He Raised $77 Million To Provide Businesses With Easy Access To Capital And Favorable Point-Of-Purchase Terms

Lawrence Lin Murata’s journey from Brazil to Silicon Valley is nothing short of extraordinary. Born and raised in São Paulo, he ventured into the tech world without prior experience, eventually leading a successful startup.

This blog post delves into his inspiring story, covering his multicultural upbringing, the challenges of breaking into tech, his experiences at Stanford, and the founding of his company, Slope.

In an exclusive interview, Lawrence talks about finding the ideal product-market fit, instituting a robust company culture, and fundraising.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

A Multicultural Beginning

Lawrence’s story begins in São Paulo, a city known for its rich cultural diversity. With a Taiwanese mother and a Japanese father, his upbringing was a blend of different traditions and values.

This multicultural background gave him a unique perspective on life and business, shaping his approach to problem-solving and innovation.

Despite growing up far from Silicon Valley, Lawrence was determined to impact the world significantly, even if the tech industry seemed like a distant reality at the time. While in school, his goal was always to become a business owner like his parents.

The Path to Stanford

The idea of studying in the U.S. seemed like a far-fetched dream until Lawrence’s English teacher introduced him to the possibility. Inspired by his teacher’s belief in him, Lawrence became obsessed with the idea of attending a prestigious U.S. college.

Thus, he started researching how ACT/SATs and the application processes worked. His hard work paid off when he was accepted into Stanford, a decision that would profoundly influence his career. At Stanford, Lawrence was struck by how closely academia and industry were intertwined.

Many of the teachers had either been a part of the industry or continued to be in the industry while also teaching at college. Lawrence’s computer science studies, focusing on AI, were hands-on and application-driven, allowing him to intern at leading companies like Apple.

These experiences broadened his horizons and solidified his interest in using technology for social good.

Inspiration from Inequality

Growing up in Brazil, Lawrence was acutely aware of the stark inequalities that existed in his country. This experience fueled his passion for social impact, leading him to start “CS + Social Good” at Stanford. He wanted to leverage his background in computer science and AI to do good.

This initiative was Stanford’s first official organization combining technology with social impact, offering students the chance to work on projects with nonprofits that could make a real difference in the world. The program also hosts speakers talking about different tech applications for social impact.

From Academia to Entrepreneurship – Founding Newton Technologies

After graduating, Lawrence co-founded his first company, Newton Technologies, focused on self-driving cars. This venture was inspired by his desire to address one of the top 10 human-made causes of death: traffic accidents.

Although this first foray into entrepreneurship was challenging, it provided invaluable lessons that Lawrence would carry forward into his next venture. After a few years of scaling Newton, he chose to exit to Nauto but continued working in the company.

Fortunately for Lawrence, the CEO, Stefan Heck, and Ruslan Belkin, the CTO, he was given complete autonomy to run the AI platforms and data science. That’s how he learned how to run teams in a later-stage company.

Lawrence looks back at his stint working at Nauto under Stefan, whom he considers a remarkable individual. Not only did he get the autonomy to prioritize things, but he also got to work on all the other aspects of the business, including technical, design, and sales calls.

People reported to Lawrence and followed what he did when he founded Newton. But at Nauto, he also managed collaborations, pursued stakeholders, and resolved disagreements. These were the real-world experiences he gained while working at Nauto.

The Birth of Slope

After leaving Nauto, Lawrence spent some time living in Ottawa, where he connected with his now co-founder and long-time friend, Alice Deng, who had also studied at Berkeley and Stanford. The duo explored some ideas and wanted to build something with an impact.

Lawrence remembered his growing years in Brazil when his parents experienced pain points when running their wholesale business for more than three decades. During COVID, he witnessed firsthand the challenges of digitizing the business.

As Lawrence sees it, business owners are also consumers since they use Amazon and its products. They are also involved in the consumer’s eCommerce and payments aspects but must navigate a stack of paperwork when dealing with B2B payments.

Lawrence saw a significant gap in the market for a consumer-grade payment experience in the B2B space, which led to the creation of Slope. As he explained, Slope is a B2B2B model, where the first B is a B2B merchant. At Slope, they work with enterprise wholesalers who sell to other businesses.

Essentially, Slope brings their offline payments online. Since the merchants are doing things manually and offline, Lawrence and his team help them digitize the process. The last B is the business buyer, which can be an SME or a large business that’s paying using the Slope platform.

