Digitalk 2013, which will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 3rd, is an event focused on tech entrepreneurship with the objective of boosting entrepreneurship in the region of Southeast Europe. Investors and entrepreneurs will have the chance to network, exchange ideas and learn about innovative, emerging Bulgarian startups. The conference will highlight the digital startup ecosystem, focusing on how it is reshaping the global business map and creating new opportunities for startups worldwide.

The venue- Ivan Vazov National Theatre

The event will kick off in the morning with a speech from keynote speaker Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of CloudFlare. Marcelo Sales, co-founder of Movile and 21212, will participate in the first session panel from 10:30-12:00 titled “From idea birth to funding– disrupting an existing market versus creating a new market.” The following two panels will cover the topics: “Building brand and establishing a position on your target market- the choices of partners and infrastructure” and “Heading for the exit-strategies for going global and thinking of the exit.”

We look forward to seeing Marcelo represent Brazil and 21212 across the world and share his perspective on the global entrepreneurship opportunities!

This is an article about 21212 startup Zoony.co, a platform connecting university students to internships.  The Zoony.co team originally entered our acceleration program with a different goal in mind for their business. Their platform was called Zona Universitária and it was a place where university students could organize their entire student life online from finding housing to connecting with people for carpools. During the market validation process, the team discovered a bigger issue: students were having a difficult time finding companies that matched their profile and experience and, at the same time, companies struggled to find the right talent for job openings. For that reason, they evolved and transformed to be the best they could be. Renaming themselves the catchy Zoony.co, they are now focused specifically on one area — internships.

For university students, the challenge to find an internship can feel endless. Today in Brazil, students aren’t just looking to intern at any well-paying company, but one with a positive image and a strong identity that they can relate to. “Students want to feel satisfied with the work they are devoting their time to and if a company doesn’t show a clear identity that they connect with they won’t want to work there,” says Marcelo Melo, founder of Zoony.

Companies are also having an increasingly difficult time finding qualified candidates who fit their open positions due to the fact that these people get hired quickly and don’t have to spend time searching. In addition to this, the traditional methods companies have used to find interns, such as looking on an online resume bank, career fairs, or posting an ad in a newspaper—are now failing. In this evolving recruitment environment, how can students find their ideal internship and companies find their perfect intern? That is where Zoony.co comes in — an online platform created to match students with companies, finding the perfect fit for both. The platform consists of two main sections where students and companies can organize their information and objectives. University students use Zoony.co free of cost to create an account where they can catalogue their past work experience and awards and set clear objectives for the future. Once these goals are selected, the platform gives step by step advice to guide the student on the correct path to reach the final goal. When the student first enters the platform, there will be a few questions to answer, such as “what do you dream of accomplishing,” with the purpose of making him stop and think with clarity about his true goals so the platform can be used the most effectively. As the student progresses and works towards his objectives, the platform catalogues the process, giving rewards along the way for each success. The other part of Zoony.co, allows businesses to create an account where they can post their internship openings and search for the perfect candidate. Zoony.co uses a complex algorithm that analyzes the profiles of each student, matching the most qualified with the job position and giving a percentage rating that reflects the strength of the fit. The higher the percentage, the more expensive it is to “buy” their contact information. In addition to creating an efficient and effective way to match students to internship opportunities, Zoony.co is also helping transform the entire environment where these connections take place. They place the highest value on the knowledge and achievements of the students, not just on the university they attend. Zoony.co broadens the spectrum of qualified candidates by allowing anyone to have the chance to get their dream internship — all that is required is a clear focus on personal goals and determination to achieve them.

Follow this link to check out their platform:  http://zoony.co

Our 21212 mentor, Kátia Campelo, who is a specialist in effective communication and the founder of Espaço de Oratória Kátia Campelo recently shared some useful tips for the Revista PEGN for entrepreneurs to successfully present themselves to investors. Below is an English version of the article, click here for the Portuguese version.

Five Tips to Improve your Communication

Communicating effectively is fundamental for all entrepreneurs. Whether you are in a meeting with an investor or speaking with clients, understanding when to speak, when to listen, and how to act according to each situation can make all the difference.

Kátia Campelo, psychologist and specialist in communication, gives a few tips to help communicate better and help close the business deals your startup is looking for.

Adapt your discourse according to the situation.

If you want to “win with conversation” allow yourself to enter the universe of your interlocutor. “Identify a profile of communication of the client or investor to affirm that your form of speaking doesn’t collide with theirs,” Kátia explains.

Learn how to hear and understand a “no.”

Don’t take anything negative personally. Instead, try using other strategies and look for new approaches that may get a “yes.” If possible, set up another meeting to continue discussion. With persistence, the “no” could turn into a “yes. “Many times the entrepreneur feels rejected and the negotiation doesn’t happen because he gives up,” describes Kátia.

Avoid elaborate or cold speech

It’s important that your speech is natural and conveys real sentiment. “The principal emotion that should be presented in the sale or presentation of a product is enthusiasm.  If you were supposed to speaking mechanically it would be better to put a robot in your place.”

Don’t exaggerate

It is important to bring emotion and excitement into the conversation, but make sure you are careful with exaggeration. Kátia warns that an excess of enthusiasm could be confused as falseness or superficiality. Of course, you are going to be emphasizing your excitement more than normal, but using adjectives and superlatives in all of your sentences can cause you to lose everything.

Always maintain eye contact.

Do you trust someone who doesn’t look directly into your eyes during conversation? Probably not. So don’t forget this significant point. Don’t diverge eye contact and stay focused on the person who you are speaking to. The specialist guarantees that “eye to eye contact creates credibility.”

The BLOOM conference will take place on Monday, May 13th from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Cattedrale – Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan and will bring together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovators from Italy, Europe, South Africa, Brazil and Russia! Top level keynote speakers and panelists will describe some of the most successful startups and give an in-depth view into the growing investment opportunities and expanding networks.

Marcelo Sales, one of the international keynote speakers, will speak in the “Brazilian Panel” and in the “Hottest Worldwide Accelerators Panel.” He will be representing 21212 and sharing his views on the rapid growth of the Brazilian Startup Ecosystem.

