RBFN Podcast
Learn from the best alternative capital investors in the world. Revenue-based financing investor and thought leader, Keith Harrington, conducts in-depth interviews with other investors who are disrupting the capital markets by offering alternative capital solutions to the traditional VC equity fundraising path. Successful entrepreneurs are demanding more innovation from investors, and Keith’s goal is to bring these investors together to share what they’ve learned, why it’s important to them, and how they apply it to what they do. The Revenue-Based Financing Network Podcast aims to quickly expand this growing industry to support more entrepreneurs and build awareness around the revenue-based financing ecosystem. Learn more and join our community at www.rbfn.org.
RBFN Podcast
#20 - Heavy Metal & RBF with Manolo Atala, CEO of Fairplay
Our guest this week brings enthusiasm and excitement to RBF which sets the stage for a great conversation. We welcome Manolo Atala, Co-Founder and CEO of Fairplay, a LatAm-focused revenue-based financing platform headquartered in Mexico. Since launching in 2019, Fairplay has originated $220M in revenue-based loans, built a team of 127 people, and made a huge impact in Latin America. Manolo shares how they’ve done that, and covers his diverse career journey before Fairplay, spanning advertising, entertainment, and the successful establishment of high-impact companies. He explains Fairplay's spin-out of Nazca Ventures and the company’s impact on financing and funding in Latin America. Manolo and I discuss balancing growth with responsible underwriting, and the beauty of transparency in strategic partnerships, and Manolo shares his vision of building Fairplay into a $1 billion company to improve access to capital in Latin America.
Key Takeaways
[1:45] Manolo’s path to entrepreneurship.
[5:38] Being a musician.
[10:19] Launching Fairplay in 2019 and expanding geographically.
[11:12] What happened to Clearco?
[13:21] Lending is hard to do well and easy to screw up.
[18:02] The embedded lending space.
[19:02] What we can learn from Metallica.
[24:14] The importance of straightforward dialog with investors.
[32:46] How not to pitch equity investors.
[40:15] Automating underwriting.
[47:05] Originating more than $220 million.
[48:54] The future of Fairplay.
Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter
Manolo: Fairplay | X | LinkedIn |