Esteban Reyes comes from a family of coal miners turned entrepreneurs and is a former multi-exit founder with four B2B exits totaling $1.1B who then personally incubated eight companies with his own capital, achieving a 6.89x MOIC before institutionalizing that experience into Zenda. He is the second-largest LP in his own fund and has personally invested in 13 emerging VC funds while serving as a cross-border bridge between the U.S. and Latin America, combining his 27+ years in Miami with his roots in Cartagena.

• Focus on B2B software and the concept of the intelligent enterprise. He has shared extensive research into specific industries he believes are ready for innovation, explicitly looking for opportunities within logistics, manufacturing, professional services, and insurance.
• Deep interest in the psychology of leadership and hiring, specifically regarding how to objectively assess talent. He has outlined rigorous frameworks for moving past first impressions when evaluating people, suggesting that high-stakes personnel decisions require structured analysis and checking references to avoid confirmation bias.
• Appreciation for founder resilience and the ability to navigate economic volatility. He frequently discusses lessons learned from past financial crises and startup failures, sharing conversations with veteran operators about the reality of dodging corporate death traps and managing psychology during downturns.
• Emphasis on intellectual humility and distinguishing luck from skill. He often reflects on the danger of assuming that a good outcome proves a strategy was sound, noting that many successes are actually the result of randomness that people later try to explain as a linear, logical chain of events.
• Advocacy for strong board dynamics and emotional intelligence within startups. He highlights the importance of human attention and empathy, insisting that founders deserve a respectful experience from venture capitalists even when the firm decides not to invest.