Jeffery: Welcome to Impact Investing, brought to you by the Supporters Fund. From the four square foot or 4000 books, the smallest library in the world. Lisbon, Portugal. I’m your host, Jeffery JP Potvin. And let’s please welcome from Babe Ruth’s first professional home run in 1914. At Hanlon’s Point, Toronto, Canada, Miriam Lazard, the general partner of GSR ventures. Welcome, Miriam. It’s a real pleasure having you join us today.

Miryam: Thank you so much for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to be here. And it’s nice to see that you’re in Portugal.

Jeffery: Thank you. Likewise. Very nice to see you again. And I love Portugal. Portugal. So brilliant place it is. I’ve been here many times. I’m a big fan, and, Well, I’m actually more of a fan of yours, so we’re going to dive into more about you and why I’m a fan. But you’ve done and we’ve met over many times over the past. So I’m going to say it feels like ten years. but you’ve done some incredible things in the early stage startup space, technology, space. And today we get to dive into that. So the way we love to start our show off is that we want to hear more about you. So maybe you can share all the way back from your University of Victoria days, all the way through to the startup visa and all the things that you’ve been building on and all the great stuff that you’ve been doing. And then one thing about you that nobody would know.

Miryam: Sure. No. Thank you again. so I’m one of you, you know, from Colombia. I actually arrived first time in Canada, 2008, in Montreal, and that, you know, I had a really fun time there, 18 months, working and learning French. I actually and, you know, there are a few things that you are going to learn about me that I never said to other people, but I actually learned back at home, you know, three languages at the same time, English, French and Japanese, which I normally ask people not to do that because I finished not learning anything so I can read Japanese, but I don’t know what I’m reading. And certainly when I arrive in Montreal, I just realized that I didn’t speak French or English. So I have to go through, you know, learning again, French. And you’re going to require, in Montreal. And years later, I moved to new Jersey, 18 months after I moved to, Victoria and British Columbia place that I loved, you know, for years, been there, I was able to, you know, have, you know, training sessions. Training sessions in University of Victoria. But I already have, you know, two bachelor’s degrees, from my home country. So I’m a graphic designer and an international business professional, from my home country. And, and then, you know, basically what I was doing in, in University of Victoria was complimenting some of my studies and at the time was, you know, actually first time working with a technology company in British Columbia. And that gave me the first, kind of taste of what was, technology in Canada and the big, you know, opportunity that, people actually have, you know, to develop technology companies here in the country. So, 2000, 15, I moved to Toronto, and since then I’ve been working, you know, different initiatives. But all in regardless of technology, companies are newcomers. So, what we have today of global startups was initially Latam startups, for seven years, you know, working with a state of strong, Latin America and other places. And then, now we have this year also an investment fund. So has been kind of an evolution from working directly for technology companies and, you know, growing, community of newcomers in tech. And the things that you said that, people. So, don’t know about me. Well, I’m from Colombia, and I don’t like coffee. I just drink tea. so many people normally say, well, you know, would you want a coffee or this? You know, Colombians are famous for coffee, but, yeah, I don’t like.

Jeffery: It’s amazing. Well, I’m going to share that in when it comes to drinking tea or coffee, I’m the same. I go to the tea side and I have been a teacher, and I think it’s because my parents were tea drinkers. So that was my thing every morning, holding your my mother’s cup of tea when she drove and parked the car out and -20 snowfall. but I think when, I come to Portugal, they’re so inept at having the little shot of espresso that no matter what, if I’m here for five minutes or five days, I cannot help it. I have to have an espresso. I try so hard not to, but it’s so hard. It’s so good. Can’t help it.

Miryam: And that’s right. And I have to steal, you know, I have to drink my coffee still. Because, you know, I need energy during the day. I know that he doesn’t give me that energy, but I do not time to time. I have to, you know, because I like I more like a medicine. So, but, yeah, so.

Jeffery: Oh, it’s a great it’s a great product. I’m a big fan. I think it’s a calming effect and it has all different layers for whatever you’re feeling one day to the next. Or tea is a is a great product. I kind of want to well, I’m actually fascinated by the fact that you’ve got these three languages. I spoke for ourselves. See? So say more France’s, say Quebec. But, you know, at the end of the day, you learn things as you go through old time. So it’s kind of cool that you were working on those. And Japanese. konnichiwa. Everything is very difficult to learn a million languages, but as I travel, I find that I have to pull out so many different things as I’m learning, because you want to interface with people, and I think it’s a form of respect to be able to interface with people in their own language, even if you butcher the language. So that’s really cool that you’ve been able to pick that up. And you probably said, well, the material side, I’m going to have to make my way into Victoria, where there’s more English because, if not, I’m going to have to really learn a lot about French here because, especially back in 2008, there was a heavy mandate going on for everybody to be heavily in French, French number one, and everything else. Number two. So that’s pretty fascinating that you chose to go to Victoria.

