Mindchemy - Bend Space

Priceonomics Blog: Why is Science Behind a Paywall?

marcospolanco — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:32:27 -0400

Priceonomics Blog: Why is Science Behind a Paywall?:

Founder Institute mentor Toni Gemayel, demonstrating his prowess!

Scientists’ work follows a consistent pattern. They apply for grants, perform their research, and publish the results in a journal. The process is so routine it almost seems inevitable. But what if it’s not the best way to do science?

Although the act of publishing seems to entail…

Quit your day job and pursue your dreams with the Founder...

marcospolanco — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:34:53 -0400

Quit your day job and pursue your dreams with the Founder Institute. Your startup is in the palm of your hands. Launch with us! Apply for FREE by May 19 and get a full ride scholarship if you are the top applicant!

#WomenTechOver - Females @Founding Startups

marcospolanco — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:25:00 -0400

#WomenTechOver - Females @Founding Startups:

Panelists

Natascha Otero-Santiago Co-Founder, Parranda.org

Nerma Albertorio StartupWeekend Organizer

Maritza Ramirez Co-Founder, Crowdville

The heroes of our age are technology entrepreneurs…Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Where are the women? And where are the latinas? In this panel discussion, we dig into the opportunities for women to pursue technology entrepreneurship, and the necesary tools to move forward.

Startup Founder Panel on Being Entrepreneur

marcospolanco — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:20:56 -0400

Being Entrepreneur youtube.com/watch?v=MbH3At…
— Startups of PR (@startupsofpr) May 7, 2013

Answer for MIT Students: "You'd Have Us"

marcospolanco — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:41:52 -0400

The MIT students above had a single question,

“If I were to return to Puerto Rico to launch a company, what resources would I have?”

With that they invoked a network of Puerto Rico entrepreneurs living both locally and in the diaspora through the well-run MIT Student Conference on Entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. We basically answered that question from the angle of,

“What would I have liked to know about entrepreneurship if I were were a member of the MIT Class of 2013?”

In short, it was relentless barrage of awesome. Gianpaolo Pietri waxed on his reality of waking up wishing the workday never ended given his passion for building Yasta.PR. Jason Borschow spoke about how to leverage whatever endowments you have. I (Marcos Polanco) shared several of the innovations I have worked on in Puerto Rico, including the launching of a startup community in collaboration with Ramphis Castro, also a speaker, and many other talents. Gaby Hernandez of BDO explained the incentives he is using to migrate wealth to the island. Jon Borschow of Foundation for Puerto Rico exhorting Puerto Rico to focus on the export and visitor economies, Francisco Uriarte detailed how to access capital…Manuel Calderon, Jose Cordero, Carlos Cobian (who firestarted the whole conference), Christine Nieves, Deepak Lambda, Eugenio Torres, Fernando Albertorio, Jorge Ferrer, all describing how they started and made it anywhere they live. You can catch videos of the presentations or grab links from the conference Twitter account. Here we are:

Then came the moment when it all crystallized for me…when I tweeted:

. @prsc13, I am totally inspired. #prsc13 #parrandapr

— Marcos Polanco (@MarcosPolanco)

April 27, 2013

In that moment I realized that we were not inviting the Boston students in the audience to come to some island, to some beaches or even to their families. Ultimately, fairly all of us speakers knew each other and collaborated with each other and were all pursuing our passions and profits in global markets…we were inviting those Boston students, from MIT to Harvard to BU, to join us, a network of innovators creating a brand new community based in Puerto Rico which simply did not exist even two years ago. That is an idea worth spreading and news worth writing about. “We help each other.” was not part of the old lexicon, yet it was the implicit message all day long, because we are having fun conquering the world, together.

Puerto Rico is not an island…

…The Network is the Puerto Rico.

Why live anywhere?

marcospolanco — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:53:24 -0500

I just came back from a trip to Los Angeles, my first time there in 23 years, and not only did I enjoy the LA vibe from Rancho Palos Verdes to Venice Beach…I was amazed at the ease with with I traversed it. Let’s not underestimate the power of the times we live in…

…a visit to Kayak to book a flight, then a visit to Airbnb to coordinate my stay. (Hi Neal!) I arrive, and given a notification on Facebook, one of my local friends picks me up at the airport. Thanks!

Whip out my 4G’d iPhone…Kayak again to get a great deal on a rental car, Yelp over to the best chorizo scramble I’ve had in years, navigate Google Maps to the local Planet Fitness (600 locations), and then zip over to Regus Business Lounge (1,200 worldwide) on Sunset Boulevard to crank some work out, iMac Air in tow. Close shop and head over to an LA Founder Institute event (40 cities), where I am instantly networked into the local startup scene.

