NETworking or NOTworking? - and other Silicon Valley Stories

Taken from gapingvoid.com

ALSO TAKEN FROM MY ENTREPRENEURSHIP BLOG

http://entrepreneurial-discovery.blogspot.com/

I want to start this post highlighting this amazing quote I found recently on gapingvoid.com: "BLOGS AREN´T DEAD, PEOPLE ARE". It´s amazingly simple and logic, but at the same time it was amazingly harsh for me to read it ... "Man it means I´m dead ... my creativity is dead, my capacity to share experiences is dead since I do not blog since a good couple of weeks"

Anyways, after couple of minutes I recivered from my paranoia and well, FYI, I´m not dead!

I was busy doing NETworking, ehemmm, and NOTworking as well!

I was for a week abroad, half of it on a very short vacation and half of it participating in an amazing Immersion Tour of Endeavor in Silicon Valley (SV).

At Facebook, San Jose (CA)

The experience was just amazing, it felt like being in the "mecca" of entrepreneurship and capitalism, well in some aspects, it still is.

We had the opportunity to witness interesting and content-rich panels with all sorts of Venture Capitalists (VCs) of the Bay area that were willing to tell Entrepreneurs lessons on how the industry works and how to raise money effectively.

Another big block of the tour were of course the company visits ... we visited companies that today are icons for all of us, such as Google, Facebook, eBAY, PayPal and Eletronic Arts. Of course we saw what we all expected to see ... "thousands of crazy, diverse-looking employees living in wide campuses within a very unique, free, wild organizational cultures". However even if that was cool, won´t deny, I must say that was not what amazed me the most. What was unique of the experience was reflecting on how small these organizations started (just as any other entrepreneur) and how someone believed in them, invested in them, how the chose the right people to manage and envision the business and ... eureka! how they turned to be what they are now. It was a powerful lesson on THINKING BIG, on TAKING RISKS. Failure is not one of the options, but if it happens, it´s well embraced and powerful reason to stand up again.

At Electronic Arts

Well, since I´m a quotes person, I leave you with some of the most interesting quotes or expressions or terms I heard in the tour from VCs, Entrepreneurs and employees from some SV-based Companies:

• "In Silicon Valley one new company is born every hour"


• "We work on technology because we want to change the world" - COO Facebook


• "Silicon Valley - Wild West approach to risk"


• "DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION"


• "Queen Isabel of Spain - one of the first Venture Capitalists of history" - Bill Draper making the analogy since as we all know the Queen financed Columbus, one of the greatest Entrepreneurs ever


• "Demographics Vs Psicographics"


• "It´s not the strongest of species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change"


• "You´re the heart of our existence" - Venture Capitalist Bill Draper refering to Entrepreneurs


• "Being a VC is all about making money without working. The job is about identifiying great business ideas and put in the right management"


• "Self-actualization", "Identity refreshment"


• "VCs serve Entrepreneurs, it´s a service"


• "I do not do HR, I advice the leaders of the organization to do HR, I empower the business leaders to do their job" - VP HR PayPal


• "People want to work for winners, people want to for something that is going somewhere" - VP HR PayPal


• "The culture of you organization tomorrow is who you are recruiting today" - VP HR PayPal


• "If you are scared with the crisis right now, maybe you should not be an entrepreneur"


• "There are 3 kinds of people: people that start companies, that grow companies and tha run companies - not all entrepreneurs are ready to make this transition"


• "5 words an Entrepreneurs does not want to hear from an employee: - IT IS NOT MY JOB - be ready to look for people that are willing to go beyong its resumee"


• "You do not need to be in high-tech to make a lot of money"


• "Finding one´s calling by looking at one´s purpose and it´s impact - not at the tasks we do"


• "The ultimate time to differentiate ourselves (as companies) in the the times of recesion/crisis"


• "VC money is not a commodity, it comes with a partner that makes it special"


• "Fun is a very important element when building a culture"


• "Sucess is failing repeatedly with ENTHUSIASM"


• "It´s all about IQ that generates IP" - IQ= Intelligent people who generated Intellectual Property!


• "The (Silicon) Valley isn´t anymore the only thought leader ... we need to re-create the valley in other places"


• "A great business leader deeply understands the motivations of his/her employees, investors and of course, customers"

1492

TAKEN FROM MY ENTREPRENEURSHIP BLOG

http://entrepreneurial-discovery.blogspot.com/

This is supposed to be an old movie; it was released in October 1992 for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. I never heard of it before last weekend though, that I randomly stopped by the video store to ask for any movies related to Columbus, and in general, the preparation of his endeavor to discover “the new world”.

