Greg Mitchell

Managing Partner

PUBLISHED

March 2024

SHARE

The Ripple Effect: AVP Ventures’s alumni are shaping Latin America’s startup scene

The current AVP Ventures team: Greg Mitchell, Elizabeth Acuña, Ramiro Zegarra, Julia Valdivia, Sophie Malca, Erick Meza

The Ripple Effect: AVP Ventures’s alumni are shaping Latin America’s startup scene

Talent philosophy

Our goal at AVP Ventures is to train the future managers of early stage investing in Peru. We believe that this talent philosophy is aligned with a long-term approach to investing and to contributing to the nascent venture capital industry in the country. Our formula is to hire the right people, model behavior, and give young professionals the wings to work autonomously. Since we are an early stage fund with an aim to build relationships and accompany founders, we want to hire people who are ready to interact with founders from their first day. Whether it is to hear a new pitch with a curious learning outlook, or to help portfolio founders build a metrics dashboard, our team members are ready. Given our remote only set up, our professionals need to be self-motivated and able to work autonomously . In turn, they can work closely with founders and our network of investors and advisors to open doors, make connections, and remove obstacles for career development. With this mindset, we can be a platform where young professionals can put their talents to work and learn on the job as an apprenticeship or bootcamp. Experience on our team should simulate being a fund manager, where our team members can touch all the aspects of startup investing and fund management. If we hire, retain and support our team members correctly, they will make a big impact at our firm, then go on to have a ripple effect of AVP Ventures in Peru and across Latin America.

Three career paths of our alumni

Our alumni have scaled out of AVP Ventures toward new, challenging roles. They have taken distinct paths, pursuing either finance, startup operating roles or ecosystem building. Some have even done a combination of the three. One path is a regional startup ecosystem path. After her time at AVP Ventures, Yanira Caraza, has had stints at Seedstars, Startupeable, the premier content source for the Latin America ecosystem. She is currently Partnerships Manager at Amela, the leading network for female founders in the region. Another former Analyst, Frank Cerna contributed to the Peruvian ecosystem as consultant at the Peruvian Seed and Venture Capital Association, PECAP. Frank now works at COFIDE, Peru’s development bank. Another path is a startup operating role path. Roberto Arbe left AVP Ventures to join Clara, a regional fintech company, where he was a member of the companies finance team and supported them in capital raising efforts. Roberto has now transitioned to another startup, EQUIP, based in Peru. Frank, mentioned above, also joined a startup, in his case becoming a founder and launching his own, GoDolar. A final path that our alumni take is a finance path. Alumni that pursue this path work as investors or advisors either within venture capital or adjacent asset classes. Former analyst Emanuel Sanchez joined Advent portfolio company Canvia and is now Associate LXG Capital. Juan Diego Garcia Cantella, after a brief stint at portfolio company Emptor, joined Apolo Capital, then Outbound Ventures. Now he works at private equity fund Resource Capital Partners. In addition to the alumni mentioned above, we have had other analysts, interns and consultants who have joined our journey. These include: Lali Merino, Fernando Lucen, Rosa Bocanegra, Bryan Lopez and Micaela Torres. We can add Wharton MBA students Julie Castelbaum, Zachary Hickey and Steven Peralta, as well as undergraduates Alexandre Mourot, Andrea Nebrada, Josh Ferrufino, Ethan Kallet, and Sebastian Rosado. They had stints at AVP Ventures and have gone on to work in tangential investment industries or startups. All of them have contributed to what we are today.

I will always be grateful and proud of my time at AVP Ventures. I learned how everyone plays an important role in the startup ecosystem. There is no small role or contribution when your passion guides you toward the goal of helping entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem enablers connect and collaborate. If I could start over, I would join the team again. –


Yanira Caraza

Lasting impact

These AVP Ventures alumni have made a lasting impact within AVP Ventures and continue to have a positive ripple effect across the broader startup ecosystem by taking what they have learned and applying it to adjacent fields. The first impact has been within AVP Ventures, where our alumni institutionalized their work, allowing us to maintain high standards of quality even after they move on. For example, Emanuel Sanchez built an investment model template for startup valuation that we still use today. Roberto Arbe did work on sector studies that is a way to provide a snapshot of a sector. MBA intern Julie Castelbaum summarized our portfolio into snapshots that have been the template for investor relations and the portfolio page of this website. Second, is how they use the time at AVP Ventures as a springboard and ecosystem-wide effects by building communities and creating content that is a critical resource of support and information for founders. Yanira Caraza has had a regional reach of her impact through her role building community and partnerships for regional programs and community-driven startups. Frank Cerna has impacted the local venture capital industry, through his continued support of PECAP. Frank spent many trips to Notaria during the founding days of PECAP and provided broader ecosystem level support with the development of data and reports and in the various events including pitch competitions during the Peru Venture Capital Conference.

Working at AVP Ventures was a transformative experience where I discovered my passion for startups and saw firsthand how entrepreneurs create and capture value through technology. From day one, I was thrust into an incredibly challenging and dynamic environment, which gave me an unparalleled opportunity to learn and grow alongside some of the region’s top entrepreneurs and investors. –


Roberto Arbe

Looking towards the future

At AVP Ventures, we seek to be an attractive place for the most qualified young professionals in Peru. We hope to be a platform where they can contribute to our team and showcase the talent that exists in the country. We believe this outlook will attract the best talent to and ensure that their careers take off. Our current analysts are following along a similar path. Ramiro Zegarra and Sophie Malca joined our team and hit the ground running in 2023 and have already made significant impact within AVP Ventures and across the startup ecosystem. Ramiro recently launched La Nave, the student-led entrepreneurship club at Universidad del Pacifico. Sophie was a lead volunteer at the Peru Venture Capital Conference in 2022. These young professionals have unlimited potential and we are excited to see how they grow at AVP Ventures and beyond. The startup community offers a unique opportunity for young professionals to quickly take on challenging regional roles. This is both a validation of the talent in Peru and evidence of the regional integration of our startup ecosystem across Latin America.