GridX to Tulsa Cohort was fantástico. We will host Cohort II in April!

As I write this, my hometown of Los Angeles is burning. Dozens of friends have lost homes, with many more evacuated at different times. My heart goes out to those in Palisades, Altadena, and all the other areas impacted by the fires. While there are many factors that led to such devastation, the increasing frequency of catastrophic climate-related events cannot be overlooked. This LinkedIn post from Shaun Abrahamson, one of the smartest-climate tech minds and the LA-based GP of Third Sphere, outlines the ways that new companies can help us slow climate change and adapt to it. If you are a startup focused on climate adaption, I recommend giving it a click.

Outside of LA, the US is about to swear in a new president, there are talks of US expansion into Greenland, Panama, and Canada, and in a world with increasing levels of uncertainty, the one thing that is certain is change. But change is not always a bad thing, as I have watched Argentinean President Javier Milei institute sweeping changes in Argentina in the 6 months since the Basch family arrived in Cordoba. Argentina reported GDP expansion of nearly 4% July through September, ending their recession, and the inflation rate near 4-year lows of 2.4% in November 2024. Argentina made a $4b payment to the IMF, and Argentina looks as if it might be stabilizing. Despite the economic hardship Milei's policies have brought in the short term, in my informal survey of working class baristas and Uber drivers, I am finding that they are optimistic. The current polls suggest much of the country is optimistic. Ultimately Argentina’s midterm elections will tell the story.

On the personal front here in Argentina, the Basch family continues to grow. Sofia is now 2 months and 6 kilograms (12.5 pounds) in size. Much of Romi's family has been visiting from Israel, and we spent a week together on the Argentinian coast in a stunning beach town called Carilo. My Spanish is improving, and I continue to take lessons with professors of Spanish and economics from the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba–the oldest university in Argentina, and the second oldest in South America. Learning about the complex and sometimes tragic history of the Argentinian economy has become one of my favorite activities, and it has given me extra appreciation for the difficult work Milei and his administration are undertaking.

On the work front, to kick off 2025, I will be exploring the startup and innovation scene beyond Cordoba. I am checking out Punta Tech in Uruguay as well as heading up to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where Viviana Angulo will give me a deep dive into the startup ecosystem. Might there be some future Tulsans in Santa Cruz? Last week, I spent a few days in Buenos Aires, meeting with GridX founders, Vista Energy, and others. While Atento Capital is only deploying into follow-ons at the moment, I have made an angel investment, together with several close friends, in Kona Energy, and have taken on a Board Observer role. Kona, led by multi-time founder Matias Recchia, is looking to execute on a similar business plan to Crusoe Energy in the US, but in Argentina. Vaca Muerta has significant oil and natural gas reserves.

Living in Argentina has made me aware of some interesting economic opportunities. First, Argentina is a country where an estimated 50-70% of personal wealth is tied up in cash—in USD no less—in homes, since 99% of homes do not have a mortgage for a variety of social and economic reasons, including distrust of banks and the government since the 2001 financial crisis. This amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars that could spur economic activity if unlocked. Second, I see an opportunity in geographic arbitrage of higher education. While US public universities start in the tens of thousands of dollars and private universities can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Argentina's universities are free for Argentineans. The public universities only recently started charging tuition to foreigners—at a fraction of the cost of US public universities. Providing a financial product for mortgages as well as creating a business around Argentinean higher education as a service for US students are both intriguing market opportunities–if this also intrigues you, please reach out.??

Back in Tulsa, we hosted our 18 Latam founders across 11 GridX-funded companies over 4 weeks in? November-December 2024, culminating with a Demo Day on December 3. 25 VCs from 3 continents flew in and 150 other people attended. Those high-potential companies are targeting fundraises that add up to $30-$40m in the first half of 2025. It is too early to say how many checks will be written and for how much, but some of the visiting companies are talking to over 10 new VCs that they met in Tulsa, and we are pleased with the leading indicators of the results. Of the 11 companies that spent the month in Tulsa, 8 have indicated interest in establishing a US headquarters there, and we plan to offer 3-4 of them a Tulsa soft landing package that will include visa, relocation, housing, office, and some advisory and hiring-related assistance.

While it is still too early to say how the first cohort worked, we are taking the leap to host a second cohort of GridX founders in Tulsa in April 2025. This is influenced by the timing of GridX's cohorts, as well as the opportunity to align the demo day on April 23rd with Cortado's Midcon VC summit in Tulsa in April. We will invite 8-10 new GridX companies to attend an optimized version of our pilot program and they will present their company to an expected 40+ out of town VCs.

We have learned that when international founders learn about the charm, relatively low cost of living, and supportive business community in Tulsa, they get excited about moving there. Over the next six months we will see if the international founders can raise capital from US VCs after their Tulsa exposure, and if so, if they end up moving. Of course from there, the real work of building the company out of Tulsa begins. We expect that in most cases, much of the technical team would remain in the home country, but at least the CEO or the revenue/go-to-market lead would be based in Tulsa.?

If we see significant traction by summer 2025, we have dreams of expanding the program beyond GridX companies and potentially even beyond Latam. Our dream would be, "if you are an international founder with a viable business looking to expand to the US, we can make your wildest dreams come true...in Tulsa!"

I find myself spending quite a bit of time introspecting on the movement of people and economic opportunity. Over the next twenty years, a combination of aging demographics in highly developed countries and climate change in countries such as Nigeria and India will spur a great migration. The GridX to Tulsa program offers a window into what that might look like, and I am excited and grateful to be able to be part of that effort and have a front row seat to seeing how it might go. Hasta Luego!