Venture Founders & C-Levels

Wenyi Cai is the Founder &amp; CEO of Polymath Ventures, a venture studio that builds digital platforms to empower the middle-class of Latin America. Prior to founding Polymath, Wenyi was an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. As the COO of Milo.com, a consumer internet startup that sold to eBay in 2010, Wenyi led business development efforts with major technology companies like Microsoft and eBay and oversaw the product and engineering teams. Earlier in her career, Wenyi was a consultant with McKinsey &amp; Company in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Preceding her business career, Wenyi helped build a quantitative trading hedge fund, and was a published researcher in applied physics. Wenyi graduated cum laude from Harvard College, and studied philosophy and physics. Wenyi was born in China and grew up between China and the United States.

Linkedin

Co-Founder & CEO 

Wenyi Cai 

Polymath Ventures

Wenyi-Cai.jpeg

About Polymath Ventures

large_Wenyi 02.jpg

medium_Wenyi 02.jpg

small_Wenyi 02.jpg

thumbnail_Wenyi 02.jpg

Wenyi 02.jpg

Maria Camila has over 9 years of experience and holds an International MBA from London Metropolitan University. Prior to joining Polymath and focusing on talent acquisition and development, she gained experience in researching and analyzing new business opportunities in various markets while working in different multinational companies.