Miryam: Yeah, I know it was more for a weather thing then because of the language or any other thing. Like my, my husband at the time was my fiancee and he after the first, you know, winter there, he was like, no, we go to the hottest place in Canada. And that supposed to be Victoria. So that was the main reason, actually.

Jeffery: that’s awesome. I’ve heard that a few times from people that have immigrated into Canada where they end up in Saskatchewan or Montreal, and they go through one winter and they’re like, oh my, how are the people live in this cold? So I can totally understand where you’re coming from. That, change was needed at that point.

Miryam: Yeah. My husband is from California, so he’s like, I don’t know what’s there. Like. Yeah, he used to leaving Chicago for, for seven years. So that reminds him a lot about Chicago. And he’s like, no, I like to leave. I don’t like that weather. but other than that, I love, you know, the French culture and food is always amazing.

Jeffery: There it is. Montreal. I think you hit the spot there is that it has culture. I, I find that a lot of countries around the world, especially Portugal and Lisbon, Porto, that other places, Spain, they’ve really maintained that culture side of things. And, you know, when you go into the things that you’re doing today to a lot of it is built around culture. It’s making what immigration comes in. They want to feel comfortable. They want to go to where their people are or that people understand them. And I find that in Toronto, it becomes like a New York. It’s just the mosh pit of, of concrete. And maybe there isn’t that feeling of comfort when it comes to building a culture. There isn’t much of one, from my perspective, but I think that in Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, there is a culture there. There is that, diversity. But people also, can congregate in groups and really feel they’re part of something. And I think that just means it’s a smaller community. And when you start to look back at where you started off in from the education side and of course, jumping into the, media side and the tech side business, when you started to, to move forward into this startup, place, what were some of the learnings that you gained from that first, experience working in corporate, and what were those a few things that kind of helped trigger you to decide? I really want to get into this innovation space and start to build in tech.

Miryam: well, that that’s a good question. You know, in my home country, my family, you know, they used to work for corporations, but as well, my mom was the entrepreneur. You know, she was an entrepreneur and she wanted to always have, business besides her work. And, you know, I always, like to say people, you know, like, I, I, in my family, we, build and destroy businesses many times in Colombia. Just name one. We probably had it, you know, we had restaurants. We have like, small medium businesses. We have, you know, nonprofits we have for profits, all type of businesses. And of course, and, you know, when I came to Canada, it was always, in some of, in my heart to have a business as well. but I could see the difference to have a business in Canada compare with my home country. it was pretty different. I could see that, you know, the amount of, help that you get from the ecosystem. people that want to actually, you know, support you and, you know, not just from government but also from private. You know, people are always willing to do something for you or do something with you. You know, she was pretty open minded, you know, kind of society. well, in my home country, it was very difficult to, build something and actually get support around was almost impossible. So chances were that you are going to fail anyway because of, you know, many of the circumstances around, while in Canada, I always kind of want to think that, you know, if you fail is not because of lack of support, but is because maybe, you know, there is, no market for, you know, there is the other reasons for why, you know, instead of film sometimes, you know, could be the founder or the team, you know, or many other of the other circumstances. But now because of the lack of support. So that’s, you know, why, you know, I became kind of like, obsessed to have this community because I, so many of my fellow Latin American, you know, arriving in the country and not knowing where to go and not feeling like I should speak with somebody about my business, or, you know, that I’m struggling right now with this. And, and, our community was that kind of first step for them, you know, to realize that this is not like home, this you are in a place that somebody will help you, so that that’s what I wanted to, culturally speaking. You know, a pasta or a fellow entrepreneurs that I’ve been in their shoes. I know how horrible is to create something and then, you know, see, kind of like in pieces because, you know, there is no guidance or help around.

Jeffery: That’s a great story because it it really does encompass what it takes to be, a founder, to be an entrepreneur, but also, that it takes a lot of people to help build a company and help it grow. And in certain circumstances in Colombia, back home, you know, having the opportunity to build a company was there. But the support wasn’t. And I think you you noticed that, especially when you came back here. But I think probably while you were working here, too, you probably noticed that the support here maybe was fragmented. It was all over. You had to really hunt forward and try to figure out who was going to be of value to help you. And I think when you start to build out your ecosystem and how you were doing that, you started to offer more touch points to help those people in the community. So now they start to feel part of something, they start to have more opportunities to talk to more people like minded, that have been through the same thing. And it kind of reminds me of, one time I was, taking a taxi back and, it was an Uber, and the driver was from Uganda. And we started talking and I asked him about his experience coming into Canada and driving, and he said it was the most difficult thing he’s ever done. But what he did was he actually built his own community to help other Ugandans to come into the country, and he helped them through the whole process. And I ask you, what was the reason you did that? He said, because it was so difficult for me that I felt that if I didn’t do it justice to help other people, that they would have the same faults as I did. So I just think that that’s an incredible way to kind of move forward. And it sounds like you’ve done the same work. You’ve you’ve come in, you started to learn the ropes and you decided, look, if these people are going to be successful, we can build a community up and help them integrate quicker, but also help them find where all these areas are of support that are missing and how we could support them collectively as a group. Because as one starts to grow forward and gets the help and support they need, they can then in turn turn that around and help somebody else that’s coming new into the ecosystem as well.

