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Edrizio De La Cruz
Y-Combinator Visiting Partner - co-founded Arcus (sold to Mastercard)
Edrizio De La Cruz
Edrizio De La Cruz is an entrepreneur, author, and former Y Combinator Visiting Partner. He is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of Arcus, a fintech company that was acquired by Mastercard in 2021.
Key Facts About Edrizio De La Cruz
- Co-founded Arcus (formerly Regalii) in 2013 with Juan Maldonado after graduating from Wharton with an MBA12
- Arcus was backed by Y Combinator, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, Ignia and others4
- Served as CEO of Arcus until its acquisition by Mastercard in 202113
- Joined Y Combinator as a Visiting Partner in 2022 after selling Arcus3
- Author of the book "The Underdog Founder" which chronicles his entrepreneurial journey4
- Immigrated to the US from the Dominican Republic at age 111
- Graduated from Baruch College and worked in finance at JP Morgan before Wharton2
- Recipient of several awards including Echoing Green Fellowship, Visa Everywhere Initiative winner3
De La Cruz's story is one of perseverance and overcoming the odds as an underrepresented founder. He has leveraged his experiences to support and mentor other founders as a Y Combinator Visiting Partner and through his book "The Underdog Founder".34
Highlights
Founders should never stop doing sales
This is David Risher, CEO of Lyft. He occasionally hops in his Tesla, pops up the Lyft app, and takes ride
This is why founders should never stop doing sales
☑️ Best way to actually know your customer - whether you have 1 customer or 10,000 ☑️ No one cares about your product more than you do. This is why at pre-seed, relying on partnerships to sell your product rarely works ☑️ Your entire job as a founder will be selling to different parties (customers, investors, press, hires) ☑️ The more you sell, the deeper your ‘knowledge moat’, and the bigger unfair advantage you have over other potential competitors
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Fundraising is a F#@! up process 😲
I raised $25M at my 1st startup. Here are the most messed up (and sometimes funny) things that I experienced during fundraising:
☑️ A VC pulled a $10M three days before closing, we had 4 weeks of runway. No explanation was given ☑️ A VC signed a term sheet and made us spend $25k on legal bills. Then the VC ghosted us. We later learned that the VC never had any money ☑️ A VC signed as lead in a $1M seed term sheet, but pulled it, and told other investors before telling us ☑️ In the middle of my pitch, the VC fell asleep. Head on the desk, snoring 😴
Dishonorable mentions:
☑️ Booked a meeting with a partner, but when I started the call, her college intern said she'd be leading the call because the partner was "tied up" ☑️ VC jumps into a 30-minute call, 15 minutes after it already started with his partner, and proceeded to ask a bunch of questions that were asked already ☑️ VC canceled lunch after I was at the restaurant, which took me 45 minutes to get to
My advice:
This is standard VC behavior, so don't take it personally. Remember that it's a numbers game, the more shots on goal, the better your odds of success🏆
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