Geeks on a Plane and StartupBus add Mexico as a port-of-call February 15, 2012 Categories
Geeks on a Plane and StartupBus add Mexico as a port-of-call
February 15, 2012 Categories: Artículos, Blog by Celeste North No comments yet
El artículo de la semana en Opinno:
Networking is key to the creation and growth of any business. As Mexico explodes onto the start-up scene, unique opportunities are making it a pit stop on the road to success.
StartupBus Road Trips to Austin
One of the most interesting ideas around creating start-ups and sharing knowledge about how to validate an idea, gather a team and develop a product is probably StartupBus. StartupBus is, as defined on their site, “an invitation-only community of hackers, hustlers and hipster passionate about start-ups. We are best known for our annual competition where we bring new people into our community, by doing a hackathon on a bus that’s traveling 60 miles an hour towards Austin in time for SxSW.”
This year the buses will depart from 7 different locations: New York, Florida, San Francisco, Ohio, Los Angeles, Louisiana and Mexico City. The fact that Mexico City is the only city outside of the United States is noteworthy.
The reason for this bus to get selected was in part related to the fact that the Mexican community is very outspoken and active online. Before selecting the cities to participate, the organizers of StartupBus made a worldwide invitation for people to nominate their city and make as much online buzz as possible via tweets and Facebook likes. Mexico City was for several weeks the most active city in the participating cities. This blew the organizers away and ended up in Eoin McMilan, Mexico’s bus driver, to end up visiting the country and meeting with entrepreneurs and VCs.
Applications are now open and a small group will be selected to join the bus and develop a product on the move. It will be very interesting to follow the development of this project and the start-ups that come out from such an experience.
Geeks on a Plane Soars to South America
Another event coming to Mexico is Geeks on a Plane, an event organized by 500 Startups with the mission of connecting tech communities all over the world. The tours include start-ups, investors and executives keen to connect with burgeoning technology markets worldwide.
The first tour for 2011 has been announced and will includeMiami, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Applications to join the group departing in Miami or to participate in one of the hosting countries are open.
It’s important to notice this is not the first time Geeks on a Plane is traveling to South America, but it’s the first time Mexico is to be on the tour. This is a good indicator of how over the past years, Mexico has gained relevance in Latin American start-up scene.
With these kinds of projects placing their attention on the region, new business opportunities will certainly arise to benefit all those involved. As Latin America and Mexico in particular face a set of challenges related to their social environment, it will be interesting to see how technology-based companies will arise and change the region.