All posts tagged fund

  • FAIL: I just fell flat on my face

    TropicalGringo Fail

    Well, I just got a gut-wrenching notification that the Colombian government decided against a proposal that I presented, along with some local partners, to help create Tayrona Ventures and I’m still reeling from the this.  My local partners in the proposal were creating an early-stage Colombia fund to address opportunities in several industries (e.g., construction services, etc.) while leaving us (Tayrona Ventures) as a sidecar fund with a lot of freedom to pursue early stage deals with digital startups.  I thought (wrongly, as it turns out) that this would satisfy the government’s needs to support a number of sectors while also creating an amazing early stage technology fund with likes of Silicon Valley insiders Paul Bragiel and William Hsu.

    Before going on, I want to congratulate the three groups that will be receiving funds from the government (these include my current partners at Socialatom Ventures – an accelerator we own jointly).  All three of these groups have sharp people and the good news is that Colombia and Latin America will have more sorely-needed investors.

    So, I’m always telling my son that it’s not a question of falling down, but whether and how you get up.  Am I going to be a hypocrite (and ball my eyes out) or suck it up and keep going? It’s so much easier to give advice than to be coherent with that advice when things happen to you.  :)

    Read more

  • What do you think of this new design for TropicalGringo?

    TropicalGringo DesignHi everyone. I found an amazing WordPress expert, Hans, who is helping me get my new site up and running. We actually were waiting to launch this, but because the other site had never been upgraded (version of WP, etc.), we’re going to work on the improvements right on the live site.
    I’m going to take advantage of this fact and ask you to give your comments on the design, layout and anything else of which you can think. I would really appreciate and all of your comments.
    I’m launching this new site at an important juncture for TropicalGringo (the brand and myself). Though I’ve been tapped into the Latin American startup scene, it’s been way too focused on Colombia. I do work with startups in other countries in the region (and am an advisor for one in Peru), but I want to get a lot more visibility into what’s happening in other countries (you may have noticed this from recent posts).
    As I’ve written, I continue to make headway on launching my fund, Tayrona VC, with Paul Bragiel and William Hsu and with some partners called Vanguardia. Launching a fund takes a lot of effort in many areas and we’re only at the beginning stages, but I’m very optimistic. Also, I’ve seen some really cool deal flow from everywhere including Chile and Peru though I need much more visibility into interesting early stage deals in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico (I’m working on this).
    Additionally, this year, I’ve had two guest posts: one from someone in Argentina and another from an expat friend who lives in Medellin. I was thinking about this recently and feel that I should look for some really high quality analysis pieces on startups, etc. and have more people start posting on TropicalGringo. Finally, I’m seriously considering only writing in English which will make my job a lot easier and my target audience around the world probably can read in English quite well.
    With all of this said, please send me comments either below in the comments section, through twitter or through email. My email is my first name on this domain name. As you’ll see, the design that I selected is very content/text friendly. Also, if you are interested in getting help on your WordPress site with someone who works with US companies, I recommend Hans and his team at Permalink Group.

  • The Reinvention of Industry

    zuckerbergA point I’ve been harping on within my consulting engagements and during my workshops is the fact that, in my opinion, a deep transformation is taking place before our eyes.  The last few years have witnessed the toppling industries that, as a child, I took for granted as powerful and enduring.  Last year, more than 200 US newspapers went bankrupt, the music industry distribution channel has been reshaped and a good number of banks failed and others would have failed were it not for government help.

    Now, before going to bed, I read that a number of high powered players in tech and the VC industry have created a US $250M fund to invest in companies focused on the “social web.”  Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, one of the investors in the fund, states that “We think every industry is going to get fundamentally rethought and redesigned around people.”  Nothing like validation from the likes of Zuckerberg, Bezos and John Doerr for a guy in faraway Colombia.

    Nevertheless, I actually think that the opportunities are even greater in emerging regions such as Latin America.  This is the reason that I’ve been giving workshops on what I call Digital Innovation in order to get people up to speed on the changes happening and to provide practice (through exercises) in the use of tools to reinvent their business models. If you’re in Colombia, register for the next workshop on December 15th.