Search Results for: chile

An Economic Slowdown Is a Good Time to Launch a Startup

Category : Chile, Entrepreneurship
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A version of this post originally appeared in Spanish as a column in El Mercurio, Chile’s equivalent of the New York Times with the title Una desaceleración es un muy buen momento para lanzar un emprendimiento.

As some context to my non-chilean readers, Chile, along with most resource producing countries, is currently going through an economic slowdown. Most of Chile’s government revenue comes from Copper sales, who’s price has gone down by 55% from its peak. Although Chile’s not in a recession yet and Chile’s economy is in great shape compared to other Latam countries, unemployment is up, businesses are investing less and people are worried.

Here’s the original column:

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Inequality In The Internet Age

Category : Entrepreneurship, Personal Thoughts, Political Science & Economics
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tl;dr summary here. But you should read the entire post.

Inequality in the Internet Age

Inequality has increased since the 1970s. The share of national income and the total wealth that goes to the top 10%, 5%, 1%, .1% and .001% has has gone up. And it continues to go higher. We haven’t seen levels like this since the Gilded Age.

wealth of top .1%
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/11/daily-chart-2

The top 10% now owns 61.9% of all US wealth, up from about ~50% in 1989, while the next 10% now owns 11.9% and the bottom 80% now owns 26.8%, down from ~37% in in 1989. The top .1% owns the same as the bottom 90%, about 22% of net household wealth for the first time since pre-WWII. We’re experiencing a massive shift in wealth. And it’s getting redistributed up the ladder. (more…)

My 2015

Category : Personal Thoughts
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Ever since I started writing here, I’ve done a year end post summarizing what I’ve done in the past year. These posts are mostly for me, so that I can look back and remember what I did, what I was thinking and what was important to me each year. Previous versions (2000s, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Here’s what I did in 2015.

I rang in 2015 on a cold night in Wisconsin with friends and family, then went back to Chile to get back to summer. In 2015 I was in Chile for about 9 months, the least I’ve spent in Chile since 2011. It was an eventful year that took me to nine countries for work and fun. Looking back, I think 2015 can be distilled down to two main themes. Focus + Growth, and Reconnecting.

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Introducing Ttanti: Patagonian Wood Watches

Category : Chile, Latin America Startups and Investing, Magma Partners
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ttanti wood watch

I’m really excited to introduce Ttanti’s Travelers Collection, wood watches direct from Chile’s Patagonia. Max and Angel, have been working on Ttanti for 2+ years to make it a reality. Although its outside of our primarily tech focus at Magma, we loved the project and the team and decided to help out.

We’ve been working with Max and Angel for the better part of 18 months, helping them go from a 100% Chilean made prototype, to a Patagonian designed watch with a Swiss made body, all expertly finished off by hand by Chilean artisans. Ttanti is one of our portfolio companies that I’m most proud of because of how far they’ve come. (more…)