job.
And like, this is going be like Dollar ShaveClub.
(49:18):
And then it just like fizzled out.
So I feel like sometimes people, they just losetheir engagement, they just lose interest.
And then you just kind of, so there's only afew people that will stick around and actually
be committed to it.
So there's, I feel like there's also like athroughput of that, right?
And then with interns, the people move on, theywant to, they're kind of looking at this as a
(49:39):
stepping stone, like, hey, I want to getAmplify on my resume for the summer so that I
can work at Goldman.
And sometimes that short term view may not be agood fit for your mission.
So I think there's kind of that throughput thatI think happens sometimes as well.
I don't know if you face that.
Yeah, no, definitely.
(50:00):
But we've also had like a lot of, I've reallyappreciated the time people put into to work
with us and help us get some stuff up.
Some really simple stuff that I didn't havetime.
I can't possibly do everything in the day.
And I've been really happy that we've hadpeople work for us and then go on and do other
(50:23):
things that's really interesting.
And they also help to spread the word aboutwhat we're doing.
And one of my interns, she worked for us forsix months last year and she's now she's gone
to work for an investment bank, always send me
messages.
She
sends me messages saying, I can't wait till Ican come back and work for Amplifika full time.
(50:46):
So it's really nice, those little messages too.
But I like to see people learn and grow andit's just part of like life today, right?
Yeah, mean, it's a small world.
Mean, those people you never know, they maystart a startup and you get to invest in them
or maybe they become an LP, who knows?
So it's small world.
(51:09):
Do you at least see the female fund managerecosystem evolving a little bit like in Mexico?
Do you think it's, are you seeing a little bitof a catalyst now?
Or
In Mexico, it's very, very slow.
But you are seeing a little bit of change.
Yeah, I'm seeing a little bit of change.
But what's been very helpful for me has beenthe TRANZACT community with the working And
(51:33):
then we a couple of other groups where we havefemale investors in Mexico.
There's women in VC is another one too, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Women in VC is another one.
And we're seeing more women getting interestedin investing and starting investing.
I'd like to see a lot more women starting theirown funds.
(51:54):
That would be great.
Yeah, me too.
I mean, I think just in general, right?
Just more emerging managers.
They just all share a lot of their knowledge.
And then I learned so much too, because somepeople are talking to some fund managers and
some attorneys and different vendors and youfind out about new platforms that you didn't
know about.
(52:16):
Tips like putting people's names on DeX, justlittle things like that.
You just kind of hear from other people and itjust kind of helps.
But we've been talking for a while, maybe wegot like seven minutes.
Anybody have any questions?
We do have a couple female emerging managers inthis cohort.
There's a few people actually that have talkedto me about starting their own fund.
So anybody here have any questions aboutstarting a fund, emerging managers, sourcing
(52:44):
deals.
Any questions, guys?
Hi, Anna.
I'm Engels.
I'm I'm a guy.
So I'm from Nigeria.
Although I work in The US in the pharmaceuticalindustry and although I'm not in Dwells fund
(53:10):
program for my fund management program, I dohave interest in maybe doing something like
that downstream.
So I know that in emerging markets, Nigeria,for example, there are different expectations
with regards returns from funds.
I was having a discussion with a couple offriends and they were asking me if I were to
(53:32):
set up a fund, much could I guarantee in termsof returns?
And I couldn't really answer that question.
So for you in Mexico, what kind of returnswould your investors be happy with as a lower
threshold?
That's a really great question.
Thank you for that question, because I try tobe very clear about setting expectations.
(53:57):
Now a lot that people in Mexico are morefamiliar with the private equity model than
venture capital.
So, and in the private equity model, I don'tknow about The US but in Mexico, you always see
a hurdle rate, which is not something youtypically see in VC.
So in Mexico, this hurdle rate has beenimported into the VC model in a lot of funds.
(54:25):
And so there's a hurdle rate of somewherebetween 8% to 10% in a lot of funds, which I
say I do not have a hurdle rate in Amblypicabecause I say, my God, like, you know, the cash
rate is less than one.
Can't, I'm not going to guarantee you a return.
(54:49):
And so I'm very clear about that.
I'm like, if you want to go invest in stockmarket, you've got a certain return.
If you want to invest in bonds, you've got acertain return, but this is venture capital,
it's at risk.
And so I'm very clear when I explain toinvestors, particularly if I think that they
don't understand the asset class, this isventure capital.
(55:14):
Our objective is to generate excellent returns,but it could be zero.
But also explain to people that the worst thingthat could happen is it's zero.
Like it's a limited liability structure.
So that's not like they can end up with, theycould lose more money than what they put in.
Right?
So that's also important.
(55:34):
I'd be interested to hear your feedback onthis.
What I have said to my investors, that ourobjective is to generate a minimum 3X return
with an IRR, a minimum IRR of around 15%.
And the way we set that was like, first of all,and this is in US dollars, right?
