All posts in General

  • June 23, 2010

    Speech at Universidad Sabana

    Alan ColmenaresA few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to give a speech about Digital Innovation in Latin America. It was a great experience and I appreciate Juan Correales’ invitation.  I gave the speech within the context of their annual entrepreneurial event. I was able to talk with some impressive students about their projects.

    For me, it’s extremely gratifying to see so much interest in hearing about the possibilities today in terms of Digital Innovation.  Specifically, I try to evangelize the fact that people need to change their internal “chip” and understand that, in Latin America, they have the same access to gobs of information as well as having low-cost tools for creating new services and marketing these services.

    1 Comment / English, General /

  • June 14, 2010

    First Bogotá AVC Meetup a Success

    AVC BogotaLast Tuesday, we held the first AVC meetup in Bogota. We had a great turn out of successful entrepreneurs with customers in Latin America as well as in the states as well as a local investment fund. We were fortunate in that Javier Montenegro graciously allowed us the use of his company’s amazing offices at Studiocom.

    We spoke of the great success stories such as MercadoLibre, Buscape with market valuations greater than $1 Billion and, in the case of Buscape, in the hundreds of millions.  Though Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have definitely taken the lead, there was agreement that Colombia has all the pieces to also become a force on the web.

    The conversation was great and quite interactive.  According to the participants, there seemed to be quite a bit of consensus on two areas where the Colombian environment needs a bit of help in terms of entrepreneurship: 1) training and preparation of talent (e.g., technical and otherwise) and 2) guidance for entrepreneurs wanting to take their companies to the next level. Also, it seems that there is much interest in any initiatives in these areas as more than one participant was asking what was the “next step.”  More than a Meetup to discuss these topics, it felt as though the participants wanted to become part of a specific initiative.

    No Comments / English, General /

  • May 30, 2010

    Digital Startup Ecosystem in Colombia – Bogota Meetup

    Bogota AVC MeetupWell, it’s been quite an active week. I had the good fortune to talk with Arturo and Omar from Emprende.la about the state of Digital Innovation in Latin America (according to moi). If you wish, you can listen to the podcast where I discuss my Incubator project and the fact that I’m still at the initial planning stage.  I also gave a radio presentation to a local station called RCN where I spoke about Digital Innovation in Latin America. I made this presentation utilizing the web platform called Pio.la.

    Finally, one of the sharpest Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors in the business (according to moi), Fred Wilson, is promoting a global series of Meetups to talk about start-ups.  Please join me next week by clicking on the widget below so we can all meet in person and discuss the current start-up environment in Colombia and Latin America and what we can do to accelerate the creation and growth of innovative digital start-ups.   See ya next week!

    1 Comment / English, General /

  • May 9, 2010

    Judging Microsoft Digital Innovation Contest

    Alan ColmenaresA week and a half ago, I had the pleasure of judging a number of entrepreneurial initiatives for Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition.  It was great to see how innovative and dedicated Colombia’s youth can be to creating great technology while helping out the needy.  As usually happens during these events, it is a truly enjoyable experience not only to meet these youths, but also to meet and get to know my fellow judges.

    We debated the merits and weaknesses of the different competitors.  I had a favorite that tried to solve an important problem (poverty) by applying better information design.  Unfortunately, they had some snafus with their presentation and demo and I was unable to vote for them as the winner.  We ended up giving the final prize to a sharp group with an incredibly polished presentation and they will be traveling to Poland to represent Colombia.  I wish we could have had the winning team train the other team to be more polished and to finish off their software as I think it would have been an excellent presentation in Poland.  Nevertheless, I’m sure the winners will do a great job!

    No Comments / English, General /
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