Adriana Tortajada, 1200 VC | Innovating from Inside Government, and Lessons from Investing in 60+ Funds

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Adriana Tortajada went from being a public official to an investor in startups. She is considered one of the pioneers in the Venture Capital industry in Mexico because of her major contribution at several government institutions that support entrepreneurship and innovation in Mexico, such as Nacional Financiera, INADEM, Fondo de Fondos, and others.

Today Adriana is CEO and Managing Partner at Twelve Hundred VC, a fund that invests in investment funds and early-stage startups, and its thesis is to focus on transformative technologies with a regional approach.

We talk about:

The most effective government policies for supporting founders that she has seen in Mexico and what advice she would give other countries.
The biggest impediments to the creation of new ventures in Latin America and how to overcome them.
Her lessons as a Limited Partner and how her time in government shaped her current approach at 1200 VC.

In addition, Adriana told us:

How her time in government shaped her form of leadership and how to get the best out of a team.
and what, in her judgment, are the biggest predictors of an investor’s success, and how she decides whether or not to invest in an investment fund.

The history of Venture Capital in Mexico is inside this interview and I am sure that you will learn a lot from Adriana.

Youtube Timestamps*

[01:30] - Working in Government

How did Adriana get into the fascinating world of startups?

She has said that she has never felt intimidated because finance is a man’s world.

Why?

In her work, she has the opportunity to collaborate with other women investors and founders who perhaps did not have the same upbringing.

How does she advise them to handle the challenges she has described?

Adriana has said that in government: “nobody is going to hold it against you for doing nothing, but they will for trying to change things. Everyone is going to have opinions.”

What did she learn about how to navigate the bureaucracy that allowed her to have so much success and impact?

Despite working in government, her career grew quickly and she took on large responsibilities at an early age.

Is her case the rule or the exception for motivated young people who work in government? What can the public sector do to attract more talent like her?

Another interesting idea she has mentioned before: “in the public sector you never choose your team and being a leader is doing the best you can with the team you were given”

What lessons did she take from her time in government about leadership and how to do the best you can with the team you are given?

[22:36] - Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Many consider Adriana one of the pioneers of the venture capital, or capital de riesgo, industry in Mexico.

What would she say were the biggest difficulties she faced at the beginning?

Adriana has been part of several government institutions that support the development of entrepreneurship and innovation in Mexico, such as Nacional Financiera, INADEM, and Fondo de Fondos, including the creation of Mexico Ventures, the venture capital unit.

Which government policies in support of entrepreneurship does she believe were effective and which were not so much?

Today she also supports the government of Peru as a member of the investment board of the fund of funds at COFIDE, the Peruvian development bank.

What does she believe are the biggest impediments to the creation of new ventures in Latin America? Things that maybe are outside her control, but that keep her up at night.

[41:16] - Lessons as a Limited Partner

In a way, Adriana’s time in government was the first act and her role at 1200 VC is the second act of her career in support of the development of entrepreneurship and technology in Latin America.

What would she say are the remaining challenges she wants to address today from 1200 VC?

At Fondo de Fondos and INADEM, Adriana had the opportunity to support more than 60 investment funds and has been able to see their development over more than 20 years.

Today a few of those remain, between 5 and 10.

Looking back, what would she say are the biggest predictors of an investor’s success? Do some positive signals exist?
Do some negative signals or red flags exist that keep her from supporting an investment fund?

Today, the valuation of many unicorns and success stories is being called into question because of the bubble we lived through over the last two years.

At the same time, one can invest one’s money with no risk at rates of 5% in dollars and more than 10% in pesos.

In the role of Limited Partner, that is, an investor in funds: How has her view of the opportunity to invest in startups changed?

Recently, Adriana moved from Mexico City to San Diego for 1200 VC, with the idea of growing her network of contacts in the US and building a regional VC platform.

What is her sense today, between pessimism and optimism, among foreign investors about startups in Mexico and Latin America?

[59:34] - Quick Questions Round

If Adriana looks 10 years into the future, what is the most extraordinary vision for 1200VC?