Pedro Arnt (dLocal) on preserving startup agility while becoming a big company, the IPO is just the beginning and his new chapter as dLocal
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On this episode Pat sits down with legendary operator and former MELI CFO, and now CEO of dLocal, Pedro Arnt, to dive into his learnings of 20+ years of company building.
We discuss
Why he is bullish on emerging market's potential
His learnings around the early innings of MELI riding the wave of digitization in commerce in the 2000s and why long term building beats short-term CAGR ambitions
The parallels he sees across verticals in emerging markets from commerce to payments and how slower consumer adoption calls for more discipline and consistency but allows you to grow at +30% CAGR for many years
His take on balancing startup agility and processes and organizational complexity of a big corporation
His new chapter with dLocal and why going from emerging market to emerging market makes all the sense
Dive into the full episode
👉 Spotify
Tl, dr
From Uruguay to Everywhere: dLocal helps global giants like Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, and Meta process payments and make payouts in 40+ emerging markets via one API—supporting 700+ local payment methods across LATAM, Africa, and Asia.
Emerging Markets = Digital Frontier: With ⅔ of global GDP growth and most of the world’s youth, emerging markets offer massive upside—especially in sectors like fintech and logistics where legacy systems are broken or nonexistent.
Seeding ideas: In capital-scarce regions, Pedro focuses on MVPs, usage-based traction, and tight reinvestment before betting big on a new product. His rule: don’t overfund too early, but never kill good ideas too soon either.
Public, Not Short-Term: dLocal IPO’d in 2021. Pedro warns founders: If you go public too early you risk shifting focus from long-term value to quarterly noise. Be a more mature company first, then list otherwise the change might be too drastic
Scale Requires Reinvention: What gets you to Series B won't get you to the next stage. Pedro emphasizes preserving culture, but building new systems, new teams, and a leadership layer that thrives on complexity.
Built for the Global South: dLocal isn’t chasing Europe or North America. Instead, it reduces regulatory and payment complexity across emerging markets with a horizontal model—making it the Stripe for the Global South.
Previous episodes you might enjoy:
Alexis Pantazis (Hellas Direct) scaling an insurtech, profitable markets vs. TAM, vertical integration as a moat
Alex Lazarow on Emerging Markets Fintech Quo Vadis - Data, Delivery, Distribution
Fersen Lambranho (GP Investments) on what makes a great CEO, looking back onto 30 years of investing and differences between PE in Brazil vs. US
Jacobo Singer (dLocal) on bringing their payment solutions to Africa, lessons on expansion and promoting talent from within
Rapid-Fire with Pedro Arnt:
Entrepreneurs he admires: Marcos Galperin (CEO of Mercado Libre), with whom he worked closely for years, and David Vélez (Founder & CEO of Nubank) for building a standout business in Latin America. He also looks to Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) as a mental model for how to scale and structure companies with long-term ambition.
Best advice ever received: Leadership isn’t about copying others—it’s about finding your own way of doing things. Success is more likely when you follow an approach that aligns with your instincts and values.
Three elements of a successful business: Ambition, Efficiency, Customer-centricity
What would Jeff do?
When global companies like Amazon, Spotify, or Microsoft want to sell in Latin America, Africa, or Southeast Asia, there’s a high chance they’re doing it via dLocal.
This Uruguayan-born fintech, now led by Pedro Arnt, offers a single API for accepting local payments and making payouts in 40+ emerging markets—handling everything from mobile wallets to cash payments. In short: dLocal builds the financial rails where traditional infrastructure is still catching up.
After helping scale Mercado Libre into Latin America’s biggest tech success story and now steering dLocal as CEO, Pedro Arnt has a rare vantage point: he has navigated two companies through hyper-growth and the transition to public markets.
“I’ve asked myself many times, what would Jeff do—instead of what would Jesus do?”
The Biggest Digital Opportunity on Earth
Pedro lays out a compelling case for why emerging markets are not just viable—they’re necessary frontiers for digital innovation.
“More than two-thirds of global growth over the next decade will come from emerging markets.”
He points out three key forces at play:
Favorable demographics & macro trends Young populations + growing economies = long-term tailwinds.
High inefficiency = high impact In many sectors like payments or banking, poor existing systems mean tech isn’t just helpful—it’s transformational.
Smoother scaling trajectories Without the intense 300% year-over-year pressures of developed markets, founders can grow more methodically and sustainably.
