All posts tagged william hsu

  • A word about chemistry

    TropicalGringo chemistry

    Yesterday was a particularly good day.  I was able to get some work done in the morning to help one of the startups I advise and then spent the rest of the day sharing meals and drinks with entrepreneurs and investors who are becoming good friends. One of these, whom I’ve known for a number of years now, Mike Hennessey, was sharing his views on chemistry and the importance of this in relationships between investors and entrepreneurs and I couldn’t agree more.

    Incredibly, when I awoke this morning, I read a post by famous investor, Fred Wilson, on just that topic.  Great minds think alike – I’m talking about Mike here. :) In the post, Fred talks about the importance of getting to know entrepreneurs (and visa versa) since a lot of the value that an investor provides will depend on maintaining a good relationship with said founder.

    Broadening the discussion on chemistry a bit, I must say that since making the switch to the “startup world” (some would say at too late a stage in my life), I have felt much more “chemistry” with the people involved.  This isn’t to say that I’m not aware that there are some people who don’t care for “moi” (I can be a pain in the neck), but I really admire entrepreneurs in general and, especially strong ones.  I kind of think that that admiration for these founders is at the core of any chemistry that might engender in the process between myself and them.

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  • 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.