Sebastián Saaibi has been selected to present Aentrópico, a startup focused on Big Data that is currently being accelerated by 21212. He will also represent Brazil at BLOOM and participate in the Brazilian Panel along with Buzztore from Intentio, Baby.com (https://www.baby.com.br/), and Captalis (http://www.captalis.com/).

The BLOOM Global Business Showcase Conference is a high-profile event with two full days of intense networking, meetings and seminars. Sebastián will have the chance to meet international investors and successful Italian, Russian and South African entrepreneurs!

The conference will consist of various sessions:

ü Italian Seed Arena

The top 10 Italian start-ups selected from “Start-up Factor” will be evaluated by a jury based on:
- A video pitch
- Accomplishment of an assigned task – the participants will have an hour to complete the task,
allowing the jury to evaluate the team and its analytical and problem solving capabilities.

The 3 start-ups that achieve the best score on the above mentioned trials will then each have
seven minutes to deliver a ted speech!

ü International Seed Stage – Growth Stage

Presentation of the best international start-up proposals from the U-START network of
incubators and accelerators worldwide.

ü Panel Discussion

Overview of the most promising ventures within the start-up ecosystem of the U-START Network

See the Conference Program to discover the keynote speakers and the best international startups
of the various sessions! BLOOM is all about how opportunities can take shape and become new businesses!

If you are an Investor join the conference by signing up on U-Start selecting BLOOM in the drop
down menu (under the section “I’m an U- Investor”) If you want to be part of the audience during the 13th May conference, register here. For further information, please see our website BLOOM or contact U-Start at info@u-start.biz

We spoke with Sebastian to hear some of his thoughts about Aentrópico and his participation in BLOOM. Take a look at the interview below.

What are the main benefits Aentrópico’s services can bring for medium to large businesses?

We’re offering concrete answers to particular business concerns for business managers of medium or large businesses. Nowadays, if managers want to solve specific problems, they must buy an expensive software license, hire a team of analysts and host a powerful IT infrastructure. On top of that, these analysts will take between 3-6 months tackling a particular problem. At Aentrópico we eliminate the need of an expensive IT infrastructure and analytics team by bringing implementation times from months to weeks and increasing usability so that people without a strong mathematical/technical background can have access to sophisticated algorithms and get predictive insight to make informed data-driven decisions.

Sebastián Saaibi pitching at GEC 2013 in Rio

 What is your view of the Big Data market in Brazil and how is it evolving?

We’re sitting on a large 10B USD Market for Business Intelligence and Analytics, which is expected to grow to 50B USD in the next 5 years. Big Data interest is growing in the whole world, Brazil is no exception. In Brazil, companies are already starting to raise awareness and express interest in becoming more data-driven. Our aim is to cater promising industries where enterprise adoption has already begun, such as retail, oil and gas and mobile. It is very interesting to see managers of different industries in Brazil already aware of their data analysis needs, but it is even more interesting to see that they see in Aentrópico exactly what they need to simplify the workflow to get intuition from data.

What are you looking forward to at the BLOOM conference?

We’re looking forward to gain direct exposure to European Angel and VC groups. Given that some attendees will surely be industry representatives, we would like them to be early adopters of our technology and platform. Last, but not least, we’re raising our seed round and are using the event as a platform to close it in a successful way, while strengthening our ties in Europe and define an expansion strategy.

We recently had two summer interns, Paulina and Lilly, join us for a few months during our Acceleration Program. They both came from Dartmouth college where Paulina studies Economics and Math and Lilly, Economics and Asian Studies. They worked closely every day with the 21212 startups, sharing their knowledge, helping them develop their business models into reality, and learning for themselves what it is like to be an entrepreneur in Rio. We are always grateful for the amazing international interns that come to help us accelerate Rio! Paulina and Lilly recently returned to the US and we are happy to share some words about their experiences here at 21212.

Paulina and Lilly with the Memed team, Marcelo and Luciana

Why did you decide to come to Brazil?

Lilly: Before coming to Brazil, I had spent time in China and found working there exciting.  Brazil, with its rapid economic growth in recent years and increasing consumption, appealed to me as a business environment I wanted to learn more about.  I also had never been to Latin America and wanted to take the opportunity to learn about Brazilian culture.

Paulina: My coursework inspired a keen interest in emerging markets. I decided to come to Brazil because I believe that this is a tremendous moment in its history. In Rio, the pulse of the city is palpable! So much excitement was generated over the city’s winning bid for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Over the last decade, Rio and Brazil, as a whole, made tremendous progress by lifting millions of people out of poverty, cleaning up the “favelas,”  and reducing violence.

What was an average day like as an intern at 21212 and what did you learn from working with the startups throughout the Acceleration Program?

Lilly: During an average day at 21212, I conducted research for product development, marketing and business development for companies in the acceleration program. I also helped the startups with their financials and participated in meetings with entrepreneurs and 21212 partners.

I saw how challenging it is to develop a great business. In Brazil, companies have to work with infrastructure that is often limited. I learned about the importance of validating the problem in the process of starting a company. By addressing a relevant problem, startups will have an easier time with customer acquisition and generating enough consumer demand for their product. Validating the problem also ensures that the startup will add value and improve people’s lives in some way by offering a solution that did not exist before. For example, GoBooks allows students to rent books, a service that makes sense and saves students money but did not exist in Brazil previously.  Similarly, Monograme, an online fashion brand that offers premium basics, provides an alternative for Brazilians who are dissatisfied with the quality and style of t-shirts currently available.  Selo Reserva, another e-commerce platform I worked with, provides lovers of wine and food with curated content and high-quality products in one convenient location.

Paulina: As a Business intern, I worked closely with three companies: Memed (a platform where doctors can search and prescribe medicines in Brazil), Instaquadros (an online marketplace for custom decorations based on Instagram photos), and Aentrópico (a company providing big data services to medium-sized businesses in Latin America).

At 21212, I experienced an entire 10-week acceleration cycle. When I started my internship, I worked mostly on product development and participated in many strategy meetings with 21212 partners.  Midway through the internship, my responsibility shifted toward financials. I took the lead on Instaquadros. I sorted and analyzed their financial data, created key ratios so they can better understand the business, and completed 3-year projections. Towards the end of the acceleration cycle, I helped the startups get ready for Investor Day. My responsibilities included brainstorming ideas for the pitches, crafting convincing narratives, and coaching the entrepreneurs on public speaking techniques.