Miryam: That’s right. I think that is also like a mentality barrier, you know, like, when when you come from another country, you are a special one. It’s kind of like an emerging market. there are so many problems. You know, I always, mentioned in the past that, you know, Latinoamérica crisis is a condition, basically. You know, you you always get into a crisis. There is always something happening, in that sometimes you get with that mentality that, that, you know, you are coming from a very, very adverse type of, ecosystem and in general circumstances that you are prepared to fight when you are right here, it’s like, okay, why do I have to do the things that I need? But sometimes they, you know, you don’t you need to work hard, but you don’t need to be, you know, necessarily like super, prepared for it for that type of adversity that we have in our home country, if I may say so. It was more like, you know, looking up the circumstances was to me realizing that I can have a business here. I had it before having Latam and startups, which is to like lawless startups. I had a consulting company and again, it’s as difficult as many other, business. You know, you still have to do work stuff. You still need to, hear a lot of notes and things like that. but the help was there always, right? It was always that will give you somebody will give you an advice that is pretty good for you. You know, legal advice, whatever you have. Things were way easier on that way. And and this is what you know, what I tried to, work with our startups is like, okay, be prepared to receive advice and be prepared for it. Open up. And, you know, in the there is a reason for why people are helping you. And I feel like, in, in the country in general and the ecosystem, people help you because if your company grows, you know, you you are going to actually, you know, create jobs, you are going to pay taxes. And as for the benefit of the whole country, right? So, you know, just, I try to work in a way with them, that is, let’s let’s open up, let’s see what we can do to create a strong community together. And I feel like newcomers, we have a lot to give, to this community of tech startups that we have in Canada. No, I mean, and nobody likes to fail. Nobody. This is no fun at all. but sometimes, I think is, is that it’s what you just mentioned is a fast learning process, basically. You know, you have to recognize when something is not working and you have to know when you have to shut down your business and start maybe later on or something, something better, because you can be like, you know, some big company for a good amount of time, wasting time and money in something that is not going to grow. You don’t want to listen or you don’t want to just, you know, give up or maybe pivot what you have. in my case, I have the worst ever, boss, which was my, my mom. I love her dearly, but, heck, she was a really terrible boss in a way I see in many people I this like. She cannot trust her shadow. She didn’t trust, you know, to have other employees to do what she, she or myself could do or my dad could do. This is a kind of family business we always had. my brother was never kind of involved in those things. But of course, you know, if you are talking with, 15 years, old version of myself or 17 years old version of myself when I started working with them and, of course, you know, at 15, you don’t know much of many things, right? but she was relying a lot. And what what I, what I could do with her and relying she was relying on her instincts and, of course, who she can trust. And, and one of the big lessons from, you know, building these companies and destroying those companies was to see that, you know, I need to trust more people. I need to actually have employees and give them the freedom, to, work in. I’m in my company to be as smart as they could, being what they know what and what they know to do, you know, know that I was there for for them to micromanage them, or to say what they have to do every single day. I love for my staff members to give that freedom, you know, of course, under certain circumstances, certain circumstances, I have to get, like, some control over things because I know, like, I have, like, ranch. She can hear her voice. having them, do whatever, but I try to give them and to push the limits, where they can do stuff. Because that type of creativity comes into our, community. And we have been able to grow because of the staff members, because of the mentor and coaches, because of the board of directors that have been a part of us. And and that freedom that, I think personally, I have been able to give them to, you know, bring something to the table that they feel that is important for the community. So that was a huge lesson learned from, from having a company with with my, my prince and that, you know, also to always speak up when I really need help because my mom also was in, you know, the typical, person that, you know, if she was going through, a hard time or trouble, she wouldn’t necessarily look for help because it was more at the time, the understood that you have to figure it out by yourself. And it’s pretty difficult for that person to, you know, figure out every single thing you know. If you are having a challenge, you may need to get an advise. And this is why I have a, awesome board of directors. I will say, because every time that I’m in like, you know, I’m having this challenge, I don’t know how to resolve it. I have somebody on the board of directors that will help me, to figure out what to do if that person will interest me with another person, you know, or just having a drink with somebody will be like, okay, let’s think through these and them. But no, it’s not thinking just by myself. You know, how to resolve things. So I think those are my $0.02. so what I learned from all these destroying companies, you know, the time frame that that I have in Colombia.

