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Start-Up Chile
- deltapoint 16y agoThis seems like a really cool opportunity for an entrepreneur who is looking to be immersed in another culture. Any HN readers thinking of applying?
- noodle 16y agoIf I had a good idea, i would probably consider applying, at least
- rdl 16y agoI'd be interested in working from somewhere interesting (Germany, Chile, New Zealand, etc.) for 6 months, but I'm not really that interested in being a beta tester for a new government program. I also don't speak any Spanish.
- MSWizard 16y agoMore interesting information about Chile: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1565375 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1565375 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1570167 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1570167 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1604896 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1604896
- mhp 16y agoWeird... and here I thought Start-Up Chile was what Paul served at the Ycombinator get togethers...
- nickpinkston 16y agoI studied in Chile, and it's a great country. The climate is similar to California, the people are great and the cost of living is pretty low. You'll need to know some Spanish to really get the most out of it, but most of the wealthy speak okay English. On the business side, if you look at Chile's consumer websites (used cars, apartments, etc.) they're all pretty old-school 90's looking. There's definitely room for local and South American innovation. Likewise, local software education is a little old school overall. This means that they need progressive devs and progressive devs can really benefit there. I see this program as trying to use this synergy.
- Sukotto 16y agoHans Rosling says in "1957 the United States had the same economy as Chile has today ... [in] 2002 the United States has the same health than Chile. Chile's catching up! Within some years Chile may have better child survival than the United States." http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_o... So it looks like it might be a good place to live and start a business. Lots of opportunity and good healthcare.
- dimatura 16y agoWhat do you mean by old school?
- igorgue 16y agohttp://www.contactchile.cl/en/news-chile.php http://www.contactchile.cl/en/news-chile.php :-)
- dimatura 16y agoAs in, the look and feel of the page isn't very Web 2.0? I agree, but I don't think it has that much to do with the education itself, at least not the programmer's education. I was thinking something related to the fact that the best universities in Chile don't have CS as a major - the most similar option is studying engineering with a mention in informatics. And though there have been efforts to shorten them, these majors are pretty long for American standards - at my university engineering has been shortened from six years to five.
- gubatron 16y agoanybody knows if they have property taxes down there?
- ataggart 16y agoAre HN entrepreneurs really so willing to mooch off of the unwilling capital of the Chilean taxpayers?
- daleharvey 16y agoin exactly the same way yc companies "mooch off" ycombinator, of course they are. what is the basis of the "unwilling", has there been a backlash to this program?
- flatline 16y agoThe original comment was snarky but it does raise a point. It sounds like they're specifically targeting foreigners (English language, don't have to be a Chilean native), so they must be betting that the increased exposure and business opportunities from this will offset the potential for money to flow out of country. Unfortunately, South American history favors outflow more than increased opportunity. Then again, the startup world will undoubtedly be better for this sort of thing than investment by large multinationals and political cronies.
- ataggart 16y agoIt was not my intention to be snarky. I was genuinely surprised at the placid response. My sense has been that entrepreneurs take pride in creating something of value, finding others that are willing to invest their own capital to bring the idea to full fruition. That notion seemed at odds with the sort of unalloyed rent seeking described on the linked site.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- leag 16y agoas a chilean I don't like very much the idea, here we have to figth the banks for funding, and the state gives away tax money
- bugsy 16y agoEven more so than the program itself which provides nominal funding is the message this sends. Here is a country that welcomes entrepreneurs and will go out of their way to make their country a good place to do business. Their goals are also reasonable - they expect the company to do $100,000US in sales once running. They are not expecting $20 million US out of the gate like the fanciful schemes of other similar programs where those in power are subsequently disappointed and embark on a program of confiscation.
- Spreadsheet 16y agoChile seems like a really nice place in terms of geography. They have deserts, mountains, glaciers, and a Mediterranean climate zone.
- patrickaljord 16y agoAnd huge earthquakes. Edit: for those downvoting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake
- al_ 16y agoSorry if this sounds like a dumb question but : are smartphones ( iPhone/Blackberry/Android...) popular in Chile ? It could be useful to know for entrepreneurs targeting mobile products.
- dimatura 16y agoMy casual estimate as a Chilean: A lot of the more tech-savvy/well-off people have iphones. There's a handful of Blackberries out there and virtually no Androids. Most people have dumb-phones.
- eccp 16y agoChilean here. Smartphones are very popular already. Blackberries used to be popular only among executives, and the first iPhones where very expensive, but they're way more common nowadays. I don't have numbers, but I'd say that in Chile the Blackberries and iPhones have the most of the market, in that order.
- ccarpenterg 16y agoiPhone and Blackberry have some market penetration. I can't say whether it's too low or enough to run a mobile business like to sell applications. General Data: http://www.subtel.cl/prontus_subtel/site/artic/20100608/asocfile/20100608122246/1_abonados_moviles_jun10_110810_v1.xls http://www.subtel.cl/prontus_subtel/site/artic/20100608/asoc...
- patrickaljord 16y agoMany google mobile apps are not available or come out late.
- wallflower 16y agoVia Startup-Chile blog. > About AtakamaLabs Atakama Labs is a developer, publisher and operator of social games, focused on meaningful games. We are making games that will make the world a better place, while entertaining and surprising our players. Our games tend to be free to play so that everyone can enjoy them. We develop primarily in Chile and publish our products across the globe, both directly and together with partners, depending on the platform and territory. Atakama is backed by Austral Capital and the COPEC-UC Fund, two venture capital funds. http://www.atakamalabs.com/ http://www.atakamalabs.com/
- heyadayo 16y agoI didn't see the time frame for the program -- did anyone catch this?
- wallflower 16y agoThe program seems to be underway: http://startupchile.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/california-startup-weekend-valley-visits/ http://startupchile.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/california-star... "The next day we had a typical asado with other Chileans living in the Bay Area, and meanwhile acquainted them with the first of the program’s selected entrepreneurs: Israeli-born Stanford MBA Amit Aharoni, and Stanford Computer Scientist Nicolas Meunier from France."
- twidlit 16y agoDoes anybody else get ASP errors when trying to apply?