Timestamps

(00:00) Highlights;

(01:02) Introducing Allen Taylor;

(03:53) Allen’s Views on the Southeast Asia Opportunity;

(09:47) Emerging Market Opportunity Amidst Global Challenges;

(14:19) Understanding Entrepreneurial Resilience in Emerging Markets;

(21:48) What makes entrepreneurial resilience;

(27:47) Allen’s evolution as an investor;

(34:41) Future of exits in emerging markets;

(39:04) Final thoughts on thinking long-term;

About who you are on call with:

Allen brings 20+ years of experience in economic development and venture capital with a focus on emerging markets to his leadership roles at Endeavor, a mission-driven organization focused on supporting high-growth companies in emerging and underserved markets.

As the Managing Partner of Endeavor Catalyst, Allen leads Endeavor’s innovative co-investment fund that has been recognized as one of the most active global venture investors in markets like Latin America and the Middle East. Since launching in 2012, Endeavor Catalyst has raised over $500M+ across four funds and made 300+ investments in 30+ different countries, including more than 50 companies now valued at $1B+.

Allen is a frequent guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and serves on the boards of several entrepreneurship and venture capital-focused organizations, including Kauffman Fellows (Class 16), Alter Global, STV (Saudi Arabia) and Scale-Up Ventures (Brazil). A graduate of Princeton University, he lives with his wife and two children in Northern California.

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The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal, tax, or business advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security, and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Insignia Ventures⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ fund. Any and all opinions shared in this episode are solely personal thoughts and reflections of the guest and the host.

Transcript 

Transcripts have been edited for concision and clarity.

Paulo: For this episode, we have the managing partner of Endeavor Catalyst, Allen Taylor, on the show with us. It’s really a privilege to have someone with 20 years of experience in emerging markets—10 of those spent engaging with Southeast Asia, going back and forth, and really learning about the different markets in this region.

I’m excited to bounce off ideas and have a discussion about the future of Southeast Asia, what he’s learned from the many entrepreneurs he has worked with and backed over the years, and what he’s excited about after 20 years. I guess the question is: What else is there? What’s new? What’s coming up?

Excited to have this discussion, and thanks for coming on, Allen!

Allen: Of course, yeah. Thanks for having me. Pleasure to do this.

Intersections of Insignia and Endeavor

Paulo: Incidentally, Insignia and Endeavor have a lot of intersections. We have a couple of co-investments in the Philippines and Indonesia, including Awantunai and Phonak, if I’m not mistaken. A lot of our growth-stage companies, past their Series B, continue to create impact for the communities they serve.

Allen was also a founding partner at Alter Global, a fund based in the Americas that has also co-invested with us in a company like Shipper. It’s quite interesting that there have been so many intersections over the years.

I was curious, Allen—maybe we can start with how you know Insignia and how you know Yinglan. I know both of you are Kauffman Fellows, albeit from different batches, but I know it’s a pretty tight-knit group.

Allen: No, of course. Let’s jump in there. And Paulo, it’s great to do this.

Allen’s Journey in Southeast Asia

Allen: As we were chatting before, I’m American and based in California, but I’ve been working in emerging markets for just about 20 years now. I first met Yinglan when Endeavor was just starting to expand into Southeast Asia, beginning with Indonesia.

This was around 2012 or 2013, the same time that both Yinglan and I were in the Kauffman Fellows program. Kauffman has a new class each year, and Yinglan was literally one class ahead of me. That’s when we first connected—I can’t quite remember whether it was in California or Singapore—but it was through Kauffman back in the days when he was still at Sequoia, running around like crazy, doing all sorts of things. This was before Insignia even existed.

So I knew Yinglan first, and since then, I’ve been around Insignia from the very beginning.

Paulo: Yeah, I think it’s quite interesting. Yinglan has been in the ecosystem long enough to have seen a lot of investors come in from the rest of the world, build their interest, and eventually establish themselves in the region.

You, in particular, have been engaged in the region for a long time. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the ups and downs of Southeast Asia. Maybe you can share a bit about that—what have you observed in Southeast Asia over the last 10 years? What has your experience been like as someone coming in from the outside?

