Archive for July, 2010

  • July 28, 2010

    Tropical Gringo Show Episodio 2 – Entrevista con Inversionista Internacional

    oportunidadSi pudo acompañarnos ayer para el Tropical Gringo Show, sabes que tuvimos a James Gray en el programa.  James es un Entrepreneur exitoso quien creó, con unos compañeros una empresa de venta de boletos por Internet en 2003 llamado GetMeIn en Londres con mucho exito.

    Por error mio, se me olvidó grabar este episodio entonces solo las personas que estuvieron viviendolo en vivo tendrá el beneficio de este video.  En el futuro, me pueden “gritar” por chat para que yo presione el boton de grabacion. :)

    Hoy en dia, entre otras cosas, es inversionista en empresas web y esta muy intrigado por las oportunidades que ve en America Latina. Thomas Floracks, mi compañero en el show, le preguntó a James que momento dificil recuerda durante su epoca de emprendimiento.

    James respondió que el recuerda cuando estaban hablando con un inversionista pero que este al fin resolvio que la idea era tan buena que creó una empresa competidora.  James dijo que, para el, esto, increiblemente, fue motivante para que el comprabara que ese inversionista cometio un error. De hecho, lo que el y sus compañeros crearon en ese entonces es hoy en dia el lider del mercado despues de la adquision por TicketMaster.

    Cuando le preguntamos como ve el mercado de America Latina dijo que lo ve similar al mercado de Inglaterra y EEUU hace unos años atras: con muchisimo potencial.  James dijo que este es el momento para comenzar su startup en America Latina y hay mucho potencial para ejecutar modelos “copy cat” (como hablamos en el ultimo show).

    Dijo que en unos cinco años ya habran mas millonarios web de America Latina y mucho mas interes por parte de inversionistas extranjeros y locales pero esta no es una razon para esperar.  James tambien mencionó que ve oportunidades para aprovechar lo distinctivo de este mercado donde la adopcion de medios sociales y mobiles es la mas rapida en todo el mundo.

    En general fue una entrevista enriquezedora para todos. Espero que tambien lo haya sido para James. :)

    Hubo excelente interaccion de varios de la audiencia como Julio de Brasil, Adriana de Bogota, Felipe de Chile y Enrique de Mexico entre otros.  Julio preguntó que startup pensaba James que seria bueno comenzar y que los inversionistas estan buscando.  James respondió que el ve muchas posibilidades y es buena idea (aunque no la unica) mirar lo que esta funcionando en otros mercados.

    Por mi parte, esta semana, uno de los articulos que escribí fue sobre un startup muy interesante en Inglaterra llamada MadBid la cual esta haciendo algo interesante en ecommerce.  Hable con uno de los inversionistas en esa empresa, Mattias Ljungman, co-fundador de Skype, quien me habló algo sobre estrategia de inversion y dice que el ve mucho potencial para innovar en el area de ecommerce.

    Con respecto a ecommerce, un amigo y muy conocido en el blogosphere por su conocimiento, Jesus Hoyos, envio un Tweet ayer sobre un estudio sobre el comercio electronico en America Latina que les recomiendo.

    Finalmente, Felipe nos envio un link con un excelente proyecto que esta desarrollando y queriamos hablar con el al finalizar de show pero intervinio el hambre de varios de nuestro grupo.  Sin embargo, estaremos hablando con Felipe ya que nos impresionó lo poquito que vimos.

    No Comments / Episodios del Tropical Gringo Show, Español /

  • July 21, 2010

    Tropical Gringo Show Episodio – Modelos Copycat

    Anoche lanzamos el primer episodio del Tropical Gringo Show junto con Thomas Floracks y lo disfrutamos mucho.  Tuvimos una excelente audiencia de participantes de Brasil, Colombia, Mexico y otros paises.  Entre las preguntas que hubo, se pregunto sobre la validez de los modelos que son copia de EEUU y que se ejecutan aca en America Latina.  Thomas y yo concordamos en general que esta es una estrategia valida y yo agregué que, para mi, lo importante es diferenciarse en el mercado y esto se puede lograr (aunque sea geograficamente) con modelos “copycat”.

    Estaremos grabando el show cada martes a las 7:30pm (hora Colombiana) y esperamos que nos acampañen. Abajo esta el episodio para su referencia si no pudo verlo en vivo ayer.  Al final de cada show, Thomas y yo estaremos analizando proyectos y/o ideas.  Si tiene una idea o proyecto que quisiera que analicemos, por favor enviame una descripcion corta de la misma.

