Miguel Armaza sits down with Michael Calvey, one of the most successful and legendary emerging markets investors of our time. Mike moved to Moscow at age 27 in the early 90s and built Baring Vostok into a powerhouse with $10+ billion invested in Russia. They backed now-decacorns like Yandex, Revolut, Tinkoff, and Kaspi at their earliest stages. Yandex alone was a 450x return for the fund.
Along the way, he survived a 98% market crash, was detained by Russia's secret service, and made billions of dollars for his investors.
He's also incredibly thoughtful about the ingredients of great founders, what separates the ones who win from those just chasing money, how the best companies constantly stack new S curves, and why being a hands-on owner but never a hands-on manager is the key to a great investor-founder partnership.
Timestamped Overview 00:00 From Oklahoma to Russia - Intro & Michael’s Background 10:32 Building an Elite Emerging Markets Team 14:36 Geopolitics, Economics, and Market Resilience 20:25 Fewer Investments, Better Focus 24:08 Successful Entrepreneurs Value Purpose 28:47 Management KPIs and Key Insights 33:45 3 Cs of Ownership Focus 42:53 Marketplace vs. Fintech Growth Dynamics 44:02 Marketplace Dominance and Financial Complexity 52:25 Emerging Markets: Talent vs. Geopolitics 54:51 Emerging Markets and Fintech Ventures 01:00:20 Medici Family: Banking and Intrigue 01:05:59 Starting Over as Entrepreneur
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
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