Insights
Three trips this spring, one pattern. Investors, founders and buyers are paying attention to Brazil: its energy capacity, Pix and digital payments, and engineering talent already operating at a global level.
AI was on every booth, but the real conversation was about optimization, franchising and technology stacks that have grown faster than the businesses running them.
Local tech weeks around the big hubs have been running for years. Now they are getting stronger, with more capital, more technology and the push of AI, and city governments are at the center of it.
Many companies believe they need AI at all costs. Most first need process automation, workflow automation and operational efficiency. The winners will know where AI creates leverage and where solid foundations matter more.
Most companies are running scattered AI pilots with no structural impact. Three questions separate a product from a demo: what workflow changes, who owns it in six months, and how you will know it worked.
Stablecoins are being treated as a serious rail for global transactions: faster settlement, fewer intermediaries, new cross-border options. For payments and ecommerce, building is getting easier and operating is getting harder.
In regulated sectors like healthcare and biotech, founders can build the company and the visa path (O-1, EB-1, EB-2 NIW) together. Build presence in the US ecosystem early. Being an immigrant is often an advantage.
AI workloads are spreading across cloud, data center and devices, including offline AI with no GPU for regulated data. The focus has moved to production: governance, architecture and teams that can operate it.
Two months with CIOs, CTOs and founders across North America. AI needs governance to last, legacy systems make transformation gradual, and trust, purpose and judgment remain the differentiators.