Construct startup With a network effect in a continental and complex country like Brazil is a challenge, but it is not impossible. Like this, Diego Barreto, IFOOD CEO, and Federico Vega, founder and CEO of freight.com, revealed their strategies and learning Web Summit Rio 2025.
Throughout the conversation, executives have also highlighted their views on growth, regulation, fintechs and the future of the digital ecosystem in a fragmented world. Under this perspective, Barreto pointed out three pillars for a successful strategy: clarity about the business ecosystem; Do not be fooled by empty narratives; and test before accelerating.
“The algorithm of evaluates the operational performance of restaurants and guides credit grant,” he said. The differential, according to him, is to be able to predict the churn [taxa de cancelamento] based on data from the platform itself. “This allows up to 18 months on loans for small restaurants – something rare in the traditional banking system.”
In the case of freight.com, investments were required of over US $ 200 million to digitize the road transport market and gain 80% of Brazil’s heavy truck fleet. “We want to dominate the market now and profit later,” summarized Vega.
Acceleration startups
When asked how to avoid self -sabotage and actually identify when it is consolidated, Vega replied that the inflection point is clear when the startup grows rapidly with less investment.
“In the last quarter, we grew 44% spending less on marketing and sales,” said the CEO of Light.com. This, according to him, is the sign that the network is working alone.
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Barreto, in turn, reinforced the importance of statistics as a tool for large -scale validation. “In Brazil, we don’t have the culture of working with statistics, but it shows if you are making the right comparison.”
Global fragmentation
In the current scenario of tariffs and executives also reflected on the impact of global fragmentation. Barreto assessed that local knowledge becomes even more valuable. “Even operating online, we have to know the soil, the neighborhood, the operator,” said IFood CEO.
In addition, Barreto also revealed that iFood took five years testing solutions until he found an effective way to generate traffic to physical commerce using “digital intelligence.” “We tested 100 times, we failed in 99, but one worked. We need to have vision and mobilize people around one goal. It may take a year or one hundred, but you get there.”
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Already Vega told how his personal experience in truck stops inspired the business model. “I started helping companies find trucks, and realized that I needed an application to expand this to the whole country,” he said. According to him, this is how the “Uber of Trucks” was born, which today connects more than 900,000 carriers and offers services such as credit and anti -fiprocal system.
