Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Igor Marinelli, founder and CEO of Tractian, a leader in industrial IoT and enterprise asset management software. Just over a year ago, Tractian secured a $45M Series B funding round, led by General Catalyst and joined by Next47 .
Igor takes us on his incredible journey from building inventory systems as a teenager to founding one of the most innovative companies in the industrial tech space. His story highlights how a deep understanding of customer pain points fueled the creation of innovative solutions for real-world manufacturing challenges. Entrepreneurs will find inspiration in Igor’s relentless pursuit of product excellence and customer loyalty, while investors will appreciate his long-term strategic vision and disciplined approach to market expansion. Packed with actionable insights, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone aiming to build a sustainable, customer-first business.
In today's episode we discuss:
1. B2B vs. B2C Building Strategies: why building a B2B company requires a different set of fundamentals and how these differ from consumer-facing startups
2. Hire like you’re building: why great managers are hands-on operators, not just career ladder climbers?
3. Engineer-led growth: why founders should be hands-on with product and customer feedback before scaling?
4. Sell value, not features: how focusing on the impact of your solution leads to faster conversions?
5. Partnerships > Valuations: whya fair partnership with strategic support is better than an inflated valuation with little alignment?
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Follow Olga on LinkedIn or Instagram Olga is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, mentor at Techstars and founder at The J Curve, Latin America's leading English speaking podcast about tech builders. She's been investing in the USA, SEA and Latin America for over 13 years. Companies she backed include tech unicorn ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody) and Vitalk (acquired by Gympass).