The reason why I was looking for such a movie, is because I kept intrigued by one of the analogies I heard at the Silicon Valley Tour, pointing Queen Isabel of Spain as one of the first Venture Capitalists of the history, when she accepted financing Columbus on his “crazy” project of reaching Asia through a new, never tried before route.

I´m not a movie expert. Also I am aware that movies many times are not as good as books to describe history. Though, I loved the movie … and I think it´s a wonderful piece to use and display, if anyone wants to set up a workshop to explain what entrepreneurship is.

Key moments of the movie to capitalize on:

- The first time, that the project of Columbus was presented to the University of Salamanca, it was harshly rejected. The “experts” did not believe in his not proven, risky proposal, so it did not even reach the stage of being eligible to be presented to the Queen. Even if he had a crisis, he did not stop believing. Lesson: Entrepreneurs never give up. They´ll find many “NO”s on their ways, but that won´t be a reason to quit their dreams.

- He kept fighting, and fighting and despite of the previously described rejection, he reached the Queen. How? Networking … even at that time networking was a key tool for things to happen. A sailorman that knew Columbus and somehow was attracted by his project (and wanted to make part of it), approached him and introduced him to a banker, which had “contacts” with the Queen and was willing to enable a direct meeting with Columbus. Basically, the Queen owed this banker money, so she could not refuse the favor of meeting Columbus. Lesson: Networking matters.

- Columbus was a genuine seller. The movie showed a great first conversation between Columbus and the queen, where you could really see how good he could sell what he wanted to do and how Spain could benefit from that. Beyond that, he was charming enough to make the Queen feel comfortable in his presence, and well, in general, make her just love him. At the end of the day it was clear that the Queen did not necessarily believe in the project, but she believed in him. As a today´s Venture Capitalist would do, Queen Isabel bet on Columbus, she took the risk. Lesson: The entrepreneurs as individuals, their charisma, and their ability to inspire others, is the engine of the entrepreneurial activity. The business is just the platform for the entrepreneur to show its geniality.


- Columbus was a starter. He was maybe the only man of that time that could dare to find the Indies the way he did. But once the “new world” started to be conquered, he showed not to be the best man to rule this new land. The movie shows all kind of crisis he confronted managing the first colonies, even if the Queen upgraded him to Vice-king. I would even say he did not even enjoy running these islands (Columbus discovered first some islands, not the continent), he looked miserable, his heart and mind were focused on moving on, sailing further until he could reach the continent. But he couldn´t, cause the “logic” said that since he was the leader of this new world discovery, so nobody else could be the governor of this new land. Lesson: "There are 3 kinds of people: people that start companies, that grow companies and that run companies - not all entrepreneurs are ready to make this transition".

- At some point of history, nobody recognized and valued Columbus work. The movie shows an amazing scene about this. After the new colonies were “a mess”, under Columbus administration, the high administration of the Kingdom of Spain just decided to send a replacement for him, someone that really had the profile to run the colonies. They did not only decide this without even consulting or announcing Columbus, but parallel to the arrival of the new governor, they arrested Columbus, blaming him for incompetency. The bad news for Columbus were not leaving his position as governor, he textually said “it was a relief for him, because now he was free to sail away and reach the continent”. What broke his heart was hearing that while he was so busy ruling the colonies, the explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian, was the first person to reach the continent. When he came back to Spain, all the “flowers” of the new discovery, were given to Amerigo. Colombus was a random person, “the guy that could not rule the new world”, but nobody acknowledged that because of him, this entire discovery started. The movie showed though, that Columbus gained his position back in the history, thanks to his son Fernando, who years after and before his father died, started to write his biography. Lesson: "Humanity/society isn´t many times ready to recognize real entrepreneurship”

Well, Amerigo Vespucci did an amazing thing actually – he demonstrated that the New World discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 was not the eastern appendage of Asia, but rather a previously-unknown "fourth" continent - and that was huge. With all the right this new world was called AMERICA. Still while watching the movie, one has the feeling that Columbus should have been the one responsible for doing that … he deserved it.

The thing that makes me happy is that at least my country is called COLOMBIA, in honor to Columbus (in Spanish “Colón”).

Feel free to see the movie review of 1492 at IMD: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103594/

Endeavor profiled in The Economist

You can red more on my Entrepreneurship Blog.

Back to study!

In two days "school" will start again for me! I was selected by the Alianza Social Uniandina to participate in a 17 session program on "Institutional Strengthening" (hope the translation makes sense!). They funded this year in total 8 students like me to get trainning on how to make organizations, specially those in the social sector, stronger through consulting. After the program ends, we shall still provide consultancy to some organizations they will assigned to us on a volunteer basis.

Looking forward!

My new entrepreneurship blog

http://entrepreneurial-discovery.blogspot.com/

I just thought of leaving my personal blog just for personal sharing and open a new, bit more structured on to talk about entrepreneurship. See you there!