Endeavor’s Global Impact

Allen: We at Endeavor have a pretty interesting global lens on this. Maybe for your listeners’ benefit, I’ll provide some context.

Endeavor today operates in 45 countries worldwide. We have a deep footprint in Latin America, where we’ve been present for 25 years. We work across the Middle East, Africa, and, of course, Southeast Asia. We also do some work in Europe and the United States, primarily in underserved parts of those economies.

This gives us insight into how entrepreneurial ecosystems evolve over 10, 20, or even 30 years. I appreciate your question about the last 10 years because you really have to think in decades to track meaningful progress.

When Endeavor started in 1997, one of the first companies we supported was Mercado Libre. The founders, Marcos Galperin, Hernán Kazah (see our call with Hernan Kazah), and Nicolás Szekasy, built what became the first billion-dollar U.S. IPO out of Latin America. Mercado Libre then became the first $10 billion company and today is a $100 billion company.

So, we’re strong believers that big companies can be built in emerging markets, but it takes time.

The same applies to Southeast Asia. When we first started working in Indonesia around 2012-2013, there wasn’t much happening yet, but we took a long-term view. Today, we’ve seen the first wave of success stories—companies like Grab, Gojek, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak have built substantial businesses.

Now, we’re into the second generation of great founders—like Phil and the team at Shipper—who are building the next wave of big businesses. A decade from now, we’ll see the third generation. This evolution will continue to grow and compound over time.

The Multiplier Effect in Entrepreneurship

Paulo: One of the drivers behind this multi-generational evolution is what Endeavor calls the “multiplier effect”—essentially the network effect of successful founders paying it forward. While Endeavor Catalyst invests in startups, the foundation of what you do is building a community and network.

Could you explain this concept from an investor’s perspective? How does this structure drive returns for the fund while also strengthening the ecosystem?

Allen: Absolutely. The multiplier effect is fundamental to how ecosystems develop.

Step one is helping entrepreneurs build big companies—that’s Endeavor’s core mission. As you mentioned, we’re much more than a fund; we’re a network and a community. With Endeavor Catalyst, we invest in our own Endeavor companies, but much of our work is around helping businesses scale and succeed.

Step two, which is just as important, is helping successful founders give back. It’s not enough to build a big company, exit, and retire to the beach. The real impact comes when those successful founders invest in and mentor the next generation.

This is what happens in Silicon Valley—one generation actively supports the next. At Endeavor, we are embracing and mapping this phenomenon, encouraging our founders to mentor, invest, and support the next wave of entrepreneurs.

Paulo: That’s fascinating. Some people refer to this as the creation of “startup mafias.”

Allen: Funny you mention that! We used to use the term “mafia” too—especially because Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a member of Endeavor’s board, was part of the famous PayPal Mafia. But Reid doesn’t like the term. He prefers calling it a network or community.

Also, when we launched Endeavor in Italy, we quickly realized that using the word “mafia” wasn’t ideal! So we pivoted to calling it the “multiplier effect.”

Investor’s Role in Entrepreneurial Resilience

Paulo: I want to go back to this framework of having a mindset of just keeping going that you mentioned earlier. As an investor, how much of a role do you play in fostering resilience? Maybe you can share some examples from your career and the market cycles you’ve witnessed.

Allen: That speaks to the role of investors versus that of founders and team members. What I’ve learned in my career at Endeavor Catalyst—and remember, I didn’t start as an investor; I worked at Endeavor in a mentor, coach, and support role before we started the fund 12 years ago—is that I’ve had the opportunity to observe some of the world’s best investors up close. I’ve seen how they work with startups and founders.

I think investors play a few key roles. One is helping founders think bigger, raising their horizon, and envisioning how big their company can really be. The best investors are very good at that. They also help entrepreneurs navigate turbulence, staying calm in chaotic times and guiding them through crises that may impact their industry, company, or market.