During the internship, I learned a great deal about competitive strategy, industry analysis, and financial modeling from the day-to-day demands. I learned even more by working with leading investors and brilliant entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Where do you think there is the most opportunity for startups in Rio?

Lilly: In the present, I think there’s plenty of room for copycats, since many internationally recognized companies lack Brazilian equivalents. Even bringing “copycat” ideas to Brazil will require adaptation to the local market and careful execution with unique considerations for Brazilian consumers.

Paulina: The Brazilian market is an incredible opportunity because of the exploding middle class consumer base and the country’s position as the “social media capital of the universe.” Most industries in Brazil are ten years behind the United States and Europe so the standard way to make a profit is to “tropicalize” successful businesses from abroad. However, the challenges are numerous, most notably the cumbersome bureaucracy, shortage of skilled labor, and undeveloped infrastructure.

The entrepreneurs I met at 21212 are passionate about their ideas and dedicated to their work. I am confident that they will overcome these challenges and lead Brazil forward. I am excited to see what the talented entrepreneurs of 21212 accomplish in the coming months and years!

Exame.com recently released an article, featuring 21212 partner Frederico Lacerda, that explains the characteristics and values that investors look for in entrepreneurs. To read the article in Portuguese, follow this link. For those who prefer an English version, take a look below at the translation.

What Investors look for in Entrepreneurs

The success of a start-up does not only depend on a great idea, but also the characteristics of the entrepreneurs on the team. “When we evaluate a project, we have various criteria. Some are objective and some are subjective. The first thing is to affirm that the entrepreneur has energy and engagement, explains Fernando Campos, angel investor and director of Devise.

However, it is also important not to confuse excitement and an enthusiastic pitch with engagement. What investors want to see is the real behavior of the entrepreneur. “That makes the difference and shows that he has the capacity to really deliver results” explains Frederico Lacerda, co-founder of 21212 Digital Accelerator.

In order to capture the attention of angel-investors and get the investment needed, it is important to stay attentive to specific details. Below are some tips to help see exactly what investors are thinking and examining.

1.       Engagement and Interest

The entrepreneur’s strong desire and persistence are the fuels for a start-up. It is important to see that an entrepreneur runs after his goals and has resilience.

 “If they don’t take notes during a meeting with investors, don’t have a habit of preparation and don’t even take the time to read the website of the business before, that is already a bad sign,” explains Campos. It is essential to bring materials to present and be prepared to respond to questions about your start-up.

 2.       Professional Posture

The capacity to do business and network is indispensable for entrepreneurs. Lacerda points out that “a flaw that we see today is entrepreneurs networking with the intention of getting something out of it and not just to stay connected and learn from people.” Finding the right situations that allow you to position yourself well in the market also really works in your favor for investments.

Accepting new ideas and concepts for your business is also fundamental. “There are very stubborn entrepreneurs and there are ones that accept everything and don’t argue. The worst is the entrepreneur who pretends he is not stubborn, accepts everything, and then later ignores it” explains Campos

 3.        Capacity for execution

An entrepreneur doesn’t need to completely dominate the market but still needs sufficient knowledge for their business. “In practice, we evaluate their capacity for execution; looking at what has already been done can demonstrate if the team is functional or not,” explains Campos.

For Lacerda, this criteria is fundamental for angel investors. “What can the business become in the future? In relation to the entrepreneur, how sustainable is the team?”.

4.       Unified team

The type of relationship that the team members of the start-up have can demonstrate what the relationship between the investor and the entrepreneur will be like. “It’s a marriage; you can’t forget that the angel investor and entrepreneur have this kind of relationship. We try to evaluate the type of person that we are going to live with every day”.

DEMO Brasil, co-organized by Now Digital Business and International Data Group, is an event that connects investors and startups, transforming innovative ideas into reality.  The DEMO has been held for over 20 years in the United States, and now they are coming to Brazil! The event will take place in São Paulo on the June 25th and 26th at the Sheraton São Paulo WTC Hotel.

During the event, a selected group of new products will present to global press, savvy investors, corporate acquirers, strategic partners and buyers.  Emerging technologies from some of the brightest companies will have the chance to be launched into the Brazilian marketplace.

A part of the event will also be devoted to the DEMO showcase, a “perfect environment to network, research, form meaningful and strategic relationships, and—yes—even close some deals. Here, investors and potential partners can get a close up look at the latest trend-setting technologies. It’s not just a place for more face time, but for more eyes on-the-product time.”

Startups can apply to be a part of this amazing event and present their product on stage! Follow this link to their website and click either “Apply to Demonstrator” or “Apply to Alpha Pitch.” Applications close April 30th 2013.

For details on the event schedule, go to this link. Stay updated with the latest news by following their twitter here, or check out their Facebook page here.

We are excited to announce the America’s Society and Council will host “Advancing Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” a half-day conference in Rio co-organized with Rio Negócios. The event will take place on Thursday, April 11th 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Sofitel in Copacabana and will bring together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovators to focus on Rio’s rapidly growing entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Keynote speakers will be Sérgio Cabral, Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Eduardo Paes, Mayor of the City of Rio de Janeiro. 21212 partner Benjamin White will speak in the first panel, Entrepreneurship: Latin American Start-ups, which will discuss the opportunities and challenges entrepreneurs deal with in Brazil and Latin America including access to capital, red tape and lack of skilled workers. The following two panels will be: Can Silicon Valley be recreated in Latin America? and Innovation & Technology in Rio de Janeiro.

Online registration is now closed but you can still register, space permitting, at the event at 8:30 am. If you can’t make it to the event in person, you can follow the live stream here. For a closer look at the agenda, click here.

 We look forward to seeing everyone who can make it out!

Hey entrepreneurs! Do you have plans yet for May 13th, 2013? Our partner, U-Start, will be holding the BLOOM conference in Milan, an amazing event which will showcase some of the best startups in the U-Start network along with some of the world’s top accelerators and investors. U-Start is selecting startups to participate in the conference and catering all the flight and accommodation expenses! If you are interested in being presented at the conference, you can sign up here. Startups from 21212, select 21212 in the drop down menu at the bottom right.

