Yesterday, I had a great time as a panelist for eNet Expo. Also, it was such a pleasure to be on the stage with Dan Gertzacov, CEO Americas of Lenddo. He’s a cool guy whose advice I value on many matters. During the panel discussion, we spoke about the opportunities in Colombia and Latin America from an investment perspective as well as the obstacles. We had a great moderator in Marcos Pueyrredon who is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor.
Before our panel, I was able to hook up with a lot of my colleagues here in Latin America and also meet interesting entrepreneurs from so many different countries such as France, Spain, Chile and Argentina. I really like to present my perspective and thesis on the industry in front of large groups of people, but it’s tough to beat meeting amazing entrepreneurs in person.
For instance, I was able to quickly chat with Alberto Pardo, CEO of Ads Movil. A few months ago, Alberto took the company that he founded, Millenial Media and joined forces with Ads Movil, which is backed by the Cisneros Group. Since then, they’ve accelerated their growth in an incredibly exciting, but competitive market for mobile ads. Alberto, who likes to be called “Banano”, knows how to get things done and it’s a real pleasure to talk when the opportunity lends itself.
There were other companies at the event such as my friends from Medellin at ComprandoFacil who not only help merchants get online, but also sell merchandise through their own store. Aside from being a great group of guys, the recently launched and are already experiencing amazing growth in both business lines. Exciting stuff. I also got to see Andres Murcia, CEO of Saberes Plus who went through the accelerator program I run and is building a comprehensive library of educational content that parents and schools can purchase online. The founders of Yoky were also there, which are going through the acceleration program I’m running right now and are offering fashion retailers access to two managed channels: 1. eCommerce and 2. a specialized direct, commision-based sales force. Lastly, it was great to see Carolina Cruz from WomyAds, a graduate of the Incubator I run called Founder Institute and who is building a reputation and influencer platform across all of Latin America. These are all companies to watch and it’s always great to talk with them. I topped the day off with an appearance on my favorite show called Martes de Marcas with two incomparable hosts! 
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Almost 10 years ago, I sent an opinion piece to an online magazine called VentureBeat. Though I cringe, now, at my writing style (e.g., ambiguous and, at times, convoluted grammar), I still believe that the principle idea makes sense: Amazon should buy Twitter.