Jeffery: Well, it’s very valuable. And I did catch a few of these that are, I think are almost like I should put them in the background and they should be listed behind me so that when people are watching a video, they’ll see what you just said. These, you know, five points because they’re really valuable. And I think, and I’ll just go through a couple of them. But when you’re building and destroying it, you’re obviously changing economies, you’re looking for revenue, you’re looking for profitability. And when you don’t get there and you don’t see the scale that you or the governments through a million things that you that you didn’t expect, you just decide to move on. But it’s having the comfort, knowledge and understanding to be able to do that and being able to shift, you know, a lot of businesses, I think tend to go at it that they have to keep going until they find their way through, and that isn’t always going to be the right solution. And I found it interesting that, to your mother’s point, she lived off of her instincts and then her trust. And her trust is in the trust circle, which would bring your father in yourself. And then outside of that, it became very difficult. But she was running the show, and she was learning through her instincts. And over time, she could either be a three person shop forever, or she could find ways to grow and that’s going to come through larger trust circles and building that type of knowledge through. And you mentioned one that I find, a lot of founders are really skeptical on, and this is from a first time founder versus second and third, and it shifts us to, go through your first, second or third business. And that one was that, you know, you can work hard and you can do all these great things, but you need to find and seek out advice and be able to have that conversation if it’s over drinks or, wherever it might be. And you learn to do that at an early onset, which means that you’re always going to keep doing that. And I find that this is something that lacks in the community, which is how can I share what I’ve done wrong. And that goes from, founders who’ve raised funds to not raise funds or however that might be. Is there something that you can share that really defines and helps a founder open that up? because again, I can give an example. I was sitting with, an employee of two companies that had failed that he was part of. And in a way, I was interviewing them, not that I he would share that I was interviewing. It wasn’t recorded, but the questions I was asking was that, you know, what did you gain from this? What did you experience? And now that you’re in another startup, what do you find that you’re doing different? And oddly enough, he said that all the learnings that he got, he didn’t even realize he was learning in those two other companies. So now when he sees them, he said, he’s right away. He jumps on them and he’s like trying to play like in football defense. He’s trying to maneuver so that the founders don’t get themselves caught in the same problems that he’s witnessed over the last 3 or 4 years in the other companies. So it’s quite fascinating that once it’s built into your mindset, how much you can react and shift to save something you believe in, even if you’re only an employee because he wants the job he loves, what he does, if he doesn’t want it to end because two founders were fighting or, they didn’t see this coming, or they don’t know how to maneuver around it or they’re not taking advice. Is there something you would recommend to founders that would give more of that idea of how do I actually maneuver through this and ask questions and get the right people helping me?

Miryam: Yeah. No, we have this type of conversations all the time with the founders. And I have to say, in seven years looking at, over 200 startups that we have here, we have all type of stories that are like that, right? In many times, you know, the the company is failing because of the founders or because the founders didn’t anticipate something will happen. And then, you know, sometimes we see cases when, you know, all the weight and knowledge is in one founder and that just that person and then the others are, not in, you know, pretty aware of what, financially speaking, is like, what is the the hustle that, you know, the companies has to do to maintain themselves, you know, afloat, during a certain period of time? I mean, it’s not to to say in that aspect, you know, of the founders, when they have to recognize from very, very early, even when they haven’t incorporated the company yet, you know, if if this is the person that I want to work for the next five, ten, 20 years, you know, if, what is the vision that we have with this idea, or, you know, are we talking about, you know, a company we are going to play the infinite game that, Simon Sinek mentions or, is this, you know, a short term commitment. And I want to exit in 3 or 4 years. And then, you know, the other founder needs to be aware of that, to find the right people around him or her, you know, to continue building the company going forward. And, I think it’s also important to know that, you know, and this is a discussion that that I have with, again, with my mom, which is the biggest person that I admire. And all these because she’s a badass entrepreneur, like, for what? The, the things that she has done. But there are times when I feel like, the power of directors have to step up and say, hey, this video is not in the right, position to continue growing the company. And you need to, as a CEO or as a co-founder, accept when you know the company is growing, faster and and you cannot manage that. You know, sometimes it’s difficult to have those conversations. but I feel like it’s important that people get, you know, aware that you can grow the company up to a certain level and not always, you know, you will be the CEO of that company if you want to continue that company to grow. So we we have seen really bad cases of board of directors like, you know, GDPR type cases of board of directors. But we also have seen, you know, cases when board of directors got to actually step up for the interest of the company to help the company to continue growing, you know, and realizing the CEO won’t be the right person to continue growing, that doesn’t mean that, you know, you are leaving the company in disgrace, but it means that you know you can be a part of, you know, maybe the board of directors advisors continue being a part of the company in another position. If you feel like, this company actually is going to grow to those type of levels. So I think that that conversation early on, is important. especially if you think that you are building something that is scalable and that is going to make a difference in the market.

