Babelverse Story: Our South American Experience and Start-Up Chile
Very shortly after our experiment for Japan, we got some big news from the opposite side of the globe. We had been selected by Start-Up Chile to be among the first group of participants.
It’s a program created by the Chilean government, to attract early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile, using it as a platform to go global. The goal being to transform the country to be more entrepreneurial and risk-taking and finally become the definitive innovation hub of Latin America. In exchange for our presence there and involvement with local universities, conferences and more, they provided a 1 year visa and relocation help, office space and financial support.
It was a unique opportunity, so early July, we packed what we could in a couple of bags and flew from Athens, Greece to Santiago de Chile!
There’s so much to tell about our awesome time there, that we’ll have to save it for another post. In the meantime, below are a few photos and tweets…
Along the way, we received press coverage and increased our members from all over the continent, for example here on WebPrendedor or here on FayerWayer, and even ended up being named #2 start-up in Latin America in the PulsoStartup ranking!
The awesome offices provided by Start-Up Chile and Movistar/Telefonica
Language barriers are a real issue. Here is a traditional interpretation booth being setup for our talk in a university in Antofagasta, Atacama, Northern Chile.
The beautiful Atacama desert.
Overcoming obstacles, with our fellow entrepreneurs.