We are excited to be working in collaboration with U-Start for this conference and for future business opportunities. U-Start is a market place where entrepreneurs can find the tools and support they need to present their business proposal to interested investors. The platform allows entrepreneurs to organize their contacts, improve their business plan with the help of experts and tutorials, and make the deal happen! Investors can use the platform to get in touch with brilliant entrepreneurs, increase access to innovative ideas and establish faithful one-to-one relationships. U-Start works with strategic partners, business service providers, accelerators and incubators to help startups with high potential to penetrate new markets.

For more information about U-Start, check out their website here or contact them at info@u-start.biz. We will continue to post updates on our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, so stay tuned for more information!

On March 21st 2013, 21212 hosted a session focused on “High Impact Tech Startups” at GEC with Endeavor. The event was packed with discussions that gave an in-depth look into the growing entrepreneurship scene in Brazil. The following is an abridged version of the event focused on the parts that featured 21212 entrepreneurs.

The “Education Revolution” panel, which discussed the rapid growth of online education in Brazil, featured Diego Alvarez, from EasyAula, Marco Fisbhen, from Descomplica!, and Claudio Sassaki from Geekie. The panel brought attention to the changing role of professors with the rise of EdTech platforms. Claudio Sassaki pointed out that the professor is evolving from “someone who transmits content to someone who is the owner of content.” Diego Alvarez added that online platforms enable professors to receive proper feedback from students, which, in turn allows them to give more personalized attention to students’ weaknesses. However, as pointed out by Marco Fisbhen, “professors will not be willing to accept the changes” despite the obvious benefits. Fisbhen continued to explain that unless professors recognize advantages of technology in education, such as better time management, higher quality feedback, less work and more productivity, education professionals will simply reject this technological advancement.

The topic of the next panel was ‘collaborative consumption,’ a business model based on the idea of a sharing economy that connects buyers and sellers on peer-to-peer marketplaces. Moderated by Simon Olsen from Google, the panel also featured Felipe Continentino from Queremos!/WeDemand, Christian Gesner from AirbNb and Gustavo from WeDoLogos. Simon posed the question, what are the main differences with collaborative consumption in Brazil and the US? For Felipe, the US presents a well-established concert industry with numerous venues throughout the country, whereas, Brazil is rising to that position now. Christian commented that AirbNb, an online community marketplace for booking places to stay for travel, was originally hesitant to expand to Brazil due to the lack of trust. However, after opening here they saw the country’s high potential because of the unique openness and hospitality of Brazilians.

The next panel focused on the growth of Brazilian Financial Tech startups which apply technology to financial services allowing consumers to do a range of things more effectively like earn investment returns through peer-to-peer lending and manage income. Leading the panel were participants such as Márcio Campos, from PapPop mobile payments, Arley Mora, from ZeroPaper, and Guilherme Horn from Órama. These experts highlighted the importance of customer feedback when implementing technologies in Brazil. Arley, whose startup helps control finances for businesses, emphasized the importance of educating customers and learning from them in the process. Guilherme commented that in the case of Órama, one of their biggest mistakes was allotting too much funding in market research. Understanding the market, he explained, comes best from testing the product and analyzing feedback.

Benjamin White and Marc Ecko closed the event with a fireside chat concerning “Hacking Entrepreneurship- Jeitinho for Startups.” The talk focused on the idea portrayed by the word “hustle,” translated to “jeitinho” in Portuguese. Marc defined entrepreneurship starting from its etymological roots; it means “to undertake” in French. He described how this word has become too “culturally heavy” in comparison to the widely used terms “jeitinho” and “hustle.” We have a tendency to over intellectualize the idea of entrepreneurship which, unfortunately, keeps a broader group from coming to the table. Instead, entrepreneurship should be like Nike, a colloquial concept that everyone from the street vendor to the business executive can understand.

We are happy to announce our new partnership with maxiPago!. MaxiPago! is one of the most powerful payment gateway platforms in Latin America. Their platform allows merchants to have access to relevant payment methods and the most efficient processing flows without added operational costs.

Our new partnership with maxiPago! will provide 21212 companies with an easy method for payment operations, allowing them to focus more time on developing their core business ideas. MaxiPago! will bring capacity, security and flexibility for our startups by giving them special transaction fees and anti-fraud and transaction consolidation systems. They will also provide a flexible API that permits great system integration.

We are excited to have maxiPago! as a part of our team and keep striving to bring the most for our startups!

Next week, entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers and researchers will gather together in Rio de Janeiro for the Global Entrepreneurship Conference 2013. The event will be held from March 18th-21st and will promote the global entrepreneurship ecosystem in Brazil, helping to launch and scale startups through policies and initiatives.

We are excited to be a part of GEC this year and will be holding the event “High Impact Tech Startups” in collaboration with Endeavor on March 21st. Our event will show an inside look at the the Brazilian startup scene with panels discussing a range of topics from collaboration consumption to the education revolution in Brazil. 21212 partner Benjamin White will be moderating the fireside chat “Hacking Entrepreneurship: Jeitinho for Startups” with the successful international entrepreneur Marc Ecko. The startups that will be participating in the panels will be:

         -Education Revolution: Descomplica, Easyaula, and Geekie

         -Collaborative Consumption: AirBnB, Queremos, and WeDoLogos

         -Fin Tech: PagPop, ZeroPaper, and ÓRAMA.

This event will take place on Thursday, March 21st from 1:00pm – 5:30 pm, and is a free, open event if you register in advance. If you can’t make it out to the event, you can watch it live online here. Don’t forget to tweet and keep up with our live coverage with the hashtags: #21212day and #GEC2013.

For more information on GEC, check out their webpage, or for specific details on our event with Endeavor, go here.

21212 Investor Day on March 19th

On Tuesday, March 19th, we will also be holding a 21212 Investor Day featuring 9 of our startups. Our companies have been practicing their pitches nonstop in preparation and our office has been full of hard work and collaboration. We are really proud to see how far everyone has come and excited to see everyone presenting next week!

