Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 Expo 2008
This is where it all starts for me. After three years running a well established startup in the Real Estate industry in Puerto Rico, innovating with cutting edge local digital services, I head to San Francisco looking for challenges, investors, new horizons and opportunities. It was Web 2.0 expo and the rebound from the .COM crash was in full swing!
This is where I met Dave McClure before he was “Dave McClure”.
This is where I met all 40 – 50 Latin Americans who attended the conference, the first generation to arrive and stake a claim in Silicon Valley and the nascent Web 2.0 world.
There were between 1-3 people from Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Chile had 17! They were part of a Government sponsorship program, sent to Web 2.0 to “find something to bring back”.
I remember leaving Web 2.0 thinking “Chile is going to do something amazing”
One year later, in 2009, Startup Chile was born, leading to a technology & startup boom in Santiago.
In 2010 I was one of five Puerto Ricans at SXSW.
Seven years later, in 2015, Parallel18 was born, hiring members of the Startup Chile team in the process.
In 2016, representing P18 startups from Puerto Rico, one of our own won the top prize at SXSW. This is a BIG DEAL. President Obama was at SXSW the year before recruiting for the US Digital Service.
Needless to say, the impact P18 is having in Puerto Rico is noteworthy.
Deja Vu
Serving as CIO of Puerto Rico I traveled to Code for America Summit in September 2013, when it was just getting off the ground, and payed close attention to the trend in pushing for digital transformation in Governments.
Two years later, in 2015, the trend is now clear. Digital structures in every city, new positions such as Chief Data Officer and Chief Innovation Officers are leading government agency roles. The US Digital Service is established. The UK Digital Service tops the UN survey of e-government trends. I have four friends from Puerto Rico working at US Digital Service helping transform digital services there.
And I am here, in Puerto Rico, trying to see how I can help in establishing a Digital Structure for the Island. The Puerto Rico Innovation Technology Service perhaps? What can we do to get this DONE and to have it follow the best-practices of these other countries?
We waited 7 years to do Parallel18, look at the results.
What the FUCK are we waiting for?
Maybe you just DON’T KNOW what this means – like you didn’t know what the hell startup chile was back in 2008.
You don’t understand technology.
You think it’s safe to hire big names such as McKinsey and pay them millions, that gives you comfort. It did the same to DDEC in paying Boston Consulting 5 million to deliver the “One Stop Shop” research to facilitate business establishment.
I took a team from Code for America and for $180 delivered the “one stop shop” application. The actual, tangible product that citizens could use.
Yes, you could touch it. Citizens could use it and apply to programs.
The 5 million report just picked up dust. As will much of the writing on all the other reports you have.
We need prototypings, agility, iteration and execution. We need to be radicall in how we rethink delivering and building services. The traditional folks are essential, they provide structures that work. But they need to be combined with the hackers, disrupters and big thinkers tha tmake up the ecosystem at places like usds, gds and the like. They are not sitting at mckinsey HQ, nor at the lobbyist office.
Dear Fiscal Board – get moving!
I would reconnect with many from this 2008 group as part of Geeks on a Plane – Latin America in 2012.
I would then join to serve in the Government of Puerto Rico in January 2013 and provide all support possible to establishing a program similar to Startup Chile in Puerto Rico.
Seven years later, PUert
Funny how the story repeats itself.
There was a one hour slot dedicated to the LatAm market.
reconnecting in 2012 as part of Geeks on a Plane – Latin America. This is where I reconnected with so many others…