15 coolest things of the world ...

The research agency SIGNS OF THE TIME (www.signsofthetime.nl) came out with this list, which is suposed to be updated regularly with the support of global experts. "Some have worldwide fame, others are simply the most interesting “young dogs”/”penetrative minds” we know" - quotes Signs of The Time.


01 Light Bulb
02 Cheonggyecheon River
03 ING-cafe's
04 Wildlife
05 A Better World
06 Rugby in Paris
07 The Nano Projector
08 Going Local
09 This is Eddy
10 Meetro
11 The Underground Feels Better
12 Luxury on the Move
13 Space Disco
14 Odo7
15 Momento Mori

Under each "cool thing" you find the what, why, Signs of the time’s Interpretation and CV/Bio of the individual behind it. I think it´s a really nice way to project the meaning and background of the different things.

Leading overall themes in this first Top 15 Coolest Worldwide:

1. The rise of Sustainability and Social Responsibility version 2.0.
2. The growing intrigue by how the real world and the virtual one connect and interact.
3. Give us designs – virtual and real – that really add to our lives quality.
4. The continuous rise and new manifestations of Experience Economy.
And 5: Yes, we are going global, therefore we love the regional, the intimately close by even more than before.

Worth tracking once in a while.

A stimulating visit!

Recently I had the super experience of visiting and doing a detailed tour to one of the leading bio-tech companies in Colombia (yes, in Colombia!). It moved so many nice feelings in me ...

Bit of nostalgy - it was like coming back to my school years where I dreamed with studying genetic engineering and change the world (well, I´m already changing, but in a different way) and was surrounded by lots of german literature about the topic (remember I graduated from a german school!), nice wide school laboratories, sigh … quite stimulating environment!

Lots of proud – of seeing that such impressive developments in the bio-tech field are done in Colombia and with Colombian talent!

Meeting entrepreneurs is always an amazing experience, but interacting in such a close way with real Scientifics, and breathing such an environment full of positive energy and futurism, is almost like a therapy that each of us should have once in a while! Wondering what it would feel like working (in the management) of a bio-tech company!

Marketing Apple - by Steve Chazin

Steve Chazin (not Jobs!) worked with Steve Jobs to rebuild Apple’s marketing efforts which helped return the company to profitability in the late 90’s. In total he worked around 10 years at Apple.

Recently I discovered a blog he has: http://www.marketingapple.com/,

where you can not only download one of his ebooks (also called MARKETING APPLE) from, but also find lots of posts and references related to the Apple world. Questions as What market is Apple in?, A great time to be a Mac user, Where did the iPod and iTunes come from?, Does market share matter to Apple? are answered in an simple and anecdotic style.

Well, of course the blog has some dose of Apple (self)promotion, but who cares? - still nice to read at times.

Fashion out of plastic bags

"Golaces"

This guy, called Brian Witlin (a Stanford Graduate), is creating out of plastic bags very good looking accessories. Basically, by heating polyethylene bags (the one we get at any supermarket) just enough to fuse them together, he creates a tough, flexible material that so far has two amazing uses:

1. Bags: He´s been partnering with TIMBUK2 to create this very fashionable recycled bags. Don´t they look awesome?

2. “Golaces”: Golaces are these stretchy rubber sort of things that you use on our sneakers instead of laces -- which look cool and turn your sneakers into slippers (which also allow you to get your shoes on and off fast -- very hand for airport security screening lines -- and help kids who want tie shoes now but, well, aren't quite ready for them yet). The page is really worth seing: http://www.golaces.com/

The company as such is called RootPhi (http://www.rootphi.net/) which is running much more stuff than the ones profiled above.

Brian also created in the past his wildly successful firefoxies.com, a viral affinity site dedicated to spreading the Firefox web browser.

No doubt, a real entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur’s Credo

Excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine

I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon …
if I can,I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
Humbled and dulled by having theState look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.

Palabras del presidente Uribe en lanzamiento de la Fundación Endeavor Colombia

The following is the speech (in spanish) of the President of Colombia, Alvaro uribe, in the offcial launch of Endeavor Colombia - the place where I work.

Bogotá, 14 ago (SNE). “Mil gracias a Endeavor. Esta incursión en Colombia nos ayuda en el propósito de este país de no crear empleos deprimidos sino crear empleos de alta calidad con afiliación a la seguridad social, y fundamentalmente de promover emprendimiento. Nosotros queremos una sociedad más de emprendimiento que de relación laboral tradicional.

Voy a contarles dos o tres cositas en seis minutos y a responder algunas preguntas que, aprovechando que están algunos de mis compañeros de Gobierno, quieran


formularme sobre preocupaciones de ustedes concernientes a obstáculos para la productividad y la competitividad del país.