See below where 21212 has just been mentioned in O Globo …

Fans at a Mayer Hawthorne concert

A few years ago, it was hard to see international, independent bands touring in Rio. A group of friends who shared a passion for music saw this problem and set out to fix it. They formed Queremos! and participated in 21212’s second acceleration program. Two and a half years after their launch, we are blown away with their success. They have brought bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Feist, Miike Snow and LCD Soundsystem to Brazil, empowering fans and elevating the independent music industry.

Miami Horror performing in Brazil

One of the best parts of it all is how they are achieving this success. Queremos! hosts an online crowdfunding platform where fans can choose an artist and the city where they will perform. In order to fund concerts, they sell special WeDemand tickets ahead of time and if they reach the minimum threshold, the concert is planned. If the show is sold out, anyone who bought a crowdfunded ticket is refunded and attends for free. If they don’t sell enough to fund the concert, everyone gets their money back.

In the past few months, Queremos! has expanded to New York and Los Angeles with the name WeDemand!. Their success is already spreading at a rapid pace. They have held concerts in San Francisco, New York and Boston. They were finalists at the TechCrunch Battlefield where they were called the “kickstarter for concerts” and even Snoop Dogg has been caught by their charm! He tweeted this week:

“This iz dope – if u get enuf homies to vote for it u can get a show in ur hood - http://www.wedemand.com” @SnoopDogg

We were eager to hear more details so we stepped across the street to our alumni office to talk with the team.

Q & A:

Q: How is Queremos! changing the independent music industry in Brazil?

A: We are giving people the idea that they can make things happen and, at the same time, crowdfunding is growing in Brazil. Three years ago, this kind of show was not really happening. No international, alternative, medium to small bands came to Brazil because of the cost, unstructured market and unpredictability of ticket sales. In the past 2 ½ years we have had more than 40 concerts, we really gave a shake to the market.

Q: What are some of the main differences you are noticing between the Brazilian and American market?

A: The US has a very scalable and well-established market. Take any main city and there are multiple venues prepared and looking for artists to perform. There are more cities than dates to play! There is also huge community of university students who we want to start spreading the word to. In Brazil, the independent concert industry hasn’t been around as long but it is growing and getting more established every day. New venues are opening up around the country, bringing more structure to the market and more opportunities for artists to perform.

Q: Coming this April you will be launching the new “Backstage” area of your platform. What new features will the backstage have?

A: The backstage will be an area where promoters can create their own crowdfunded events. There will be a metrics section where promoters can analyze how popular artists are relative to each city in order to get the best idea of where to plan a concert. They can also map out specific details like WeDemand ticket price, amount of tickets to be sold, concert venue, date, etc. It is a business to business platform where the artist, venue and promoter can close deals online.

Q: Any last words, stories?

A: A famous Brazilian musician called us one day asking for free tickets to one of our concerts. Normally in Brazil, this is no big deal, he gets the free ticket because he is VIP. But since our concerts are crowdfunded, we had to say no, we need people to buy tickets or the show may not even happen! After learning about how we work, he bought tickets.

Check out this video with more details about WeDemand!/Queremos!

This post was written by Marcos Barreto, a 21212 business member who helps guide our selection process.

21212 is always looking for hot new startups. Our selection process is open year-round and startups can start the acceleration program as soon as they are chosen. If you are an entrepreneur motivated to be the biggest and best in your sector, come apply to 21212.

But how are startups accepted into the program? What is 21212 really looking for? First, we need to clarify how the selection process works. Companies apply to the program on our website and, after an analysis of the applications, we select a small percentage for an interview with a 21212 team member. Below are some of the most important factors we take into account throughout the selection process.

21212 staff reading some new applications

Team

We believe the most important aspect of a great startup team is that it is complete and well-rounded. We look for focused, hard-working teams with members specialized in business, development and design. We don’t look for startups that hire part-time teams or outsource their tech work to software houses.

During the acceleration program, it is important that the entrepreneurs are available to come to Rio de Janeiro from at least Tuesday through Thursday to take advantage of the support 21212 can offer. We have an awesome co-working space in Botafogo where our startups are based and can take part in workshops and happy hours.

Startups that show they have a great team will be given an advantage in our selection process.

Business Model

A business model is another important component we take into account so we can have a better understanding of how the startup works. We don’t expect startups to have a 200 page business plan because it can become useless quickly from unexpected changes in the market. Instead, we encourage entrepreneurs to take a look at Osterwalders’s Business Model Canvas as a simple, straightforward guide to describe their business.

Stage

We love ideas but, unfortunately, there are so many out there it’s difficult to choose a startup solely based on their idea. If you have a brilliant business idea, stop planning and put it into practice.

We look for startups that, in addition to having a great idea, understand the operations of their company and their business model. The best way to prove that your team can be successful is by showing traction.

If you have an idea but don’t know how to start your business, consider taking a look at some books that guide our acceleration program Lean Startup, Business Model Generation e o Startup Owner`s Manual.

For any other questions regarding our acceleration program, you can read about us on our website. If you are ready for the acceleration program, feel free to apply! We look forward to hearing from you!

21212 has just partnered with New Relic, an SaaS application performance management company from San Francisco, California. New Relic lets you monitor, troubleshoot and scale a web app, keeping it from slowing down with the increase of visitors. They make it easy by showing the most important performance data for your app in real time. Arley Moura, of 21212’s start-up ZeroPaper, has been using New Relic and told us a little about how it has helped them out:

“We work daily with New Relic, their analysis of our app is fantastic. It is an indispensable tool for whoever wants an application with a stable performance.

When launching our product, we didn’t know exactly which bottlenecks would make it slower. New Relic helped us make a thorough analysis and discover the critical points that were slowing the application down. With this information, we were able to make the adjustments needed, saving work and time. We increased the speed of ZeroPaper.com.br by 60% and every day we are working to make it even better.

New Relic provided us with a complete map of the behavior of our application. It included features like: page load times, slow browser performance problems, and analysis of our database operations.

With all of this information now available, the decisions made by IT are much more useful.”

We are excited for our entrepreneurs here at 21212 to have access to this awesome service and keep their web apps up to speed!

