Rafael de Albuquerque, CEO & founder at global data analytics company Zoox Smart Data: $200M data giant built without VC funding

Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Rafael de Albuquerque, CEO & founder at Zoox Smart Data, a global tech company that offers integrated solutions in big data, analytics, AI & ML. Zoox has over 1650 enterprise customers in 25 countries including the likes of Pepsi, Burger King, F1, PWC and Telefonica. Rafael’s journey from selling Wi-Fi routers door-to-door to building a $100m in revenue global data analytics business from Brazil is nothing short of remarkable and paved with countless setbacks and failures. His relentless drive to overcome obstacles and pivot business models serves as a valuable example for other entrepreneurs. In our conversation, we explored how building a successful company without VC funding demands strategic thinking and resourcefulness. Leveraging early investor relationships and focusing on customer-driven growth were crucial in scaling the business. We also discussed the importance of family support for sustaining long-term business success and performance. In today's episode we discuss: 1. Zoox Sales Playbook: how to build a robust enterprise sales strategy? 2. Mastering the pivot: how and why (!) to leverage customer feedback to transform your enterprise? 3. Optimize your startup cap tablet: key benefits of strategic investors vs. traditional VCs 4. Customer-centric innovation: how to boost growth and market relevance by co-creating with customers? 5. Turning failure into fortune: Rafael’s lessons in business
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Follow Olga on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Olga is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, mentor at Techstars and founder at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The J Curve⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Latin America's leading English speaking podcast about tech builders. She's been investing in the USA, SEA and Latin America for over 13 years. Companies she backed include tech unicorn ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody) and Vitalk (acquired by Gympass).