20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today

**Harry Stebbings** (0:00)
So the other week, we did a special feature week on Latin America, and bluntly, it was a storming success. We added over 100,000 new subscribers to 20VC in Latin America alone, but there was one guest that we were not able to feature in time that I really wanted to. Their work has moved the needle for Latin America's tech ecosystem, and this person literally does so much. I'm not quite sure how to make this a succinct bio, but here goes. So I'm thrilled to welcome Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International, and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, the world's largest tech investor. At SoftBank, Marcelo oversees the company's strategic direction and its portfolio of operating companies, including the likes of WeWork, SB Energy, Fortress, Boston Dynamics, as well as SoftBank's stake in T-Mobile US. He also spearheads the SoftBank Latin America Fund, a $5 billion fund dedicated to investing in technology growth opportunities throughout the region. And if that wasn't enough, Marcelo also serves as the exact chairman at WeWork. He's on the board of ARM. He's the president of Club Bolívar, Bolivia's most popular and successful soccer team. He's the co-owner and chairman of Inter Miami CF, and most recently co-owner of Girona FC. I mean, I'm not quite sure what his diary looks like, but that is pretty incredible to see. And then finally, a huge thanks to Matteo at 8 Sleep for some fantastic question suggestions today. Really did so appreciate that. But before we move into the show today, Mercury is building full-stack banking for startups, applying under 10 minutes from anywhere for FDIC-insured bank accounts, physical and virtual debit cards, domestic and international wires, and integrations with Gusto, Stripe, QuickBooks and Plaid to name a few. They also offer unusual features like API access, custom team management, and their newly launched Mercury Treasury, a cash management product for high-growth startups. And they'll even help you build your startup with Mercury Raise, a program to connect you to Silicon Valley's top investors. Head over to mercury.com forward slash sign up to apply. And speaking of foundational infrastructure to run your business with Mercury there, let's face it, this new world of remote work is here to stay. And so are all the headaches that come with running a remote team. Rippling helps fast growing companies automate their HR and IT systems. And now they're making it super easy to manage employees and contractors anywhere. When you hire people in new states, Rippling can now automatically register your startup with each state tax agency and keep you compliant with all of the different local labor laws. From there, Rippling lets you onboard new hires in literally 60 seconds. You can instantly set up people's payroll, benefits, and all of their apps like Slack and GitHub. So if you're looking for just a much easier way to run your startup remotely, better head over to rippling.com forward slash 20VC. That's rippling.com forward slash 20VC. And finally, I have to say, I just love using AngelList Fund admin platform to manage my investments. The team and the platform with AngelList, they take care of all my back office needs so that I can focus on working with great founders. Leading fund managers have made over 10,000 investments into 6,000 startups via AngelList, all online and all in one place. And with the recently announced Rolling Funds, you can easily find and invest in these top fund managers on angellist.com forward slash Rolling. But that is quite enough from me today. Now I'm so excited to hand over to Marcelo Claure at SoftBank. Thank you.

**Marcelo Claure** (3:15)
You have now arrived at your destination.

**Harry Stebbings** (3:18)
Marcelo, this is such a joy to do. I've wanted to make this one happen for a long time. So thank you so much for joining me today.

**Marcelo Claure** (3:23)
Hi Harry, it's a pleasure to be here. Sorry that it took so long.

**Harry Stebbings** (3:27)
Listen, it is so good to make it happen, as I said, but I always love a little bit of a story. So tell me, how did you make your way into the world of venture and come to be, you know, CEO of SoftBank Group International today?

**Marcelo Claure** (3:37)
So there's a story behind it, right? And first thing that I did is I created a company. I was the founder of a company called Brightstar, which Brightstar grew from a small shop in Miami to being the world's largest mobile phone distribution and supply chain services in the world. That company grew. Then I had a chance to meet Massa, who fell in love with the concept of Brightstar. He offered to buy Brightstar with only one condition. And that condition was that I would become the CEO of Sprint. I became the CEO of Sprint. And there's a long story about Sprint that I'm sure we're gonna talk about it. When we finished the turnaround of Sprint and we did the Sprint-Antimobile merger, you know, I was ready to go back and be an entrepreneur again. But Masa asked me to not leave SoftBank and to move to Tokyo with the purpose of learning how to invest. And I became the CEO of SoftBank and the CEO of the International Group of SoftBank. And after hanging out with Masa for a year and a half and helping him lead the Vision Fund in Japan, then I became an investor because I decided to open a fund mainly focused on Latin America. And that's how I became my own venture capital. And that's why I got here.