Building Enduring Companies Outside Silicon Valley | Santiago Suárez of Addi

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Angela Strange and Gabriel Vásquez speak with Addi founder and CEO Santiago Suárez about building one of Latin America's largest financial platforms. What began as a buy now, pay later product has evolved into a broader ecosystem spanning payments, commerce, logistics, and now banking. Serving millions of consumers and tens of thousands of merchants, Addi sits at the intersection of financial services and commerce in Colombia. The conversation covers building in Latin America, lessons from scaling through multiple market cycles, the importance of technology infrastructure, and why Suárez believes financial inclusion and economic growth are deeply connected. They also discuss AI, organizational design, product strategy, and what it takes to build enduring companies outside Silicon Valley. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:51 - From Yale to JPMorgan: Learning How Great CEOs Operate 06:42 - Why Colombia: Smartphones, Installments & Low UX Bars 12:11 - Lessons from Kaspi: NPS, Roadmap Sequencing & Focus 17:00 - Monorepo, Event Sourcing & the AI-Ready Foundation 22:55 - Starting with Legal: Why the Hardest AI Problem Scales Best 29:55 - Getting an Organization AI-Pilled from Bogotá 37:13 - North Star Metrics, Written Culture & Running 150 Heads Under Budget Resources: Follow Santiago Suárez on X: https://x.com/SantiaSua Follow Angela Strange on X: https://x.com/astrange Follow Gabriel Vásquez on X: https://x.com/GEVS94 Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.