All posts tagged tappsi

  • January 8, 2016

    TropicalGringo Portfolio: Tappsi exit good news for ecosystem

    Tappsi ExitAs some of you know, one of the startups that I advise is Tappsi, the leading taxi-hailing company in Colombia. Recently, the company announced their merger with Easy Taxi.  Not only is this a good outcome for the company’s talented founders, shareholders (such as myself) and the Colombian startup ecosystem (particularly, for investors and potential investors), but it is a logical next step in the company’s evolution and allows it to play the long (regional) game as part of bigger company.

    Though this outcome may have been a surprise to some, it was a scenario that the founders (and myself) always saw as one of several probabilities down the road. This space was quite obviously destined for consolidation (especially, from a regional perspective).  In such a market, as many know, you can be the consolidator of several markets (countries) or, if you can build dominance in one lucrative market (country), you can, later, join forces with that same consolidator through a merger, acquisition, etc.

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    2 Comments / Case Studies, English /

  • December 3, 2015

    TropicalGringo Portfolio Update 2015

    TropicalGringo Portfolio 2015

    Well it’s the end of the year and it probably makes sense to talk about the last year.  So as not to be so broad, I decided to focus on the companies that I advise.  I am an advisor to and shareholder in five startups.  I, presumptuously, call this group of companies, my “portfolio.”  Obviously, I’m bullish on each and every one of them.  Fortunately, all five have plenty of runway (funds) left for the foreseeable future and I expect them to continue increasing in value.

    One of the startups (Magnolia) is based out of Peru (although it is regional) and the others are headquartered in Colombia.  Some of these companies are much more well-known and several have already gone on to close a seed round.  When I began working with them, they either only consisted of the founders (Tappsi and Kiwi) or only had a few people working for them (1Doc3, Acsendo and Magnolia).  Identifying talent (especially in startup founders) early on is a very difficult thing to do and, in Latin America, it’s even tougher.

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    No Comments / Case Studies, English /

  • June 22, 2015

    Interview with Tappsi CEO Juan Salcedo

    Juan Salcedo

    It was quite a treat last week to interview someone that I’ve gotten to know a lot better during the past couple of years, first, as Advisor to the company he co-founded called Tappsi, makers of the leading taxi hailing app in Colombia, and more recently as an Executive Vice President at that same company.  During this interview, part of a series for Startup Grind, I asked Juan about his journey towards becoming a successful startup founder (from Colombia to Canada and back) and the challenges of being the CEO of a startup that gets to compete with well-funded giants such as Uber.

    When Juan told me about Tappsi more than two years ago and introduced me to his co-founder, Andres Gutierrez, I had never seen growth numbers in Colombia such as the ones they were sharing with me (nor since).  It was absolutely phenomenal.  As Jerry McGuire might say, “you had me at 5000 downloads.”  I became their advisor when the company consisted only of the two co-founders.  Today, the company now boasts more than 80 employees.

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    No Comments / Case Studies, English /

  • June 19, 2015

    Do you really want to boil the ocean?

    Boil the oceanThroughout my professional career, I’ve observed how those with tons of resources and outsized ambitions, try to execute Hail Mary initiatives with very limited results. On the other hand, focusing on high quality, low quantity results (e.g., get a few fanatical users of a product versus thousands of site visitors), is much more effective. Later, they are able to build upon these successes.  Startups should really resist the temptation and pressure to ignore this key principle in pursuit of the “boil the ocean” strategy.

    I’m still surprised by the strong voices that startup founders hear leading them down a road that will dilute their efforts and produce negligible or incredibly costly results.  These voices take the form of their own desires, of criticisms for not being ambitious enough or “thinking too small.”  My personal experience has been anecdotal, but there are actual studies that confirm this even more.

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    No Comments / English, General /
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