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I was involved in a VC/incubator situation in LATAM some years ago. The conundrum then was that local talent could build all the tech apps/platforms/companies t

I was involved in a VC/incubator situation in LATAM some years ago. The conundrum then was that local talent could build all the tech apps/platforms/companies they wanted, but the local market could never be turned into customers/consumers. I'm guessing things have evolved since, but all the LATAM companies I encountered were building for the world-not-LATAM in terms of market.

anovikov 3y ago
Why not? Just not as gullible/influenced by advertisement/celebrity worship/branding/following the herd as Westerners? Or simply poor? I witnessed people trying to build consumer app in one East European country which was their home one. Eventually they quit saying that "it can't work, people here are not stupid enough". Same app worked fine in the U.S. market even as they have never been in the U.S., had no idea of the culture things, and even their English was so-so.
- narag 3y ago
  Just not as gullible/influenced by advertisement/celebrity worship/branding/following the herd as Westerners? They're definitely Westeners.
- dan-rocks 3y ago
  1. Vast amounts of all types of fraud 2. Terrible legal and regulatory environment 3. Political instability 4. Surreal cost burden at every junction of the productive process (cheapest car in Brazil for example is USD 15000, which is the same price as the cheapest car in the US) 5. Zero customer loyalty, people jump from service to service to obtain a 0.01% discount
  - pg_1234 3y ago
    > 5. Zero customer loyalty, people jump from service to service to obtain a 0.01% discount Sounds like a consumer base who've learnt to reciprocate corporate loyalty.
- busterarm 3y ago
  Dubious reasoning. VKontakte still has 80 million users a month.