I spend a couple days at a conference, and they distribute a mobile app with profiles of each attendee, which allows us acclimate to each other and remain connected over social media…

…the point is we are now locals everywhere, so why live anywhere? When mobility meets globality, we can pursue our work without bounds of time & place.

latingenious: Paul Bragiel, partner in white-hot startup...

marcospolanco — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:57:32 -0500

latingenious:

Paul Bragiel, partner in white-hot startup accelerator I/O Ventures, details the major mistakes he sees in technology innovators today at a Startups of Puerto Rico session.

José Padilla: Looking back: 2008-2012

marcospolanco — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:00:51 -0500

José Padilla: Looking back: 2008-2012:

padillaj:

So, the world didn’t end on December 21, 2012 as many believed would happen and the year is quickly coming to a close. This year has been truly and absolutely awesome. For the past couple of years I haven’t really reflected or looked back on things, so today I set out to do exactly that.

Latinos are the fastest growing community in the United States...

marcospolanco — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:05:37 -0400

Latinos are the fastest growing community in the United States yet receives less than 1% of the venture capital. Let’s get the funding latino startups need to create opportunity for everyone!

christine's brain: Getting Plugged Into The Startup World

marcospolanco — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 19:29:20 -0400

christine's brain: Getting Plugged Into The Startup World:

christinetsai:

In the last couple months, I’ve met up with old colleagues who are curious about getting plugged into the startup/investing scene. They’re currently employed by big tech companies and haven’t actively been on the job hunt, but they’re intrigued by startups. Everyone’s motivations vary, but…

When we first pursued launching The Founder Institute, we...

marcospolanco — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:18:30 -0400

When we first pursued launching The Founder Institute, we recognized that it would demolish the barriers for Puerto Rico startups, which in this day and age are the know-how of building startups and the know-who of connecting to capital, customers and fellow creators. For the “know-how”, there are now thousands of blog posts…but for the know-who, twenty-nine mentors & sponsors decided to give of their time & treasure to help nine graduating founders build their dream companies. They bent space, collectively flying over 50,000 miles from Silicon Valley, Denver, Florida, and Washington DC, or drove from Cupey & Santurce, to deliver 200 hours of training and one-on-one office hours to entrepreneurs in a little island in the Caribbean.

Why? Did they have some free time to hang out at the beach? Hardly…these are the most accomplished professionals in the world. They came because they recognized their noble duty to lend a hand to startup founders brave enough to pursue their dreams. They recall their earlier struggles and delight in helping another generation progress that much faster than they could. They demolished barriers by demonstrating above all that far from viewing business as a zero-sum capitalisme sauvage, we can collaborate in community to build value for all.

Mindchemy thanks you.

Here's what San Juan's Startup Coworking Space Will Look Like

marcospolanco — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:17:59 -0400

Like it? It takes a village to raise a coworking space, and Adriana Vega rose to the task of sharing with us a vision of what our space could look like. That was the first floor…here is the second:

…plenty of space for public interaction and a conference room in the back. So wanna join in? Email hello@24veces.com with the information listed here to get in the queue. We are working on the repairs, raising sponsors and the ground rules for our collaboration. Want to help? Tweet the word, and share your thoughts in the comments below.

brycedotvc: via anil

marcospolanco — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:39:26 -0400

brycedotvc:

via anil

#Entrepreneurs do 3 things - a) invent new things b) create net...

marcospolanco — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 23:15:44 -0400

#Entrepreneurs do 3 things - a) invent new things b) create net job growth c) create all new net wealth - shar.es/7DPJt @kauffmanfdn
— J. Ramphis Castro (@jramphis) September 2, 2012

“When do I bring my pickaxe?” With that Giancarlo...

marcospolanco — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:39:50 -0400

“When do I bring my pickaxe?” With that Giancarlo Gonzalez kicked off an impromptu demolition derby to lay the foundation for the Startups of Puerto Rico co-working space.

“Destroy!” With that battle cry, Mindchemy Entrepreneur-in-Residence Justin Wilcox joined in the celebrations, as did Jose Padilla, Axel Rivera, Marcos Polanco, Ariel, and Ramphis Castro. Looking good in building the community lair!

Heartbreaker - Miami's Lean Startup Machine Crushes Dreams

marcospolanco — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:50:00 -0400

Ideas seduce…so luscious, shiny & beautiful! Thinking back to my first startup back in 1995, the idea of a personalizing the web struck me like cupid’s arrow, compelled me to valiantly resign to a paycheck and pursue its siren call..what a great solution! Looking for a problem…without rhyme or reason…for the next three years.

Magic mirror on the wall, Who’s the fairest of them all?