Vamos a ver en estos seis minutos cómo les hago este resumen, diciéndoles que no podemos ignorar el tema político en la región. Así como América Latina estuvo en unas décadas desmantelando el Estado, ahora avanza bastante en la idea del estatismo, que este año puede cobrar mucha fuerza en las elecciones del Paraguay.

Es muy importante mirar en qué está Colombia. Colombia ha estado en la tarea de construir un Estado eficiente, no de desmantelarlo. Que no sea un Estado obstáculo, que sea un Estado garante de la responsabilidad social.

En esta administración se han reformado 400 entidades del Estado. Esta noche el Ministro de Minas anuncia todos los detalles del proceso de capitalización de Ecopetrol, en el cual tenemos todo el entusiasmo. Y aspiramos que el gran legado fiscal de esta administración sea la reforma del Estado. En los tres años que nos quedan vamos a procurar reformar todas las entidades no reformadas.

Colombia, en esta redefinición política de América Latina, no está en el estatismo. Colombia ofrece todas las oportunidades al sector privado con responsabilidad social. Responsabilidad social traducida en transparencia en las relaciones entre los inversionistas y el Estado, en responsabilidad solidaria de los inversionistas con las comunidades y en unas relaciones laborales no de odio de clases, no de capitalismo salvaje, sino de fraternidad cristiana.

Estamos trabajando cinco elementos: seguridad, libertades, cohesión social, respeto a un Estado conformado con instituciones de relativa independencia, pero que al mismo tiempo tienen que contribuir todos a la marcha armónica en busca de los objetivos superiores de la comunidad. Y lucha por la transparencia como factor de construcción de confianza.

Tres son los objetivos fundamentales de este Gobierno: consolidar la seguridad democrática, consolidar la confianza inversionista. Venimos de tasas de inversión del 12 por ciento y hoy están oscilando entre el 25 y el 27. Objetivo: consolidarlas. El sector privado ha pasado del 6,5 – 7,5 al 19. Esperamos que rápidamente se sitúe por encima del 21. Y el tercer objetivo: cumplir las metas sociales del Milenio antes del tiempo previsto por Naciones Unidas.

Los tres objetivos van de la mano. Creo que nosotros hemos empezado a construir un gran intangible en Colombia: el reconocimiento de que la política social y la política de seguridad no son excluyentes sino que van de la mano. Tuvimos que enfrentar allí un radicalismo ideológico, acendrado en el país durante muchos años.

A la política de fomento de la confianza inversionista le contribuimos con los siguientes elementos: el modelo de Estado, la lucha por la seguridad, buscar la salud fiscal de la Nación, orientar la tributación a promover la inversión. De hecho las reformas tributarias adoptadas en este Gobierno, que esperamos que sean estables, ayudan muchísimo.

Además el concepto de las nuevas zonas especiales económicas, la posibilidad (ya autorizada en la ley) de los pactos de estabilidad y la búsqueda de mercados para la producción colombiana a través de una estrategia muy ofensiva de negociar tratados de comercio y de negociar tratados de protección recíproca de inversión. La semana pasada firmamos el tratado con tres países centroamericanos.

Y el país ofrece –y agrego esto, que no lo tenía en el preámbulo–, una legislación laboral bastante equilibrada: Colombia en medio de muchas dificultades ideológicas que eran obstáculo, logró dos reformas laborales: una en el año y otra en el año 2002.

Esas reformas laborales creo que han creado un gran equilibrio entre la estabilidad y la flexibilidad, que tanta controversia han generado en América Latina.

Quisiera recoger algunas preguntas de ustedes sobre sus preocupaciones, lo que vean como obstáculo para el emprendimiento, obstáculos para la productividad, obstáculos para la competitividad".

Tom Friedman calls Endeavor's model “the best anti-poverty program of all”

Tuesday, 24 July 2007 -

In an updated and expanded paperback edition of The World Is Flat, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman calls Endeavor's model for high-impact entrepreneurship “the best anti-poverty program of all.”

“Endeavor (http://www.endeavor.org/) was formed for the purpose of promoting entrepreneurship in emerging markets,” Friedman writes in the chapter entitled “If It's Not Happening, It's Because You're Not Doing It.” “Its basic model is to link up small and midsize businesses with seasoned entrepreneurs so that the little guys and gals can get the advice and contacts they need to grow their companies into bigger businesses that can employ more people.”

