Landa Club
The operating system for senior independent workers in the Americas.
Startup Snapshot:
Startup name: Landa
Industry: Future of Work
Business Model: Paid Community/Marketplace /EdTech
Founders: Gabriel Tudela and Pedro Marin
Operates in: 40+ countries through our members & partner companies
HQ Location: Mexico City
Team Size: 5
Founded: 2022
Stage: Early Stage
Investors: Bootstrapped
Website: landaclub.com
What does your startup do?
Landa helps startups grow by connecting them with experienced part-time professionals from leading companies such as Apple, Uber, Kavak, Bitso, and others. These professionals are experts in key areas such as B2B sales, expansion in Latin America, growth marketing, fundraising, and more, and they can provide support to your startup from the seed to Series B.
What's your backstory?
Gabriel and Pedro have both had diverse careers that have taken them across multiple countries and industries.
Gabriel started his career in traditional consulting but quickly transitioned into tech, becoming an operator and founder, developing a passion for the industry. During his college years in Peru, he founded a B2B2C fintech company, which unfortunately had to shut down after 5 years due to the COVID pandemic. Gabriel also worked in mobility for 4 years, including positions at Uber and Bird. He briefly worked in Proptech at Lamudi and E-commerce at Kavak, where he served as a Global Director of New Revenues, ideating and scaling new business opportunities for the company. Nowadays, Gabriel is leading Landa and enjoys advising startups on the side. He is also an active investment scout for a few funds and a small-check investor in 9 startups. Recently, he became a GTM Mentor at Founder Institute.
On the other hand, Pedro has lived in five countries - Bolivia, Chile, Germany, the US, and Mexico. He has a BBA in International Business from St. Edward's University. Pedro started his career in data analysis for Apple, but he later worked in BD for a blasting company in Bolivia before moving to Chile. In Chile, his career transitioned towards startups, and he was the 5th employee of startup EasyTask, a P2P & later B2B marketplace with a successful exit in 2019. Soon after, Pedro moved to Mexico after launching luxury products e-commerce: Pennfield & Co. In a twist of events, he was snatched by Lamudi to launch and later grow their B2B transactional marketplace InmoPRO. After almost 3 years of working with brilliant people and gaining their respect, Pedro decided it was time to give entrepreneurship a more serious try. So, in April 2022, he started his consulting practice Pennfield & Co! (Yes, same brand as his late e-commerce; the branding was too good to go to waste). He has been building Landa Club since July 2022 and is proud of how the community continues to grow and generate value in just over one year.
In his first year as an independent consultant, Gabriel earned over twice his monthly salary in Big Tech, working less than 30 hours per week while having more time for himself and his project.
How did you come up with the idea?
In December 2021, Gabriel committed once again to entrepreneurship. However, he had to explore revenue opportunities while ideating, which was challenging and time-consuming. He tried various options like software referrals, Amazon FBA, and consulting to earn money. After landing his first client, he realized three things: Firstly, he enjoys working with founders. Secondly, exploring new industries brought him incredible learning opportunities. And thirdly, he found immense value in sharing his knowledge with earlier-stage projects and was compensated accordingly.
After building his pipeline, Gabriel earned over twice his monthly salary in Big Tech, working less than 30 hours per week while having more time for himself and his project. This success inspired him to create Landa, a platform that helps senior professionals in LatAm explore independent work and the opportunities that come with it, along with a vibrant community of tech leaders in the region. The platform also helps companies avoid mistakes that Pedro had learned from in a fraction of the time.
How did you acquire your first customers?
Landas first clients and members came through both of Pedros’ and Gabriels’ professional networks.
When did you realize you had achieved PMF?
Landa started as a pro bono project with a community model based on cohorts. A strategy was implemented to increase community engagement and vet for interest through an entry fee for the second cohort (skin in the game). When the first new member paid the fee, Landa became a business. After three more cohorts of paying members and hundreds of applicants, the Landa team realized they had achieved Product-Market Fit (PMF) rather organically. Currently, Landa has 10 cohorts with 263 members in over 40 countries.
What's your motivation?
Pedro’s and Gabriel’s motivation is to unlock potential in people & consequently in organizations.
At Landa Club, their success is intricately linked to the achievements of their members, thus our commitment is to nurture a self-sustained, community-driven organization.
What's next for your startup?
Consolidate Deal Making → Connecting members & partner companies.
Launch new services. → Support consultants and scale-ups with best-in-class local payments, tax, and legal providers. All in one place.
International expansion → Launching continent-specific chapters.
Tips for other founders?
Scratch your own itch. In other words, build in an area you have experienced yourself. And one that matches your intrinsic interest.
Don't chase shiny objects. Building just to get recognition in whichever form is not a good idea. The same applies to getting into fancy accelerator programs or showing how many rounds you raised. Being true to yourself and your intrinsic convictions is a superpower in a superficial world.
Mind in life, there are always trade-offs and good things take time. Think deeply about those two before taking the leap. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport.
Special offer!
Get a 20% discount on your first year Landa Club annual membership fee using the code SHARINGISCARING20.
Axelerate Talent Network:
Looking for something else? Browse thousands of tech opportunities on the Axelerate Talent Network.
Special thanks to our sponsor:
Axented helps businesses design, build, and scale their products and teams worldwide.
With over 10 years of experience and a diverse portfolio of more than 300 projects delivered in over 15 countries, Axented has established itself as a trusted partner in the tech industry.
Renowned for its expertise and commitment to excellence, Axented provides innovative solutions to help businesses thrive in a digital world.
