While in Miami last week, I participated in the send-off party for the Geeks on a Plane Latin America Tour. I was one of three panelists invited to talk to this group of about 40 entrepreneurs the night before they set off on a 10-day tour to Mexico City, Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires.  Geeks on a Plane was created by the start-up guru Dave McClure, the founding partner of 500 Startups.  He describes Geeks on a Plane (#GOAP) as:

“An invite-only tour for startups, investors, and executives to learn about burgeoning technology markets worldwide. We travel by planes, trains and automobiles to the most exciting international startup scenes with the sole mission of uniting geeks and exploring cross-border opportunities. The result: a lifelong bond with fellow travelers, a wealth of new friends and business contacts in exploding technology markets and a stronger appreciation for the cultural and economic ties that bind us globally”.

I spoke to the group about the US Hispanic market and the expanding opportunities we are seeing in the media world.   It was somewhat ironic to be invited to speak to this group, since to most of them I represent the opposite of who they are.  I head a family-run, third generation business that is 85 years old.  The geeks, for the most part, are from the start-up generation.  They have all started their own businesses, with their own money and measure success by how quickly they can grow and sell that business and start a new one.  That said we certainly had a lot that we could learn from each other.

As they set off on their Latin American tour I thought it was important to share with them the potential of the US Hispanic population, after all we are 50 million strong, early adapters of technology and we over index any other group for online transactions.

US Hispanics. The Latin Market Right at Home.

The second speaker was Rodrigo Teijeiro, Founder & CEO of Sonico.com and Fnbox.com who gave them the Latin American perspective. He spoke about the Brazil phenomena but also pointed to the fact that Brazil is not the only success story.   Countries like Peru, Colombia, Chile and Argentina are becoming major players on the digital, interactive and technology space.  Rodrigo is a brilliant entrepreneur with a proven track record and always a pleasure to be with.   His diagnosis of Latin America is always right on, which has allowed him to become a leader in this space.

Regional context: Brasil Vs Latam

Dave Maclure gave the closing remarks, speaking about Money Ball investing which is a new and very interesting strategy being adopted by VC’s in which, just like in the movie, you find a system to understand the data that will help you predict what startup will be successful.   This is the exact opposite of Spray and Pray, which as the name implies, is when you invest small sums in many companies with hope that one or two will succeed.

Moneyball, it seems is the evolution of Spray and Pray—and I say the evolution because Moneyball could not exist without all the data that was generated by the heavily funded VC ecosystem of the last decade.

I had a great time at this event, and was happy to see how Miami is becoming a relevant hub for startups.