All posts tagged colombia

• February 3, 2014

  Founder Institute Bogota 2014 y Startup Meetup

  

  Este pasado jueves 30 de enero, tuvimos el primer Startup Founder Meetup 101 en la instalaciones de Wayra Colombia.  Fue una reunión productiva y lleno de “networking” entre personas interesados en el tema de startups en Bogotá.  También fue muy inspirador para mi escuchar las preguntas de los mas de 25 participantes y tratar de responder estos junto con otros del grupo quienes también ofrecieron sus puntos de vista.  También hablamos sobre el hecho que están abiertas las inscripciones para el Founder Institute Bogota 2014 y que, en este momento, es posible tomar gratis el examen que mide 12 características de emprendimiento.

  Dentro de los temas discutidos fue el del Founder Institute Colombia el cual ya estará lanzando el quinto grupo en abril de 2014 en Bogotá.  Hablé sobre como comenzó todo con mi capacidad de “molestar” al creador del Founder Institute, Adeo Ressi, y lanzar el primer capitulo del programa en todo America Latina. Aproveché hace tres años para, al mismo tiempo, escribir un articulo sobre este hecho el cuál apareció en el New York Times.  También hablé sobre los mentores de calidad global que apoyan a los emprendedores en Colombia.  Esto incluye los que han exitosamente creado sus propios startups en Colombia así como mentores internacionales como Gabe Zichermann quien nos acompañó hace unas semanas en Bogotá.

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• January 31, 2014

  Great Bogota Visit from Gabe Zichermann

  Before 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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• November 14, 2013

  The impact of mission-driven organizations on emerging markets

  Today, 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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• November 8, 2013

  Hop on the Google Developer Bus Bogota

  

  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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