If there’s one takeaway from playing the long game—spanning 10 to 20 years—it’s that things will go wrong. There will be huge challenges. The best founders are the ones with the resilience to get through them, and the best investors know how to support founders during these hard times. This is when great investors lean in to help, rather than adding to the stress or panic.

Paulo: A lot of the more optimistic investors I’ve spoken with started as mentors, coaches, or even founders themselves. They come from a background of supporting other founders and guiding them through challenges, as opposed to those who may have come from a purely financial perspective.

Do you have any examples of companies that turned things around from major setbacks?

Allen: I have plenty!

Paulo: What’s one you’d share if a founder asked you for inspiration in tough times?

Success Stories from Turkey

Allen: Let’s step outside Southeast Asia for a moment and stay in emerging markets. Let me share some examples from Turkey. Endeavor entered Turkey in 2007, and we’ve encountered some great entrepreneurs there. However, over the last 15 years, nearly everything that could go wrong for a startup ecosystem has gone wrong in Turkey.

They’ve experienced huge currency devaluations, major political turmoil, an attempted coup, economic instability, and even a devastating earthquake. I remember talking to the head of Endeavor Turkey and asking her about the biggest challenge they’d faced in the past decade. She listed so many crises—it was as if anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

And yet, during this period, several incredible companies were built. Yemeksepeti, a food delivery business supported by Endeavor, secured investment from General Atlantic and was acquired for almost $700 million in 2015.

But the story I want to highlight is Peak Games, a gaming company based in Istanbul. The entire talent pool for their games was located in Turkey.

This was a long journey—Peak’s CEO, Sidar Sahin, was selected into Endeavor around 2009-2010. We invested in Peak in 2013. Over the years, during events like the coup attempt or major currency collapses, some investors panicked and sold their shares for pennies on the dollar, exiting the market.

However, Sidar was incredibly resilient. His perseverance was remarkable—he never gave up, just kept building. Fast forward, and Peak Games was acquired by Zynga for $1.8 billion. It was the single best cash-on-cash exit in our global portfolio.

Overall, from our first few funds in Turkey, we made six investments. Out of those, five exited, delivering an 11x cash-on-cash return. If you only read the news headlines, you’d never think Turkey was an easy place to build startups. But time and resilience paid off.

Paulo: Looking from the outside, it wouldn’t have seemed logical to stay invested, yet time proved it was the right call. That’s an incredible story—I’d love to hear more from Peak Games’ founder at some point.

Endeavor’s Belief in Emerging Markets

Paulo: I feel like after operating in a market like Turkey, anything else seems possible.

Allen: That’s exactly it. What Endeavor has learned is that we deeply believe in emerging markets. Talent is globally distributed—amazing founders are everywhere.

We’ve also realized we’re particularly well-suited to operate in markets experiencing chaos. In the last few years, we’ve launched Endeavor in new countries, including Pakistan and, just this year, Ukraine.

Some people asked if we were crazy to launch in Ukraine during a war. But our view is that amazing founders are there, the war won’t last forever, and they need support now. Endeavor is uniquely positioned to provide that.

Paulo: I’m looking forward to hearing more stories from those markets. I’ve also been hearing a lot of great things about Pakistan—many founders there are looking to raise from Southeast Asian investors as well.

Allen: There’s very little venture capital in Pakistan right now. Relative to its population—220 million people—it’s an underserved market. But I think the few local funds there will do well in the long term because they’re investing this early.

The Importance of Resilience in Founders

Paulo: Here’s a more philosophical question: Do you think resilience can be measured? What are the top three factors that contribute to entrepreneurial resilience?

Allen: I have a personal theory on this, and since you asked it as a personal interest, I’ll share it.

My observation is that founders who grow up in chaotic or turbulent environments tend to develop higher resilience. Latin America is a great case study. The major markets are Brazil and Mexico, yet the biggest startup successes come from Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela—countries with more instability.

MercadoLibre’s founders are from Argentina. Rappi—the major up-and-coming delivery company—was founded in Colombia. Kavak, Mexico’s largest startup, was founded by Venezuelans. There’s a pattern here.

