We have an MVP for a Latam product that we may or may not spinoff later. Is it too early to hire a regional CEO?

100% yes. Make sure it works in your area. Having a regional manager or CEO doesn't make sense at all. Not for the market, not for investors, not for you either.

The Founder-CEO should be able to pull it off, otherwise you don't seem like a good bet as a product or as an investable venture.

Based on past experience, finding someone you can trust for a complex and demanding position is very hard. The difficulty is compounded when trying to do this remotely or for a job that requires skills you don't have. In this case, it looks like you're trying to do both at the same time, which is unlikely to work.

What I'd suggest instead would be to find someone from your target region who could start working from your head office (ideally someone who wants to punch above their weight class), helping you open the market. You'll learn a lot of things, and if they're good enough you'll be able to offer them the position down the road, once they've proved themselves.

It's early to hire a regional CEO starting with an MVP. After launching more than 4 ventures in Latam; I've learned that the best ROI is to enter with a US based consultant or team that knows and understands Latin America as can help you save time, effort, and money. It would be ideal to pick two or three Latam countries and identify the market opportunity. Then, prepare a quick market assessment or SWOT to understand the entering barriers and what is needed to start generating some "fans" or sales. Once you have created some activity locally and have maybe identified some potential partners; it could be a good idea to find someone that could help you manage the future growth. You might find that offering 40% of revenue share plus a % in the patent may be too "expensive". Latin America works well when there is a long term plan (+8 to 10 years); short terms plans are not too profitable sometimes.