Oh to have had a Validation Board, the tool of the trade in Lean Startup Machine Miami, held last week at The Launchpad and attended by 50 earnest unlearners. Starting Friday at 6:00pm, attendees pitched their ideas and formed into team from 2-5 people each. Then each team documented the customer they were addressing and the problem they were solving for them. I mean, if the customer does not have the problem you purport to solve, why even talk about the solution? With a team of four, we started with the concept of “Total Prime”, a dynamically generated news video channel for technology executives…

Except…

They…

Don’t….

Care…

The Validation Board helped us unpack the logic of our thinking and test our riskiest assumptions through simple experiments. The Board is ruthlessly truthful, dashing our hopes and dreams with the cold steel of real data from actual customers. The idea was…err…not the fairest of them all. So time to pivot into a new problem for a new customer…the data barely confirmed our vision this time, so we could now persevere and keep learning with new field data until the 54 hours were over, and it was time to choose a victor among teams, the one who had learned the most in the course of the event…that honor would go to Shpot…congratulations!

“If your Blank & Ries are still in as-new condition, don’t walk…run to the next Lean Startup Machine.”

Lean Startup Machine brilliantly boils down the practice of lean customer development into a repeatable experimental & experiential process, and yes, you’ll have it in your bones by the end of the weekend. Which reminds me that…

…it was not easy…more than once I wanted to look away from the Board…ignore its dictates. The steady hand of mentors @pv, @ivanrapinsmith, ”Timeless” @earth2travis, @andrej_k, @mattwensing, David Hinds, @brianbreslin, @petermartinez and @jefreybulla was instrumental in keeping us focused on getting out of the building, rigorously collecting data and applying its conclusions. Thanks guys! We won’t get fooled again.

Thanks as well to @ManuelRdgz (left) who compelled me (right) to pursue the idea. By the end, we were the only ones left standing in the team. I could not have asked for better company all weekend long.

Postscript

So, what happened to that first startup? We finally identified an earlyvangelist customer, but one that would soon go bankrupt as the internet bubble burst, leaving our team scattered to the four winds. Perhaps we were doomed from the start, but no more dreamy fantasy startups for me.

@michaelrwolfe nailed it when answering, “What are some...

marcospolanco — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:53:11 -0400

@michaelrwolfe nailed it when answering, “What are some cultural faux pas when working at a tech startup?” on Quora. We at the Founder Institute just covered “Cofounders, Hiring & Firing” and Michael precisely answers what a “bozo”, that creature that Steve Jobs so thoroughly disdains. Yes, startups, you need a No Bozo Policy.

Three, Two, One…Startup!

marcospolanco — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:41:04 -0400

Three, Two, One…Startup!

Love what you’re doing and don’t procrastinate. -...

marcospolanco — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:57:05 -0400

Love what you’re doing and don’t procrastinate. - @adeoressi

They don't pay you for what you know (Book Review)

marcospolanco — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:21:00 -0400

As I enter my third decade in the talent force, it becomes more obvious than ever that winning is about excellent everyday execution on the fundamentals. Writing software? It’s about each line of code. Counting beans? It’s about accounting for each entry. Hustling sales? It’s about systematic followup. So what are the fundamentals of generating the future, the profession of entrepreneurs? The act of reinventing reality is to step into the vision within and manifesting it through word and action. Yet how does that translate into the day-to-day of business?

Just as Toy Story must work for both adults and children, Joaquín Rodriguez Kierce’s “No te pagan por lo que sabes” (They don’t pay you for what you know) (Spanish Edition) covers the fundamentals of generating the future for new entrants into the talent force…yet you adult professionals would do well to brush up with this quick read, because there’s a lot of sloppy execution out there, including by yours truly.

The book is a reminder that the point of showing up to work is to make valuable things happen. To bring ideas to life. To ship! And that attitude of execution is reflected in the way you run meetings, in the way you write emails, in the way you present, in the way you make promises, and in how you embrace deadlines…day in and day out. These routine events are how you keep an organization inescapably awakened to its purpose for being. Each of these present an opportunity to move the ball forward, or not. Ballers move the ball forward, and Rodriguez Kierce has written a manual for ballers in control of their professional careers.

It is not possible to practice this book’s suggestions without being noticed…there is very little competition for professionals that invite responsibility and are intolerant of indecision: people know when they are coasting, and respect even a 22-year old who embodies excellence. Because this attitude reflects the values of owners, it is a rocket fuel for career advancement.

Looking back at the past two decades, I realize that all I ever wanted was the opportunity to work, to demonstrate what I could accomplish. Practitioners of Rodriguez Kierce’s advice will have no shortage of this opportunity.