I remember when I was eight years old. I wanted to buy a detective kit.
I told my father: “Dad, I want a detective kit. I want to know if my sisters are sneaking into my room.
I only need $200 pesos.”
My dad said: “You know what son? I could give you the money. But if I do, you will not learn what it takes to earn money.
I’d rather give you the tools, so you can earn that money yourself and buy your detective kit.”
So, he gave me the most sophisticated tools he had at the time: A bucket, a cloth and a broom…And he asked me to clean the house
That was tough, right?
After a couple of days, I began cleaning the windows, the cars, etc.
By the end of this time I had earned $50 pesos, which I used to go to the supermarket and buy some candy.
I resold the candy to my mom and sisters at a higher price...
Then bought more candy with the profit, which I sold to my cousins, aunts.. even out on the street.
Once I had the $200 pesos, I thought to myself: “All this effort, just to know if my sisters are sneaking into my room?"
I am not so sure about that!
I’d rather keep working, save more money and buy something worthier in the future.”
So I kept saving for a couple of months..
..but as you might know, at that time, 20 years ago, Mexico was economically very unstable.
The peso was rapidly devaluing, and prices were getting higher and higher.
So, I was really concerned, because all the money I had, was devaluing every day.
So, I decided to write to Santa Claus:
Dear Santa Claus, I hope all is well.
This year I have been very good, even better than previous years.
But I just happened to make a big mistake.
I have been working and saving to buy my own toys, but it turns out that all my money is now less valuable.
Therefore, this year, instead of asking for a football, or a Nintendo, or any toy I want to ask you for a golden coin.
I believe that will hold up against devaluation.
I still remember when I got my golden coin and said, “Wow, it’s so cool!”
Now I understand why nobody wanted to hang out with me in elementary school.
Anyways, I was having a lot of fun with my coin, but after a while, all the charm was lost. I thought:
“Ok, this is cool, it’s not devaluing, but I am not making any money either. Let’s do something else”.
I went back to my father and said:
“Dad, I know you invest in the stock market...
I know I am only eight years old, and I need to be eighteen in order to invest personally, but let’s co-invest.
I will give you my savings, we can analyze some stocks and have weekly and monthly meetings.
I really was kind of weird as a child, wasn’t I?
So I started calculating each week the compound interests.
“In one month I will have this amount, and then in six months this amount. Wow! I am going to become a millionaire!
In this talk, I want to share with you the same lesson my father taught me back then.
I am not going to give you money...
but I will give you the tools, in this case a mind-set, so you can change yourselves, change your companies
and even change your country.
We are currently experimenting a historical phenomenon.
Technology is changing our lives, the way we communicate, the way we do business, and the way we use our time.
What’s interesting is that, for example, these three companies that have detected those needs and are experiencing success..
their market cap right now is almost as high as the whole Mexican GDP of last year.
Can you believe that?
How did the entrepreneurs from these three companies manage to in just a couple of years...
..by the way, they are all approximately our same age..
How did they manage to generate amounts of money that are comparable to the production of a whole country
one of the world’s biggest economies, and one of the main producers of petroleum in the world?
Technology is generating a really interesting shift, and Mexico is very well positioned to be part of this change.
Let me tell you why.
For quite some time now, I have been very interested in Silicon Valley and everything that is happening there
so I started speaking with investors, entrepreneurs, executives, etc. I thought
“Let’s see what’s over there.”
I arrived in Silicon Valley expecting to see flying cars, walking robots in the streets
or even buildings that talked to you as you entered.
But I realized there are other things that make Silicon Valley so magical.
There are 5 characteristics that I figured out:
1. Risk is relative
Imagine you are all painters, you are all muralists, and suddenly you are approached by a bunch of young entrepreneurs
with a business plan, and they tell you
“I want you to paint my office, it’s not very big and I am offering you two options:
A payment in cash, well paid in dollars, or I give you 0.01% of the company’s stock options.”
A couple of years ago, David Choe said “You know what, your business it sounds like a bad idea, but let’s take the risk.”
And he asked for the stocks.
It turns out that he was painting the murals for a tiny company that back then was called "The Facebook".
