At the 10th Founder Showcase on April 24th in San Francisco, we hosted a panel featuring top international technology founders from Asia, South America, and Europe to discuss the issues and trends surrounding global entrepreneurship - including Andy Zain (Founder & CEO of PT Numedia Global, and Leader of the Jakarta Founder Institute), Heiko Rauch (Owner at Globumbus.com, Co-Founder & CEO at Zanox.de), Tim Delhaes (CEO of mon.ki), Camilo Gomez (Co-Founder of SnappyGo), and Tuan Pham (Chairman at the TOPICA Education Group, and Leader of the Vietnam Founder Institute).
Moderated by PandoDaily's Hamish McKenzie, the discussion touched on several salient points, including;
- Why Silicon Valley is still an invaluable place for startups to congregate. In fact, three of the five international panelists either had already moved to Silicon Valley, or were planning to do so shortly. According to Tim Delhaes, who recently located from Chile to the Valley;
- "If you want to run a Formula One race, you need to drive with the best drivers."
- "Entrepreneurship has a very cultural element to it... it's very much like a sport where you need the other people to train with."
- "In six weeks in Silicon Valley I've learned 6 years worth of what I learned elsewhere."
- "The competitive pressure in Silicon Valley is so great that it forces you to iterate quickly."
- The reality that many of today's startups are micronational, with teams scattered across the globe for economical, expertise, and other practical reasons.
- The importance of cultural immersion and understanding when planning your company - for example, the business models that are common in the West are completely impractical in Asia, for both logistical reasons and cultural nuances.
- The opportunity for cloning succesful businesses in emerging markets.
We hope you enjoy the video below.
Applications for the Vietnam, Jakarta, Chile, and Puerto Rico Founder Institutes are due Sunday, May 13th. Click here to apply today.
