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  • May 1, 2014

    No le cuenten a nadie

    Founder Institute Bogota 2014

    Escogí este titulo (“No le cuenten a nadie”) para este post como un criticismo a mi mismo.  Como el Director del Founder Institute Colombia por cuatro años, es mi responsabilidad comunicar mejor los logros de esta institución y su envidiable red de mentores en Colombia.  Sin embargo, cada vez que escucho conversaciones sobre las aceleradoras de startups en Colombia, por alguna razón, no se menciona la que, junto con Wayra, lleva cuatro años en el pais y la que conecta a los emprendedores con mentores de Colombia y de Silicon Valley: el Founder Institute Colombia.

    FI BogotaAnoche lanzamos (ver foto principal é izquierda) la quinta promoción del Founder Institute, aceleradora “pre-idea” en Colombia. Este año la mayoría del programa está financiada por los mismos emprendedores (una especie de crowdsourcing funcionando desde hace cuatro años en Colombia) ya que cada uno paga un “course fee” para inscribirse al programa.  Antes de esto, cada emprendedor ha tomado un examen psicotécnico para medir su aptitud para crear un startup de alto impacto y solo son aceptados los que, según dicho examen, poseen esta aptitud.

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    15 Comments / Español, General /

  • April 25, 2014

    Tappsi: Colombian startup with explosive growth is hiring.

    Tappsi Hiring

    It’s been more than two years since Juan Salcedo, co-founder of Tappsi, started showing me the taxi hailing app that he had developed.  Soon after this, I started meeting periodically with Andres Gutierrez (co-founder) and Juan and ended up, eventually, becoming their advisor.  As the company continues it’s rapid growth trajectory, it is looking to hire talented people in engineering and other areas. Apply here.

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    2 Comments / English, General /

  • 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.

     

    No Comments / English, General /

  • 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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    No Comments / English, General /
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