Start-Up Chile has officially ended for me and while there have seen some different perspective floating out there on the interweb, I can say personally it has been a positive experience.
Entrepreneurship is a hard road and this is definitely more true in my efforts in moving to South America. My business partner and I were rolling on some positive news about a potential partnership. We recently learned of staff changes at our potential partner’s offices, making the deal potentially dead. Nothing we could have anticipated and as a starter-upper, just something you have to deal with.
What is surprising for me is that I learned of the news fairly late, a point-of-issue for a former New York City professional and a starter-upper. This leads to the topic of this post: that in Latin America things moves slower.
During Start-Up Chile, we had a few teams move back to the US for different reasons. A few moved back because they were not happy with the way Latin Americans “worked”. Even many of my Latin American colleagues stated the same point about their country’s workforce, giving me warnings about their cultural pacing and planning (which the optimist that I am, see as a market advantage for an entrepreneur).
In the one week I have been here in Brasil, and in the weeks prior, I have been steadily and quickly building networks. Connecting to as many people as I can that are willing to talk to me, reading as much as I can about the market, and learning as quickly as I can. Many have been surprised by this pace of networking, but as the founder and CEO, isn’t this my duty? (It’s also important to note that I have a great group of friends who helped me connect as well, so they earn a great deal of gratitude from me). As the CEO, it is your job to learn as fast possible, to improve your business, and get your business to revenue as quickly as possible. (side note: Maybe I’m a business traditionalist, but somehow I see getting revenue even if it’s a few customers might get you to the funding. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t always be raising.)
I say as fast as possible because with the perception of Latin America moving slowly, the entrepreneurs that I have met here don’t seem to be the snails that my former NYC colleagues like to perceive. What many outsiders should realize is that passionate entrepreneurs are just like any other passionate entrepreneurs, regardless of location. When they are fired up, they compete just as well globally. There may not be as many in number in Latin America, but the few that there are have definitely earned my respect and should have yours as well.
What others mistake as slow, I see as healthy. Latin American entrepreneurs seem to be better at remembering to balance their life away from the computer screen. They value relationships, personal well-being, health and family in a way that seems to create a positive mental state. In my opinion, this should be a factor in judging an entrepreneur.
Wouldn’t someone who has his/her life in balance be a better investment? In my mind, a person that takes priority in also knowing life outside the office would seem to be a better entrepreneur, better CEO, better co-worker, and better partner. As this HBR article states, “positive emotions and thoughts … improve the brain’s executive function, and so help open the door to creative and strategic thinking.”
So before jumping on the bias that every entrepreneur from Latin America is slow, maybe consider the other elements of entrepreneurship and remember that taking time for other priorities in life might make you a better entrepreneur.
