Luis Rubén Chávez, YoTePresto & Zenfi | What Makes Crowdfunding Work and How to Launch a New Product From Scratch [Ep. 72]

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

When your company struggles to get new customers, the first thing that comes to mind is experimenting with new marketing channels or customer segments, but not launching a new product.

Today we spoke with Luis Rubén Chavez, CEO and cofounder of YoTePresto, who, faced with the difficulty of finding profitable customer acquisition channels, decided to launch a new product: Zenfi.

YoTePresto is the largest credit crowdfunding platform in Mexico, with 2 million users, and Zenfi is a financial health app with more than 250 thousand users, which was initially born to make customer acquisition easier for YoTePresto.

Luis Rubén told us the business reasons behind his decision to create a new product, and the steps he took to develop and launch Zenfi to market from scratch.

Thanks to Manuel de la Torre of Zenfi and Hugo Blum of 100Ladrillos for their question recommendations

What You Can Learn Today

  • Crowdfunding models in Latin America
  • How to launch a product from scratch
  • Strategies for acquiring users organically

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Youtube Timestamps*

Success Factors for Crowdfunding Platforms

  • [1:09] - How did Luis Rubén arrive in the world of startups?
    • He studied finance in Guadalajara
    • He worked for 8 years in the consumer credit industry
    • He met Adalberto Flores, CEO of Kueski, who introduced him to the startup ecosystem
    • He started evaluating models for offering credit with technology, and that is how he developed YoTePresto
  • [3:35] - Challenges of scaling a crowdfunding platform
    • A crowdfunding platform is a marketplace, and building a marketplace takes time
    • The patience of the founders and the investors runs out
    • At YoTePresto they have lowered interest rates and increased rates of return
  • [7:47] - What did YoTePresto do to overcome the scalability challenges?
    • They attracted users with good payment behavior
    • They have experimented with multiple channels to attract users
  • [10:08] - Why bet on crowdfunding?
    • The crowdfunding model makes it possible to offer lower interest rates
    • Freedom to serve different customer segments
  • [12:53] - Future of the crowdfunding model in Latin America
    • DeFi and crypto are two key concepts for the future
    • Financing will be more accessible to the population
    • There will be fewer regulations in the financial sector

How to Launch a Product from Scratch

  • [16:24] - Why did Luis Rubén decide to create Zenfi?
    • YoTePresto had difficulties attracting users
    • In Mexico there was no platform for checking credit histories
    • They decided to invest in a new product instead of investing in marketing
    • Zenfi has reached 250 thousand users organically
  • [20:30] - Decision criteria for developing Zenfi
    • They explored different acquisition channels for YoTePresto
    • Solving a problem made more sense
  • [22:24] - Why launch Zenfi as a new brand?
    • YoTePresto is a regulated entity, and it does not have the capacity to offer what Zenfi offers
    • Differentiation from YoTePresto in terms of marketing and branding
  • [23:49] - How do you align the team to launch a new product?
    • Create an engineering team solely to develop the product
    • Integrate the product into the company’s roadmap
    • Align the product with customers and distribution channels
  • [29:13] - Will Zenfi be bigger than YoTePresto?
    • Zenfi will become the main user acquisition channel for YoTePresto
    • YoTePresto will become a customer platform that goes after multiple customer segments
    • Currently, they are creating new features so that Zenfi becomes a financial health platform

YoTePresto User Acquisition Strategies

  • [33:00] - Organic growth of YoTePresto and Zenfi
    • They have learned very quickly from mistakes
    • A bet on positive unit economics
    • Solving 2 real problems
  • [35:17] - Zenfi’s Go to Market strategy
    • Seek to generate value for the user immediately
    • Monetize YoTePresto through Zenfi
  • [38:36] - How did Luis Rubén learn about startups and technology?
    • Having prior experience shortened his learning curve
    • He has learned how to learn and how to learn to unlearn
    • Whenever he needs it, he asks for help
    • Learning to delegate

Tweet Round

  • [43:07] -
    • Recommended book: Antifragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    • Changes in Latin America’s startup ecosystem: that there be more companies with viable business models
    • Founder to interview: Hugo Blum, of 100 Ladrillos

Episode Mentions

You can find Luis Rubén on Twitter and LinkedIn

Recommended book: Antifragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Founder to interview: Hugo Blum, of 100 Ladrillos

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