Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova.

This week, I sit down with Federico Vega, founder and CEO of Frete.com—the largest freight matching platform in Latin America.

Federico’s story is anything but conventional: he grew up in a small town in Patagonia, left a career in investment banking at JP Morgan in London, and moved—without speaking the language—to Brazil to reinvent an entire industry. What started as a Facebook group for truck drivers has evolved into a logistics giant, processing nearly $18 billion in freight transactions annually and serving ~900,000 active drivers—roughly 80% of Brazil’s entire trucking fleet.

In this episode, Federico shares how Frete.comsolved the classic chicken-and-egg dilemma, scaled a fragmented industry from the ground up, and transformed Brazilian complexity into a competitive moat. It’s a masterclass in grit, product obsession, and doing things that don’t scale.

Here’s what we cover:

• How to break network effects open in traditional industries
• Why doing unscalable things early creates lasting strategic edge
• What Brazilian truck stops taught Federico about product design
• How to use AI and data to combat fraud and drive operational leverage
• The culture-building playbook behind Frete.com’s growth

For founders building in complex markets—and investors betting on logistics and fintech as the future—this episode is a must-listen.

More from us:

• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The J Curve Insider⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we go beyond the podcast to break down the most exciting investment & tech trends in LATAM. Sharp. Concise. Real business strategies and market insights you won’t find anywhere else. Delivered straight to your inbox.
• Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram

Welcome to this special solo episode of Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova.

Every few months, I zoom out to reflect on the lessons that stuck with me from the show. Think of this as your quarterly operator’s memo—especially if you’re building, raising, or investing in Latin America.

Q2 was full of sharp insights and real operator depth. But in this edition of The J Curve Insider, I won’t recap every episode.

I’ll go deep into three.

João Del Valle (EBANX), Mike Packer (QED), and Gustavo Mapeli (Kanastra).

We’ll unpack EBANX’s global growth playbook, explore how QED built conviction around LATAM as an outsider VC—and what they’re betting on next—and break down how Kanastra scaled by defying startup orthodoxy.

Here’s what I’ll get into:

→ In LATAM, complexity isn’t a bug—it’s the moat.

→ Revenue is the best anti-dilution strategy.

→ In frontier markets, global expansion is a risk management.

→ Outsiders win in LATAM when they think like founders: test, learn, commit.

→ Multi-product vs. single-product: what founders need to ask before picking a lane.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please rate us on Spotify, subscribe to our newsletter at ⁠blog.thejcurve.com⁠, and follow us on YouTube (@thejcurvepodcast) and Instagram (@olgamaslikhova).

Let’s get into it.

Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova.

This week, I sit down with Caetano Lacerda and Raphael Dyxklay, co-founders of Brazilian fintech Barte, which is transforming the payments and working capital landscape for mid-to-large companies.

Barte’s journey is a masterclass in efficient growth: from zero to $10M ARR in less than two years on just $1.5M of burn—and then growing sustainably to $20M ARR. Along the way, they’ve pioneered a build-in-public strategy that attracts customers, builds trust, and fosters engagement. They’ve also developed sharp insights into segmenting by use case rather than industry, prioritizing speed and first-principles thinking, and leveraging customer feedback to scale efficiently—insights that have become part of their DNA and that they generously share in this conversation.

Here’s what we cover:

• What founders need to know about horizontal vs. vertical strategies in B2B

• Why building in public is more than a marketing tactic—it’s a B2B growth engine

• How to find product-market fit in fragmented, high-friction industries

• What Brazilian complexity taught Barte about opportunity and execution

• Lessons in prioritizing product bets when everything feels urgent

This episode is the second in a special three-part series brought to you by AWS.

AWS has become a key growth partner for Latin America’s startup ecosystem—helping founders scale from idea to IPO with world-class cloud infrastructure, local expertise, and a global support network. We’re incredibly happy to partner with them.

For founders and investors who see Latin America’s friction as an opportunity—and fintech as the future—this conversation is a must-listen.

More from us:

• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The J Curve Insider⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we go beyond the podcast to break down the most exciting investment & tech trends in LATAM. Sharp. Concise. Real business strategies and market insights you won’t find anywhere else. Delivered straight to your inbox.
• Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram