Paloma Lecheta Joins Free Cities Podcast
Founder Haus co-founder Paloma Lecheta joined Timothy Allen to discuss Jurerê Internacional, healthy entrepreneurship, FloripaDEZ, and the path toward Brazil's first free-city experiment.
Brazil's hidden free-city case study
The conversation frames Jurerê Internacional as a rare Brazilian example of privately developed city infrastructure. Paloma describes a neighborhood that has handled water, sewage, security, urban planning, and long-term stewardship through private initiative while still operating inside Brazilian law.
That history matters because Founder Village is not starting from an empty map. It is building on a place that already has unusually strong infrastructure, an entrepreneurial island culture, and a community ready to test new ways of living and working.
Healthy entrepreneurship as infrastructure
Paloma connects the free-city conversation to Founder Haus' original thesis: founders are part of the infrastructure. If a village wants durable companies, it has to protect the health, relationships, and long-term performance of the people building them.
The episode also touches on Ipê City, Founder Desk, Tools for the Commons, and the broader stack of governance, incorporation, and community experiments now converging in Florianópolis.
Why FloripaDEZ matters
FloripaDEZ appears in the episode as the proposed Digital Economic Zone that could give Jurerê and Florianópolis a regulatory wrapper suited for remote-first companies, global founders, and emerging technology businesses.
The practical goal is simple: make it easier for founders to stay, invest, hire, incorporate, and build from Brazil instead of treating the country as a place they have to leave in order to scale.