At the start of the 2025 season, we released an episode that broke our Spotify records.

That single conversation was listened to six times more than any other episode we released this year.

That episode was my conversation with Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner at Valor Capital.

For this holiday special, I invited Paulo back for round two.

And this conversation goes in a very different direction.

Here’s what we explore:

– Why speed may be the last real moat left in the era of AI

– Why Anthropic may actually be a safer bet than OpenAI

– The hiring rule at Perplexity that sounds insane — until you understand what it unlocks

– The 10,000-year clock Jeff Bezos is building inside a mountain, and the founder mindset behind it

– **Ramp vs. CloudWalk: similar revenue scale, radically different multiples — what capital markets are actually pricing

– The US vs. China, and why the Mag 7 — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — now sit at the center of global power dynamics

– Why LPs and capital allocators remain split on LATAM — who’s long, who’s short, and what each side is really optimizing for

– And finally, what it means to be deliberately more human in the age of AI — and why hobbies and community may matter more than we think

Join The J Curve Community:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Weekly deep dives into LATAM's hottest deals, emerging trends, and market intelligence

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Daily market insights and exclusive founder updates

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Behind-the-scenes podcast moments and quick industry takes

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hit subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and share this episode with fellow entrepreneurs and investors

If you’ve spent any time with founders or investors in São Paulo this year, you know the questions filling every conversation.

Can Brazil still generate breakout winners? Is AI killing SaaS? Are IPOs even realistic? Is global expansion from LATAM something founders should still aspire to?

This episode answers all of them.

You’ll hear why Brazil went from six $100M ARR companies to more than thirty in just a few years.

Why global products that scale across Mexico and Colombia simply break in Brazil.

Why AI is both the biggest threat and the biggest tailwind for incumbents with real moats.

Why growth investors are underwriting M&A far more seriously than IPOs.

Why “right to win” — not the story — determines whether a Brazilian company should ever go global.

And what founders must understand now about valuation, exits, efficiency, and investor relationships in a world transformed by AI.

And toward the end, you’ll hear me bring in the questions our audience asked live — in the room as we recorded this session.

This is the episode you’ll want to send to your co-founder, your board, and the WhatsApp group where everyone is not fundraising just yet. Comment BRAZIL and I’ll send you the link to the full conversation.

Dileep Thazhmon from Jeeves and Bruno Maimone from Warburg Pincus sit down with me to map the truths behind the narratives the ecosystem has been circling for months.

Join The J Curve Community:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Weekly deep dives into LATAM's hottest deals, emerging trends, and market intelligence

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Daily market insights and exclusive founder updates

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Behind-the-scenes podcast moments and quick industry takes

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hit subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and share this episode with fellow entrepreneurs and investors

This conversation will change how you think about money. Recorded live at Digital Assets Conference 2025 in São Paulo, this special edition of The J Curve brings together three influential voices shaping the next era of crypto and traditional finance:Roberto Dagnoni — Executive Chairman, Mercado BitcoinBen Lizana — Principal, SoftBank Latin AmericaGui Gomes — Founder & CEO, OranjeBTCThis is not a technical crypto panel.It’s a wide-ranging debate about the future of money, digital assets, crypto adoption, and the global transformation of financial infrastructure — told by the operators and investors building that future in real time.We discuss:• The real bottleneck to mainstream adoption — the factor slowing growth more than technology, liquidity, or regulation.• The emerging-market advantage — why Latin America’s volatility and innovation pressure are creating a global edge.• The new IPO class — why public markets are suddenly hungry for digital-asset companies and what they’re evaluating.• Lessons from the last crypto cycle — the mindset founders and investors need to navigate hype, downturns, and noise.• The future of digital money — how reserve assets, tokenization, stablecoins, and macro shifts will shape global adoption.• The everyday impact — how new financial primitives are already reducing friction in ordinary transactions.

Join The J Curve Community:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Weekly deep dives into LATAM's hottest deals, emerging trends, and market intelligence

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Daily market insights and exclusive founder updates

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Behind-the-scenes podcast moments and quick industry takes

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hit subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and share this episode with fellow entrepreneurs and investors