Friedman's praises Endeavor's “mentor capitalist” model for helping midsize entrepreneurs to expand and create jobs and innovation in developing countries worldwide. “As important as it is to help make poor people into small business people,” Friedman says, “it is just as important to make small business people in a developing country into big business people who can employ lots of their neighbors.” “(I)t is precisely these sorts of middle-class start-ups and small businesses that create the most jobs and the greatest innovation in a society.”This is the “pro-entrepreneurship” example that Friedman says has the “inspirational power” to encourage individuals in the developing world, where role models are scarce, to think big. “There is no greater motivator for the poor than looking at one of their own who makes it big and saying: 'If she can do it, I can do it.'”

FACT: Endeavor's "mentor capitalist" model breaks down economic and cultural barriers through rigorous screening and strategic advising from our network of world-class business leaders. With their guidance, our 266 Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created 79,000 jobs and generated $1.9 billion in revenues.

Join us at the 2007 Endeavor Gala on November 8th as we celebrate 10 years of supporting high-impact entrepreneurship and launching this “mentor capitalist” model further. For more information on the Gala, contact rebecca.plofker@endeavor.org.

U.S. Commerce Secretary hails Endeavor for "creating opportunity" in Latin America.

President and Mrs. Bush hosted the White House Conference of the Americas last week, where U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez hailed Endeavor for "creating opportunity" in Latin America by supporting innovative and visionary high-impact entrepreneurs.

The Secretary spoke to a gathering of over 250 non-governmental organizations, the private sector and volunteer groups focused on the southern hemisphere, where expanding economic opportunity was a key topic. Endeavor has "hundreds of case studies of successful Latin American pioneers" Secretary Gutierrez said and he pointed to Uruguayan Endeavor Entrepreneur Francisco Gross' company, Seinco, as an example. Helping deliver drinkable water and wastewater management through affordable water treatment devices, Seinco as a "patented product is so affordable and efficient that the company has been hired to consult with companies in China," said the Secretary.

Secretary Gutierrez also highlighted Endeavor Entrepreneur Carlos Marin, whose Mexican-based Alltournative, "is supporting thousands of impoverished Mayan Indians by helping them develop a sustainable tourism infrastructure. So far, over 200,000 tourists have visited the Alltournative-Mayan sites."

For the full text of Secretary Gutierrez's speech, click here

For more information about the White House Conference of the Americas, click here

For more information and updates on Endeavor, please visit: www.endeavor.org

Graduation

Me (hope you can find me!!) and my 5th grade students of the local school of Bogota Eduardo Carrenza, in the graduation after the almost 2 month volunteering cycle teaching entrepreneurship.

Stanford Entrepreneurship Educators Corner

"The Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Educators Corner (http://edcorner.stanford.edu) is a free online archive of entrepreneurship resources for teaching and learning. The mission of the project is to support and encourage faculty around the world who teach entrepreneurship to future scientists and engineers, as well as those in management and other disciplines. The site has been developed by a dynamic team of educators, entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP)"

I personally think that this is an amazing site and all of you who are interested in learning quick, useful and applicable lessons on entrepreneurship shared by real entrepreneurs, business leaders and academics - or even if you are interested in putting together sessions on entrepreneurship - this site is such a great help. I attended a session with Tina Seelig, Executive Director of STVP in April 2007 and you for sure get through her the spirit and vocation for multiplying entrepreneurship values.

Below you can see the recommended videos of the month right from the June Newsletter, just visit the site and register to get delighted: http://edcorner.stanford.edu/newsletter.html?newsletterId=1

Looking for high impact entrepreneurs

ENDEAVOR Colombia search process of high impact entrepreneurs is hot to go.
Read below (just for spanish speakers, sorry!) in brief what we are, what kind of entrepreneurs we are looking for and how to contact us! You can also contact me for reference!

¿Quiénes Somos?

Somos una organización global sin ánimo de lucro, que fomenta el desarrollo económico sostenible y la trasformación de las economías de mercados emergentes, identificando y apoyando a emprendedores de alto impacto.

Endeavor fue fundada en 1997 y hoy tiene operaciones en Chile, Argentina, México, Brasil Uruguay, Sur África, Turquía y, más recientemente, en Colombia. Hoy más de 198 Emprendedores Endeavor de 140 empresas han sido seleccionados a través del riguroso proceso de búsqueda y selección. A través de sus empresas los Emprendedores Endeavor, han creado 38,418 empleos pagando en promedio diez veces más del salario mínimo legal, y en el 2005 generaron US$ 1,375 billones en ganancias.

En los países donde trabaja, Endeavor se ha convertido en la organización sinónimo de emprendimiento; los gobiernos buscan el apoyo de Endeavor para la elaboración de sus políticas de desarrollo empresarial y económico.

