Alejandro Freund Ecommerce in Ecuador Podcast

Published in

Magma Partners

2 min readJul 18, 2017

Alejandro Freund is an Ecuadorian entrepreneur who started YaEsta.com, Ecuador’s most influential ecommerce company. Listen to his story on the Crossing Borders podcast.

Ep 11 Alejandro Freund, Pioneering Ecommerce in Latin America

Many people who do business in the United States don't realize that there are burgeoning and viable markets in Latin…

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Outline of This Episode

[1:44] What it’s like to do ecommerce in Ecuador.
[6:22] Closing the deal with a small business supporter to build out the company.
[8:54] How the team decided which products and brands to launch with.
[12:42] Tapping into the artisan communities surrounding their suppliers.
[15:30] Fundraising after a successful trial-and-error first year.
[20:27] Understanding Ecuador as a country and as a place to do business.
[22:22] Why are the big retailers in Ecuador so far behind those in other countries.
[35:16] Dealing with the logistics and shipping in Ecuador.
[41:08] The reasons Alejandro decided to return to Ecuador to build a company.
[45:55] Why Alejandro believes he’s been able to raise the funds he has.
[52:00] Advice for other entrepreneurs getting into competitive markets.
[56:00] Why yield is a great reason to invest in Latin American companies.
[59:32] Surprising things about doing business in Ecuador.
[1:00:45] Alejandro’s advice to himself as a beginning startup founder.