The Author
Argentine born entrepreneur, passionate about technology and robots in particular. Pioneered the game development scene in Buenos Aires. Currently leading Popego, an innovative software company that's building meaning with code and guts.
Proud Of
-
Popego
Founder & CEO - Building meaning with bytes in the semantic web. -
Meaningtool
Popego's flagship semantic engine for the masses and the businesses. -
The Whuffie Bank
Co-Founder - Changing money forever with optimal reputation algorithms. -
Three Melons
Former Creative Director - Crafted games that made brands engaging. -
Game Developers Association
Co-Founder - Explaining mothers in Argentina how games are art. -
Palermo Valley
Co-Founder - The entrepreneurial neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. -
Evoluxion
Founder - Made games for the football conoisseur.
Good Stuff
-
Strange Knot
Emiliano Kargieman - Technologist and Venture Capitalist pursuing true change in this world. -
Cosas Que Te Pasan Si Estás Vivo
Liniers - My brother, responsible for most of my cultural background and world famous comic artist. -
Riesgo & Recompensa
Santiago Bilinkis - Great entrepreneur with a clear and sharp style for sharing experiences. -
Denken Uber
Mariano Amartino - Simple and elegant blog that covers the buzz of the tech scene. -
Ariel Arrieta
An authority in online marketing and advertising, making sense of all the wandering bits of the net. -
Psico Geek
Ismael Briasco - A very open and outspoken entrepreneur always sharing good tips from his experience.
Innovation-ism (Part II): Argentina & Software
Written 3 years ago
Here’s an honest concern: the few bets on innovation in most of the software companies of Argentina. Of course I can think of some very good exceptions (no, I won’t give names), but exceptions ain’t no rule. Essentially, here we have two models:
- Those who import a technology or business model to the region;
- and the software factories.
Regarding option 1, any experienced entrepreneur knows that the mere replication of someone else’s idea is never enough: if you’re going to do that, you have the duty to innovate on top of it as some remarkable companies did. Markets always have cultural differences, and you won’t be the only one imitating a foreign success.
But that leaves us with option 2: becoming the cheap labour of real innovators. I resist that idea profoundly, even if it’s our fate as an emerging nation. Unlike China or India, the historical work-force of the world, we aren’t billions; and we certainly aren’t taking even a small percentage of our population out of poverty in order to spur an internal market. Companies sustained under that model, should start taking more risks and build intellectual property of their own. Otherwise, they’re seriously wasting the potential of the great talent still available in our country. Not a single nation in the world can progress without innovation of its own.
A simple case: Japan was the cheap labour of the world back in the 50’s. Back then, corruption and poverty was a common currency in a post-nuclear island. A group of engineers found out about the use of transistors and wondered if they could make a pocket radio with these. A few years later more companies started following the example set by Sony Corporation of using a disruptive technology to push forwards the imposed limits of current technology. Fast-forward a few decades, and the landscape of Tokyo had significantly changed in very tangible and visible ways:
There’s no secret sauce in the talented and ever-growing US software houses we all admire. They were all the dream of a bunch of founders with a simple idea in a garage. Hard work was all they needed to get were they are today. Yes, access to capital is not easy in this country. But like Marx said: “Capital has no nation”… so think global we must, and in english I wrote.
(To be continued…)