Innovation ≠ Reinvention
Pedro doesn’t romanticize startup culture. Instead, he reframes innovation as smart adaptation.
“Why invent mediocrity when you can copy genius?”
He’s seen firsthand that successful companies in the Global South often start by localizing proven models—then evolve them to suit the market.
This strategy powered Mercado Libre’s evolution from e-commerce platform to fintech giant. It wasn’t about launching bold new verticals overnight—it was about getting each layer (payments, logistics, advertising) right on a small scale first, and only scaling when the product was truly ready.
Why Less Capital Makes You a Better Founder
In places where $100M seed rounds don’t exist, founders develop better reflexes - Pedro argues that scarcity forces smarter decision-making.
Here’s the capital allocation approach he used repeatedly at Mercado Libre:
Seed new ideas with just enough capital to build a strong MVP
Don’t demand immediate financials—look for usage and product-market fit
If traction appears → double down
If not → don’t kill the idea, but don’t overfund it either
“In emerging markets, you bump into natural guardrails. You just can’t afford to squander capital.”
This same mindset now guides how he’s building at dLocal. The company is expanding globally, but with deliberate, stepwise execution—never outpacing product readiness or burning capital needlessly.
You’re Public—Now Don’t Blow It
The shift from private to public is significant—but not for the reasons many founders think. The real challenge, Pedro says, isn’t quarterly earnings pressure. It’s resisting the temptation to become short-term focused.
“If you feel that you've changed too much when going public, then you're probably not doing yourself a service.”
Being public means more scrutiny. But Pedro believes that if you’ve built long-term fundamentals—and you're transparent about your roadmap—investors will reward the vision. The key is timing: go public too early, and the pressure might derail your growth. Wait until your company is mature, and the transition becomes a catalyst, not a burden.
What Got You Here Will Definitely Kill You
As companies grow, they face a painful shift: the systems and behaviors that once fueled success can now become liabilities.
“What gets you here won’t get you there. In fact, it might kill you.”
What must stay constant:
Culture. But not any culture—the right culture for your business model.
Founders’ presence as guardrails, even if they're no longer in charge.
“You don’t transplant culture. You protect what’s working.”
What must radically change:
Process, structure, and accountability.
Team composition: builders over operators.
“You're not just hiring for skill. You're hiring people who want to build. People who believe in the power of technology, instinctively.”
Taking Over From Founders? Welcome to the Pain Zone.
Pedro doesn’t mince words about what it’s like to take over from founders.
“It’s like performing a lobotomy and open-heart surgery at the same time.”
That’s why dLocal’s approach to leadership transition has been deliberate. Founders remain close to the business, not as micromanagers, but as institutional memory and cultural ballast. Meanwhile, Pedro has focused on bringing in leaders who’ve been in the mud before—people who’ve taken companies from pre-scale to scale and are eager to do it again.
Building a Payments Giant From Uruguay—And Winning Globally
Pedro’s excitement about dLocal is rooted in its unique model. dLocal enables global tech companies like Amazon, Spotify, and Netflix to accept payments and make payouts in over 40 emerging markets—all through a single API.
“What dLocal is, is a de-risked bet on emerging market digital adoption. We don’t need to pick winners locally. Our clients are the global winners already.”
Unlike Stripe or Ayden, dLocal doesn’t build vertical stacks in every market. Instead, it operates horizontally across fragmented systems, abstracting away complexity for its merchants. That’s why it’s been able to expand from Uruguay to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—regions that, while geographically diverse, share strikingly similar financial infrastructure challenges.
Dive into the full episode
👉 Spotify
Previous episodes you might enjoy:
Alexis Pantazis (Hellas Direct) scaling an insurtech, profitable markets vs. TAM, vertical integration as a moat
Alex Lazarow on Emerging Markets Fintech Quo Vadis - Data, Delivery, Distribution
Fersen Lambranho (GP Investments) on what makes a great CEO, looking back onto 30 years of investing and differences between PE in Brazil vs. US
Jacobo Singer (dLocal) on bringing their payment solutions to Africa, lessons on expansion and promoting talent from within
If you haven’t yet subscribed, join the +3,000 Enthusiasts via Substack, Medium, or LinkedIn and follow the show wherever you are getting your podcasts. If you enjoy the work we are doing, drop us a review or rating on your preferred podcast app.