“Make sure the entrepreneur comes first,” advises Ian Medford-Gonzalez, a senior investment analyst at Femsa Ventures, which invests on behalf of the Mexican bottling, retail, fintech and logistics group.
“If you want to receive, you must first give, and VC is no different. Every entrepreneur in our portfolio loves working with us because we don’t have the zero-sum mentality CVCs may struggle with.”
Medford-Gonzalez’s network is particularly valuable to the venture fund. “Ian has been able to build a brand for himself, and his personal network has been increasingly productive for the firm, allowing us to get access to great deals and improve our firm’s reputation and credibility in our ecosystem,” says Javier García Quiroga, a managing partner at Femsa Ventures.
Quiroga adds that Medford-Gonzalez’s nomination as a Rising Star reflects the partners’ expectation of his future potential, as they believe they can continue to develop his career at the firm so that he will be seriously considered as a partner in the future.
“To us, it’s equally important that both our platforms and LatAm startups learn, grow and collaborate, even if it’s not on the same time frame.”
Medford-Gonzalez focuses on fintech, especially infrastructure. “Latin America has such a unique opportunity. Just a few years ago, we were beginning to digitalise basic financial services for the base of the pyramid, the proverbial 0 to 1. Now, we get to back the new generation of LatAm-tailored infrastructure companies empowering entrepreneurs to take us from 1 to 100.”
The investment analyst looks for investments in companies that have reasonable valuations, teams with cultures compatible with the venture unit’s, in-depth understanding or experience in the market they are targeting, and a clear reason why they want to partner with the firm. “To us, it’s equally important that both our platforms and LatAm startups learn, grow and collaborate, even if it’s not on the same time frame,” he says.
Medford-Gonzalez advises newcomers to CVC to be curious. “If you are always learning and applying that knowledge to real-world scenarios, you’ll be able to quickly get and stay ahead.”
See the full list of Rising Stars 2023 here.
