Case Study #11: From Frustration to Innovation: Latitude's 30-Day Sprint to MVP + VC Funding

When Gerard Clos and his team at Factorial found themselves struggling with data reporting, they didn't just grumble—they got creative. Amid Barcelona's thriving tech scene, Clos saw an opportunity to simplify the complex world of data analysis. That spark of frustration ignited Latitude, a startup aiming to make data accessible to all, not just the SQL savvy.

Key Highlights:

• Co-founded by former Factorial engineers.

• Launched initial MVP in about a month.

• Pivoted product multiple times to improve growth and economics.

• Shifted to top-to-bottom go-to-market strategy.

• Conducts monthly shadowing sessions with clients.

• Develops features in 3-4 week cycles.

• Secured funding from VCs and government sources.
  

Hello! Tell us who you are and what’s your backstory.

I’m Gerard, born and raised in Barcelona. I Majored in Industrial Engineering although quickly pivoted to Software Engineering. Always wanted to start my own business on the Internet so I quickly started working for startups across Europe, just to see how it was done. I eventually landed at Factorial as their first engineering hire and helped grow the company up to series C and unicorn status. There I met my cofounder and together we jumped on the wagon to start our own thing: Latitude. 


Can you give us your elevator pitch?

We are Latitude, an all-in-one workspace for data analysts. Over the next 10 years, we plan to fix how companies work with their data, and we are starting by fixing the incredibly convoluted workflow of the data analyst.

What was the moment or situation that sparked the idea for your business?

Working at Factorial both my cofounder and I got the ownership of internal data reporting. This situation surfaced all the typical struggles companies like ours face in order to be really data-driven: massive dependencies on the data team, too many tools involved, lack of SQL knowledge really hampering the independence of non-technical teams… We set to fix all this, one step at a time.


How did you test and refine your initial product idea, and were there any significant pivots or changes in direction based on initial feedback or market response?

We built the first MVP in around a month and launched with a select number of partners from our personal network. Since then we’ve pivoted the product a couple of times. First because of slow growth and second because of insufficient unit economics. 

What specific strategies or decisions significantly contributed to the growth and scaling of your business?

Pivoting to a top-to-bottom go-to-market strategy instead of bottom-up greatly increased our growth metrics. Narrowing down the ICP for the GTM and the product also helped a lot. Removing old product ideas that had fairly good product market fit but bad unit economics was also key. You have to add focus to all areas of your company: product, engineering, marketing, and sales.


Can you share some major challenges and how you tackled them?

Major challenge personally is to keep morale up while crossing the desert in search of product market fit. Unless you are lucky, this process will always take you 2 to 4 years. Most first-time founders think they’ll make it in less, but 95% of them are wrong.

How did you really get to know your customers and market?

We talk with our clients on a daily basis. We perform shadowing sessions with some of them on a monthly basis. For those who don’t know, shadowing sessions consist of spending a full working day with them, observing how they do their work, and learning about their daily pains and problems.

What's the story behind your brand and marketing approach?

The brand was created by my cofounder who is an amazing designer. The marketing approach has a strategic component that almost never changes; this is where we focus on the company vision for the next 10 years. The other component is strategic and changes constantly; here we do product announcements, short-lived marketing campaigns, SEO experiments, and whatnot. We mostly do content-based marketing on social media nowadays.


How did you attract and secure your first customers? 

From our personal network and through direct phone calls. 

What's been your approach to product development? 

We do 3/4 week product development cycles, where we develop 2 to 3 major features from 0 to production; this includes design, development, and QA. In parallel the product team is investigating ideas and product directions for the next cycle. 


How have you navigated the financial aspects of your business? 

Headcount is the most important aspect for us. We keep it as small as we can. We also raised funds from international VCs and got some public funding from the local government.


What future do you envision for your company? 

We envision a future in which every data team uses Latitude as the cornerstone of all their work. We’ve learned many lessons on how to iterate quickly, how to market to customers in the data space, and how to interpret market signals.

Where can curious minds find more information about your business?

Check us out at https://latitude.so/ and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn!  


Do you have any reflections or insights you’d like to share with our community?

If you want to start your own company do it now, these things take always more time than you think they do so better to get going as soon as possible. Keep in mind it’s a marathon where you run at sprint pace. Be very self-driven (if you doubt you are not) or find a cofounder who is, you are gonna need him to support you during the rough patches. Enjoy the ride! If you want to do it chances are you’ll enjoy it much more than working for someone else, regardless of the final outcome.  


Visual Storytelling

Interview with
Gerard Clos 
Co-Founder & CTO @ Latitude