Those stocks he received are worth today 200 million dollars!
Can you believe it? Just for painting a mural. I think I chose the wrong career
Next.. Help:
It’s extremely interesting how people are always helping each other in Silicon Valley.
How they are networking, supporting each other.
They present you with investors, engineers, mentors, and give you feedback on your ideas.
But I didn’t really realize how important it is to help each other until it happened to me not so long ago.
A friend of mine from Ooyala, the company that I work for, decided to leave and start his own business.
I told him that I was going to introduce him to an investor.
This investor recently sold his company to Google for over 600 million dollars, so he is now looking for deals to invest in.
Perfect, he said.
So I did, and after a couple of weeks, both of them sent me an email, saying
“Thank you for introducing us. We had a great talk, etc.”
Last week, the investor was so grateful, that he invited me to have breakfast and told me
“Adal, thank you so much for the introduction, it was really great! And besides, let me tell you something
I have these business ideas that I believe have a great potential.
I want to share them with you and in case you want to execute them, I can be your investor”
Only for introducing one person to him!
Next.. The importance of Community:
It’s been said, that your income is equal to the average income of the people you hang out with.
I believe that in Silicon Valley, that is not only true for income, but also for ideas, and relationships.
The quality of your ideas equals the average quality of the ideas of the people you hang out with.
The same works for relationships.
This has an amazing power!
Just being around people who are generating changes, who are very intelligent, who are making a difference has a profound impact
I remember 2 years ago, when I had just turned 26
just for being in Silicon Valley and just for knowing the founders of a company named Ooyala,
the founders came to me and my partner and said: “What do you think about opening the second biggest operation center
of the company, down in Mexico? After the headquarters, the second biggest office will be Mexico.
Just for being in the right place at the right time.
This only happens by positioning yourself there.
Teamwork
The most important decision you will ever make in your life is with whom are you going to launch your projects.
These projects include marriage, friendships, your company or an organization.
I didn’t quite understood this, until Bismarck Lepe, the co-founder of the company where I currently work, Ooyala
told me how he received financing.
He told me that couple of weeks after they left Google, he and his two partners met with Ron Conway,
who is one of the most recognized investors in the world.
He was one of the first investors in Google, Twitter, Foursquare; he is an advisor for Facebook.
They met with him and pitched him their idea, and at the end he told them.
“Don’t get me wrong, the idea is not very good, but what I really like is your team.
We felt a very interesting dynamic between all of you
and just for that we are going to trust that your are going to do whatever it takes to transform your idea into a successful one
In that same moment, just a couple of weeks after leaving Google,
and with a fresh idea, they had a million dollars in their bank account.
Last but not least, the characteristic that caught my attention the most is that everything is in our minds.
Everything has to do with the way we perceive ourselves, the ability we have to believe that we can change the world;
the possibility investors have to invest their time and money in people who believe they can change the world
and the community that wants to back you up.
I remember 3 years ago, when I founded my own company called Inviko,
and before we won a contest called “Desafio Intel” as the best technology company in Mexico,
I met with my best friend from high school. He told me:
“Adal, how are you, what are you up to?”
I said, “Look, I am in a company that I founded called Inviko.
It’s really cool, cause you just upload a deal you want to close, through social media, like Facebook. It’s great!”
He stared at me and said: “Adal, aren’t you embarrassed?
Aren’t you embarrassed that when your children go to school and somebody asks them, what do your father does for a living?
They will have to answer... He posts things on Facebook?
I thought: “Yes, I should be a little embarrassed, right?"
Anyway, as you realize, what makes Silicon Valley such a wonderful place,
is not only the access to capital, the universities, flying cars or talking buildings.
What makes it so unique is how people think of themselves, the attitude they have toward themselves and towards other people.
This is what Mexico can learn from Silicon Valley.
We are now amidst an historical era, where technology is generating a huge revolution,
and we in Mexico are closer to Silicon Valley than it is from NY.
Starting a company in Mexico is 4 times cheaper than in Silicon Valley.
We have thousands of super talented engineers and all the factors we need to be successful.
It’s just a matter of being able to change our attitude and our mindset towards us and toward others.
Now is time to make history!