Emprender e Innovar en America Latina | Daniel Wainmann | TEDxQuito

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the importance of innovation, disruption, and impact in entrepreneurship, highlighting the significant economic benefits it brings to countries like Israel and Ecuador. Despite challenges in Latin America, the speaker shares personal experiences and lessons learned, advocating for dreaming, focusing on solutions, strategic planning, and surrounding oneself with valuable partners to achieve success in disruptive entrepreneurship.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Entrepreneurship is a creative and challenging activity that requires innovation, disruption, and impact to be significant.
• 💡 The success of a startup is often measured by its ability to be sold for millions of dollars, reflecting more than just personal financial gain but also economic benefits for countries.
• 🌍 International studies show that countries like Israel benefit significantly from entrepreneurship, with billions of dollars in revenue from startup exits and IPOs.
• 📈 While countries like Ecuador have collected less in taxes compared to what Israel has gained from entrepreneurship, there is a growing movement in Latin America to foster a more supportive environment for startups.
• 🛠 The speaker emphasizes the importance of tenacity and learning from failures in entrepreneurship, highlighting that success often comes after numerous setbacks.
• 💭 The speaker suggests that dreaming while being awake is crucial for entrepreneurs, emphasizing the need for grounded aspirations.
• 🔍 The problem is more important than the solution; entrepreneurs should focus on solving problems rather than just having ideas.
• ⏱ Allocate 80% of time to strategizing and only 20% to execution to ensure thoughtful planning before action.
• 📊 Luck, talent, and experience play different roles in entrepreneurship, with strategy being the most significant factor to compensate for any lack of the others.
• 🤝 Surrounding oneself with a valuable team can help compensate for personal shortcomings and is essential for entrepreneurial success.
• 🎯 Defining clear objectives before seeking results is vital; many entrepreneurs mistakenly adjust their goals based on outcomes rather than setting and achieving them.

Q & A

What are the three key ingredients for a successful entrepreneurship according to the speaker?

The three key ingredients for a successful entrepreneurship are innovation, disruption, and impact.

How does the speaker define the success of a startup in terms of financial outcomes?

The success of a startup is defined by its ability to be sold for millions of dollars, which is not only about the entrepreneur making money but also about the country benefiting from such transactions.

What study did Pida Belushi conduct, and what were its findings regarding entrepreneurship in Israel in 2017?

Pida Belushi conducted a study that found Israel earned over 20 billion dollars from entrepreneurship in 2017, primarily through the sale of companies and exits, which was nearly double the amount collected in taxes in Ecuador.

What is the speaker's perspective on the state of entrepreneurship in Latin America compared to Silicon Valley and Europe?

The speaker believes that Latin America is not yet a friendly environment for entrepreneurship, with the exception of countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, which have made efforts to create suitable environments. However, there is a strong movement towards the advancement of entrepreneurship and startups in the region.

What challenges does the speaker highlight that entrepreneurs face in Ecuador?

The speaker mentions the lack of incentives for entrepreneurship, few high-quality incubation ecosystems for startups, and limited support in terms of investments or venture capital funds as some of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in Ecuador.

What is the significance of the term 'hood' in the context of Israeli military service and entrepreneurship?

The term 'hood' represents a set of qualities such as audacity, courage, questioning, and tenacity, which are considered essential for entrepreneurship and are often developed through the Israeli military service.

What personal transformation did the speaker undergo in Ecuador, and how did it affect his career path?

The speaker underwent a significant personal transformation after moving to Ecuador, which led him to leave his military occupation and become an entrepreneur focused on solving mobility and automotive industry problems.

What is the speaker's first lesson for entrepreneurs about dreaming and being grounded?

The first lesson is to learn to dream while being awake, meaning to have aspirations and ideas that are rooted in reality and not just in sleep or fantasies.

What is the 80-20 rule the speaker mentions, and how does it apply to entrepreneurship?

The 80-20 rule suggests that 80% of the time should be dedicated to strategizing, evaluating, and planning, while only 20% of the time should be spent on execution.

How does the speaker describe the distribution of luck, talent, and experience in the life of an entrepreneur?

The speaker allocates 10% to luck, acknowledging that not everyone has good fortune all the time; 10% to talent, which is the academic capacity and knowledge one has; and 80% to strategy, which can compensate for the lack of both luck and talent.

What is the speaker's advice on setting and achieving goals for entrepreneurs?

The advice is to define objectives first and then achieve them, rather than adjusting goals based on outcomes, which is a common mistake made by many entrepreneurs.

Can you provide an example of a successful project that started in Ecuador and expanded globally?

One example is ChevyStar, a service for automotive assistance that started in Ecuador, was validated, and then expanded to Colombia and Venezuela, eventually being sold for 80 million dollars.

What is the significance of the story about Waze and how does it relate to Ecuador's role in validating global projects?

The story of Waze, an Israeli project that was validated and incubated in Ecuador before being sold to Google for 1.1 billion dollars, demonstrates how Ecuador can be a platform for testing and launching successful global ventures.

How does the speaker describe the essence of being an entrepreneur in Ecuador despite the challenges?

The speaker describes the essence as finding opportunities within difficulties, using the challenges as a means to innovate and validate projects that can succeed on a global scale.