Archive for March, 2014

  • March 28, 2014

    Great Founder Institute Bogota Pitch Event

    Founder Institute BogotaWe had a great Founder Institute Bogota pitch event last night.  In attendance were Founder Institute mentors, Francisco Garcia, co-founder of Data Traffic, Juan Salcedo, co-founder of Tappsi and special guest Paige Brown, CEO and co-founder of DashBell.  Each one of these founders generously shared their experience growing their specific startup and talking about the genesis of each.

    Paige spoke about here time at TechStars in Boston and the road since then after multiple angel financings.  Francisco spoke about the thesis that was the original plan for Data Traffic and the creation and growth of the company since then.  Finally, Juan spoke about how Tappsi started from a problem that he and his cofounder (Andres Gutierrez) encountered in trying to hail a cab.  Later, Juan gave a more detailed presentation detailing the creation and growth of the company.

    Afterwards, a number of the founders present, gave their pitches and heard feedback from myself and the audience.  It was an incredibly interactive session with great interest and energy in the room. During the event, I announced the extension of the enrollment deadline for two more weeks in Bogota, Colombia. We already have a great group of founders with excellent aptitude enrolled in the program.

    For those still interested in enrolling, simply fill out the few fields in the following application link: http://fi.co/join.

     

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  • March 25, 2014

    Bridge from Colombia to Silicon Valley open for 4 years

    Adeo Ressi BogotaIt’s been a couple of weeks since Adeo was in town (Bogotá, Colombia). For me, it was great to have him back in Colombia and for others who had not met him before, it was quite an experience.  Adeo has created a number of companies (most recently, The Funded and the Founder Institute) and brings with him quite a bit of Silicon Valley, which, I believe, is good for founders in Latin America to experience.

    As I have written previously, the Founder Institute has been an excellent vehicle to coalesce the amazingly talented entrepreneurs in Colombia who have already had successes (and failures) as mentors and complement these with international mentors as well as local entrepreneurs.  In a country where much government money is being expended to create new accelerators, I’m proud of the fact that, though it had previously received backing from the city of Medellin (e.g., Ruta N), it continues to run in Bogotá and graduate new founders and companies funded principally by a small course fee paid by each participant.

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  • March 10, 2014

    Se buscan emprendedoras digitales

    Female Founder Fellowship

    Aunque el Día Internacional de la Mujer fue hace dos días (el sábado), en el Founder Institute contamos con un programa, llamado el Female Founder Fellowship (FFF), que busca incrementar el numero de emprendedoras digitales a nivel global otorgando una beca a la mujer con el mejor pitch (ver los dos pasos abajo). Para Colombia, considero que esto es aún mas urgente ya que, como he escrito antes, estamos en la mitad de una oportunidad única para el país y no podemos dejar a un lado la mitad del talento emprendedor.  Esta iniciativa fue desarrollada por el mismo creador del Founder Institute en Silicon Valley, Adeo Ressi, quien estará en Bogota, Colombia esta semana y estaremos anunciando la ganadora en el gran evento de Ideación el miércoles. Inscribase acá: http://FI.co/e/8021

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