¿Qué ofrecemos?
En Endeavor ofrecemos apoyo exclusivo adaptado a las necesidades de los emprendedores y sus empresas. Apoyo que busca minimizar las barreras al crecimiento que encuentran las empresas. Trabajamos a través de una red de profesionales del más alto nivel, encabezada por nuestra Junta Directiva, reconocidos en su medio por su conocimiento y habilidades en los distintos aspectos de negocios. Son personas ejecutivas vinculadas a exitosas empresas y firmas, que donan su tiempo a Endeavor y apoyan a los Emprendedores Endeavor en el desarrollo y crecimiento de sus empresas.

No somos una fuente capital. Sin embargo, los inversionistas confían en el sello Emprendedor Endeavor.

¿Quiénes son los emprendedores de “alto impacto”?

Buscamos y apoyamos a emprendedores de alto impacto, que tengan grandes ideas y los planes más ambiciosos, con el potencial de transformar empresas exitosas que den empleo a cientos o miles de personas y que generen millones en salarios y ganancias. Sobretodo, que tengan la capacidad inspirar a muchos otros a innovar y a tomar riesgos.

Endeavor Colombia busca apoyar emprendedores de alto impacto con empresas que tengan las siguientes características:

1) Iniciativa emprendedora - emprendedor con visión, persistencia, deseo de transformar y crecer su empresa exitosamente
2) Innovación – producto o servicio diferenciador, que tenga el potencial de cambiar e impactar la industria a nivel nacional y/o internacional
3) Valores y Ética - emprendedor integro y transparente
4) Impacto y Tamaño - negocios con potencial de crecimiento significativo, que generen empleo, impacto y bienestar social y/o ambiental. Buscamos empresas con ventas superiores a los $2300 millones pesos/año.

¿Cómo acceder a los servicios de Endeavor?

Endeavor tiene un proceso de búsqueda y selección de emprendedores estructurado. El cual consta de una etapa a nivel Colombia y una última etapa a nivel internacional. Cada seis meses se reúne el Panel Internacional al cual todas las oficinas de los distintos países, llevan sus candidatos. Allí miembros de la red de todos los países conocen a los candidatos y evalúan su potencial como Emprendedores Endeavor. Es el Panel Internacional quien tiene la última palabra sobre quienes son los Emprendedores Endeavor. Para llegar al Panel Internacional es necesario surtir un proceso en nivel Colombia, el cual empieza diligenciando el formulario anexo.

Actualmente Endeavor no cobra por sus servicios de apoyo.

Si considera que Ud como emprendedor y su empresa tienen el perfil y potencial que busca Endeavor, lo invitamos a postularse como candidato.

La convocatoria está abierta hasta el 15 de Julio de 2007

Si requiere información adicional no dude en contactarnos y consultar nuestra página web: www.endeavor.org

Catalina Spinel
emprendedores@endeavor.org.co
Búsqueda & Selección
Endeavor-Colombia
Telefóno: (571) 346 4242
Fax: (571) 346 4243
Bogotá - Colombia

Last class ... assembling pens!

Some of my students "assembling" pens

As told before, I am volunteering as an entrepreneurship teacher here in Colombia each tuesday, teaching 5 grade kids. Today I had one of the coolest classes since I started and it was about the different production types a company can have. So basically what we did is that we started to assemble pens, simulating that the whole class was a pen manufacturing company.

We simulated the three main types of production methods a company can have: unitary production (each pen or group of pens had to be completed by students individually and non stop), mass production (each stage was done by each student who passed the finished part to the next one) and production by batches (pens were donde by parts, but the next group of students could not start assembling until the previous batch was not fully done). It was fun, we measured time and productivity in each method and based on that, we defined pros and cons of each method. Ah! we also had quality controllers, students that at the end of each production tested if all pens looked fine and worked properly.



They look so disciplined right? well, they are not! don't believe all what you see in the pictures, pictures do not capture motion! and those kids particularly for this activity were so hyperactive that ate some moments I wanted to run out of the class-room! More news on my teaching adventures soon ...

JCI and 90 minutes of entrepreneurial reflexion

Some days ago I was invited by a friend to give a trainning on entrepreneurship (how complicated is that, ah?) to a local chapter of JCI (Junio Chamber International) here in Bogota.

I called the thing "90 minutos de reflexion emprendedora", which means 90 minutes of entrepreneurial reflexion - and I put this name, since I am not a guru [yet :-) hehehe] on entrepreneurship, so I rather managed the thing as a reflexion and a workshop for all the people, where I certainly brought up some concepts about entrepreneurship, but also invited people to make up their own opinion about the issue. Accordng to the feedback it was fun and interesting for them, I used videos, songs and of course shared some alternatives on how on a personal level you get through very simple activities and attitudes into the entrepreneurial mood. I must really say that thanks to my life experiences with Endeavor, AIESEC, Ashoka and Colombia Emprendedora, to motivate others about entrepreneurship is something really enjoyable.

