I came from the same country as Herval (Brazil) and I am flying to Chile on the 4th of January. Myself and my partner are working hard on bootstrapping our 2nd company for the last 1 1/2 year. We are very fortunate to have landed big contracts in Brazil this year. We will keep a commercial operation in Brazil. I can point out wonderful reasons to do business in Brazil:
- Very large market, 200M people
- Booming consumer market
- Internet penetration, 70M
- Mobile phone penetration, > 200M
- Engaged social media users
- Beautiful woman and beaches ;-)
- More VC capital than in Chile
.But there are several restraints here:
- Highest interest rate in the world (11% year, in practice more than 28%) vs 3,5% in Chile
- One of the worst countries in the world to employ people, according to Employing Worker Index Brazil ranks at 120th position vs 69th for Chile
- Nothing similar to SUP in Brazil
- One of highest taxes in the world totalizing 35% of GDP vs 18% in Chile
- Very corrupted
- There are in Brazil a few serious, honest and friendly venture capitalists, but Brazil is also crowded with crippled VC´s, angel investors that never invested in anything (whenever you meet one, ask them what were their last 3 investments).
(for a complete comparison look at http://www.heritage.org)
So, reading Herval post I got concerned but, what he describes is pretty much what we have 'for lunch' in Brazil everyday. Sounds to me like a shallow analysis. I can live with those issues, those seems to be like micro issues that can be, at some point, fixed. What I would like to hear from the author or from someone else is if, compared to Brazil, Chile is a good place to set up a business that targets LATAM? How do those incredible better economic indicators (again, when compared to Brazil) impact your business and your life in the LONG-TERM? Did you think about the long term perspective of having your headquarters in Brazil vs Chile?
For brazilians in specific, there's a big plus for being on SUP: being "international" automatically doubles your perceived value in our dear xenophile country.
Although sny incubator would do the trick - even having a friend in Palo Alto and use his home address as "headquarters"
Xenophile for sure! ;-) . Anyway I am thankful that you and others are shouting aloud your thoughts. Perhaps the program improves and people adjust their perspectives as a result.
(for a complete comparison look at http://www.heritage.org) So, reading Herval post I got concerned but, what he describes is pretty much what we have 'for lunch' in Brazil everyday. Sounds to me like a shallow analysis. I can live with those issues, those seems to be like micro issues that can be, at some point, fixed. What I would like to hear from the author or from someone else is if, compared to Brazil, Chile is a good place to set up a business that targets LATAM? How do those incredible better economic indicators (again, when compared to Brazil) impact your business and your life in the LONG-TERM? Did you think about the long term perspective of having your headquarters in Brazil vs Chile?