How to boost Latin American Startups

My interview with Nathan, the venture capitalist growing Latin American startups

In our Digital Nomads Interviews series we feature interviews with digital nomads and nomads entrepreneurs with interesting profiles, from all over the world. We hope they will inspire you as much as they inspire us! This week, we talked to Nathan Lustig, the venture capitalist looking to boost growth of Latin American startups with his fund Magma Partners.

Hi Nathan! So tell me who you are and what do you do?

I’m Nathan Lustig, Managing Partner at Magma Partners, a venture capital fund that invests in the best companies from Latin America and helps them target the U.S. market. I’m originally from Wisconsin but participated in the pilot round of the accelerator program, Start-Up Chile, in 2010 and I have been working with startups in the region ever since.

Can you tell us more about Magma Partners and what makes you unique?

Magma Partners is one of Latin America’s only fully private venture capital funds. Since 2014, my partners Francisco, Diego and I have invested in 32 companies with founders from 9 countries including Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, U.S., UK, South Korea, and Venezuela. We invest $25-$75K at the seed stage and then follow on with up to $250K more to help companies scale.

We’re unique because we pair operational experience in startups with helping Latin American entrepreneurs attack the U.S. market. We’ve now had more than $7M in follow on funding into our companies from outside investors and most importantly, our companies now employ more than 300 people and generate more than $10M in revenue per year. All for less than a typical Silicon Valley seed round.

You are a seasoned investor and startups founder. How did it all start for you, working with Latin American startups?

I started and sold a startup while I was still in university. I also started a second business back in 2009. My business partner and I were in Wisconsin, and we saw an article online that said that Chile was awarding $40K equity free grants to come to Chile for the Chilean summer/Wisconsin winter and we jumped at the chance. After selling our business a year later, I went back to Chile and worked at a Chilean startup, taught entrepreneurship at a few of Latin America’s top universities, and did some consulting for startups in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S.

I realized I was doing everything that an investor does except one important thing. Actually investing money! I’d also met most other funds in Chile in 2010, and it wasn’t pretty. So I created the plan for the fund that I wished I’d been able to meet during Start-Up Chile.

My partner Diego, who was part of the Start-Up Chile team back in 2010, called me and introduced me to Francisco, who runs a Chilean family office. Francisco had done well in business and wanted to give back to the next generation of Latin American entrepreneurs and agreed to partner up to start Magma Partners.

We’re founder friendly and provide real help and a path to do business in the U.S. market, which helps founders be more successful.

You’ve been in Latin America for a while now. What was the attitude of your friends and relatives when they knew you were leaving the country?

When I first moved to Chile in 2010, everyone was supportive. They thought it would be a fun six-month program. When I went back in 2012, some people reacted with raised eyebrows, and they assumed I’d be back in the U.S. within a year at most. By 2013, some entrepreneur and investor friends told me that I was wasting my time in Latin America, I should be back in the U.S. My parents and close friends have always been very supportive, although I’m sure they wish I were back in the U.S. more often.

Nathan you are now based in a wonderful continent with so many unique countries, I’m sure that gives you a chance to travel. How often do you travel?

I followed the sun, having an everlasting summer from May 2010 until May 2012, then lived in Chile for the next three years.

Since then, over the past two years, I’ve traveled between Santiago, Medellin, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Phoenix regularly, with stops to see family and friends in Wisconsin. I also traveled for business to Argentina, Puerto Rico, London, Germany and other destinations in the U.S. along the way. I maintain a base in Chile and the U.S., but I’m moving on average every 3–4 weeks.

Wow you’ve seen quite a bit of the world! What would be your favorite place to work from?

I love Santiago, Medellin and Mexico City. I love our office in Santiago when I’m in town. Otherwise, you can find me a coffee shop with great wifi.

A lot of the people I’ve interviewed report that they get to meet amazing people alongside their travels. Is that the case for you? How do you go about meeting people?

I love meeting interesting, smart, motivated people from all over the world. I like going to new places and really trying to understand what’s going on there, talking to people and really understanding the culture, the business opportunities, and how they see the world. I’m extremely lucky that I’ve been able to see interesting parts of the world as part of my work, learn a new language, and see how other cultures work.

Recently, I created a podcast called Crossing Borders where I interview entrepreneurs doing business across borders with some connection to Latin America. I’ve been able to have conversations with amazing entrepreneurs building world-changing businesses because I’ve chosen this lifestyle.

Your podcast sounds interesting super interesting! It’s great to hear about entrepreneurs who are not Silicon-Valley based. What would you say are the challenges in your lifestyle?

It’s challenging to see family and friends in the U.S. less than I would like to. Additionally, every time I get settled into a new place, it’s time to move again, which is hard on new friendships in each city I end up working from.

For young people who want to follow your path, what would you tell them?

Just go. There’s an enormous amount of freelance and full-time jobs in Latin America working for startups. Look at Santiago, Medellin, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. You can also check out awesomejobs.io (one of my portfolio companies) that has listings for startup jobs with a focus on Latin America.

Amen to that and thanks for the links, all the best for what’s to come Nathan!

Thanks Nathan for sharing your story with the DN:m community! If you like the article, spread it by giving a 💓 and subscribe to the DN:m newsletter

All images: credit of Nathan and Magma Partners and used with their permission. This article was originally published on digitalnomadsmedia.com on June 30 — Find more about Nathan in the full article