VP of Talent

Camila Montilla

Fundraising for startups is a pivotal moment that can make or break the trajectory of a business. It serves as a crucial milestone, enabling startups to secure the necessary capital for growth and development. However, it is not without its challenges. Many entrepreneurs find the fundraising process daunting and overwhelming, often unsure of where to begin or how to navigate the complexities involved.Fortunately, with meticulous planning, strategic execution, and the wisdom gained from experienced funders and renowned fundraising playbooks, startups can significantly enhance their chances of success in fundraising endeavors. In this article, we will delve into a comprehensive set of strategies and insights provided by <a href="https://polymathv.com/team/natalie-copuroglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Natalie Copuroglu</a>, co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.tanisalud.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tani Salud,</a> along with the experiences shared by our founders. By drawing upon Natalie's expertise and the collective wisdom of our network, we aim to shed light on the key steps and considerations that entrepreneurs should carefully evaluate when embarking on the capital-raising journey. These insights have been curated to provide a well-rounded perspective, ensuring that you have the knowledge and guidance necessary to navigate the fundraising landscape with confidence and maximize your chances of securing the necessary capital for your startup's growth and development:&nbsp;<h3>1. Strategic timing: Start early</h3>Before diving into the fundraising process, it's essential to understand why and when you should raise capital. Investors are not solely interested in providing funds because you're running out of money; they invest with the belief that their equity stake will yield significant returns in the future. Additionally, it's crucial to recognize that the process of securing funding has become more time-consuming. Factors such as increased due diligence, meticulous investor scrutiny, and market uncertainties contribute to longer fundraising timelines. By starting early, you allow yourself ample time to navigate these challenges without feeling rushed or pressured, and you can proactively engage with potential investors, build relationships, and establish trust. By combining a clear understanding of your capital needs and the longer timelines in fundraising, you can strategically plan and execute your fundraising efforts, increasing your chances of securing the right investment partners for your business.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>2. The immense power of storytelling</h3>Take the time to sit down and truly grasp the essence of your story, what you want to convey, and how it resonates with potential investors. By combining the knowledge of your business's financial needs with a compelling narrative, you can effectively communicate your vision, values, and growth potential, making your capital-raising efforts more impactful and engaging for investors. &nbsp;And once your story is defined, you can then translate your narrative into materials such as a short teaser deck, a comprehensive presentation deck, and a 2-3 year forecast with a successful fundraise assumed. These materials will further amplify the power of your story and help you attract the right investors who share your vision and believe in your potential for success.Here are some tips for creating a compelling fundraising pitch:<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:72.26%;"><img src="/uploads/IMAGEN_deee9bec0c.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;<h3>3. Prepare your team and the information in advance</h3>Fundraising requires dedicated effort and can be a full-time job in itself. As a founder, it's crucial to recognize that your availability and focus may shift during the fundraising process. To ensure that you can fully dedicate yourself to fundraising and maximize your chances of success, it's important to establish systems and processes within your team. Communicate with your team members about the increased demands of fundraising and the need for their support. Together, assess the workload and availability of each team member to identify any potential conflicts or overload that may hinder their ability to contribute effectively. Consider redistributing responsibilities or temporarily reallocating tasks to ensure that everyone can prioritize fundraising-related activities without neglecting core operational responsibilities. By proactively managing the workload and setting clear expectations, you can create an environment where the team understands the importance of fundraising and can support your efforts effectively. This allows you to focus on engaging with investors, building relationships, and showcasing the strengths of your startup during the fundraising journey.&nbsp;Anticipating common questions and compiling them into a comprehensive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document is a valuable step in preparing for the fundraising process. As you engage with potential investors, it's natural for them to have questions and seek clarifications about various aspects of your startup, its vision, and its potential for growth. By proactively addressing these common questions in advance and creating a Data Room, you can save valuable time and ensure consistent and accurate responses during investor interactions.<h3> 4. Build relationships in advance and leverage warm introductions</h3>Establishing relationships with potential investors before initiating the fundraising process is a strategic approach that can greatly benefit your fundraising efforts. By proactively building connections and rapport with investors, you lay the groundwork for future engagement and increase the likelihood of securing their support. One effective way to do this is by attending networking events, industry conferences, and online communities relevant to your business. These platforms provide opportunities to interact with investors, gain industry insights, and showcase your expertise. By actively engaging in these environments, you can expand your network and identify potential investors who align with your business objectives. Building relationships in advance allows you to cultivate trust, familiarity, and credibility, making it easier to approach investors when the time is right.When reaching out to investors, leveraging warm introductions can significantly enhance your chances of success. Seek out individuals who have connections to the investors you are targeting and who can facilitate an introduction on your behalf. These intermediaries could be mutual acquaintances, industry experts, advisors, or mentors who are familiar with both your business and the investor's preferences. A warm introduction not only helps you stand out from the countless cold emails and pitches investors receive but also provides valuable insights into the investor's interests and investment thesis.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>5. Treating fundraising like a sales process</h3>To effectively navigate the fundraising journey, it's crucial to approach it with a sales mindset. Just as a salesperson uses tools and strategies to manage leads and close deals, entrepreneurs can employ similar tactics to streamline the fundraising process. Tools like Airtable can serve as a funnel, allowing you to track the progress of each lead, manage follow-ups, and ensure that no potential investor slips through the cracks. By organizing your investor pipeline, you can stay on top of important interactions, track investor feedback, and make informed decisions on prioritizing your efforts.&nbsp;It also enables you to stay organized, maintain momentum, and ensure that no valuable connections are overlooked.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>6. Fundraising is a numbers game</h3>Fundraising&nbsp; requires perseverance and resilience. It's important to remember that not every investor will be the right fit for your business, and rejection is a normal part of the process. However, it's essential to stay focused and not give up. Instead of being discouraged by setbacks, view them as learning opportunities and use them to refine your pitch and strategy.Patience is key in the fundraising journey. It can take time to find investors who truly understand and appreciate the value of your business. While it may be tempting to rush the process, rushing can lead to hasty decisions or settling for suboptimal partnerships. By maintaining a long-term perspective and remaining patient, you can dedicate the necessary time and effort to identify investors who align with your vision, industry expertise, and growth potential.&nbsp;<h3>Conclusion</h3>Fundraising is a dynamic and multifaceted process that varies from one startup to another. It's important to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to securing capital for your business. While the strategies and insights shared in this article provide a solid foundation, it's crucial to adapt and tailor them to your unique circumstances. Each startup has its own set of strengths, challenges, and goals. As you navigate the fundraising journey, embrace the challenges that come your way. Recognize that setbacks and rejections are a natural part of the process, but they should not discourage you. Instead, maintain persistence and a positive mindset. Learn from each experience and use it as an opportunity to refine your approach and strengthen your pitch.Remember,<a href="https://polymathv.com/library/articles/fundraising-in-latin-america-our-journey" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> fundraising is not just about securing capital</a>; it's about finding the right investment partners who understand your business, share your vision, and can contribute to your long-term growth and success. With these insights and strategies in mind, you can approach the fundraising process with confidence, purpose, and a higher likelihood of achieving your fundraising goals.

