Marta Cruz, NXTP Ventures | B2B Startup Challenges: Value Proposition, Go-to-Market and Fundraising [Ep. 31]

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

To talk about how the best B2B startups face these challenges, we invited Marta Cruz, partner and cofounder of NXTP Ventures, a Venture Capital fund specialized in B2B, whose portfolio includes Auth0, Mural, TiendaNube, and Betterfly.

Marta, in addition, is cofounder of WeInvest, an initiative to promote and strengthen the participation of women investors in Latin America.

What You Can Learn Today

NXTP Ventures investment thesis
Recommendations for B2B founders
Importance of gender diversity in startups

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Youtube Timestamps*

NXTP Ventures and Investments in B2B

[0:25] - How did Marta get into the world of startups?
- Family values
- Supporting early-stage ventures
[2:23] - NXTP Ventures Investment Thesis
- Early-stage and Series A B2B companies in Latin America
[5:36] - The evolution of NXTP Ventures’ thesis
- From sector-agnostic in 2011
- Greater development of the Venture Capital ecosystem in recent years
- Partners with specialized knowledge in B2B
- Support needed for B2B startups
[10:04] - Characteristics successful B2B companies have in common
- A great team
- Clear potential to have a global impact
[12:40] - NXTP Ventures’ differentiator
- Broad track record and network of investors and founders at a regional level
- Team and analysts with broad experience in the B2B world
[20:50] - Common mistakes and difficulties when founding in B2B
- Communicating the value proposition instead of the benefit companies are going to get
- Lack of clear indicators and metrics
- Getting customers to renew the service month to month
[25:34] - What does NXTP Ventures do to help companies?
- Reviews the company’s internal processes
- Sales methodology and prospect generation
[37:28] - Tips for raising capital in early-stage B2B
- Clarity of the value proposition and the problem it solves
- Demonstrating an understanding of B2B sales processes
- Careful study of the investors in that segment
- Not accepting investment from just anyone

Women Investors and Gender Diversity on Teams

[42:46] - Marta’s opinion on the prominence of women in the venture capital ecosystem
- They can generate a spectacular impact on the ecosystem
- More training and networking for women investors
- Birth of WeInvest Latam
[50:29] - Marta’s opinion on why it is so hard to build more diverse teams
- It is not set as a relevant objective
[53:10] - Recommendations for increasing team diversity, from experience at WeInvest Latam and NXTP Ventures
- If there are already women on the team, listen to them
- For those who do not have women on the team, say explicitly that they are looking for teams with gender diversity

Tweet Round

[56:26] -
- Recommended book: Gung Ho!
- Changes in the startup ecosystem: greater diversity in the startup ecosystem
- Founders to interview: Johanna Posada of Elevar Equity