In this episode of Breakthrough Labs, General Atlantic Managing Director and Head of Mexico Office Luis Cervantes speaks with Adolfo Babatz, Founder and CEO of Clip, a multi-product, Mexico-based, commerce and digital payments platform for small and medium-sized businesses. They discuss Adolfo’s journey to founding Clip; the lessons he learned from fundraising with David Rubenstein while at Carlyle; his disciplined upbringing and how that led him to pursue an MBA; catching the entrepreneurial bug while taking part in an MIT-sponsored program in Turkey; his experience helping to set up PayPal’s operations in Mexico and witnessing the challenges merchants faced when trying to transact firsthand; the fragmented payments system in Mexico and the gap Clip is bridging to drive financial inclusion; building Clip into a multi-product company and core platform aimed at solving merchants’ most pressing business needs and pain points to drive efficiency; lessons learned in the early days of Clip and the importance of defining a strong company culture; the significance of partnering with investors that align with the founder’s mission and outlook personally, strategically and financially; and the importance of EQ as a founder and entrepreneur. 

Key Takeaways

• Hear about how Adolfo caught the “bug” for entrepreneurship and how this shaped his professional journey into building what Clip is today.
• Adolfo discusses Mexico’s fragmented payments system in Mexico and the pain points this creates for small and medium-sized businesses. 
• How Clip developed from a single-product company to a multi-product platform that promotes financial inclusion on a national scale
• Adolfo reflects on critical leadership decisions to strengthen the company’s growth strategy and establish a distinguished workplace culture.