Alexandre (Alex) Lazarow has spent his career working at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development in the private, public, and social sectors. He is the author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley (HBR Press). Alex is a venture capitalist with Cathay Innovation, a global firm that invests across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
Previously, Alex worked with Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm that has invested over a billion dollars in hundreds of startups around the world. He has served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, a financial regulator with the Bank of Canada, and an M&A investment banker with the Royal Bank of Canada.
Alex is an adjunct professor specializing in impact investment and entrepreneurship at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He is a Kauffman Fellow, CFA Charterholder, and a Stephen M. Kellen Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Comm from the University of Manitoba.
Alex is a regular columnist with Forbes, and his writing has been featured in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, Entrepreneur Magazine, TechCrunch, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Business Insider, and Quartz , among others. He speaks regularly on global innovation trends and has presented at Collision, Endeavor, InsureTech Connect, the Social Innovation Summit, SOCAP, and the Corporate Venture Capital Summit. He is most proud of having once been called a ‘sad, low budget Ryan Reynolds’ on Twitter.
“ I believe that some of these businesses in this impact world are building not just fabulous business models, but something that has impact aligned with it. And as they scale they will scale to their impact as well.” - Alex Lazarow
Alex joins me today to discuss his background in impact investing with the Omidyar group. We discuss financial ecosystems around the world and how they differ from the changing ecosystem in Silicon Valley. Alex shares some advice for people seeking investment and with those who want to become an investor. Alex shares his secret to getting fifteen minutes with a venture capitalist.
Today on Startups for Good we cover:
- Frontier Ecosystems
- Global Financial Inclusion Investing
- A camel as an example rather than a unicorn
- Blitz Scaling
- How to develop a team in a frontier market
- Multi Mission Athletes
Connect with Alex on his website or on LinkedIn or Twitter
You can purchase Alex’s book Out Innovate on Amazon or like Alex suggested your local bookstore.
The authors that Alex suggested: Brad Feld and Bill Draper Startup Game
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