Salomao Laredo

I dropped out of four years of med school, joined a VC fund on day one, left to operate a portfolio company, came back as a Principal, and recently left to build something of my own.

I'm based in Sao Paulo. I read obsessively and I think in systems.

I joined Norte Ventures when the fund was just getting started. Five years of seeing thousands of companies and learning new markets from the inside. Supporting founders through fundraises, pivots, and the moments where nothing is working. In between, I spent a year as Chief of Staff at Alinea Health, one of our portfolio companies, to see the other side: building the thing instead of picking the thing. I came back to Norte as a Principal, and then I left.

  • Worldly wisdom Four years of med school before I dropped out. I still see immune responses in how markets correct and feedback loops in how teams break down. Knowing one system made every other system more legible.
  • AI LLMs parse unstructured data at a scale that didn't exist before them. The interface between human and machine moved from commands to conversation. New patterns for solving user problems emerge from that every week.
  • Company building in Latin America I lived through 2021's capital mania and watched the correction reshape who kept building. A service-heavy economy with creative, resourceful people. Capital is flowing in. AI gives that combination leverage it didn't have before.
  • Writing I write to find out what I think. A sentence that doesn't hold up on the page didn't hold up in my head either.
  • 2026 Exploring what's next
  • 2024 - 2026 Principal, Norte Ventures
  • 2023 - 2024 Chief of Staff, Alinea Health
  • 2021 - 2023 Analyst, Norte Ventures
  • 2016 - 2020 Medical school (dropped out)
  • 7 Powers The clearest framework I've found for understanding why some companies win and others don't.
  • Poor Charlie's Almanack Where the mental models obsession started. Munger's way of combining disciplines changed how I evaluate everything.
  • The Dream Machine The history of computing told through the people who willed it into existence. Makes you want to build something that matters.
  • The Goal Global vs local optima. You can optimize one part of a system and destroy the whole thing. This book taught me to find the bottleneck before touching anything else.
  • Sucesso Made in Brasil Martin Escobari on building consequential companies in an unstable economy. Written by an investor who watched it happen from both sides of the table.

See all 116 books on the Open Bookshelf.

I like talking to people who are building things. Especially if it's hard and you're not sure it'll work.