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  • An “accelerator” for Latin American angel investors

    Latam Incubated OneIf you attend any conference on Latin American startups or startup investing, you indubitably will here someone talk about the lack of local angel investing in early stage startups.  Such an utterance will usually get a lot of heads nodding in acceptance of this problem.  What’s not usual is to encounter new options created to solve this problem, but I’d say that is what SSX, an early stage company stock exchange, which is also part of the Dutch Caribbean Securities Exchange, has done with Latam Incubated One.  This new offering allows potential angels to invest the amount of money they wish (starting at $2) in a liquid vehicle (traded shares) that will provide much more learning than they’d get trying to choose one startup investment for themselves.

    On the learning front, angel investors wishing to get started in startup investing can make one investment in Latam Incubated One and distribute their exposure across several investments.  Latam Incubated One will invest (from $50k on up) alongside some of the top accelerators in Latin America which include Wayra, 500 Startups in Mexico, 21212 in Brazil and NXTP in Argentina.  The investments will be made in startups that graduate from one of these accelerators’ programs.  Additionally, investment decisions will be made by investment committees with regional advisors of which I am one.

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  • The impact of mission-driven organizations on emerging markets

    Adeo Ressi New York TimesToday, New York Times subscribers are reading the story on Adeo Ressi and the incubator he created: The Founder Institute.  In the article, when asked why he launches also in countries such as Colombia that are nontraditional entrepreneurial environments, he responds that he has created a mission-driven organization with the objective of helping the two percent of the population with “entrepreneurial genes” launch meaningful and enduring technology companies.

    As I’ve written before, it’s been quite a rewarding ride to have been able to work with Adeo and the Founder Institute for these past three years and to be able to count on his support while running the program here in Colombia.  At one of the Founder Institute Director meetings that Adeo ran in Silicon Valley, he asked all of us, among other things, about the value of FI in each country.  In my case, I said that I feel that the value of something like the Founder Institute could be even greater in an emerging market such as Colombia, because the size of the startup industry is so small and the know-how is extremely sparse.

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  • Hop on the Google Developer Bus Bogota

    Tropicalgringo Google Developer bus

    Some good friends of mine, David Cifuentes and Francisco Solsona, are involved with a great initiative which will be underway in a few days: Google Developer Bus Bogota. There are a number of reasons this would be a great event for top designers, developers, etc. to attend (no matter what city you’re in).  One of these is the ability to test out an idea you have for a great app that leverages the Google platform.  Another is to show what Colombian developers are capable of accomplishing in a short time.

    More importantly, Google will be giving the winners (up to four team members) a trip to Silicon Valley.  Since I lived in Silicon Valley (Cupertino and Santa Cruz) for five years, I know first hand what a vibrant startup atmosphere there is there.  Because of this, I am passionate about taking startup founders to meet with my contacts there (have done this on several occasions).  I feel this is important in order to instill a similar culture in any startup (wherever they are based) where execution and thinking big are the norm.

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  • Global digital innovation masters

    Digital Innovation Masters I’ve been thinking more about what really stimulates me at the same time that I’ve been considering the meaning of the word: “TropicalGringo.”  I think I’m coming up with an answer to both questions at the same time.  I’ll have to write more about each topic separately, but let me use this post as first pass to see what you think.

    What really stimulates me is meeting talented, passionate people who are great at creating new things. In general, I like to meet impressive people in all industries, but, being such a nerd, I really am intrigued by those that accomplish this in the digital space.  I’m talking about a great business builder, coder, designer or whatever.  Someone who has achieved mastery in one of the crafts necessary to engender digital innovation and, who call it, “creating cool shit.” :)

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