All posts tagged emerging markets

  • January 22, 2015

    Founder Institute rising.

    Adeo Ressi Entrepreneur Magazine

    The latest issue of Entrepreneur Magazine just came out and it was great to see Adeo Ressi, creator of the Founder Institute, on the cover.  In this issue, he, along with other entrepreneurs talk about the characteristics of a startup founder. The print version of the magazine also has some sample questions so that you can take a quick version of the Founder Institute test to determine (initially) if you have entrepreneurial DNA.  The full version of the test can be taken here.

    For accelerators, it’s important to be very careful in selecting the candidates  with whom they will be working.  Most, such as YCombinator, choose based on a number of criteria that they discern from an online application and in-person interview.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Founder Institute decided to use an online aptitude exam that tests for a variety of characteristics.  It’s an interesting and unique approach.

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  • January 20, 2015

    Traits of successful startup founders outside of Silicon Valley

    Founder Institute Colombia mentors I think few would argue with the affirmation that creating a startup in Silicon Valley is a different experience versus creating it anywhere else.  Sure, building a successful business presents the same challenges, but the environment in Silicon Valley provides many benefits.  Nonetheless, everyday there are more and more examples of successful startups created elsewhere.  From SnapChat in Los Angeles, Etsy in New York to Allibaba in China and Flipkart in India.  These founders have a lot of the same characteristics even though the environment where they create their companies is a dimension away from the environment in Silicon Valley.

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  • May 27, 2014

    What can emerging market investors learn from unicorns?

    Unicorns emerging markets

    Since Aileen Lee’s TechCrunch post last year on so called “unicorns”, startups valued at $1 Billion and above, the term has gained widespread adoption.   From the perspective of a fund manager at any top VC firm, investing in a future unicorn can be key.  However, I’ve been wondering if any of the lessons from Aileen’s post hold any lessons for startups in emerging markets, such as Latin America.

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  • November 14, 2013

    The impact of mission-driven organizations on emerging markets

    Adeo Ressi New York TimesToday, New York Times subscribers are reading the story on Adeo Ressi and the incubator he created: The Founder Institute.  In the article, when asked why he launches also in countries such as Colombia that are nontraditional entrepreneurial environments, he responds that he has created a mission-driven organization with the objective of helping the two percent of the population with “entrepreneurial genes” launch meaningful and enduring technology companies.

    As I’ve written before, it’s been quite a rewarding ride to have been able to work with Adeo and the Founder Institute for these past three years and to be able to count on his support while running the program here in Colombia.  At one of the Founder Institute Director meetings that Adeo ran in Silicon Valley, he asked all of us, among other things, about the value of FI in each country.  In my case, I said that I feel that the value of something like the Founder Institute could be even greater in an emerging market such as Colombia, because the size of the startup industry is so small and the know-how is extremely sparse.

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