Greatest Hits Episode: Daniel Bilbao, Fighting Fraud in Latin America, Ep 146

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Greatest Hits Episode: Daniel Bilbao, Fighting Fraud in Latin America, Ep 146</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">For this week’s episode of Crossing Borders, we’re revisiting</span></em> <a href= "https://www.nathanlustig.com/daniel-bilbao-truora-fighting-fraud-in-latin-america-ep-80/"> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">one of our greatest hits episodes</span></em></a> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">featuring Truora’s Daniel Bilbao.</span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Originally from Cali, Colombia, Daniel studied in the US and started a company in Silicon Valley before realizing he wanted to use his experience to solve a pressing Latin American problem: fraud. Truora, a startup that provides instant background checks, was born to fight that problem.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I sat down with Daniel for this episode to talk about why he decided to go after the Latin American market instead of Silicon Valley, how he raised money from Y Combinator, Accel, and Kaszek Ventures, and why he wants to tackle the problem of fraud in Latin America. We also discuss why he based his company in Cali and the lessons he learned building and working for three startups in Latin America and Silicon Valley.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Magma has been supporting Truora since before YCombinator, so I’m especially excited to share the story of this ambitious founder from Colombia on the podcast.</span></p> <h2><strong>Why background checks are a big deal in Latin America</strong></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Background checks are customary practice in the US for reasons of compliance. Background checks are essential in Latin America to avoid fraud and criminal activity. With the rise of the gig economy has come the challenge of hiring and managing massive teams of contract workers; Truora makes it possible to run a background check on new employees in a matter of 30 seconds using a smartphone. Leveraging his