Rumblings on VC, entrepreneurship and tech stuff in Latam
One thing that strikes me about Latam startup websites is that a lot of them don't have a proper "About us" section. In fact, 90% of them really suck (OK, I just pulled that statistic out of nowhere, but the % is definitely high). Why this is relevant?
Check out this newly-released video from the Foundry Group.
Yes... you read it correctly: "Creates new job opportunities in the US"!!! Am I the only one that sees the irony here?? I grew up in a world where these headlines usually referred to poor, underdeveloped economies, where unemployment was a constant threat for development.
Nowadays, it seems like the relevant issue is creating jobs in the US, Europe, and other economies instead of Latin America (for those who don't know, Globant is an Argentine company that has grown massively in the last few years, from 4 people in 2007 or so to thousands these days). What if this change IS for real?? Can you imagine a world led by emerging economies? Not talking only economically, but socially, politically, culturally. Interesting times...
So... last week, thanks to my affiliation with LAVCA, I was in SF invited to do a workshop on Term Sheets at the 2011 Endeavor Global Summit . The event was really good, and I was quite impressed by the attendee list. They really have some connections, these guys...
I was also quite impressed by the huge amounts of brand new Ipads and Apple stuff (and new tech in general) that were showing up at almost every break room you coud find. Clearly, the Endeavor entrepreneurs are tech savvy (and most of them can already afford carrying a $800 tablet back home!).
I've been telling everyone that wants to listen that I DON'T get Groupon's model (much less any of the other smaller clones that tried to raise money in Latam) for quite a while now. But last week, while at San Francisco, I got comforted by this sign and what it really means...
Cheers!
As a VC, I spend a lot of time (more than I would like, honestly) trying to identify opportunities out of the dozens of emails or direct contacts I get from entrepreneurs. At this stage, a lot has been said about ways to get to the "VC door", and I even have a presentation I gave to high-school students pulling info and ideas from many sources that some may find helpful. Today, I'd like to talk about something that's usually underestimated when approaching an investor or even when preparing the fundraising strategy: signaling.
A few weeks ago, Dave McClure from 500Startups presented at the Geeks on a Plane visit to BA. In his presentation (can't find the link to it but I am sure it's out there), he remarked that one of the things that "turned the VCs on" was to have what a viable solution for what he called a "head on fire" problem, meaning of course that it is much easier to sell a product when it is solving someone's real and rather urgent problem.
However, looking at the latest IPO and so called Bubble craze in the US, I wonder how many of the hot companies are really providing a water bucket to Joe Pesci´s head. If we take Facebook, LInkedIn, Groupon, Twitter, AirBnB and Zinga, which are probably the most hiped companies lately (most of them already IPOd or announced their IPO), I don't really see a common thread of solving a head on fire problem.
