Eduardo della Maggiora, Betterfly | Preparing Your Mind to Found, and M&A Strategy for Startups [Ep. 52]

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

A question our listeners frequently ask us is how to prepare to start a startup. Usually, we recommend they learn important skills such as programming, marketing, talent management, among others. However, today’s guest, Eduardo della Maggiora, CEO and cofounder of Betterfly, believes there is a capacity that is not so easy to cultivate: mindset.

It is no secret that starting a company is quite difficult, since the path is full of challenges and uncertainties, and it will demand a lot of mental strength. In Eduardo’s case, he found in sport and social volunteering two great tools for developing his mental strength as founder of Betterfly.

Betterfly is an insurtech platform for companies that rewards employees’ healthy habits with donations and health insurance coverage at no cost. To date, Betterfly has raised close to 80 million dollars from funds such as Softbank, DST Global, and Valor Capital.

We also talked about M&A (mergers and acquisitions) strategy and execution because, in 2021 alone, Betterfly made 6 startup acquisitions, something never before seen in Latin America’s startup ecosystem.

We want to thank Claudio Barahona of Alaya Capital and Ana Paula González of Softbank for the question recommendations.

What You Can Learn Today

How to strengthen your mindset when starting a company
M&A (mergers and acquisitions) strategies for startups
Factors to consider for the acquisition of a startup

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Youtube Timestamps*

The Betterfly Effect

[1:25] - How did Eduardo get into the world of startups?
- 10 years ago he started as an investor
- 5 years ago as a founder, through social entrepreneurship
[1:56] - What is Betterfly?
- Technology platform
- Wellness and lifestyle tool
- It has three pillars: prevention, protection, and purpose
- They empower people with BetterPoints
[4:07] - Evangelization of the market at Betterfly
- The first life insurance built by the people themselves
- Pushing users to live their best life

Mindset for Starting a Company

[6:31] - Lessons from traveling to Africa
- Volunteering in 2014, for 6 months
- Helping others is one of the most incredible gifts
- Dedicating his life to generating an impact in the world
- Reconnecting with sport
[9:48] - “Doing an Ironman is like starting a company”
- Analogy between a triathlon and entrepreneurship
- A sport that favors perseverance, not talent
- Both things are a mental battle
- If you are not passionate about it, it is torture
- Starting a company is a high-endurance sport
- Learning from mistakes marks a startup’s success
[14:47] - Cultivating and taking care of the mind
- Betterfly’s culture and values
- Putting habits first in order to be well mentally
- Doing what you are passionate about and what you like
[17:11] - Training endurance like an Ironman
- Maintaining perseverance
- Consistency is crucial
- Be clear about your why
- Training anecdotes
[22:00] - Mental health recommendations for founders
- Practicing gratitude
- Understanding that starting a company is a gift

M&A Strategy and Execution with Betterfly

[24:32] - Betterfly’s M&A strategy
- Organizations that share its social purpose
- Joining forces makes more sense than competing
- Teams that develop products of interest to Betterfly
[29:17] - Why did Betterfly decide to acquire other startups?
- Accelerating the product development process
- Delivering meaningful products
[31:27] - Betterfly’s evaluation framework for the acquisition of a startup
- Being clear about the product, the market, and the industry
- Defining growth needs
- Deciding the structure of the transaction
- Betting on the talent and the products developed
[36:09] - How do you know if there is a cultural match?
- Conversations with founders
- Identifying the founders’ stamp on their company
[38:03] - What explains the substantial increase in capital for Latin America?
- Digital acceleration
- Opening of markets
- Reduction of regulations
[40:04] - M&A as a competitive advantage for the region
- It is necessary in order to have significant growth
- Post-merger integration
- Investment banking as a reference

Tweet Round

[43:07] -
- Recommended book: Perico Trepa por Chile, by Marcela Paz and Alicia Morel
- Changes in the Latin American startup ecosystem: more capital and talent for the region
- Founders to interview: Janan Knust, of KLog