Andrés Bilbao, Co-founder of Rappi, invests in Hashi.
Hello! I’m Gonza, co-founder and CEO of Hashi. Before diving into today’s blog, I want to briefly tell you what we do at Hashi: we help companies in Latin America acquire and retain users through content and gamification.
HOW IT HAPPENED
As some of you know, three years ago I came to Miami on a study scholarship from the University of Miami. One Tuesday afternoon, while I was studying, I received a message from a friend and entrepreneur named Tomas Iakub (Tomi, if you’re reading this, thanks for everything, man). His message was very direct: “Gonza, how are you? Can I call you? I have something BIG.” I, being the Instagram addict that I am and always looking for an excuse to stop studying, said, “Sure, call me.”
Tomi called me and told me that Andrés Bilbao was in Miami and wanted to meet with young entrepreneurs with “drive.” The genius Tomi thought of me and was about to tell me that the next morning at 8 AM, I had a face-to-face breakfast in Brickell with the founder of Rappi.
→Spoiler: I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
I can’t tell you how many times my 19-year-old self had dreamed of something like this. A one-on-one meeting with the founder of a company that changed Latin American culture.
Even though I was excited, stress and desperation set in. I only had eight hours to think about what to say and sound interesting. I was just a young guy with a small project selling crypto courses.
In those eight hours, I came up with the most ambitious plan my mind could imagine. I stayed in the common room of the university dorm on campus. It was just me, a giant whiteboard, a marker with barely any ink, and nothing else.
During those hours, I fleshed out the idea of being a kind of “Netflix for the crypto world in Latam” (which didn’t work out and we pivoted), but it sounded super cool, seriously. And most importantly, it wasn’t just an idea; behind it were 3,500 people who had already trusted the MVP version, a few angel investors, and the investment from SouthXchange.
What seemed like a casual chat with the founder of Rappi quickly turned into a pitch for Hashi, with the hope that Andrés would join as the lead investor for the round. (Family and friends round in 2022, where we raised 125k).
Honestly, I didn’t expect it, but it would be unfair to say it was purely “luck.” Before we went into “investment round mode,” I made sure that everyone I had had coffee with or had a Zoom/Meet with knew we were raising. All my contacts on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and some on Instagram had a one-pager of Hashi. So, if you’re looking to raise your first round, it’s something I highly recommend. There’s no downside, and it keeps people aware that you’re seeking investment.
I went in full shark mode, didn’t leave a second to stop talking. I gave it my all. Clearly, there were many unfinished parts in my pitch, but I think I managed to communicate the passion and drive effectively. That’s non-negotiable, never.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
43 days of a lot of stress, uncertainty, and anxiety. When you get investment confirmation, don’t tell anyone, don’t celebrate, don’t count on that money until you actually see it in your bank account. That’s a piece of advice I’ve learned over time. Many investments that are confirmed verbally end up falling through. I’ve had cases where a SAFE (a document we use and that is commonly used in startups to raise investment) was signed, but the investment still fell through.
During those 43 days, we underwent a due diligence process by Andrés’s team. This process is very common when receiving investment from funds. In the case of angel investment, it's common to send a “data room” containing important documents like historical billing, cash flow, expenses and salaries, team information, and cap table. But in this case, it was a due diligence process covering 6 or 7 different points. In addition to all of the above, it was necessary to send recommendation letters from other founders who had worked with us previously.
It was super stressful since it was our first time going through such a process, and as a young guy who was overly excited, I had already told half the world about Andrés’s investment, and I would have been devastated if the deal fell through.
WHAT’S UP WITH HASHI TODAY?
Today Hashi is something completely different; you know very little about us since we now sell to companies (an excuse that is no longer valid). That’s why the growth team at Hashi made me spend 1 hour a day writing to you and recording myself for reels/tiktok.
Much of the content and loyalty programs you see in companies like Banco Nación, Macro, Remax, Lulubit, Brandon, DeCrypto, N1U, and 50 more cases in Latin America, we lead. Of course, the Hashi logo doesn’t appear anywhere because we are 100% white-label and customizable.
Today Hashi operates in Chile, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Panama, and the United States. For now, we have teams in Argentina and Peru.
If you made it this far, I sincerely thank you. If you really liked this format and want us to keep doing it, let me know.
See you next time, Gonza.
