• On March 5, 2010 by

    Se Esta Regando la Voz Sobre Innovacion Digital en America Latina

    Compra3Hoy fue un increible dia por tantas razones.  Una de esas es que pude salir con mi esposa a bailar un poco de Salsa (o intentar) y salir a cenar.  Pero por otro lado, cuando yo he estado tan contento por haber logrado publicar las noticias sobre los logros de VivaReal de Colombia y Compra3 de Brazil en varias publicaciones, acabo de ver otra persona regando la voz y es nadie mas y nadie menos que Chris Brogan, un blogger, autor, conferencista, etc. muy reconocido quien esta visitando a Colombia.

    No hay duda que poquito a poquito mas y mas inversionistas se van a dar cuenta del increible potencial que tiene esta region.  Dentro de cinco años veremos una explosion en inversion por parte de Venture Capitalists y Angel Investors del exterior.  Ver a ese post de Chris sumado a la de otros que estan regando la voz, me hace pensar que ese dia podria llegar aun mas temprano (3 años?). En todo caso, despues de habarme mudado aca hace 15 años de Silicon Valley, me siento increiblemente afortunado de tener la oportunidad de vivir esta epoca.

  • On March 5, 2010 by

    The Word is Getting Out – Latin America is Full of Digital Innovators

    Compra3I’ve been so busy contributing to other publications that I’ve been falling behind in posting to my own blog.  Lately, I’ve been writing articles about companies such as Vivareal in Colombia and Compra3 in Brazil each with excellent prospects for the future. I’ve been psyched to see these articles published in the NYTimes and in Venturebeat.  There is such a tremendous opportunity in this region for setting up dev centers, targeting the region for products and services or both.

    I just got back from a night of Salsa and Sushi with the Mrs. and, after waking up at 2:30am this morning should be hitting the sack.  Nevertheless, as if the day hasn’t been good enough, I just read Chris Brogan’s post on Colombia.  By now, I’m used to seeing fellow “Gringos” wowed by the life down here, but it’s so great to see someone who appreciates that aspect, but, more importantly, objectively, sees the tremendous potential down here.

    That was just the cap to a truly amazing day where, aside from happy family times, I had some great meetings with top executives at two major multinationals down here, a financial services company and a friend who works at Twitter that I finally met in person (she’s down here).  Aside from all of this, Compra3 (amazing founders) had their production launch of their social commerce site, which I was able to write about to get the word out.

    I should really back all of this up with more numbers and statistics, but I’m too tired tonight.  I’ll leave that for another post.

    Conclusion:  there’s no doubt in my mind that Latin America is going through a transformation and that, within the next 5 years, the number of US VC/angel backed digital innovators with either dev centers or target market (or both) down here will explode.

  • On February 16, 2010 by

    Nostalgia y Evento Microsoft

    State CollegeQue dia tan increible.  Acabo de hablar con un viejo colega de mi primer trabajo.  Hace mas de 20 años que no habia hablado con esta persona.  Ambos trabajabamos para un contratista para el departamento de defensa de EEUU como Ingenieros Electricos (inmediatamente despues de la universidad) y ninguno de nosotros estabamos muy emocionados con nuestros trabajos.  Sin embargo, si disfrutamos mucho el hecho que nuestra empresas, llamada HRB-Singer y basada en Pennsylvania, nos envio a California con todo pago.

    Aunque no lo pasábamos mucho juntos, nos respectábamos y por nuestros lados disfrutamos mucho nuestra estadía en California y ambos terminamos viviendo allí después de irnos de esa empresa.  Increiblemente, ambos terminamos en la misma industria y una muy diferente a la que estabamos.  Estamos ambos enfocados en el mercadeo por Internet.  Fue tan nostalgico hablar de nuevo con Gary, escuchar lo que esta haciendo el ahora y recordar algunas situaciones chisotosas de esa vieja epoca.

    Por otro lado, hoy llegue de Cali de una conferencia que dicte en un evento de Microsoft sobre Cloud Computing.  Disfrute eso y me dicen que en Medellin y Bogota, los eventos deben ser mas concurridos.  Finalmente, acabo de llegar de una excelente conversación con un verdadero experto en ejecución de campañas online.  Fuera de esto es una persona muy agradable y tiene ideas super estimulantes.  Finalmente, no hay como llegar de un viaje y ver a la familia. Cada dia los hijos estan mas maduros y grandes y mi esposa mas bella.  Fuera de que siento asi, de pronto me gano unos puntos si ella lea estas frases (oops, acabo de perder esos puntos). 🙂

  • On February 16, 2010 by

    Nostalgia and Microsoft Event

    State CollegeMan, what an amazing day.  A few hours ago, I got off the phone with a colleague from my first job out of college.  A guy I had last spoken with more than 20 years ago!  We were both Advanced Design engineers for a defense contractor called HRB-Singer straight out of college and were not at all into our jobs.  Incredibly enough, we both ended up focusing on online marketing.

    Man, my life is so different right now than what it was then.  I was this young whipper snapper on the prowl and without any ties.  Who woulda thunk it.  Back then, working was a hobby since I wasn’t really putting so much effort into my tasks (I’m ashamed to say) and was just soaking up a ton of life experiences.  Gary (that’s his name) and I ended up getting a gig in California (we were based out of State College, PA) and we were loving life out there.  The company set us up with great cars and amazing apartments and we really enjoyed our time out there.  The only thing we weren’t too crazy about was the work we were doing (or not doing).

    It seems that Gary, got into graphic design and become Creative Director for a number of interactive agencies and has been working as a consultant for some time and has made a nice home in Denver.  It really took me back today talking with him and remembering those times.  It really made me think about the journey I’ve had during the past 20 years when I lived for 5 years out there in California and then have spent the last 15 years here in Colombia.  Pretty wild.

    Also, today I just got back from Cali where I gave a presentation on Cloud Computing at an event sponsored by Microsoft. It was interesting, but expect the events in Medellin (next week) and Bogota to be a bit more active.  Well, time to do some work and hit the hay.  I also had a great conversation this evening with an amazing online marketer who’s based here in Colombia, but who’s done amazing things in the US market. There’s some real talent down here.

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