Comun Blueprints: Fueling Financial Freedom – And the American Dream 

BuilderOps Blueprints is a newsletter on company building foundations for early-stage startups by Costanoa Ventures, a VC firm that backs builders across data, dev, and fintech. Throughout this series, Costanoa’s BuilderOps team interviews founders and startup leaders, showcasing their superpowers and learnings on all things company building.

For our latest edition of BuilderOps Blueprints, we sat down with Andres Santos, Co-founder and CEO of Comun, an inclusive financial services platform for Latino immigrants in the U.S. that accelerates their financial stability through access to the digital economy. They recently announced their $21.5M Series A in TechCrunch and are expanding their team. If you’re looking to join a mission-driven startup, check out open roles here.

Andres, you’re doing something with Comun that’s truly novel: opening up access to financial services to Latino immigrant families in the States. What makes this population so unique?

Latino immigrants come to the US to find a better life for themselves and their families. In addition to raising their children here, this generation is often responsible for providing up to 70% of their income for the families they leave behind. But they don’t always get the right financial advice or have access to affordable financial services that meet their unique needs. In fact, Latinos are 3x more likely to go unbanked and pay an average of 5x higher fees for basic services. 

Comun’s thesis centers around helping Latino immigrants find their financial footing in the U.S. by looking at the family unit as a whole and identifying what products and services they truly need. A particular service frequently used among Latinos includes remittance transfers, yet there is often a high cost associated with this service. As a result, we decided to launch our own remittance program where customers can send money to Latin America via one of the lowest cost and most accessible remittance offerings on the market.   

As a Latino immigrant founder, I understand the many challenges Latinos encounter when coming to the US, and access to financial services and products shouldn’t be another obstacle. 

What are some of those meaningful impacts Comun makes so this community gets what they need from a financial perspective?

This community is remarkably underserved. Many don’t have social security numbers or even have credit scores in the US, so the more traditional, vanilla ways banks assess and understand potential customers don’t work for this community. At Comun, we’re going a level deeper, working with banks directly to create unique tools that will allow us to know our customers and provide them with useful services in one place.

Ultimately, we want to become a one-stop shop financial partner for our customers. Immigrants need access to credit solutions, the knowledge on how to build a great credit score, and ongoing financial advice, whether that be around saving for retirement, buying a house, or building an emergency fund. We believe we are well-positioned to become an all-in-one financial destination. 

This begs another question: what are folks doing right now for banking services? 

People are either spending a lot of money at traditional big banks for very basic services, or they’re using Western Union, Walmart, or check-cashing places to access funds and send them to family members in Latin America. They’re living in the liminal space between a cash-only household and brick-and-mortar services. Some also use credit unions, which require waiting in lines and typically don’t have super functional apps.

In contrast, our hope is to offer an amazing experience that’s fully online, easily accessed through an app, without requiring typical identification like a social security number to apply, and in the language of their choice. It’s not easy work, but it will bring a ton of value to these families and their relatives abroad.

Let’s take you back to the early days of your founder journey. As you reflect, what would you advise others preparing to start a company?

Don’t follow what everyone says you should do. Concentrate more on ensuring the way you’re setting up your company is the right one – and on taking a ‘first principles’ approach to building your products. That’s especially true when working in highly complex regulated markets; you must understand the basic principles that influence how the industry is and will evolve in order to create good products.

Looking back, I noticed that as I talked to people in the investment community, they tended to recommend the same solutions over and over – and because of that, it would have been very easy to build things in a way that constrains meaningful innovation. You see this in fintech all the time – waves of innovation happen, new startups jump on the new services and models, but it’s not actually clear if these are (a) right for you and (b) will even be prevalent in the future. You have to be thoughtful.

Team-building is such a crucial part of building a successful company. How should new founders think about it from the outset?

Even before assembling the right team, I think it’s about setting the tone at the company so that trust becomes the default, where people assume the best intent and open communication works. This is what fuels all the results you want to see. And it’s more important than any other early decision you make.

It’s true, though, that finding the right team will always be one of the biggest challenges for any company, especially in that initial phase. You can find amazing executives to help scale when the time is right. But those early employees – the ones that are truly in it for the mission and are willing to do everything it takes to take it to the next level – are very rare. And by setting the tone in a positive way, you can support and engage them.

What about investors in those early days? What are some qualities founders should look for?

You need those first investors to be the ones you want at your side when things are going well – and when they’re not. You want that deftness of relationship where you can be truly and totally transparent and get the right advice. Don’t settle for less!

Is there a productivity hack or two you love?

Having a good co-founder! In my case, my co-founder and I share values and have similar mindsets. I know that I can outsource a decision completely to him with total trust that he will make the same choice I would– and vice versa. That’s a huge advantage because it essentially lets us double down on specific areas of focus. For instance, in some cases, I might do a deep dive on a particular subject where he takes a higher-level view. We can work at different levels of depth simultaneously and it has been incredible for our output.

Tell us one fun thing about you (among the many!).

One fun fact is that I became a dad at the same time we launched Comun. A lot of close friends questioned my decisions at the time, but I think that was the best thing that happened to me. As it turns out, you don’t have to wait to do the things that are important to you personally and professionally.

Having my daughter and becoming responsible for another human being puts everything into perspective. It makes me a better CEO and forces me always to prioritize the most important things. 

Based on that experience, what would you tell others who want to become founders and first-time parents at the same time?

Balancing both roles is challenging but incredibly rewarding. My advice is to prioritize what truly matters and set clear boundaries. For instance, I make it a point to leave the office at five every day to spend time with my daughter, which helps me recharge and maintain perspective. This lets me come back online later that night with a fresher mindset.

Lean on your support system and trust others to take on responsibilities so you can be fully present where you’re needed most. It’s not about perfect balance but about being fully engaged in each moment. Embrace the overlap, as being a parent can make you a better founder and vice versa.

Thanks for chatting with us!