This Saturday March 9th, Marcio Campos, founder of Pagpop Mobile Payments (graduated from our 1st Acceleration Program), will speak at the XV Latin American Conference presented by the Club Latinoamericano at Harvard Business School. The event will receive over 25 speakers and will focus on the question: the future has arrived, are we ready? Felipe Calderon, former president of Mexico, Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru, and Andre Esteves, CEO of BTG Pactual, will be three of the key note speakers. Marcio will speak on the “Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Challenges” panel at 4:30 EST which will discuss the Latin American entrepreneurship scene and highlight diverse perspectives from both the investment and start-up angle.

Marcio will share his perspective about the challenges and opportunities as a Brazilian entrepreneur tackling Mobile Payments services and solutions in Brazil and Latin America. The other members of the panel will be: Santiago Bilinkis, co-founder of OfficeNet/Quasar Ventures; Luiz Gustavo Mariano, Founder and Managing Partner of FLOW Executive Finders (Brazil); Mr. Matias Recchia, COO of Vostu; Ramana Nanda, Faculty Affiliate at the Center for International Development at the Harvard Business School.

For more information about Marcio’s panel, click here. Congratulations Marcio! We are excited to see a 21212 start-up representing the Brazilian entrepreneurship ecosystem in such a globally respected conference!

On March 27th, our mentor Kátia Campelo came in for our Weekly Talk on Oratory. Kátia is a speech therapist, expert in public speaking and the director of the Space of Oratory Kátia Campelo. She trains politicians, lecturers, and officers in the art of communication and speaking. We were happy to have her come in give us some very useful tips on how to capture our audience by being ourselves, delivering our message effectively and using powerful nonverbal behavior. Below is a summary of some of her main points.

1- Understand some basic communicative truths and your objective.

-Humans are constantly judging one another.
-Humans naturally feel a necessity to be accepted.
-Studies show that only 7% of how you communicate is based on the content.
-Communication is the act of bringing the sender closer to the receiver.
-Speaking in public does not just refer to formal situations; it happens every day.
-Communication is symbolic- Speech is full of symbols that we associate with experiences and memories.
-The more you listen to yourself speaking, the more power you will have over your words.

2- Stop repetition of words

Improving your oratory is an everyday practice. If you repeat words in daily conversation, you will repeat them when you are speaking formally. Always practice speaking clearly and directly, cutting out extra meaningless words, the “ums” and the “likes.” These words distract the audience and distance the communicator from the receptor rather than bringing them closer.

3- Understand how to organize your speech

Always have a beginning, middle and end. Make sure to have a powerful ending that lets the audience know you are finished.

4- Posture

Nonverbal communication is huge. Practice being conscious of your posture and pay attention to what message your nonverbal cues are telling the audience. Body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone directly affect how your message is conveyed.

5- Understand the profile of your audience

Understand who your audience is so you can deliver your message to them the most effectively. This doesn’t mean change your personality. Always be who you are no matter who you are speaking to but understand your audience so you can best deliver communication objective.

6- There is a technique for everything

Study your speech patterns and focus on what specific details you need to practice. There is a technique for anything that needs improvement so stay positive and don’t ever get discouraged!

Take a peek at this behind the scenes interview with Kátia! It is in Portuguese but even if you can’t understand you can probably see a lot from her nonverbal behavior!

Thanks for coming in Kátia! Our new entrepreneurs will be taking your advice to heart and using it to practice their pitches for our upcoming Investor Day!

For our Weekly Talk last Wednesday, February 27th, Guilherme Cohn, mentor at 21212 and partner at Confrapar, spoke to us about investments and running your start-up. Below is a quick recap of some of the interesting points he discussed with us.

·         Premature scaling is a reality. After closing a round of funding, it is easy to spend money hiring a large team hoping that it will help the growth of your business. However, there is still a high risk that months will go by and your business will have no growth at all. If this occurs, you will be using up your money before you have time to see what you are doing wrong and make adjustments. Investors want to see that you know how to allocate their money strategically so premature scaling doesn’t occur.

·         A business plan will provide comfort for the investor but can be dangerous for the entrepreneur. It is important that entrepreneurs don’t become too comfortable with it. New ideas and strategies should always be tested to get feedback and redefine the business based on the results. If an entrepreneur relies too much on a business plan it may hold him back from going out there and constantly searching for the customer feedback he really needs.

·         Enthusiasm is good, but commitment is even better. It is easy to show enthusiasm about your business but commitment is what investors really want to see. It assures them that even if money is running out or revenues are low, you have what it takes to run a business and you won’t quit. It is important for the investor to see that you really believe in what you are doing no matter what the circumstances.

·         Don’t blame your angel investor for problems within your start-up. The angel investor’s job is to provide capital for your business and he shouldn’t be expected to do more than that. He may help with mentoring or offer his experience and network, but this should be recognized as going above and beyond his role.

·         Hiring a sales team for a start-up is a mistake. No one understands how to sell the business better than the entrepreneurs themselves. A sales team will not know how to explain the product with the same enthusiasm and clarity as those who invented it. They will be less effective at selling your product and, in addition to this, will put distance between the rest of your company and the most important person — the customer.

·         It is incorrect to assume that all start-ups are made up of young entrepreneurs. Many businesses push away intelligent people just because they are older. Age shouldn’t matter and more experience in the field is always a plus.

·         The founders should always be the ones to make the final decisions. No one understands the business as well as the founders, so they should always be the ones to have the final say in the next step.

Take a look at this quick video where Guilherme shares some more important tips and thoughts!

Huge thanks to Guilherme for coming into our studio. We hope to see you again soon!

Founders of 21212

We are proud to announce that we have just been chosen as one of the  accelerators of Start-up Brasil! The focus of the program is to help stimulate the start-up ecosystem in Brazil and create  businesses in the areas of technology and innovation.  A committee will select 60 start-ups who will each receive up to R$200 thousand to develop their business over a 12 month period. 21212 will be welcoming some of these start-ups into our offices to be accelerated in our program. We are excited to be a part of Start-up Brasil and help with the government’s initiative to support the growth of entrepreneurship and innovation in Brazil.

The most difficult part was figuring out how to summarize all the hard work done at 21212 in the past two years…

21212 Startup Brasil proposal

We look forward to getting started and meeting the start-ups selected to come work with us!

