Ep 49: Rain Sepp
Opportunities & risks of Latin America, how to make hard decisions, reality of being a startup CEO and importance of transparency
Rain Sepp is the Founder and CEO of askRobin - a financial education and inclusion platform operating in Mexico and other LatAm countries. Rain is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned consumer finance expert. After building a customer base of more than 2 million users for askRobin and raising more than 1.5mEUR, Rain recently announced the winding down of the company.
In this episode we talk about the story of askRobin, building a sizable customer base in Mexico and the risks of doing business in emerging markets. We also go in depth into the decision to shut down the business, how to make that decision, how to deal with investors and other stakeholders. Finally, we talk about some of the less known realities of being a CEO/Founder.
CLICK one of the links below to listen to the episode
The topics covered in this episode (with Timestamps)
🔈 [03:00] - INTRODUCTION AND THE ORIGINS OF ASKROBIN
Starting a business in finance with no background in finance
Going to radically different LatAm markets
The initial business model and first traction
🔈 [07:05] - CUSTOMER ACQUISITION AND OPPORTUNITIES IN LATAM MARKETS
Huge markets and huge demand for financial services
Matching demand with ability to serve
Online vs. offline
Web vs. mobile
Underserved markets in many ways
Open culture
🔈 [13:25] - THE RISKS OF DOING BUSINESS IN LATAM MARKETS
Capital controls
Physical security
Language and cultural barriers
🔈 [17:05] - THE DECISION TO CLOSE DOWN ASK ROBIN
The Pandemic effect
Drifting away from the mission
Mission vs. excel
Purpose - market fit
🔈 [32:30] - HOW TO DEAL WITH HAVING TO SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPANY
Have a plan
Focus on things you can affect
Take ownership
Be honest with yourself
Be transparent with your investors from the beginning
Being a CEO is a lonely job
🔈 [36:50] - WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE ABOUT BEING A CEO/FOUNDER
Plans vs. reality
Getting beaten up
Not forgetting to celebrate small successes
Not having answers
Entrepreneurship as a drug
To reach out to Rain use: Linkedin
Twitter: @rainsepp
Find out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/
Support for this episode comes from Nexpay > https://paynexpay.com/
Support for this episode comes from Venetor > https://www.venetor.co/
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The full interview with Rain is available NOW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts
