{"id":1182,"date":"2014-10-19T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T02:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.innovationiseverywhere.com\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2014-10-19T10:00:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T02:00:17","slug":"start-up-chile-effective-support-entrepreneur-actual-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/start-up-chile-effective-support-entrepreneur-actual-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"Start-Up Chile: effective support to the entrepreneur or actual struggle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Start-Up Chile<\/a> is a well-known program of the Chilean government to attract early entrepreneurs and support start-up creation in the country, consisting of a USD 40K grant, a visa to work in Chile<\/a>, plus some extra practical help like mentoring, networking and free access to a coworking space.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the money+visa hook, how does an entrepreneur feel about going through the program?<\/b> Does it actually help start-ups to reach their first sales and find their first investors?<\/p>\n

There has been many articles on Start-Up Chile as a public policy<\/a>, but only a few testimonies on the experience itself. We\u2019ve met two Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs to know more about the inner experience of Start-Up Chile.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Start-Up Chile as an\u00a0international community of start-upers<\/h2>\n

Both Alex and Elliott confirm that even though they applied for the money, the community has proven to be the most helpful part<\/b><\/p>\n

Beneficiaries of the program are all on the same level: from mere bootstrapping to early sales<\/b>, in an emerging country. And a new country for most of them, as there\u2019s about 80% of foreign projects<\/b>. They are physically working at the same place, go to the same conferences, hang out together. They basically cope with the same issues, go through the same struggles, ask for help, find solutions and learn, all together.<\/p>\n

Start-Up Chile took an extra care to maintain a network that connects current entrepreneurs and former alumnis<\/b>. Such basic things as a dashboard and a Facebook group allow newbies to ask experienced veterans how they managed such or such issue. Both helpful and reassuring.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/p>\n

Actually, Start-Up Chile doesn\u2019t even introduce itself as an incubator, but as \u201c<\/b>the biggest start-up community in the world<\/i><\/b>\u201d.<\/b> When asked about why the entrepreneurs didn\u2019t have an obligation to stay in Chile after completing the six months program, former president Sebastian Pi\u00f1era would answer that having all these entrepreneurs at the same place at the same time creates connections that will eventually prove much more valuable than any direct foreign investment. Economic externality<\/strong> you said?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Open bootstrapping<\/h2>\n
\"startup<\/a>

Elliot Verreault, founder of Primelist<\/p><\/div>\n

Elliott Verreault<\/a> is a good example of how international Start-Up Chile can be: he\u2019s Canadian<\/strong> born, graduated from Cambridge<\/strong> in the UK, speaks about 4 or 5 languages<\/strong> fluently and now lives in Chile<\/strong>. He\u2019s the cofounder of PrimeList<\/a>, a freelance index that just ranked second best start-up<\/a> of its generation according a jury Paul Ahlstrom and C\u00e9sar Salazar, two well known investors in Latin America.<\/p>\n

The history of PrimeList is quite interesting as it shows that Start-Up Chile\u2019s jury can be really flexible and open-minded<\/b>. Its objective is clearly to chose the projects that are the most likely to go to market, even if it means changing it at midterm and starting it all over again, from scratch.<\/p>\n

Elliott and his partner first applied to Start-Up Chile with a project called SmartGov<\/a> (a platform compiling government data on different layouts). Their initial plan was to use Start-Up Chile funds to launch a scalable product from Chile before going international.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/a><\/p>\n

SmartGov compile public data to produce insights through different layouts<\/i><\/p>\n

They realized there was another opportunity <\/b>while looking for a programer skilled in Machine Learning: creating a place where freelancers and companies looking for skilled workers can find each other.<\/p>\n

They gave Start-Up Chile\u2019s jury a new pitch and convinced them<\/b> that Chile needed a platform where the demand and the offer of independent workers could meet. On the one hand, there are a lot of early-stage companies with a constantly evolving model, looking for freelancers to answer casual needs. On the other hand, many professional are independent and can dedicate their time to various projects.<\/p>\n

Start-Up Chile selection criterias are 50% based on the project itself, and 50% on the team<\/b>. In the case of SmartGovPrimeList, the team remained the same, which is probably why Start-Up Chile accepted the new deal. The SmartGov project is still on going, and doing well (they\u2019ve just signed a big contract with a government consortium), but PrimeList is the only project currently supported by Start-Up Chile.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Start-ups are international companies too<\/h2>\n
\"startup<\/a>

