What 50+ LATAM Founder Conversations Are Teaching Us About U.S. Expansion
- Esra Talu
- 46 minutes ago
- 6 min read
A summer of listening, evaluating, and building new connections across the Americas
By Esra Talu, Founder & CEO, GoGlobal
This summer, much of our work at GoGlobal has focused on a question that has been becoming increasingly important to us:
How can we deepen our impact across the Americas — not only by supporting companies already building in the United States, but by identifying promising founders across Latin America who are preparing for their next stage of global growth?
Over the past few months, we have connected with more than 50 founders across 10+ Latin American markets, participated in roundtable discussions, exchanged views with ecosystem players, and held deeper conversations with selected companies considering the United States for expansion, capital, partnerships, or all three.
Some were ready.
Some were close.
Others still had considerable work to do before a U.S. expansion or fundraising strategy would make sense.
And that distinction may be one of the most valuable things we learned.
We are sharing some of these observations because our conversations cannot include every founder in the region — but the lessons coming out of them can reach many more.
Latin America Is Not One Startup Market
The first point sounds obvious, but it is worth repeating: there is no single “Latin American startup ecosystem.”
Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina each have very different market dynamics, capital environments, founder profiles and relationships with the United States. Beyond these major ecosystems, we are also seeing interesting companies emerging from Uruguay, Peru and other markets across the region.
The external data confirms the depth and diversity of that ecosystem. Startup Genome's 2025 rankings put São Paulo, Mexico City, Bogotá and Santiago-Valparaíso among Latin America's four leading startup ecosystems, while Buenos Aires, Lima, Medellín and Montevideo also feature prominently. More recent 2026 ecosystem data similarly places Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico among the region's five strongest startup countries.
But rankings only tell part of the story.
What interests us most at GoGlobal is what happens between these ecosystems and the United States.
That corridor is where we believe there is significant untapped potential.
We Are Not Seeing a Talent Gap
Among the founders we encountered this summer, lack of ambition was rarely the issue.
Neither was technical talent.
We met founders building across AI, SaaS, fintech, consumer technology, health, mobility and other sectors. Many had built their companies with considerably less capital than comparable U.S. startups. Some already had meaningful customers and revenue. Others had successfully navigated economic volatility, currency fluctuations and fragmented regional markets.
Those experiences can create remarkably resilient entrepreneurs.
But being a successful company in Latin America and being ready to raise capital and compete in the United States are two different things.
That is where we repeatedly saw a gap.
And it is not simply a funding gap.
It is often a translation gap.
Not linguistic translation.
Business translation.
A founder may have impressive traction in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, or Argentina. But a U.S. investor will still want to understand:
Why does that traction predict success in America?
Who is the U.S. customer?
Who are the competitors?
Does the pricing model work?
What happens to margins?
Who owns U.S. execution?
What evidence exists that customers in the United States actually want the product?
And perhaps most importantly:
Why should this company become global now?
U.S. Expansion Should Not Begin With an Investor List
One recurring theme in our conversations was some variation of:
“We need U.S. investors so we can expand into the U.S.”
Sometimes that is true.
But very often, the sequence needs to be reversed.
A U.S. investor should not be expected to finance an untested assumption that America might become the company's next big market.
There should already be a credible thesis.
That does not necessarily mean opening an office, hiring a U.S. team and spending heavily before fundraising. It might mean customer discovery, pilots, strategic partnerships, a strong pipeline, validated pricing or evidence of demand.
The principle is simpler:
U.S. expansion should not merely be the reason for the raise. A credible U.S. expansion thesis should become one of the reasons an investor wants to participate in the raise.
That difference is fundamental.
The Deck Is Rarely the Real Problem
Another thing we heard frequently was:
“We need to improve our investor deck.”
Sometimes they did.
But a beautiful deck cannot solve an unclear business case.
Before changing slides, founders may need to clarify the positioning, financial assumptions, competitive environment, U.S. go-to-market strategy, use of funds, milestones, or even the rationale for entering the market.
A deck is the expression of an investment story.
It cannot substitute for one.
At GoGlobal, this is why we increasingly look at U.S. readiness through several interconnected lenses:
Market. Is there evidence of U.S. demand?
Traction. What does the company's existing performance actually prove?
Economics. Do the business model, margins, and pricing translate?
Competition. Who already solves the problem in the United States?
Team. Who will execute the expansion?
Capital. What exactly will the next round unlock?
This is also why we do not believe every company we encounter should immediately be introduced to investors.
Sometimes the most valuable advice is: not yet.
Being Capital-Efficient May Be an Advantage
There is another characteristic of Latin American founders that deserves more attention.
Many have learned to build under constraints.
In the previous era of abundant venture capital, that was not always celebrated.
Today, it can be an important advantage.
The investment environment has become considerably more selective. LAVCA reports that venture investors deployed $2.2 billion into early-stage Latin American companies in 2025, representing 52% of regional VC investment, while overall capital became increasingly concentrated in fewer opportunities.
Investors still want growth.
But increasingly, they also want discipline.
The ability to build, sell and survive without assuming unlimited access to capital is not a weakness. For the right LATAM company, it can become part of the investment case.
Access Is Valuable. Readiness Converts Access Into Opportunity.
At GoGlobal, we have spent years building relationships across different startup and investment ecosystems.
But one lesson has remained consistent regardless of geography:
An introduction is not a strategy.
A founder may know an investor.
An advisor may be able to make an introduction.
An accelerator may provide access to a room.
None of those things guarantees that the opportunity will convert.
What matters is what happens once the door opens.
Can the founder explain the business clearly?
Does the opportunity fit the investor?
Are the numbers defensible?
Is the timing right?
Is there enough evidence behind the expansion story?
This is why we believe the value of a global network is ultimately determined by the ability to convert relationships into meaningful outcomes.
What Comes Next for GoGlobal in Latin America
Our work this summer was not intended as a temporary Latin America initiative.
It is part of something broader.
GoGlobal is continuing to build its presence and impact across the Americas by developing deeper relationships with founders, investors, corporations and ecosystem partners throughout the region.
We are particularly interested in technology companies that have built something meaningful in their home or regional markets and are beginning to ask a bigger question:
Could the United States become the platform for our next stage of growth?
Not every company should make that move.
Not every company is ready today.
And not every company needs U.S. venture capital.
But for those with the right fundamentals, timing, and ambition, the opportunity can be transformative.
For investors, we believe there is an equally interesting opportunity.
Latin America does not need more indiscriminate deal flow. Investors already see plenty of companies.
What can be more valuable is curated deal flow: companies that have been evaluated not only for the strength of their technology or performance at home, but also for their ability to become credible global businesses.
That is a role we intend to deepen.
One Summer. 50+ Founders. 10+ Markets. And We Are Just Getting Started.
Our conversations this summer reinforced something I have believed throughout my own entrepreneurial journey:
Global expansion is rarely about geography alone.
It is about readiness.
It is about understanding a new market before expecting that market to understand you.
And it is about building the right financial, human, and social capital around a company at the right moment.
So we will continue listening.
We will continue meeting founders across Latin America.
We will continue challenging assumptions about U.S. expansion and fundraising.
And we will continue connecting ecosystems across the Americas — one company, one investor, and one meaningful relationship at a time.
If you are a technology founder in Latin America who has already built meaningful traction and is beginning to think seriously about the United States, we would like to hear your story.
And if you are an investor interested in discovering carefully selected LATAM companies preparing for U.S. and international growth, we would be equally happy to start that conversation.
Because the next generation of global technology companies will not all begin in Silicon Valley.
Some may already be building much further south.
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