Hands Positive Hope Natural Wear Logo (1).png

medium_Hands Positive Hope Natural Wear Logo (1).png

small_Hands Positive Hope Natural Wear Logo (1).png

thumbnail_Hands Positive Hope Natural Wear Logo (1).png

Navigating the Fundraising Journey: Insights and Strategies

For those who may not be familiar with the concept, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR from now on) is a seasoned entrepreneur who is brought into a venture capital firm or venture studio with the objective of catalyzing innovation and driving growth. Within a venture studio, an EIR collaborates closely with the team, utilizing their deep expertise and experience to identify and develop new business opportunities. EIRs may also pursue the spin-off of new ventures, potentially becoming founders themselves, as they contribute to the incubation and acceleration of promising new ventures.At Polymath Ventures, we have worked under the EIR model in the past, but this year we want to relaunch it along with the fund we are building. This initiative aims to bring in fresh perspectives, new talents and new business models aligned with our mission of being Latin America's premier Seed Fund and Venture Studio, built by serial entrepreneurs.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/PV_Articles_Images_Internal_Images_588a0a8862.jpg"></figure>Are you an entrepreneur seeking new exciting opportunities? Let us explain the advantages of collaborating and co-creating within a venture studio environment like ours!<ul><li>Collaboration and support: EIRs will be entering a collaborative environment, surrounded by other entrepreneurs, mentors and experts willing to provide guidance, support and feedback as they work on their ideas. &nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>Resources: EIR programs typically provide entrepreneurs with a variety of resources, including funding, mentorship, office space, and connections to potential customers and partners. &nbsp;</li><li>Networking Opportunities: EIRs have the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs, industry experts, and potential investors, which can help them further their careers and expand their professional networks. &nbsp;</li><li>Opportunity for Innovation: EIRs are encouraged to take calculated risks and explore new ideas within a supportive and collaborative venture studio environment. This provides a low-risk opportunity to test and validate their ideas while receiving feedback and support from experienced mentors and experts. &nbsp;</li><li>Potential for investment: After the first stage of supporting the EIR to ideate and validate the business model, there is a high possibility of being funded by the seed fund or through its network of investors.</li></ul><figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/PV_Articles_Images_Internal_Images_copy_c71393211f.jpg"></figure>This setting will increase the EIR's chances of success and offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to enhance their skills, grow their networks and bring their ideas into viable business models.Besides all of these advantages, building alongside Polymath also comes with:<ul><li>Build with one of the most talented teams in Latin America. Our EIRs will work alongside the top and motivated talent from diverse fields and exceptional mentors including our CEO Wenyi Cai, our C-Levels Damian Alcedo and Francisco Paz with vast experience in building new projects and all of our ventures founders Ana, Manuel, Chava, Andrew, Natalia and Zach&nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>Be part of our network of founders, investors, advisors, and an extensive community of allies &nbsp;Our extensive network is filled with individuals who have the expertise and experience to guide you through the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship. Whether you need mentorship, funding, partnerships, or simply a supportive community, our network is ready to provide you with the tools and connections you need to succeed. &nbsp;</li><li>Access to unique methodologies to build new ventures. Our EIRs will gain exceptional experience designing and building great companies, through our methodologies, resources and connections to increase your success. These methodologies are the result of years of experience and expertise in designing, launching, funding and scaling human-centered companies. &nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>Be a Founder. EIRs will have the opportunity to become founders of a new venture that has been built for the middle class in Latin America. Together we will de-risk the company, aiming for big success.</li></ul>&nbsp;Are you the entrepreneur we are looking for and are excited to build meaningful solutions to empower Latam’s middle class?

large_PV- Articles Images_Principal Pic.jpg

medium_PV- Articles Images_Principal Pic.jpg

small_PV- Articles Images_Principal Pic.jpg

thumbnail_PV- Articles Images_Principal Pic.jpg

PV- Articles Images_Principal Pic.jpg

Why you should become an EIR and build alongside a venture studio

Shuang operates Cloud Service-related accelerators to advance China's startup ecosystem globally. Additionally, she advises on eCommerce and Fintech-related topics as a consultant at Polymath Venture. Shuang has led Elenas' China team, developing China's supply chain and facilitating various strategies. Previously she held a leadership role at CreditEase, a top Fintech company in China, where she led corporate strategy and investment projects. Shuang's early career includes working with MSCI and the World Bank and volunteering for a Microfinance project in rural Guatemala. Shuang holds a BPhil in Philosophy from Wuhan University and a Master's degree in Intl Development from Georgetown University with distinction. &nbsp;

About Polymath Ventures

Recent articles

Navigating the Fundraising Journey: Insights and Strategies

Why you should become an EIR and build alongside a venture studio

Looking at the future of LatAm digital payments through the lessons of China

6 reasons to believe in the Venture Studio Model

Ideation, the Starting Point for Company Building

The Venture Studio model in Latin America