UK Trade & Investment and Riosoft are inviting entrepreneurs of technology and innovation to participate in the Startup Competition of Brazil and the United Kingdom. The winners of the competition will be brought to Tech City in London.

This opportunity is part of the seasonal partnership program of UKBrasil, developed by the British government to promote the exchange of professional, educational, and cultural opportunities between the two countries.

To participate, fill out the form at this link by March 8th, 2013. Up to five businesses will be selected for an in loco presentation at Riosoft on March 14th, 2013.

This event was created especially for entrepreneurs, like you, who want to expand their innovative company into one of the most dynamic and interconnected environments in the world.

The first place company will be awarded with a trip to London to attend Tech City and participate in Digital Shoreditch Festival, one of the biggest festivals in the world that celebrates technology, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
Join this team of winners and sign up!

This is the last of a series of posts that explains the legal mistakes most likely to put your startup at risk. The material was written by our full-time lawyer Natalie and will be published in Portuguese because they target Brazilian entrepreneurs. If you do not understand Portuguese but would like to read them, click here to read it with Google Translator.

Read the previous posts here:

- Part 1

- Part 2

NÚMERO 5: NÃO SEGUIR AS BOAS PRÁTICAS DE GOVERNANÇA CORPORATIVA

Este conceito talvez seja novo para a maioria de vocês, novos empreendedores, mas é algo que devemos dar bastante atenção.

A Governança Corporativa é o sistema internacional de avaliação, monitoração e incentivo das empresas mais usado pelos investidores na atualidade, pois nele você converte princípios de boas práticas em recomendações objetivas.

O sistema surgiu nos Estados Unidos na década de 80 e ganhou destaque no Brasil com a nova Lei das Sociedades Anônimas e no Novo Mercado da Bovespa. Hoje é o padrão de conduta adotado pelas empresas brasileiras com ações na bolsa e vigiado atentamente pela CVM.

A sua principal preocupação é o alinhamento dos interesses dos acionistas, do conselho de administração das empresas, da diretoria e dos órgãos de controle. Ao atingir esse objetivo, sua empresa demonstra maturidade profissional, além de otimizar o valor da organização e facilitar o seu acesso a recursos de investidores em qualquer parte do mundo.

Com isso, a Governança Corporativa possui 4 pilares fundamentais: (1) Transparência; (2) Equidade; (3) Prestação de Contas (Accountability) e (4) Responsabilidade Corporativa.

Cada um desses pilares influencia os diversos órgãos de sua empresa, listando inúmeras recomendações que deverão ser seguidas. Mas neste momento, como você, empreendedor está iniciando sua empresa, vamos nos focar nas recomendações e deveres que deverão ser seguidos pelos administradores/diretores de sua empresa (ou seja, você!).

Portanto, os seguintes padrões de conduta são esperados dos administradores das empresas (preste bem atenção!):

1) Dever de Diligência

Todo administrador deve gerenciar a empresa com cuidado e diligência. Neste sentido, estão inseridos os deveres: (i) de se qualificar para o cargo (ou seja, ESTUDAR!!); (ii) de bem administrar seus negócios e sempre agir no interesse da empresa; (iii) de se informar (ver ponto 3 deste artigo); (iv) de investigar qualquer irregularidade verificada na empresa; e (v) de vigiar e monitorar seus negócios e funcionários com probidade.  Portanto, toda empresa precisa de um papai smurf!

2) Cumprimento do Interesse da Companhia e da Função Social

Nenhum administrador poderá praticar qualquer ato de liberalidade às custas da empresa, tomar como empréstimos recursos ou bens da empresa para usar em proveito próprio, e/ou receber de terceiros qualquer vantagem pessoal, em razão do exercício de seu cargo. Qualquer uma destas práticas será considerada como exercício abusivo do poder de controle do administrador e pode constituir crime tipificado pelo Código Penal.

3) Dever de Lealdade

Este dever é um dos mais importantes e vigiados pelos investidores. Ele basicamente exige que você seja leal a sua empresa, agindo com honestidade e boa-fé em busca do objetivo da empresa, definida em algumas recomendações objetivas. São elas:

- Ao administrador lhe é vedado usar em benefício próprio ou de terceiro, com ou sem prejuízo para a empresa,  as oportunidades comerciais que lhe são passadas em virtude do cargo que ocupa. Percebam bem o detalhe desta recomendação: não interessa se sua conduta causou ou não prejuízo a empresa, ela é simplesmente VEDADA!

- Na mesma linha do ponto anterior, também é vedado ao administrador omitir-se ou deixar de aproveitar oportunidades comerciais que seriam consideradas interessantes para a empresa, visando à obtenção de vantagens para si ou para terceiros.

- Por fim, é vedado ao administrador adquirir, para revender com lucro, bem ou direito que é necessário à empresa ou que ela tenha intenção em adquirir.

Não sei se já perceberam, mas todos os itens anteriores têm algo em comum: o acesso do administrador ou de qualquer subordinado de confiança a informações privilegiadas e usá-las em benefício próprio. Portanto, é dever do receptor da informação privilegiada manter SIGILO até que ela tenha sido divulgada ao mercado.

No entanto, não basta somente manter sigilo das informações recebidas, o administrador também não pode manipular os resultados para auferir lucro ou evitar prejuízo, ou mesmo influenciar o posicionamento da empresa no mercado.

Trata-se do crime de Insider Trading, que na tradução do português, “crime de uso indevido de informações privilegiadas”.

4) Evitar Conflitos de Interesses

Este dever exige o óbvio: nenhum administrador poderá intervir ou decidir sobre qualquer assunto da empresa que lhe diga respeito pessoalmente ou que for de seu interesse, seja direta ou indiretamente.

Um exemplo clássico é quando o administrador é sócio da empresa Y que está apresentando uma proposta de negócios para análise da sua empresa. Portanto, o administrador, como tem interesse direto na contratação dessa empresa Y, não poderá usar sua influência ou cargo para forçar a sua contratação. Ela deverá ser analisada em igualdade de condições com as outras empresas, e ganhará a que for mais rentável para sua empresa. Entenderam?