Jeffery: I love that. And when you talk about, say, ChatGPT as an example, it’s interesting that the board of directors did their job and then everybody took a different the global. We jumped in to complain instead of allowing the board to do their job. And sure, maybe now he’s back into his role and maybe he’ll be out in a year because he’s going to find it didn’t work out anyways. And this was just a global savings effort by the people instead of the people that were supposed to have the knowledge of the business. And who knows how that outcome will be. But I do agree wholeheartedly that if these conversations don’t happen at the beginning and that these two people that are dating as co-founders or three founders, or even if it’s just one single founder, what is the aspirations of those founders or that solo founder, and what do they want out of this business? And when they build that board, they need to be transparent. That needs to come out. And and I guess in a way, from what I’m understanding, you’re saying is that that board’s job is to really answer those questions right away, find out what this founder, what they want to be out in five years. Are they going to be in this business long enough and is it going to change in year three? If they start to scale, are they going to have to have that question and answer period again and say, is this person the right fit to grow and scale this business? Are they starting to wean and not participate? Are they not sharing financials, or are they not doing the things that are going to grow to benefit the investor community that’s invested in the company and of course, the community that’s buying into the product? So it’s fascinating how that conversation has to happen at the beginning. And it tends to be, missed. And I think, everybody could learn from your badass mom, as you stated, because if you take that badass part, that’s really what founders need. They need to be badass. And the boards and the advisors need to be asking hard hitting questions, because if they’re not asking hard hitting questions and they’re keeping it to the fluff, and they’re not pushing demand and pushing the envelope and forcing, information to come out, then you’re stuck in this conundrum of, is the person doing the right job, or are they not the right person to do this today? Where are we going to be in five years or two years? I think that’s what kind of, breaks the whole business up, is that they’re not being transparent. They’re not opening up and telling you how they feel, and then it just becomes a politics game and everybody’s combating everybody instead of being set right from the get go where they want to go.

Miryam: Totally. I think that, you know, when people are not being transparent, with their own board, or, you know, even with your staff members, I think is to me, that’s very important thing to do. it will catch up in some points, right? So, sooner or later, people will realize that you were not totally telling the truth or you were not, you know, doing what you’re supposed to do, because unfortunately, you know, things come to real, in, in, in, in, in many circumstances, it could be, you know, dude, you’re just delaying that. That happens, you know, like, and it, again, can be a very, pretty ugly situation if, if that happens when it’s too late to fix something or, you know, then people are going to start distrusting you, you know, having a second, third company for a company with such a record of, you know, not being transparent, certain things, it becomes more, more and more difficult, you know, to find people around you that they will trust to give you an advice or to help you to continue growing. and again, not all companies are perfect, like, you know, CEOs make mistakes all the time. I do make mistakes all the time. I’m learning every single day. you know, when when I there are things that I could do today, like, I’m totally sure that I’m doing the right thing. And then, you know, when I get a board of directors, I mean, or, you know, I’m supposed to be doing this. You’re supposed to be doing this or. Well, okay, so, you know, you correct your way to try to do your best, and and you’re not to comply with what you’re supposed to do. and there is a lot of learning process. So, I mean, nobody’s expecting perfection here, but it’s expecting that, you know, that, that you will be responsible for the people around you because, you know, as a CEO and you’re responsible and as a co-founder for a company, you are responsible for people that are working in your company or dependable of those salaries. you are responsible for your clients, right, that are also dependable on the solution that you’re providing. And for is liable for whatever errors and omissions that you do. Like, you know, there are a lot of people that are, affected by the things that you are doing today. So, yeah. So, so I think that, you know, having those early conversations are important, but is, I have to be mindful also that it’s very difficult sometimes to realize where the company actually can go. You know, how growth can be. And sometimes success happen faster than you can take, you know, and, or the opposite, you know, sometimes I’m more prepared for failures than for success because of my story with my family. But, you know, it can happen really fast, and you do need to have the right people around you to help you when success happen, because you can also make mistakes when success happen. So yeah, it’s it’s a lot of learning that we had all all these years with these companies. And of course, during my time with my family, I mean, businesses.

Jeffery: And those are those are certainly great experiences. And I would say maybe on the last note to this is how do you find either a group of people that support you and advise you, and how do you understand which ones are giving you the right insights? Is it because they invest in you? They don’t invest in you. They’re outside parties. They’re your family. How does a founder choose when they’ve got a lot of voices around them, telling them what to do next and again, there’s going to be a lot because there’s a lot of clutter out in the space. You’re reading a lot of things you’re seeing your competitors are doing. Then you’re talking with advisors, coaches, other of other founders, advisors, investors, and all this information coming around you. How do you find that these founders, especially in your ecosystem, are making the right choices so that they don’t end up always getting mud on their face? Is it just everybody’s talking about their advisors like, don’t talk to this person. They’re terrible. Like, how do you mitigate this and how do you get around it? Because I think it’s pretty crucial that everybody has advice. And I think they say advice is worth nothing. It’s actions that are worth everything. So how do you value that and how do you get anywhere with all of the people talking around you?

