Courtney McColgan

Okay listen, let me give you the rundown on Courtney McColgan. This girl’s the real deal, straight up a powerhouse in the startup scene. She came into the game with a solid background, worked at Morgan Stanley, then jumped into venture capital at Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Basically, she knows her shit when it comes to investing and understanding what makes startups tick. But she wasn’t just chillin’ on the finance side, she wanted to build shit herself.

So, she co-founded Yellowsmith in New York, a social media software company, showing she’s not afraid to jump into the tech trenches early. Then, she jumped into the huge scale-up game as Chief Marketing Officer at Cabify, that’s the Uber of Latin America, where she crushed it. She took them from 4 cities in 4 countries to 42 cities across 13 countries, and boosted daily users from just 1,000 to a million. Holy shit, that’s some serious growth, she’s got that growth hacker mentality, always thinking big and scaling fast.

But she didn’t stop there. Courtney’s got a heart for the region, Latin America is her playground now with her current gig as founder and CEO of Runa. It’s a SaaS company based in Mexico City, providing HR and payroll tools for small to medium businesses in Latin America. Basically, she saw a huge problem, keeping small businesses afloat with good HR tech, and she built a company to fix that. It’s like her way of giving back, building the infrastructure that the region really needs.

And what’s crazy cool is her process isn’t just about tech. She’s got a legit academic background, an MBA from Stanford, a BA from Berkeley, and a Fulbright Grant for research in China. She’s dipped her toes in everything: investment banking, venture capital, startups, scaling companies, and even policy work as a board member at The Wingate School. She’s got a broad view that goes beyond just building companies, she’s all about making a real impact on communities.

What does all this say about her? It’s simple: Courtney’s driven by a desire to build, scale, and solve real problems, especially in Latin America, where she sees massive possible. She’s not just in startups for the money; she’s in it to make an impact, to create infrastructure, to power up small businesses, and to push the region forward. Her story is about jumping into the chaos, scaling crazy fast, and then shifting gears to tackle bigger problems.

Bottom line? Courtney McColgan is a startup veteran who’s crushed it internationally, always pushing boundaries. She’s got that rare mix, sharp investor instincts, killer growth skills, and a heart for regional development. No Cap, she’s one of those people who’s shaping the future, not just talking about it.