According to SmartPlanet, Chile is subsidizing Argentine technology business incubator Nxtp.Labs. The Argentines operate a conventional incubator where the investors expect to profit by taking equity in return for mentorship and capital. Start-Up Chile, in contrast, invests without receiving equity and provides no formal mentorship, relying on the recipients of the gifts to form tribes to help each other. In lieu of equity, Chile uses a Return Value Agenda (RVA) to create a techie network:
Here at Startup Chile there is a concept called a Tribe. These tribes are groups formed around general concepts, like Education, Software Technology, Enterprise Software, Finance etc. The idea of the tribe is to provide support, connections and events to assist people whose companies are based around those general concepts. Every Tribe has a leader and every 3 months the group votes for a new leader. You get 1000 RVA points for being a tribe leader.
SmartPlanet quoted entrepreneur Scott Thompson of Bungolow, reckoning that one-third of Nxtp.Labs investments participated in or are about to participate in Start-Up Chile, and that many entrepreneurs are leaving Chile in favor of Argentina and Brazil.
The Argentine government philosophy is very different. Rather than stealing money from domestic taxpayers, transferring the loot to many foreign and a few Chilean techies, Argentina steals from foreigners to ease the burden of domestic taxpayers, especially the expropriation of the YPF oil company from Spanish investors.
Mary O’Grady, Latin American columnist of the Wall Street Journal, explains how Latin America can become wealthier.
Hey Mark,
I think the difficulty in comparing Nxtp (or any other private accelerator) to a public program like Start-Up Chile is in goals. The goal of most private accelerators is to be involved in an industry they love and one day make a profit. In order to make that profit they take a hands on approach and are focused on a small number of companies they can be actively involved in making successful. With Start-Up Chile, the goal is not profit but to change a culture and they are accomplishing it with a high volume revolving door of entrepreneurs. It’ll be difficult to say in a year or two whether they accomplish their goal but I think they’re on the right track.
I don’t think the Chilean government should be telling Chileans that their culture is inferior. If Chileans want to remain more isolated than people in most countries, then that’s their business. The government ought to serve the people, not the other way around; the culture should come from the people rather than the government.