Miryam: Well, the first thing I will say that try to avoid family, because normally family loves you and they will do whatever. Like, you know, every time I ask an advice to my mom, she thinks that I do everything perfect. So, you know, it’s just that I do it just for my ego. I see if I need, like, somebody to, put me up. I call her, but when I need real advice, you know, sometimes I go, you know, how do you do that? Those advisors say, I will say that this is like dating, right? You have to be meeting a lot of people and actually get to know them and and get to know what is their story and what why they want to help you. You know, there is always a Y in everything. And, you cannot take lightly like, I just met this person here, and I think that this person is just going to be an awesome, board of directors and advisor. I think you have to have several conversations, through a period of time to really realize if this this is the right person for my board of directors, for my advisory board. in, in, of course, you know, see, what is the track record that this person has? for example, I have one more. My board of directors is running, folks that did, you know, in the market she’s known for, build up, basically the MSI version, right? She was the person who created and had run DMC for five years and put it number one in North America. So that’s a pretty good record for me. in regards of somebody that has the knowledge in the industry that can actually help me, you know, to do better with global startups. She has been my board of advisors for seven years, and most of them from the beginning, has been my board of advisors. What I well, in my first board of directors, you know, was a person that was mentoring me with when they have the consulting company and, you know, whatever. If you said at the time I was doing probably the opposite, I think it was a lot of people. He had a lot of patience with me, and I lost a lot of money because I didn’t follow his advice. so that’s that’s what I have. In the past, when I studied Latin and startups, I started with my -$25,000. It was because of the the many things that I didn’t do at the time. you know, that my advisor was telling me, you know, and he stopped talking with me for six months. it was like a he was so upset with me, after many things that I was doing. But the moment that I put Latam instead of together, and I asked him to be my board of directors, he jump up and say, yes, of course I will be there. And he’s still there. so many of the things you know that happen, I think it’s basically, you know, knowing the other person and knowing how that person can contribute to, you know, to your organization and whether how do you know, how is the relationship going? You know, are you feeling like you can trust that person and that, you know, is that person also getting something from you? You know, from from being an advisor or a board in the company? What is up to them? Why is that? They are doing that, you know, so you get like a middle point when it okay, this makes sense. but yeah, it doesn’t happen overnight. And you have to be meeting a lot of people in order to do that. So I’m an introvert. I know how difficult is to reach out people, but but you know, you have to put in the shoes. You know, a manager, I don’t know, a imposter syndrome, whatever you call it. And and just, you know, reach out people and start having conversations.

Jeffery: Well, that’s well shared. And I’m going to go back to the thing that you’ve said multiple times. It really comes down to. And again, this goes back to your mother. I’m guessing. But it’s the trust factor is that really is how do you trust people that they’re giving you the right insight? And I think the the add on that you shared is that, you know, outside a background track and what have they accomplished and what have they completed, but spending some time interviewing them and spending more time in meetings with them, putting them under the gun to find out how they react and how they’re actually going to help you. But it comes down to what is what are they getting out of it that they have to have of their why? Why are they there? Why do they want to help you? What’s their outcome that they’re going to achieve from this. And then on your side it’s builds trust. So knowing those things are going to help you build that trust and get the right people supporting you. And to your point, you’ve had great people supporting you for the entire seven years of it. And that came from trust, but also learning, what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve done, and use that to benefit yourself as you propel forward and, and scale your business.

Miryam: That’s that’s totally right. so and I have to say that for my board of directors. Yeah. And probably, I don’t know, last point on here, board of directors is that you also have to see the chemistry between them. Right. And it’s really, remarkable when I see them working together towards this, organization, their growth ambition. So we have done, you know, like, you know, retreats when we, we have been just working on, you know, what is the next, three years of the company, how it looks like, you know, to see all of them working together towards that and and putting time and internal, into build something along with me is really remarkable. So that’s why I always, you know, mention to our startups, which get our board of directors, people that can help you to, you know, think with you and and see what you know, how the company will look like in the next few years. And and what I feel is like people here are pretty open to do that.
not saying that everyone is, you know, open, but I see the community’s way, better, better in this way, you know, like, you can reach out people and and ask. And people are going to respond today whether it is no or yes, but they are going to respond.

Jeffery: I love it. Bring people together, trust them, help them work together and see how they all interact and then grow your business from there. I think it’s, it’s a beautiful way of organizing yourself and your company and the initiatives around, your founders or co-founders and a lot of it, I guess you mentioned it comes down to trust and trusting yourself, listening to everything and coming up with the right story and the if the right, where you want to tackle the market and go after it. So very informative, I love it. We’re going to transition now into my favorite segment, which is a 62nd read. So you have 60s. I’ll raise my hand in five seconds. I’ve never got to use this, but I want you to find the thing that you want to dive into the most. You’ve got 60s you’re ready to go. I’m going to hit start of the timer, rant about anything but anything.

Miryam: I think in my daily job, this probably has been the most difficult year for us as a community, in a way that, you know, we see some funders attitude, this year is that, you know, oh, not doing this stuff. You know, do everything for me. It’s kind of ugly to, I don’t know, something.
I’ve been discussing this with different people. Is this something post-pandemic people are getting with this? I don’t give a shit. Sorry about anything. It’s just, you know, do this for me. Do you know I don’t want to do this. I want to grow my company, but I want, you know, somebody else to do it for me. And, I think that, you know, we we as a community and in our staff members, we have been doing a lot this year with that type of, you know, approach from, from founders, either they are here in Canada or outside. but they. Yeah, I don’t know where it’s coming from. The attitude of, do things for me. Does it?

