During our session at INACAP we had the chance to interact with a diverse set of individuals involved in the Chilean entrepreneurial scene. Our table had 4 Chileans, 2 were entrepreneurs and the other 2 worked for various organizations in Chile that supported the entrepreneurial environment. I really enjoyed this mix of individuals and thought it gave us a really good perspective from many sides.
Both of our entrepreneurs had businesses that related to farming/produce which I thought was interesting. When we started our discussion, we talked about what we thought were some of the main limiting factors to help the Chilean entrepreneurial environment grow. The interesting thing here is that there was a pretty big disconnect between the 2 entrepreneurs and the 2 involved in groups that support entrepreneurs. Our 2 team members involved in groups thought the biggest hurdle was the limited financing available to support entrepreneurs. However, our entrepreneurs thought the biggest issue currently was the lack of support and knowledge sharing available in their ecosystem (and not the funding at all). Their problem was around being able to find the right SMEs to get expert advice and support from in their particular field. They see the universities as the right place for this exchange to happen but have yet to see a system put in place to really support that. I thought it was really interesting to see the differences in perspectives from these 2 different groups.
The more we discussed things the more similarities we were able to see as well between the Chilean market and a market like Cleveland. However the biggest difference I saw was the limitations around operating in a market as small as Chile. The solutions our entrepreneurs were looking at were more around physical products that you would need to grow a user base organically. This is in somewhat sharp contrast to what we usually see in the US and in Cleveland where so many products are tech based and they can be made to scale to a large group of users quickly if the demand is there.
Overall I really enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to learn first hand about the entrepreneurial environment in Chile!
Both of our entrepreneurs had businesses that related to farming/produce which I thought was interesting. When we started our discussion, we talked about what we thought were some of the main limiting factors to help the Chilean entrepreneurial environment grow. The interesting thing here is that there was a pretty big disconnect between the 2 entrepreneurs and the 2 involved in groups that support entrepreneurs. Our 2 team members involved in groups thought the biggest hurdle was the limited financing available to support entrepreneurs. However, our entrepreneurs thought the biggest issue currently was the lack of support and knowledge sharing available in their ecosystem (and not the funding at all). Their problem was around being able to find the right SMEs to get expert advice and support from in their particular field. They see the universities as the right place for this exchange to happen but have yet to see a system put in place to really support that. I thought it was really interesting to see the differences in perspectives from these 2 different groups.
The more we discussed things the more similarities we were able to see as well between the Chilean market and a market like Cleveland. However the biggest difference I saw was the limitations around operating in a market as small as Chile. The solutions our entrepreneurs were looking at were more around physical products that you would need to grow a user base organically. This is in somewhat sharp contrast to what we usually see in the US and in Cleveland where so many products are tech based and they can be made to scale to a large group of users quickly if the demand is there.
Overall I really enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to learn first hand about the entrepreneurial environment in Chile!