All posts tagged womyads

  • $3M invested in Founder Institute Colombia Graduates!

    Founder Institute Grad Logo

    The Founder Institute continues to grow globally.  It’s amazing to realize that I’m going on my fifth year as Director of the Founder Institute (FI) in Colombia.  In 2011, there were relatively few cities with a Founder Institute chapter and I was really determined to make sure that Colombia be the first Latin American country to have one.  By then, I had sat with a lot of Colombian entrepreneurs and knew that they needed help from the moment of conception.  Well that dream was realized and, with the amazing help of Adeo Ressi, the incubator’s founder, graduates of the program in Colombia have already received over US $2M in funding. This is unheard of for any startup accelerator or incubator in this country.

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  • No le cuenten a nadie

    Founder Institute Bogota 2014

    Escogí este titulo (“No le cuenten a nadie”) para este post como un criticismo a mi mismo.  Como el Director del Founder Institute Colombia por cuatro años, es mi responsabilidad comunicar mejor los logros de esta institución y su envidiable red de mentores en Colombia.  Sin embargo, cada vez que escucho conversaciones sobre las aceleradoras de startups en Colombia, por alguna razón, no se menciona la que, junto con Wayra, lleva cuatro años en el pais y la que conecta a los emprendedores con mentores de Colombia y de Silicon Valley: el Founder Institute Colombia.

    FI BogotaAnoche lanzamos (ver foto principal é izquierda) la quinta promoción del Founder Institute, aceleradora “pre-idea” en Colombia. Este año la mayoría del programa está financiada por los mismos emprendedores (una especie de crowdsourcing funcionando desde hace cuatro años en Colombia) ya que cada uno paga un “course fee” para inscribirse al programa.  Antes de esto, cada emprendedor ha tomado un examen psicotécnico para medir su aptitud para crear un startup de alto impacto y solo son aceptados los que, según dicho examen, poseen esta aptitud.

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  • My speech at eNet Expo on the digital opportunities in Latin America

    TropicalGringo eNetExpoYesterday, 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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  • 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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