The business model is to charge a fee in the transaction volume. Lawrence reveals how he has successfully raised money from tier-one investors and some of the most influential people in the world of startups and tech.

Fundraising and Building a Network

Lawrence’s journey from Brazil to Silicon Valley also involved building an impressive network of investors and advisors. His relationship with influential figures like Sam Altman, whom he met at Stanford, played a crucial role in Slope’s success.

Sam taught a class called CS183B, which was about starting a startup. He brought many later-stage YC founders into every class to teach about different aspects of starting and running a startup. This exposure opened Lawrence’s eyes to many possibilities and also helped build networks.

Lawrence and his co-founder Alice leveraged these connections to raise $77M in equity and debt. At the time, Alice was already in YC, and with the help of their partner Brad, they got into YC. They iterated into a product that got traction, and by leveraging YC, they could get more investors.

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Lawrence reveals how they send monthly updates and are transparent about the good and bad, which has helped build trust with the investors. Thus, they have been able to partner with operators like the founders of DoorDash, Dropbox, Unity, Opendoor, and other great companies.

As Lawrence explains, they needed equity and debt because, as a FinTech and part of B2B payments, they realized that 80% of global trade has some type of financing, whether it’s suppliers, invoice factoring, or other traditional ways to get financing for B2B purchases.

Lawrence realized that many financing options are available for B2C, which is all the more crucial for SMEs. Cashflow is the life and blood of businesses. They have warehouses because they amplify the cap capacity, so Slope doesn’t have to deploy its own capital.

Thus, Slope has warehouses with JP Morgan, Seasons Banks, and Trini Capital.

Culture and Team Building at Slope

One of the key elements of Slope’s success has been its strong company culture. Lawrence and Alice have been extremely selective in their hiring, building a team of 25 highly capable and hands-on individuals.

They have a rigorous interviewing process and focus on keeping the team super lean and nimble. Lawrence gives examples like Ashish Jain, their CFO, an executive at SoFi and Deutsche Bank, and Una, an executive at Wells Fargo in Robinhood.

These professionals would take customer calls, do customer support, and take on even the most trivial tasks. Slope didn’t have a sales team until recently, which meant that the small team took care of all the tasks.

At Slope, the objective was for people to pick up new things and learn fast, which Lawrence calls the “slope of the curve.” They prioritize transparency, with everyone on the team having access to real-time financial metrics and a clear understanding of the company’s goals.

This culture of openness, combined with a focus on results and collaboration, has allowed Slope to punch above its weight, securing major customers and achieving significant traction early on.

They are very results-driven and anti-politics, but they also believe in team activities to bond and have fun.

Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Lawrence’s vision for Slope is to digitize the B2B economy, enabling businesses to access a wide range of digital services and financial products. He believes that creating a digital B2B data layer will be crucial in helping businesses grow and thrive in the modern economy.

Slope will help businesses gain easier access to bank accounts that they would otherwise not be approved for in traditional processes. They can also access different types of finance products, AR automation, and other things to help them run the business.

As Slope continued to scale and gain traction, Lawrence admits that, at times, Alice and he felt the pressure of having a lean team coupled with higher demand.

However, they are committed to excellence and delivering only the best service to their merchant clients, so much so that they are not averse to turning down new customers if they can’t handle them.

In Lawrence’s opinion, iteration is extremely important, as is experimentation and listening to your customers. Getting something live out there is also really important. He also wryly recalls how their first business idea, one of the 100 plus they had, was an Airbnb for office space.

Lawrence and Alice have been able to build a remarkable network that includes some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. They have never been averse to asking for help or concerned about getting no as an answer.

Conclusion

Lawrence Lin Murata’s journey from São Paulo to Silicon Valley is a testament to the power of determination, innovation, and a strong support network.

His story inspires aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. It demonstrates that remarkable things are possible with the right mindset and a commitment to social impact, no matter where you start.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Multicultural roots shaped Lawrence’s unique approach to problem-solving and innovation.
• Stanford provided Lawrence with hands-on experience that bridged the gap between academia and industry.
• Social impact has been a driving force in Lawrence’s entrepreneurial journey.
• Lawrence’s first company taught him invaluable lessons despite its challenges.
• The idea for Slope was born from Lawrence’s experience digitizing his parents’ wholesale business.
• Strong relationships with influential figures helped secure significant funding for Slope.
• A culture of transparency and collaboration has been key to Slope’s early success.

 

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