All posts tagged startups

  • February 19, 2014

    Silicon Valley Culture

    Nivi Angel.coI just got back from Silicon Valley where I spent more than a week.  I was able to take the ten startups that are going through the acceleration program that I am running in Bogota and show them around and introduce them to key players.  We had fireside chats with investors and entrepreneurs such as Nivi (co-founder of Angel List), Ranjith Kumaran (co-founder of YouSendIt and PunchTab) and William Hsu (CodeEval).  We also spoke with investors such as Mike Hennesey and Dan Bragiel. As usual, I was able to count on help from some great people including Jeannine Jacobson from the Founder Institute in Los Angeles and the above mentioned people in Silicon Valley in addition to a host of others that I’ll thank privately so as not to make them so public without their consent. :)

    We also visited successful companies such as Facebook, Google and Evernote to understand their innovation cultures and how the built these from their start as small startups  to big companies.  We were able to also meet with the CEO and co-founder of Xactly Corporation, Chris Cabrera, who spoke to us about the opportunities in creating SaaS companies.   During all of these visits, we heard about the innovation cultures ingrained in these startups as well as the founder vision behind each of these organizations.

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  • February 6, 2014

    The New Colombia

    New Colombia

    There’s a post I’ve wanted to write for some time (actually a lot of posts), but the day-to-day hustle has succeeded in keeping me from writing (how’s that for a lame excuse?).  It has to do with what I see happening in a number of Latin American countries (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, etc.), but have direct experience with here in Colombia. Basically, the Colombia I’m experiencing at this moment is quite different from the Colombia of only five years ago.  One of these differences, which is very trivial to some, is the fact that this past Sunday I had a plethora of choices of where to watch the Super Bowl compared to several years ago (that’s how justify attaching such a far out picture to this post).

    I recall the frustration I felt several years ago trying to find a place to watch the Super Bowl (the what?).  Nine out of ten people I would ask had no idea what this was.  Granted, this is quite an ethnocentric view of the world on my part given the comparative popularity of soccer and cricket in the world.  Nonetheless, it speaks to something that I’ve been noticing more and more: this and other countries like it are accelerating their connection to the world.

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  • January 31, 2014

    Great Bogota Visit from Gabe Zichermann

    Gabe Zichermann and TropicalGringoBefore 2013 finished, we had a great Meetup with Gabe Zichermann who stopped by Bogota . It was December 27, 2013 and Gabe decided to relax a bit in Bogota before continuing his travels on to Lima, Peru.  Gabe had been in Bogota and Medellin more than a year ago when he mentored during the 2012 semester of the Founder Institute in Bogota and Medellin.

    It was so satisfying to hear from him that he really enjoyed his stay last time and, when setting up his trip to Peru, he decided to make Colombia one of his stops. This was all the more surprising given the fact that I went a bit overboard during Gabe’s last visit as I scheduled a Gamification workshop and beaucoup press interviews in addition to all of the Founder Institute mentoring.  Wayra Colombia graciously had allowed us to use their excellent facilities both for the workshop a couple of years back and this latest Meetup.

    Gabe is a top mentor international mentor and also co-Director of the Founder Institute in New York.  Among other things, he created the Gamification Summit and has written a number of books on Gamification.  It was extraordinary to have him visiting Colombia and his agreeing to doing an excellent Meetup with a room full of entrepreneurs was much appreciated.

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  • December 4, 2013

    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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