By the way this is a picture on how the JCI assembly looked like!



After AIESEC, it was interesting to be back into such an intimate space of an association, where people are and behave as friends ... having a particular culture, a particular language, particular behaviour, particular internal jokes ... The JCI environment was certainly very formal and process-oriented in my opinion and also I had the perception many things that these guys do are also done in AIESEC, specially in your first years ... but I guess , things are not always how they look like (specially when you are an external!) and let's see if there is a wayfor this passionate AIESEC Alumni and Entrepreneurship Freak to work together with them!

Meanhwile, all the best to all JCI guys!

My first teachers' day!

"Thanks to your job as a volunteer we are transforming teh future of the childhood and youth of Colombia"

Since almost 3 weeks I started volunteering as a teacher on entrepreneurship with a foundation called COLOMBIA EMPRENDEDORA (they are the colombian chapter or Junior Achievement International). Junior Achievement uses hands-on experiences to help young people understand the economics of life. In partnership with business and educators, Junior Achievement brings the real world to students, opening their minds to their potential.

It's been a very special experience, I give classes to 10 - 11 year old children (5th grade) on entrepreneurship related topics. The foundation has a very well developed curriculum that is given to all volunteers (a funky bag with workbooks for each student, name tags, pens, and all kind of didactic materials to play games and simulations) and the only thing we need to do is to put our personality into action and run the 1 hour class.

Each module takes aprox. 5 classes and you pick one day a week to go to the school (for 5 weeks.) You can run modules all year long if you want, yo can switch grades and schools. The not that easy part is to wake up early! Yes, since we volunteers normally start working at our offices max. at 9.00 a.m., our classes take place from 6.45 to 7.45/8.00 a.m. , so that we can make it on time to our offices.

Coming back to the title of this post, well ... today is teachers' day in Colombia. At this day normally kids (I also did when I was at school) bring gifts and congratulate our teachers for the amazing profession they picked and the great support they offer to us. While being at the last years of school and the first years of university I used to give also private classes of german, english and in some cases, even general "homework making" support to kids - so I can't deny that being a teacher and a mentor has been sin always enjoyable (and profitable!), no doubt. But today, was the first time that I was in front of a class and kids came to me and hugged me, and kissed me and some of them gave me some candies as a gift. Extremely sweet. It was also complemented by the e-card you can see above I got from Colombia Emprendedora.

I thought for myself at the end of the class - it's wonderful to be a "PROFE" (the word "profe" is the short/kids used version ofthe word "profesora" which means teacher in spanish"), you are not just putting your skills into action, but contributing to an aspect of education that seemed to be completely ignored: entrepreneurship.

I hope to post at some point again more about my volunteer teacher experiences and some fotos of my class.

Who said entrepreneurs do not have a song?

Was in Miami recently at the Endeavor Entrepreneurs Summit and for sure one of the most hilarious speakers we had was Tim Drapper, a venture capitalist that not only funds, but also sings to entrepreneurship.

Go here: http://www.theriskmaster.com/ and download the song ... The title of the song is the Riskmaster and of course, by riskmaster an entrepreneur is meant. The song might sound a bit strange at the beginning, but when you are singing it in a room with more than 70 entrepreneurs that certainly identify themselves with the lyrics, it turns into a real inspirations experience!

Invested all his mattress money
Divorced his Prom Queen hometown honey
Scraping up his alimony
Friends think he’s a little funny

Needs a “world class CEO.”
Just another million or so
Get him to some real cash flow
So tears and sweat can IPO

For 15 years he’s been out gunned
Bankers demanding blood refund
Company’s looking Moribund
Even Draper will not fund!

Chorus:
He is the Riskmaster
Lives fast drives faster
Skates on the edge of disaster
He is the Riskmaster

He’s got a mission
Company vision
An artist’s ambition
Gut intuition
Fearless and free employee
No guarantee for the Corporate escapee

Team fights on against the trend
Had to lay off his best friend
Called a “recession” seems like “depression.”
Chapter seven. Is this the end?

But then a salesman shouts, “We got it!”
The company’s gonna show a profit
To think the papers rang, “quixotic”
The sky has opened astronautic.

Chorus:
He is the Riskmaster
Lives fast drives faster
Skates on the edge of disaster
He is the Riskmaster

He is on top, on top of the world
At last they see it. Vision unfurled!
Cashflow landslide!
Now everybody wants a piece of his hide.
Court wants him tried. Press wants him fried.
Anyone this rich must have lied.

Chorus:
He is the Riskmaster
Lives fast drives faster
Skates on the edge of disaster
He is the Riskmaster

(c) 2003, Tim Draper, All rights reserved.