Alex Shoer, founder of Seeder<\/p><\/div>\n

Seeder<\/a> is a very interesting case as part of Start-Up Chile as it shows that early stage start-ups can be international companies too<\/b>: although Seeder employs less than 10 people, it has activities in Chile and China<\/b>, and is looking at the american market!<\/p>\n

\u201cChile, much like China, is a place where everything and anything can happen.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeder allows real estate decision makers to submit their project\u200b needs and information, and collects quotes from\u200b the appropriate \u200bproviders and suppliers for their building or space<\/i>\u201d. Their goal is to change the perception that green buildings are expensive<\/b>. Within five years, they expect to be matching\u200b thousands of projects annually and improving the quality of life of millions of people\u200b by being a part of the solution to cleaner air\u200b.<\/p>\n

Alex was already involved in a green technology start-up in China<\/b> before starting Seeder, and after a while he identified another opportunity when he got aware \u200bthat \u200breal estate developers \u200bdidn\u2019t have access to the services or technologies required to build better quality and more efficient buildings.<\/p>\n

When asked \u201cWhy Chile?\u201d, Alex says that \u201cin some ways, the Chilean and Chinese markets are quite similar. We\u2019re looking at <\/i>countries that are developing fast but are still closed off to \u200bcutting edge construction solutions<\/i><\/b>. While this is changing, <\/i>they are difficult countries to penetrate for \u200bnew entrants to the market and this part of our value proposition<\/i><\/b>. Fortunately, both\u200b of\u200b these markets are opening up and the opportunities are growing. Santiago and Shanghai are some of the most polluted cities in the world and we are observing increased efforts to deal with this problem\u200b both from the bottom up and top down\u200b.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Start-Up Chile Money used to contract a team, buy a website and pay the rent<\/h2>\n

On the money side, the grant is delivered through two transfers of $10.000.000 chilean pesos each (about USD $20.000). It cannot represent more than 90% of the fundings<\/b>, so founders must bring 10% of personal funds to the project, on a 6 months period. In financial meetings with Start-Up Chile\u2019s staff, entrepreneurs will show a $111.111.111 CLP bill, but only 10.000.000 will be given back.<\/p>\n

The bill can include operational expenses,<\/b> internships, prospection trips and the ticket to come to Chile. When asked how they used the money, both Alex and Elliott confirmed it allowed them to contract a team and build a fancy website<\/p>\n

Some personal expenses can also be taken into account<\/b> in that bill, such as the entrepreneurs\u2019 wage (to a limit of $450.000 pesos a month, about USD $900), and the rent (a predefined quota is taken into account separately).<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough to live decently in Santiago. It\u2019s even a lot compared to pure bootstrapping. Nobody is starving, and entrepreneurs can even live in cool districts near Telef\u00f3nica Open Future, the Start-Up Chile workspace.<\/p>\n

A good start for any early stage start-ups<\/h2>\n

Everything is done to make the entrepreneurs comfortable<\/b> so that they can be fully dedicated to their project. They will not worry about personal inconveniences while they are in Chile, and they can make the best out of the money they\u2019ve been granted, the network of previous and current entrepreneurs, as well as Start-Up Chile\u2019s staff connections within Santiago\u2019s innovation ecosystem.<\/p>\n

If this doesn\u2019t guarantee first sales or investment (that would be way too easy), it helps. Seeder managed to in the early revenue stage, and has<\/b> raised money from\u00a0S.O.S Ventures<\/a> and the Fledge.co accelerator which they are currently going through in Seattle, hoping to break into the US market. Good luck to them!<\/p>\n

For another view on Chile public policy on innovation, read our post on how INRIA, a top French computer science research center, opened a lab in Santiago<\/a> to work on Big Data.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Louis Leclerc<\/a>, Fixer for Innovation is Everywhere in Latin America<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Start-Up Chile is a well-known program of the Chilean government to attract early entrepreneurs and support start-up creation in the country, consisting of a USD 40K grant, a visa to work in Chile, plus some extra practical help like mentoring, networking and free access to a coworking space. Beyond the money+visa hook, how does an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[98,47,48,49,51,87],"tags":[267,100,105,227,296,297],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accelerators-incubators","category-countries","category-government-innovators","category-innovators-category","category-markets-category","category-startups-innovators","tag-chile","tag-government","tag-immigration","tag-latin-america","tag-public-policy","tag-visa-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}