If I had to break it down, the three key traits are:

Radical self-belief. Kauffman Fellows calls this “radical self-belief.” You need an almost irrational confidence in your vision.

Determination. Whether you call it resilience or perseverance, it’s the ability to never give up and push through obstacles.

Intellectual curiosity. The best founders continuously learn. It tempers overconfidence and, over time, manifests as humility.

Paulo: That’s a great breakdown. Radical self-belief mixed with intellectual curiosity seems like a powerful combination. I recently read a book discussing how founders’ confidence fluctuates over time, dipping before it stabilizes. That ability to persist through self-doubt is crucial.

Allen: Exactly. The best founders succeed because they’re obsessed with solving a specific problem. Sometimes that obsession begins at 19, but often, the most successful entrepreneurs are industry veterans who spent years frustrated with an inefficiency they finally decided to fix.

Paulo: That reminds me of one of our companies, FINMO. The founders came from PayPal and Rapyd Asia. They saw persistent challenges in treasury management and built their own treasury OS for Asia to handle cross-border cash flows.

Allen: That’s exactly the pattern—founders deeply obsessed with solving a problem they lived.

The Evolution of Investors

Paulo: You spoke to this a little earlier, but maybe you can share how you have evolved as an investor. I think for many investors, there’s a conscious evolution in defining their differentiation—how they contribute and help founders.

How have you seen yourself evolve in that regard? What are some things you have learned not to do over time? Are there habits you’ve stopped or tried to stop as you’ve become a better supporter of founders over the years?

Allen: I’ll start by saying that I have a really unique job. I think I might have the best job in the world. It’s a very privileged position to be in because there are 600 people working for Endeavor in 45 countries, literally sitting down and spending time with thousands of entrepreneurs every year.

Roughly speaking, the top 1-2% of those founders end up being selected as Endeavor entrepreneurs. Those are the people I get to talk to. That gives me an incredibly lucky vantage point.

I think we’ve also come to realize that having our own Endeavor fund is a special advantage. If I’m talking to LPs, it’s an easy way to say: Yes, we have unique access to invest in the best founders because we’ve spent all this time with them to bring them into Endeavor. Now, we can also put a little bit of money into their rounds.

Navigating Fundraising Environments

Allen: More directly to your question, I think my superpower in working with founders is that I’ve been on the inside of several thousand fundraises.

We see all these investors, we see all the founders, and this is a multi-play game. Because we do this repeatedly with the same investors—and since we’re a co-investment fund—we now have nearly 350 investments. Those companies go on to raise multiple rounds, so we see this game play out frequently.

I’ve come to view my role at Endeavor as helping founders navigate fundraising environments, which are cyclical, go up and down, and lack perfect information. It’s often difficult for founders to know what’s happening in the market, so we try to be as honest as possible about where things stand and what it means for their company and fundraising.

We coined the term mentor capitalist at Endeavor about 15 years ago, and that’s what I strive to be.

In 2022 and 2023, that meant helping a lot of founders raise repriced rounds because things got out of whack in 2021. But honestly, the founders who acted boldly, reset quickly, and kept going have done great.

By contrast, companies that dragged their feet, hesitated on raising a down round, or faced challenges with cap tables and boards struggled. My biggest realization is that Endeavor sits in a unique position to be an ally for founders in the equity fundraising process.

Even though we put in only a small check, it’s an automatic, rules-based investment that applies to all Endeavor companies. That gives founders confidence that we’re purely there to be their ally.

The Resilience of Investors

Paulo: You’ve talked about resilient entrepreneurs—what about resilient investors? What’s your take on what makes a great investor, based on your experience co-investing and working with others on boards?

Allen: I think it’s underappreciated that being a great venture investor is also a multi-decade game. It’s an apprenticeship business—it’s not just about raising some money and writing checks.

The Kauffman Fellows program gave me valuable frameworks when I first started, but for emerging managers building their own firms, it’s very much like building a startup. You’re constantly learning as you go.

It’s important to remind yourself that building a great venture fund is about much more than just being a good picker—saying, That’s a good company, let’s invest.