    No Comments / Episodios del Tropical Gringo Show, Español /

  • July 21, 2010

    Look Out Web. Here Comes Latin America

    I’ve spent the last several months, exploring the state of Digital Innovation in Latin America.  Although I wouldn’t say that there are tons and tons of examples, what I would say is that there are some impressive companies.  The obvious examples are players such as Buscapé with their US $340 investment from Naspers and Mercado Libre, which had their IPO in the states a few years ago. As ComputerWorld recently published, Latin American Net Arena offers VC Opportunities.

    Nevertheless, smaller companies such as VivaReal and Compra3 have achieved great success early on thanks to building world-class teams and executing very well.  Both of these companies, similar to Buscape and Mercado Libre, are focused primarily on Latin America though the potential to go global is being pursued by others.  Though I wouldn’t dissuade a company from targeting the global market, there is such a void at the moment in terms of interesting content and applications targeting the regions rapidly growing user base.

    Indeed, Twitter just released some numbers, published also by TechCrunch, on user growth and Latin America is the fastest growing region.   Latin American culture is extremely social and this region has been shown to be heavy users of social media and mobile devices.  The end result is that the users exist for new applications and content, but, for the most part, they need to make due with a few local choices or hook up with the main players such as Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and others.

    Also, in terms of taking advantage of the approximately 150 million Internet users in Latin America from a marketing perspective, it certainly seems as though most companies in the region are asleep at the wheel. There are certainly exceptions to this rule doing some pretty innovative things.  In fact, lately, Brazil has been in the news thanks to its growing economic leadership and even thanks to their recent interest in acquiring companies in the developed world.

    Either way you cut it, there is a tremendous amount of opportunity in Latin America, which isn’t apparent yet to global investors and even people in the region.  There are some exceptions and these are growing.  Brazil, particularly, has been attracting angel investors such as New Yorker, Michael Nicklas, who has been quite active recently not only in terms of funding, but also, in promoting investment through speaking at conferences and his blog, Startupi.

    As an example, I had the opportunity the other day to talk with another US investor interested in funding a company in Latin America in the digital space.  It was a great conversation as this investor is extremely sharp and am sure closes deals worth many millions every week.  Nevertheless, he was trying to rapidly come up to speed on the environment and the nuances of this market, which is not easy.  Some things don’t happen as quickly down here and some basic infrastructure (e.g., credit cards, e-commerce, etc.) are not well established, yet, the growth rates and early successes can not be denied.

    I could quote many statistics showing that each country boasts growth rates in terms of users, time spent online, e-commerce and other areas of 40% and above.  Any of these statistics can quickly be found by doing a quick search.  However, this is more of a paradigm switch where more US and European investors need to wake up to the fact that they are ignoring a region with a dearth of content and applications, but with a user base that grows exponentially on a yearly basis.  Differentiating a company in Latin America is much, much easier and, for the most part, amounts to bringing world-class teams and execution to bear.

    There’s no question that countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile and, to some degree, Mexico, are at a more advanced stage when it comes their start-up and investment ecosystems. Nevertheless, there are small pockets of world-class teams working away in countries such as Colombia and this will continue to grow.

    It definitely feels like we’re at the beginning of something very big.  I am extremely confident that within three years Angel and VC investment in technology start-ups will have dramatically increased and two years after that Latin America will be home to at least ten powerhouses on a par with Buscape and Mercado Libre.

    3 Comments / English, General /

  • July 14, 2010

    VCs are Interested in Latin America and 1 of These is in Colombia

    Last night, after knocking down a few too many glasses of wine (and some JD) with an old Argentine friend who was passing by, I got home and started chatting with someone I admire a lot, Yuri Gitahy.  Yuri created an excellent fund called Aceleradora in Brazil and he mentioned an article in TechCrunch about a study that found that VCs are looking for start-ups in emerging markets. As if that wasn’t enough, a few friends, like Andres Barreto, commented that one of these VCs, Dave McClure, was actually visiting Colombia at the moment (accompanied by writer Sarah Lacey).

    This is, by no means, an isolated event.  As I mentioned in my previous post, the time is now to create quality start-ups in Latin America. In the next three years things are certainly going to accelerate.  That’s why , as I announced in another post, Thomas Floracks and I will be transmitting every Tuesday at 7:30pm the TropicalGringo Show.  Part of the show will include a segment where one or two start-ups will present to us (even an idea) and we will provide guidance about how develop it better.  I’ll leave you with this: more and more you’ll notice that there is no scarcity of resources (investment, etc.), but a scarcity of excellent teams hooking up and focusing on world-class digital innovation.

    1 Comment / English, General /
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