• On September 28, 2018 by

    Once again, will Amazon buy Twitter?

    Amazon-TwitterAlmost 10 years ago, I sent an opinion piece to an online magazine called VentureBeat.  Though I cringe, now, at my writing style (e.g., ambiguous and, at times, convoluted grammar), I still believe that the principle idea makes sense: Amazon should buy Twitter.

    For some reason, the title ended up talking about a “partnership.”  Nonetheless, my thesis had to do with taking advantage of Amazon’s (and AWS’) operational “chops” so that anyone leading Twitter could focus on its strategic value.  The additional value of connecting AWS developers with one more (or several) Twitter API’s within the same infrastructure would also be of great benefit.  I still see synergies here, particularly as AI generated tweet engines continue to proliferate.

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  • On July 11, 2018 by

    Startup CEOs that think big!

    tropicalgringo-portfolio-2018It’s been more than a year since I’ve written an update on the TropicalGringo Portfolio, the five startups where I am an advisor and shareholder.  There is really big news from all of these companies from multimillion dollar rounds raised to Silicon Valley and other US investment activity.  Though there is a lot of work to be done to advance the Colombian startup ecosystem as a whole, these companies and their founders join  a growing list of Colombian startups that are incredible role models for the future startups in this country.

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  • On June 25, 2018 by

    Discussion on Latin American Investment

    tropicalgringo-investment-eventA couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about Latin American investment thanks to a gracious invitation by the Los Andes University.  I answered a number of questions about investment in Latin America compared to other regions as well as how Colombia stacks up in comparison to other countries in Latin America.

    I spoke about the startup investment environment in Brazil which I consider above and beyond most of Latin America in terms of the size of the deals.  I’ve had the opportunity to visit the startups and some of the investors in this country a number of times and even analyzed an investment (while at Intel Capital) in a startup from Rio.

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  • On April 4, 2018 by

    How much time does your organization have to digitally transform itself?

    tropicalgringo-presentingDuring the past few weeks, I’ve given a number of speeches on Digital Transformation.  There is a question that I always ask at the beginning and at the end (after laying out my story of change and disruption): “How much time does your organization have to digitally transform?”

    Sometimes, I ask individual audience members for their answer to that question. A lot of people respond that they have until today to transform themselves.  Upon hearing this question, I believe that the listener takes it as a dual query which includes two components: by when will your industry undergo a marked change and how long will it take your organization to adapt to the change. Sometimes, I feel they are really answering the second component (e.g., “we need to start changing now).  In my experience, people tend to overestimate the velocity of the former and underestimate the lethargy of accomplishing the latter (getting an organization to transform).

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