It involves:

• Sourcing deals
• Winning deals
• Partnering with founders post-investment

The best investors see this as a long-term partnership. They take it seriously and prioritize the human side of investing. That pays off.

If you look at firms like Sequoia, Accel, Lightspeed, or Andreessen, or even later-stage firms like General Atlantic, they often back the same founders multiple times—across different companies—over 20 to 30 years.

You only do that if you prioritize relationships first and treat founders well.

At Endeavor, as we enter our third decade, nearly 20% of the deals we did this year were with Endeavor entrepreneurs starting their second, third, or fourth companies. That’s an important pattern to consider.

Entrepreneurs as Investors

Paulo: Do you also have entrepreneurs who invest in Endeavor’s fund?

Allen: Absolutely—tons of them.

One of our core goals is for Endeavor to be of, by, and for entrepreneurs.

Someday, we want Endeavor entrepreneurs to run local chapters, be board members, donors, and mentors. And yes, we also want them to be LPs.

Our most recent fund was $290 million, and it was raised primarily from board members, mentors, and people deeply involved with Endeavor. It’s an invite-only process.

But what’s really exciting is that over 140 of our LPs in this last fund are Endeavor entrepreneurs.

The Globalization of Venture Capital and Exits

Paulo: In Southeast Asia, the outlook on exits isn’t as bright as it once was. Funds are becoming more creative in how they think about liquidity, expanding the pool of potential buyers globally.

From your conversations with LPs and buyers, how do they view emerging markets and exit pathways?

Allen: So far, our biggest exits at Endeavor Catalyst—26 in total, including 11 IPOs—have mostly involved liquidity from the U.S. market.

The largest IPOs have been on NASDAQ or the NYSE, and the most successful acquisitions have been by companies like Uber, Zynga, and Google.

However, this is starting to shift.

Our largest exit last year came from a Tunisian company acquired for $700 million by a German pharmaceutical company, BioNTech. That’s a sign of increasing cross-border M&A activity.

If we’re serious about liquidity over the next decade, we need to develop regional liquidity in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East—both through IPOs and M&A.

While global firms like Microsoft and Amazon will continue acquiring in emerging markets, regional buyers need to step up.

At Endeavor Catalyst, we have around 60 companies that have become billion-dollar businesses—but only 10 have exited. That leaves 50 private unicorns. Where will they find liquidity?

Some may list in the U.S., but others will need alternative exchanges—London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, or Hong Kong.

We were optimistic about Bukalapak’s IPO in Indonesia, and it went well—they raised $1 billion. But post-listing, liquidity hasn’t been great. That shows Indonesia’s stock exchange isn’t quite where it needs to be to support major exits yet.

The Future of Global Venture

Paulo: You’ve talked about the globalization of entrepreneurs and venture capital. It seems like exit pathways also need to globalize. But that’s a longer game with many factors involved.

Allen: Exactly.

We’ve seen venture capital globalize over the last 15 years.

• VC dollars started flowing into new markets 15 years ago.
• Five to seven years ago, unicorns became more global.
• But true liquidity—major IPOs and M&As—is just starting now.

This makes sense because venture has a 10-15 year timeline. The money going into these companies will come out later.

Between now and 2030, I believe we’ll see much more liquidity across emerging markets.

Closing Thoughts on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital

Paulo: Thank you, Allen, for sharing your experiences and insights on innovation and venture capital worldwide.

For investors listening, I hope this conversation leaves you cautiously optimistic.

At Insignia, we run Insignia Ventures Academy, a VC education program, and it’s always great to see new talent getting involved in backing founders—even during uncertain times.

It’s inspiring to have people like you championing emerging markets and promoting opportunities in regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Allen: My pleasure. Keep up the great work with the academy and everything else.

One last thought: The venture timeline doesn’t match the news cycle.

There will be bad headlines and growing pains, but you have to play the long game. The opportunities are real, the demographics support it, and entrepreneurship and venture capital remain powerful tools for inclusive economic growth.

Let’s keep doing this for a few more decades. Paulo, you’re young—we have plenty of time!

Paulo: Exactly—just keep going!