Jeffery: Well, it’s a great rant. I’m going to say that I think this is isn’t this is everybody? Yeah. No, I think that everybody wants to get what they can for free. Nobody wants to work hard for everybody. I think since the pandemic, everybody is about assets and value. And I can’t do anything unless you’re giving it to me for free. So how do you change that? How do you make founders get back to the hard work? Because it was always said years ago, invest in immigration startups because they know what hustle is. They got to work hard for everything. So that’s where you want to go. You’re telling me the opposite now that that’s what’s changing, unfortunately. Which means that they’re assimilating into the rest of the world, which is I don’t want to do anything, and I want everybody to give it to me for free because I’m supposed to live my best life, according to TikTok. So how do we change this? And how do we make this worthwhile? Because if the world’s just building a bunch of flaky people that don’t want to do work and they want to steal and rob, how do we make sure that we’re investing in the right people?

Miryam: I know we have different ways to try to shake them up and, you know, to tell them, hey, things are not going to happen by themselves. You know, you have to work on days and sometimes you’re not. You have to basically let them, and, in the hard way, you know, we are here to tell them, you know, what do you know that this this is happening with a majority of companies. But with this, we have seen an increase of funders with this type of data. So, yeah, it’s, my approach has been, okay, let’s do it your way and see what happens, you know, and then and then, you know, it’s kind of like, you know, when you have kids and you see toddlers, you know, like they are going to fail and they don’t want to hear you, but you’re still going to. It’s kind of like that, right? and I feel like, okay. before, beginning of this year, we were kind of kind of pushing, you know, to, hey, listen up, do you are going to be failing if you continue doing this and and then our last approach has been, okay, let’s let’s do it your way. And, you know, it’s a little bit hard to see them fail because they don’t follow. But I think, you know, it’s the other way to learn them. I don’t I don’t have any other tactic. But that’s why I will.

Jeffery: Say it’s a, it’s a tough life lesson that if you’re not going to put in the hard work, you’re going to have a not a favorable outcome. And it’s unfortunate that people aren’t seeing that the hard work does pay off over time. So it sounds like you’re, you’re doing the right things, you’re learning the right way. And hopefully your founders, see the value that you’re bringing to the ecosystem. And they either jump on board or they find somebody else to do their free work and everything else that they’re trying to pawn off on people. And you’ll get the great companies that, know what it takes to be a founder.

Miryam: Yeah. So sometimes, especially with the ones that are not here, the the most difficult part for them is that they are already known in their home countries. They already have built a name and they are coming to this country. And it’s like, why do I have to do everything again? Like from scratch, right? Like I have this such amazing company there. It’s it’s I put trust in LinkedIn, before, you know, if I have a dollar for every company that have told me that they are more advanced and more mature and, you know, awesome. more than the others. Like, you know, I wouldn’t have this on business. I will be a millionaire, right? Because they all come with it. Not all, but, you know, they come with this attitude. I’m like, I’m so big here. Just treat me that way. you know, and, thing is that, unfortunately, and, you know, this happen at all levels. You see actors, singers, you know, if we are talking about, you know, celebrities, if they got sometimes older countries that they don’t know about them, they have kind of built from scratch branding and that that’s a hard thing that that we have seen in some of the companies because they come already with, you know, a good presence in their country and respecting that. Do you treat them the same way as they are treated right now in the other country? Because they’re big, they’re.

Jeffery: Yeah, it is it’s very tough. I think, in time, hopefully people realize when you’re changing new markets that you have to resell yourself through. And that’s just the part of, of being an entrepreneur if you want to grow your business.

Miryam: Basically. Yeah.

Jeffery: All right. We’re going to transition into our, our investor segment now. So this is pick one or the other. So we’re going to we’ll start off and it’s pick one. You have founder or co-founder is the first question you pick which one from your investor standpoint. ready to roll.

Miryam: Yep.

Jeffery: Perfect. All right. Founder a co-founder.

Miryam: Founder.

Jeffery: Unicorn. Or four year ten x exit.

Miryam: excuse me, can you repeat.

Jeffery: Unicorn or a four year, ten x exit?

Miryam: prefer unicorn.

Jeffery: Okay. Tech or CPG.

Miryam: Tech?

Jeffery: NFT or web 3.0.

Miryam: Web3.0

Jeffery: AI or blockchain?

Miryam: AI yeah.

Jeffery: I first time founder or second? Third time founder.

Miryam: Second. Third time founder.

Jeffery: First money in or series a serious. Angel or VC.

Miryam: VC.

Jeffery: Board seat or observer.

Miryam: Board seat.

Jeffery: Safe or convertible.

Miryam: Note safe.

Jeffery: Favorite part of investing?

Miryam: Knowing the different businesses, I don’t know.

Jeffery: Okay, what is the follow?

Miryam: Excuse me.

Jeffery: Lead or follow?

Miryam: Lead.

