All posts tagged google

  • May 2, 2013

    AngelHack es un Hackathon Global que llega a Colombia

    AngelHack BogotaAngelHack es un hackathon que se está ejecutando en mas de 30 ciudades por todo el mundo.  AngelHack llegará a Bogotá el 8 de junio y se ejecutará en las oficinas de Socialatom Ventures, aceleradora donde yo soy General Partner y Director de Programa.  Por varias razones que menciono abajo, este es un hackathon de grandes ligas.  Los interesados en competir en un escenario de talla global pueden inscribirsen acá: http://ahsp13bogota.eventbrite.com/ El costo es de US $35 pero para los primeros 10  lectores de este blog que utilicen el codigo “tropicalgringo” recibirán un descuento de 75% sobre dicho precio  y los siguientes 20 lectores recibirán un descuento de 50% sobre dicho precio.

    Algunas características de AngelHack Primavera 2013:

    • 6,000 desarrolladores y diseñadores increíbles a través de 30 ciudades alrededor del mundo. (En Bogota un aproximado de 200 )
    • Buena comida, material promocional, armas nerf, helicopteros, y un ambiente increíble.
    • Grandes premios, incluyendo un lugar en el programa de aceleración AngelHack Accelerator, capital semilla, e invitaciones a Silicon Valley para más de 40 equipos.
    • Cobertura de medios y un increíble panel de jueces para ayudarte a validar las partes debiles de tu hack.

    En general, los organizadores de AngelHack están promocionando la posibilidad de ganar $100,000 dólares en premios incluyendo capital semilla, aceptación en un programa de aceleración global, y un viaje todo pagado para presentar tu hack en Silicon Valley.

    Habrá un ganador grande de Bogota.  AngelHack busca que participen los mejores desarrolladores del país para crear su hack y tener la posibilidad de convertirlo en un startup de talla mundial.  Sin embargo, no solo son bienvenidos desarrolladores sino también diseñadores y diseñadoras y personas con ideas buenas. Entre los patrocinadores están Google y VoiceBunny.

    Utiliza el codigo de descuento “tropicalgringo” é inscribirsen acá.


    No Comments / Español, General /

  • January 27, 2013

    Second Week of Socialatom Ventures

    Solocontratame PitchOk. Week two is “in the can” and things continue to progress.  Some of the startups are intensely working on improving their product, some are mainly focused on customer acquisition and others are still working on their general value proposition. Last week, during out Wednesday 10pm progress meeting, we got a visit from an active early stage investor from Mexico called Sergio Romo of Investomex.  Also in the room was Francisco Solsona who is one of Google‘s Developer Relations mangers for the region as well as Andres and David Cifuentes from eForcers, a strong local Google apps partner. Note: Andres Cifuentes was one of the graduates from the first semester of the Founder Institute in Colombia.

    Investomex and Google at SAVOn Friday, the whole group was able to hold a great video conference session with an experienced Venture Capital investor in New York.  Several of them were able to get some interesting insights into the mind of an investor when hearing their individual pitches.  Others were able to ask general questions such as the importance of incorporating their company in the US. Other mentors such as the talented Sergio Martinez of Vulcan Estudios were able to talk with some of the startups about their user experience and how to improve it.

    Startups talking at SAVSeveral of the startups have been making great use of the incredible work space we have set up here at Socialatom Ventures.  Aside from the physical space, this gives them a chance to talk with each other as well as with mentors and any other visitor that comes to check us out.  Also, they can have a quick chat with Andres or myself and interact in a bit more relaxed format. The rest of the Socialatom team has been instrumental in making things run smoothly.  This includes Felipe Betancourt and Karen Acosta.

    There’s a lot to be done before our trip to New York City. The founders will be meeting with mentors and investors and will also get to experience the NYC startup scene.  There’s a lot to be said for the vibe you can get from a particular startup ecosystem. I’ve personally lived and traveled quite a bit to Silicon Valley.  Nonetheless, many years ago, when I was a young man (many, many years ago) one of my first jobs was an Electrical Engineer for a defense contractor in New Jersey and I absolutely loved getting into “the city” and walking around Manhattan.  The vibe then was absolutely electric.

    Federico Ortega mentoring at SAVFinally, on Thursday, we had an excellent session with all of the startups and Product Mentor, Federico Ortega.  It’s tough to find someone as passionate about digital products and about what goes into making them as Federico.  Not to mention the incredible experience he has on the subject having worked for El Tiempo, Zemoga and, now, VivaReal. The session was an extremely interactive one with a barrage of questions and anecdotes about prior experiences.

    No Comments / English, General /

  • January 8, 2011

    Facebook con $1.000M en Ganancias Este Año?

    Facebook EconomyEstuvo leyendo uno de mis blogs favoritos, GigaOm, sobre documentos sobre las finanzas de Facebook que salieron a luz recientemente.  Aunque la empresa generó $77 millones en ganancias en el 2010, podría generar hasta $1.000 millones de dolares este año.

    TechCrunch hasta publicó una tabla mostrando de donde vienen los ingresos de la compañia y me sorprendió la cifra de $75 millones de dolares como “run rate” de objetos virtuales porque yo pensaba que la cifra era aún mayor. Mientras tanto, es interesante que, mientras Facebook sigue sin estar en la bolsa, se rumora que Linkedin saldrá a bolsa este año.

    Hay una citacion interesante al final del articulo de GigaOm de un analista de Piper Jaffray quien dice que Facebook sigue quitandole ingresos de publicidad a Google.  Hay muchos que piensan que Google tiene que hacer algo para contrarestar la creciente importancia de Facebook incluyendo a un analista que, interesantemente, piensa que  Google debería comprar a Amazon!

    Finalmente, no sólo es Facebook, sitios como Quora para preguntas y respuestas y Groupon en compras grupales para establecimientos locales, están creciendo mucho gracias al compoenente social.  Muchos se preguntan si Google cedió este espacio a Facebook y otros o si su producto Googleme va posicionarlos mejor dentro de este espacio.

    Abajo hay una version mas grande del Infographic de VisualEconomics sobre la economia de Facebook:

    Facebook Economy

    No Comments / Español, General /

  • January 8, 2011

    Facebook to Generate $1B in Profits This Year?

    Facebook EconomyI was just reading in one of my favorite blogs, GigaOm, about documents unearthed because of Goldman Sachs’ investment in Facebook. Though the Facebook seems to have generated about $77 million in net income this year, it could generate as much as $1B in profits next year.

    TechCrunch even published a table showing their different revenue line items. I was actually surprised by the $75M run rate for virtual goods that, although substantial, was lower than I had thought it would be.  It’s interesting to note, also, that while Facebook stays private, Linkedin is rumored to soon go public.

    There’s an interesting quote at the end of the GigaOm article from a Piper Jaffray analyst stating that Facebook continues to take advertising revenue away from Google.  There’s definitely a lot of conjecture about what Google should be doing in regards to social media.  One of their own VPs actually made a statement to the effect that they’re letting Facebook take over that space.  Talking more about Google, I found a recent article by David Linthicum quite interesting.  In that article, he talks about why Google should acquire Amazon!

    Finally, it’s not only about Facebook, other sites like Quora and Groupon are growing rapidly thanks to their social component.  Many ask if Google has ceded this space to Facebook and others or whether their GoogleMe product might better position them in this space.  What do you think? Will “social” increase or decrease Google’s relevance over time or is that the wrong question to ask?

    Below is a larger version of the Facebook Economy Infographic from VisualEconomics:

    Facebook Economy

    No Comments / English, General /
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