The weekend of May 16-17 will bring the first Rails Girls event to Santiago, Chile.
RailsGirls is an international series of events, giving women the opportunity to learn to program and build the Internet. Events are being organized in Sydney, Cairo, Warsaw, Tel Aviv — dozens of cities around the globe. RailsGirls is an international movement creating a lasting impact. For the first time ever, we’re brining RailsGirls to Santiago, Chile. Continue reading
Initiative gives support to ICT entrepreneurs to make Chile an innovation hub
SANTIAGO, CHILE – April 2014: Imagine Business Lab, an accelerator for information and communications technology (ICT) businesses, is opening its first application round for projects that contribute to and optimize the industry of ICT.
“We are looking to promote innovative businesses with high-growth potential that can contribute to the ICT industry and the Chilean market,” comments Pablo Traub, CEO of Imagine Business Lab. “We have created the ideal ecosystem to kick-start the enterprises and guide them in this challenge, thanks to the support of mentors, companies, and ICT specialists.”
The selected entrepreneurs will be granted up to $60,000,000 CLP ($100,000 USD), access to a meeting place for them and other entrepreneurs, numerous Microsoft startup support programs such as “BizSpark,” involvement in investment-generating activities, as well as training and capacity-building projects.
A recent article in “The Artery,” an art news channel based out of Boston, is declaring 2014 “The Year the ‘Indie’ Games Died.” According to the article, the mainstream video game industry has leveraged its mass appeal to gobble up gaming profits and leave little space for the artistic license, innovation, and risk-taking that small, indie studios once enjoyed.
The journalist who wrote the article has clearly never met the team at Chile’s Sumersion Studio.
Sumersion is a one-of-a-kind gaming studio that is bucking the mainstream trend. The high-performing team makes games targeted specifically toward the “indie” sector: players that enjoy new and unconventional ideas. While most Latin American videogame development companies target casual mobile device players, Sumersion bets on a riskier platform but with bigger monetary gains: the hardcore PC gamer market. All their development throughout the past three years has gone toward testing: testing the game mechanics, the market, and the mass media. They’re taking all they’ve learned since 2011, and putting it into the game they’re releasing this year (“3 Days of Darkness”), which has the potential to be their greatest success yet.
Carlos Leiva and I love going wherever the startup scene takes us… not only because it’s a great place to meet some inspiring, hard-working entrepreneurs with world-changing ideas, but also because startup events always tend to involve some type of free cerveza on the mesa. Check out the events we dropped in on yesterday – and keep your eyes peeled on AndesBeat for more events like this; they’re sure to arise!:
Editor’s note: This post comes courtesy of Mark Kirkpatrick, a writer and online entrepreneur living in Los Angeles. He often shares his passion for small business through his writing, and he hopes that this infographic offers some great tips for fellow entrepreneurs!
The Latin American market is growing stronger every day, spurred by not only multinational corporations but by the small businesses that crop up weekly and the owners of those businesses. To ensure that the market does actually grow over time and not just recycle new companies over closed ones, small businesses need to know how to scale their growth appropriately.
The following infographic from SmartTollFreeNumber.com will give you some idea of why having both a short-term and a long-term scaling strategy is important for the survival of small business, and will outline some of the benefits that such a plan carries with it.
Editor’s note: The post below is from Brian Flax, a freelance writer based outside of the Washington, D.C., area.
Success doesn’t come without taking risks, whether you’re investing money in the stock market or creating your own startup business venture. It’s important to find a balance between being too cautious with your business decisions and taking too many risks. While it’s good to take risks, putting all your money in one pot could lead to failure, so making carefully calculated business decisions should be your number one priority. If you’re too cautious, your business many never grow to its full potential. Take too many risks, and you could end up closing shop before you’ve even had a chance to start.
Let’s take a look at how to reach a good balance between being too cautious with your startup venture, and taking too many risks.