The best cities to do business in Latin America

For spanish (or portuguese) speakers!

Participate in the survey of America Economía (a business magazine) to portrait the best cities to do business in Latin America. Quite interesting, questions invite to very nice reflexions abt how competitive the city you live in ism and how competitive you perceive other cities in the region.

PARTICIPE Y ELIJA A LAS MEJORES CIUDADES PARA HACER NEGOCIOS EN AMÉRICA LATINA

Lo invitamos a participar de nuestra octava edición del ranking de las mejores ciudades latinoamericanas, compartiendo su opinión a través un cuestionario especialmente diseñado para nuestra comunidad de lectores.

Su opinión será de gran utilidad en el momento de definir cuáles son los mejores centros de negocios de la región, y también nos ayudará a tener una aproximación de las distintas realidades que se viven en las ciudades de América Latina.

Sus respuestas serán agrupadas y analizadas en el especial de Ciudades que circulará próximamente en AméricaEconomía.

Para participar, haga click aquí o ingrese a www.americaeconomia.com/ciudades

Al contestar la encuesta participará del sorteo de 10 suscripciones (o renovación) por un año a la Revista AméricaEconomía.

Atentamente,
Equipo AméricaEconomía

CHANGE.ORG

After many years in the "let´s get together to change the stuff we do not like from the world" mood and certainly enjoying it (specially thanks to AIESEC!), I could not stop finding amazing http://change.org/ - what a name to have a host, ah?

The site is simple to understand and operate.

You sign in, you can post the change you want to see in world and what´s all about and once this happens, more people that identify themselves with that change, just join you ... or join the "change" and from this moment on you start networking about the issue. You can communicate through a blog, upload fotos and videos related to the topic, protrait organizations that work already towards that. You can also sign in as an organization, if you represent one.

Below you can see tha recently popular changes posted, to have an idea ...

Recently Popular Changes

Adopt children with special needs End global poverty Save Net Neutrality End Global Hunger Protect Civil Rights Improve Public Schools Universal Health Care Prevent and Stop Genocide justice Instant Runoff Voting End Coercive Government Reduce Child Obesity Eradicate Polio Everywhere Stop The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children End the war on drugs fairtax End Sexual Violence end illiteracy Food Sovereignty stop killing whales voter verified paper record of vote Research Alternative Energy Stop Child Prostitution Ban Land Mines Advance Gay Rights Increase Funding for Music in Public Schools Create freely licensed educational content Stop Global Warming Limited Government End overfishing Peace in the Middle East Eliminate the Death Penalty Cure Diabetes Separate Church and State Micro Credit for 3rd world entrepreneurs Save the Amazon

AND WELL, I also selected my topic, entrepreneurship "for a change" ... let´s see how the thread moves!

Why Entrepreneurship education ...

• from Oriana Torres
• 21 minutes ago

I was happy to see that someone else already selected entrepreneurship education as a desired change, as I am also happy to start the dicussion.

I truly believe that economies and societies can´t sustain a system anymore where people grow up and get education with the only expectation to join existent organizations. There are tones of wonderful organizations that nowadays are supporting entrepreneurship development at all levels (giving funds, giving non monetary strategic support, awarding and profiling) and I do not deny the impact they are having. But we (organizations, parents, governments) can´t conform ourselves just working with the few % of people that dare to be entrepreneurs and that is why I am convinced that a new a approach is needed, where entrepreneurship becomes a fundamental matter to learn and get inspired about since people are at schools! Why to spend 12 years in school just to learn maths, history, biology and other traditional subjects that are certainly needed but rarely put ourselves in the shoes of the global citizens that we are and encourage us to believe in our own capacities to create ventures (of all kinds) that can create social and financial capital to the world we live in?

I know at many universities around the world entrepreneurship education (and practice) is becoming a trend, but I also believe that has not reached its potential at all and, as I tried to say before, this "education" starts too late, you do not have to join university to start getting educated and inspired about how to become an entrepreneur. There are some societies that are not "entrepreneur-friendly" and where the perception towards entrepreneurship is rather related to be either irresponsible (from the risk taking point of view) or to be a selfish approach towards the owns believes (from the point of view of people that fight to make something happens even if it´s not proven or hard to achieve).It happens. And it´s sad to live ins ocities where such perceptions are in the air, or at least in the mins of some people. How do you foster entrepreneurship at kindergartens? at primary and secondary schools? in your own family?

There is for sure lots to reserach ...

Microcredit, never closer

Worth seing. Have you ever imagined be a central actor in the microcredit dinamics of many cities of the world? Tale a look at: http://www.kiva.org

It´s usual to sponsor social ventures. But what about business entrepreneurship support and connection (not just sponsoring)?

"Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back"