• On June 23, 2010 by

    Speech at Universidad Sabana

    Alan ColmenaresA few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to give a speech about Digital Innovation in Latin America. It was a great experience and I appreciate Juan Correales’ invitation.  I gave the speech within the context of their annual entrepreneurial event. I was able to talk with some impressive students about their projects.

    For me, it’s extremely gratifying to see so much interest in hearing about the possibilities today in terms of Digital Innovation.  Specifically, I try to evangelize the fact that people need to change their internal “chip” and understand that, in Latin America, they have the same access to gobs of information as well as having low-cost tools for creating new services and marketing these services.

  • On June 23, 2010 by

    Conferencia en Universidad de la Sabana

    Alan ColmenaresHace unas semanas, tuve la oportunidad de dar una conferencia sobre Innovacion Digital en America Latina. Fue una excelente experiencia y agradezco la invitacion por parte de Juan Pablo Correales.  La presentacion sucedio dentro del contexto de su evento anual sobre emprendimiento.  Tuve la oportunidad de ver muchos estudiantes impresionantes con sus proyectos de emprendimiento.

    Para mi es muy gratificante ver el interes que hay en escuchar sobre lo que es posible hoy en terminos de comenzar empresas digitales.  El mensaje que trato de transmitir es que hay que cambiar de paradigma y entender que hoy en dia hay mas oportunidad que nunca para aprovechar el acceso a informacion, el bajo costo de herramientas potentes y de herramientas de mercadeo.

  • On June 14, 2010 by

    Primer AVC Meetup en Bogota

    AVC BogotaEl ultimo martes tuvimos el primer AVC meetup en Bogota. Tuvimos una variedad de asistentes como empresarios web con clientes en America Latina y en EEUU en adicion a un fondo de inversion.   Tuvimos la fortuna de contar con las increibles oficinas de Studiocom para nuestra nuestra reunion gracias a Javier Montenegro.

    Hablamos de excelentes casos de exito en la region como MercadoLibre y Bucape con grandes valuaciones.  Aunque Brasil, Argentina y Mexico llevan la delantera en emprendimiento e inversion web, estuvimos de acuerdo que Colombia tiene todas las piezas para convertirse en una potencia tambien.

    La conversacion estuvo excelente e interactiva. Segun muchos de los participantes, parecia haber consenso en dos puntos: 1) falta de entrenamiento y preparacion del talento humano (tecnico y otros) y 2) mejores guias para los empresarios que desean crecer sus empresas.  Tambien, parece que hay mucho interes en iniciativas en estas areas ya que mas que un participante preguntaba sobre “el proximo paso” tomando este Meetup mas como un proyecto que una oportunidad para conversacion (la definicion de un Meetup).

  • On June 14, 2010 by

    First Bogotá AVC Meetup a Success

    AVC BogotaLast Tuesday, we held the first AVC meetup in Bogota. We had a great turn out of successful entrepreneurs with customers in Latin America as well as in the states as well as a local investment fund. We were fortunate in that Javier Montenegro graciously allowed us the use of his company’s amazing offices at Studiocom.

    We spoke of the great success stories such as MercadoLibre, Buscape with market valuations greater than $1 Billion and, in the case of Buscape, in the hundreds of millions.  Though Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have definitely taken the lead, there was agreement that Colombia has all the pieces to also become a force on the web.

    The conversation was great and quite interactive.  According to the participants, there seemed to be quite a bit of consensus on two areas where the Colombian environment needs a bit of help in terms of entrepreneurship: 1) training and preparation of talent (e.g., technical and otherwise) and 2) guidance for entrepreneurs wanting to take their companies to the next level. Also, it seems that there is much interest in any initiatives in these areas as more than one participant was asking what was the “next step.”  More than a Meetup to discuss these topics, it felt as though the participants wanted to become part of a specific initiative.

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