(56:00):
So I was saying, okay, for me as an investor, Ithink that's a minimal acceptable return
considering how long people's money is lockedup.
So that's not a great return, but I'd say it'sa minimal acceptable return.
And also looking at the Cambridge Associatesreturn profile and seeing what that looks like
(56:23):
and what I think is reasonable.
And It's not a number completely pull out of anair.
It's not a number that's very aggressive.
Some people might say that their target is fouror five x return.
But I wanted to set that kind of what I thoughtwas a reasonable level.
(56:44):
I'd just
hear what you guys think about that.
Yeah, I think look having some type ofbenchmarks for guidance is helpful and having
that framework, I think is gonna allow you tothink about what's realistic and what's not.
And I think there's other functions too.
How big is a fund?
(57:06):
Do you have the infrastructure in place?
And one question that I was gonna ask as wellis, guess the domicile, did you end up going to
Mexico to be domiciled?
What were your thoughts?
This was your question I had.
What was your thought process?
And what were some of the observations whenlooking at Canada versus The US?
(57:26):
So it sounds like, yeah, I forgot which one younetted out at, but what was the pros and cons
and maybe thought process with those differentcountries?
Sure.
So first thing is I wasn't gonna do Mexicobecause I wanted to attract international
capital and completely understand that peopledon't feel comfortable.
They've invested in the Mexican structure.
So after that it was Canada versus US.
(57:48):
I
chose The US because I could get access to fundadministrators.
When the time I set it up, which was you haveto remember that I was thinking about all of
this stuff like fourteen months ago.
So if you were to set up a fund today, I'm notsure if some like, I don't know if Carter now
(58:13):
works with Canadian funds.
Canada is a much easier jurisdiction to workwith from a fiscal point of view.
And it depends, you have to do your ownresearch.
You have to look at what's Where are yourinvestors coming from?
That was something that influenced me a lotbecause Mexico was going through these changes
(58:34):
in the fiscal structure and Canada is differentfrom The US.
I went with The US because it seemed to makemore sense to me at the time.
The regulatory burden is a lot lower in Canada.
And also can in Canada you don't have the samefat cut restrict restrictions that you do in
(59:00):
The US.
Like them demand like in The US you have tofill out, if you're not from The US, have to
fill out a W8.
You have to provide that information.
You do that in Canada.
You don't have to provide your tax ID number.
So those, you need to know where your investorsare coming from and based on that work out,
(59:24):
does Canada make more sense?
Does The US makes more sense?
But I was of the fiscal situation in Mexico andthat Mexico is requiring all of this
information that they require in The US.
I just thought, you know what?
We'll just do it this way.
It's gonna make it easier for me in terms ofcompliance.
(59:46):
But it's something you need to look atcarefully because I've had people say to me, I
don't want to invest in that because it's inThe US and I want to give the US government all
my tax information.
Sure.
Yeah, no, that's fair.
Well, know we're a little over time, but I, youknow, I guess, Anna, you got time for like
maybe one or two questions?
Sure.
Cool.
Alright.
So guys, you got any other final questions?
(01:00:09):
Quiet group tonight.
All right, well, know, feel free to rattle offany other questions.
Yeah, I don't have a question.
The comments.
I really enjoyed hearing your story, yourcareer journey and how you started kind of
gives me inspiration.
(01:00:32):
Because I feel like I'm very much in the facethat you were many, many years ago.
And, you know, we'll see what the future holds,but I appreciate you coming to speak with us.
No, that's a real pleasure.
And don't be afraid to reach out to people.
I mean, I had never done this before.
I mean, I had not used I've not really usedTwitter very much before.
(01:00:57):
Now I use it more and more.
I use it my way of meeting people who havesimilar interests or going through a similar
journey and to talk to them, like you send thema message and that's how I met Mac.
I met Mac through Twitter.
I've met other people that are going throughthe same experience so you can share and learn
(01:01:17):
from each other.
Yeah.
Now one thing that's interesting about Mac isI'll mention him or something and then somebody
is like, oh yeah, I'm actually catching up withMac next week.
So I think part of it too, which is reallyimportant is just trying to meet new people
every week.
I think I try to do that and that's reallyhelpful for me, just kind of proactively just
(01:01:39):
trying to meet new friends because that's alsokind of how you build your proprietary deal
flow as well.
Just kind of because have access, friends wantto invest with each other.
So you have a really interesting deal thatyou're looking at and then you hear their side
of it, why they're excited about it, and thenmaybe you'll end up investing because you
discovered something that you didn't haveaccess to earlier.
(01:02:01):
So I think definitely like for me at least, Imean, whatever works for me may not work for
everybody else.
But I think just naturally for me trying tomeet make new friends every week has been
really helpful.
And I'm glad that you're a new friend Anna.
No, me too.
Thank you so much everyone tonight forlistening and thanks very much Joel.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks a lot Anna.
(01:02:22):
See you guys.
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