Por Que Tanta Gente Inteligente Faz Empresa Com a Pessoa Errada? - Luiz Guilherme | GigaCast #138

In the 138th episode of GigaCast, we talk to Luiz Guilherme Manzano, founder and managing partner of Big Bets, an early-stage venture capital fund that has already raised over R$500 million and has a portfolio exceeding $4 billion in added value. We brought Manzano on to break down what it was like to start from scratch, build a reputation when nobody was talking about VC in Brazil, scale bridges with technical founders, build a thesis with pure software by sheer force of will, and explain why more companies fail due to partner disputes than market competition. What happened in the conversation: 00:00 Intro 01:14 Partner dispute, changing founder context, and internal paranoia 05:25 Who is Luiz Manzano and what is Big Bets? 07:32 Skepticism about the real-denominated stablecoin and the shift towards foreign exchange infrastructure 09:54 Vênia's growth, business model, and enterprise clients 14:19 Childhood in the East Zone and culture shock at a rich kids' school 19:05 Family connections with multinationals and career influence 23:54 History of Endeavor in Brazil and the beginning of the startup ecosystem 28:28 First salary, culture fit, and energy at Endeavor Brazil 34:17 Ibanks, the payments market, and the effect of infrastructure on growth 38:58 Mentoring, networking, and behind-the-scenes stories of major partner disputes 46:05 How resentment arises between founders and when communication goes wrong 50:32 Behind the scenes of the choice of GV, turning towards entrepreneurship and meeting with mentor 55:14 GP, Advent and changing fund profiles, aggressive culture and selection model 01:02:01 Change in the Endeavor model, donation controversies and entry of funds as investors 01:07:57 The two worlds of founders: old school vs tech VC-backed 01:13:30 Community, network effects and why Endeavor lost exclusivity 01:20:09 Origins of Big Bets, bootcamp model, fund pivot and fundraising for those who weren't born rich 01:28:05 Software intensive thesis: margin, capital, multiplier factor and what works in VC 01:34:07 Cases that went unnoticed, write-off, lessons learned from not getting in 01:42:19 What guides a VC fund in practice, sourcing dynamics, the role of the analyst and selection bias 01:49:38 Hard truths of the job From VC: Boredom, Long Game, Dream vs. Reality, Burnout, and Why Real Founders Are Crazy 01:56:00 Final, advice and behind-the-scenes on culture, motivation, equity, and the real journey of great founders Gigacast Clips Channel [OFFICIAL]: https://youtube.com/@CortesdoGigacast... Gigacast Instagram:   / giga.cast   Ale Dubugras Instagram:   / aledubugras   Sponsors: Caju: https://caju.com.br/planos/?utm_sourc... Insider: https://www.insiderstore.com.br/ Avenia: Avenia: https://avenia.io/ Barte: https://barte.com Replit: https://replit.com/refer/ale88 #entrepreneurship #business #startup #podcast