Jeffery: Verticals of focus,

Miryam: Verticals? Yeah.

Jeffery: Which verticals would you. For? Which verticals are you guys going to focus on for your fund? Which areas do you want to invest in?

Miryam: We want to invest in Web3, going forward. So for now, it will be kind of agnostic, but going forward will be Web3.

Jeffery: Okay. Love it. Two qualities a startup needs in order to stand out to you.

Miryam: To quality of startups. You mean examples?

Jeffery: Yes. Correct. Like two things that you feel will set a startup aside, that you’ll want to work with them and invest in them.

Miryam: Coachable teams. I think that everyone look for it. And traction. Traction is important. having real customers, means that, you know, there is, you know, paying someone.

Jeffery: Okay. What piece of advice would you give to founders? Nine out of ten times.

Miryam: to listen, to be coachable and to have, board of directors again, I think we’ve come to the same point of, you know, having somebody to help you love it.

Jeffery: Do you have a philosophy or any rules that you stand by?

Miryam: Yeah. And in our community, we kind of embrace diversity and inclusion so that from the point of view of having people from all backgrounds, newcomers from everywhere, you know, founders that are minorities, so will be diversity, inclusion and transparency. And it’s our core values, which resonates with what I feel myself to.

Jeffery: Okay, who is your hero or mentor and why?

Miryam: Hero. Again, my mom mentor. I have different people that I can I will say that my whole board of directors are my mentors and people that I really admire. for what they do, I love it.

Jeffery: What is your biggest fear or phobia in the business startup ecosystem?

Miryam: for me, Ego , I feel like that’s kind of like I. For one thing, I like to work with people with egos in a way that, you know, I feel like I can put it on ground, but for once, I hate people who could. Big egos come into the community?

Jeffery: That was always a tough one to to, to mix around. I completely agree with that. If you could change one thing about venture, what would it be?

Miryam: to be less risk adverse. Risk. But I can say, yeah, that’s.

Jeffery: That one is, I love it. All right. We’re going to move into the personal side. Pick one or the other. Here we go. Most famous person that pops in your mind.

Miryam: Jerry Seinfeld.

Jeffery: Well, love him. It’s awesome. First brand that pops in your mind. Like book or movie.

Miryam: book.

Jeffery: Superman or Wonder Woman?

Miryam: I always find the Superman action.

Jeffery: All right. Fortune cookie or birthday cake?

Miryam: Birthday cake.

Jeffery: Five minutes with Bezos or Oprah.

Miryam: Oprah

Jeffery: Mountain or beach?

Miryam: Beach

Jeffery: Bike or run.

Miryam: Hike!

Jeffery: Perfect. Big Mac or chicken McNuggets.

Miryam: McNuggets.

Jeffery: Okay. Trophy or money?

Miryam: money.

Jeffery: Beer. Wine.

Miryam: Wine.

Jeffery: Ted. Talk or book reading?

Miryam: Book reading.

Jeffery: TikTok or Instagram.

Miryam: TikTok.

Jeffery: Facebook or LinkedIn.

Miryam: LinkedIn.

Jeffery: Favorite movie and what character would you play?

Miryam: Oh that’s difficult. One I don’t remember. What favorite movie, The Greatest Showman and the main character. Yeah.

Jeffery: All right. Perfect. Favorite book?

Miryam: the cultural map.

Jeffery: You’re about to say that one again so you can write it down.

Miryam: The cultural map.

Jeffery: Cultural map. All right. You should try it out. I’m going to read that. All right. Done. favorite sports team?

Miryam: Oh, I’m from that one. volleyball.

Jeffery: I love it. That’s good. all right. What is the meaning of success to you?

Miryam: The meaning of success. I think when you feel fulfilled, personality is speaking with what you are doing.

Jeffery: Awesome. What is your superpower?

Miryam: Communication. I feel like that’s that’s my superpower.

Jeffery: Well, you’re also great at building a community, which means the superpower of of those all kind of coincide together. So I would say that’s brilliant. And totally agree with that. It’s awesome. Well, Miriam, I’m going to say it’s been a real pleasure getting the opportunity to chat with you today. Took a million notes, a lot of learnings, and you have a lot of great tag lines of things that you’ve learned and shared. So I appreciate all of that. And the way we kind of like to end our show is that we want to give you the opportunity to say any last words to investors or to the startup community. I turn it over to you. And one last thing. If you can share how people can get Ahold of you, that would be awesome. But thank you very much for all your time.

Miryam: No, thank you again for the opportunity to speak a very, you know, honor and humble for for the opportunity and, you know, to people just, you know, reach out. there are communities everywhere that can help you to grow your business. you know, if you are a newcomer, please feel at home with us. we’ll we’ll try to do our best to fill you, you know, comfortable in the community, growing your business. And, you know, how people can, you know, get in contact with me on LinkedIn? I love to use LinkedIn for every contact, so that would be great.

Jeffery: I love it. Thank you very much, Miriam.

Miryam: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Your friend.

Jeffery: All right. Thank you. Yeah.