Category: Investors

Investors in Peru often ask to see traction before investing in a startup and evaluate founding teams based on their execution ability, or capacity to achieve traction. Continue reading “What is traction, anyway?”

Tax implications are low on the list of investment criteria for angel and seed stage investors in Peru (as they should be). However, as the probability of a successful exit increases, tax considerations come to the forefront. Venture capital investors will seek to optimize returns and avoid startups that have inefficient tax structures. Continue reading “Tax 101 for startups in Peru”

Members of Peru’s startup community have collaborated with advisors outside Peru to develop a report outlining considerations for startups evaluating creating international holding companies.

When should a startup evaluate creating an international holding company?

Continue reading “When is the right time to set up an International HoldCo?”

I don’t like the term corporate governance much, but I am a huge fan of what it represents and how much it can help startups. It should just be called “getting the best people together to support a startup”.  Good corporate governance can help founders achieve their goals, both by building trust with investors and pointing founders in the right direction. Continue reading “Just don’t call it ‘Corporate Governance’”

I recently spoke to Fernando Langschwager about his startup, Aprendiendo.la.  After a short time, he looked at me and told me I was asking the wrong questions. For novice startup investors like me, it is easy to fall into the trap of evaluating startups from the wrong perspective.  I spent the rest of the chat with Fernando listening to his views on where I was getting off track and he helped me come up with three pitfalls startup investors fall into: Continue reading “Startup investor pitfalls”

Comparable transactions are a great benchmark for founders and investors and one way to get comfortable with a startup’s valuation as it is raising capital. There are many ways arrive at valuation and a range of values using multiple methodologies often provides more comfort than a fixed number extended out to various decimal places. Continue reading “Valuation Benchmarks”