5) Dever de Informar

Neste item, o administrador não pode deixar de informar ao mercado ou tentar impedir que o mercado saiba de alguma informação da empresa que possa influenciar na sua cotação/valorização frente ao mercado e/ou na decisão dos investidores de comprar, vender ou manter suas participações na empresa. Ele pode inclusive ser pessoalmente responsabilizado por qualquer omissão na divulgação dessas informações. Por exemplo, troca-troca de participações entre os sócios, entrada e saída de sócios ou diretores/administradores, entre outros.

Obviamente, existem algumas exceções à imediata divulgação dessa informação, principalmente quando estiver em jogo algum interesse da empresa que possa vir a ser prejudicado se divulgada tal informação.

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Bom, espero que as informações que foram passadas tenha ajudado a abrir um pouco a cabeça para alguns conceitos jurídicos necessários a qualquer empresa. Essa divulgação é essencial porque se desde o começo adotarmos uma política de transparência e respeito, poucos ajustes serão necessários na hora dos investidores analisarem a empresa.

Muito obrigada!!!

Natalie Witte

Advogada / 21212

We are delighted to announce Macmillan Digital Education’s recent investment in Easyaula! Macmillan Digital Education is a corporate venture capital investor and incubator aimed at making learning more effective. They provide online and printed material for teachers, students and educational institutions and have been active in Brazil since 1994.

Are you an aspiring teacher or is there a particular class you are looking to take to further your career? Discover how Easyaula can make this possible by visiting their website!

We are proud to officially announce the investment of R$ 10M into 21212 from DXA Investments. We entered 2013 with big plans to improve our program and offer even more entrepreneurs the opportunity to work together in building the best digital businesses in Brazil. The investment and partnership with DXA will help us realize those plans as we expand from 2 to 3 programs per year, work with a broader range of companies and expand our ability to help those companies grow quickly and finance their companies.

The investment was recently announced in O Globo (Negócios & CIA) and in an article in PEGN Online featuring our partner Frederico Lacerda. Frederico describes how “we were looking for an intelligent investment and not just capital. DXA Investments will bring together knowledge, especially in the area of venture capital.” Take a look at the full article here.

If you are interested in more details about our 2012 results and the changes we made in our new acceleration model, click here to read this previous blog post.

This week we were happy to welcome Denise Eler for our weekly talk.

Eler is a Brazilian designer based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. She is a specialist in Design Thinking, working as a consultant in personal development, business design and innovation. She is a professor for MBA programs and graduate school.

She discussed how the world of business is changing, shifting from old business and management models to the fast pace of the digital 21st century. As a result of these changes, we often hear the term “Design Thinking” in discussions about innovation and new businesses.

Design is a “human-centric” discipline, therefore Design Thinking is heavily focused on how the user/client/person reacts and interacts with a product, service, brand, etc.

The new position of CDO (Chief of Design Officer) is more and more common among startups and even big companies seeking innovation.

This is a tendency, but the shift is still slow, only now do we have designers taking business classes and business people taking design classes.

She compared the two mindsets:

Business Thinking – Fordist model, analytical, rationalist with no long term vision

-Keeping the best practices of the market
-Benchmarking
-Continuous Improvement
-Data analysis to make decisions concerning the future
-Focusing on cutting cost

Design Thinking – Not trading quality over price, creating emotional connections through segmented targeting.

-Focusing on new practices
-Being the benchmark
-Being disruptive
-Exploring and creating new scenarios
-Focusing on the meaning and value for the user

Denise explained that the new model is about including design, along with business and technology, inside the production cycle. Going from thinking and doing, to a system where you think, observe, understand, prototype and learn, much like the lean startup model.

Check out the video of the interview after the talk!

Thanks to Denise for the amazing talk. We loved having you at the office and hope you’ll be back soon!

Follow her on twitter or take a look at her website.

Last week, Estadão released an article where our partner Rafael Duton discussed the five errors that could end any partnership in the business world. Click here to read the original article in Portuguese or continue reading below for a summary in English.

Five Errors that could end any Partnership in the Business World

The reasons to have a business partner are endless: having someone to share difficult entrepreneurial moments with, expanding your contacts, increasing capital. While the list of pros goes on and on, it is important to address the challenges that can arise when working with a partner. Rafael Duton explains that “it may not be easy to find a partner, but it is still the best choice a businessman can make.” Here is a list of five crucial errors Duton states that could lead any partnership to fail:

Falling in the trap of a best friend

While friends and family are often likely candidates for business partners, it is not recommended. It is important to address the needs of the business before the proximity of a relationship. If something goes awry in your family or friendship, it will affect your business.

Skipping the “relationship phase”

The “relationship phase,” according to Duton, is a two-three month period where partners can start working together before “formalizing the union.” In this time, the partners can informally put the business together and observe if they have the same values and perspectives.

Lack of a Specialized Partner

Money and compatibility are not the only components of a successful partnership. It is fundamental that at least one of the partners has experience and expertise in the business sector. Without this balance, the partnership could fall apart.

Psychological Contract

Partners that don’t have aligned personal expectations in front of the challenges they will face will have a difficult time in the long run. “A business where one partner wants to have publicity in magazines, one wants to sell, one wants to grow and another wants to stay small has a serious problem.” Duton suggests that the solution is to form a psychological contract – a type of constitution describing guidelines, responsibilities and politics that the team can resort to in the case of crisis.

Money for Money

Rafael highlights that “a partner who only thinks about money, is not good.” It is important to look for partners who, on top of having money, have experience and contacts. “Money alone doesn’t solve anything, that is why I don’t look for partners who are just investors.”

This guest post was written by Eliot Brockner. Eliot is a former 21212 intern who is currently pursuing his MBA at Columbia Business School. You can follow him on twitter at @EBrockner.

The economy may be cooling and laws and regulations for foreign investment in Brazilian companies remain as complicated as ever, but there is no denying that the market for startups in Brazil is hot. There is a confluence of growth indicators in Brazil that signal huge opportunity in this segment.

 The numbers are staggering. Between 2007-2011 the e-commerce industry experienced compounded annual growth of 24%, and is expected to keep growing from US$18.7 billion to US$26.9 million by 2015. Year-over-year growth on the major social networks in Brazil has been even more robust. The country experienced 192% growth in Facebook users, 40% growth in Twitter users, and 206% in Tumblr users, catapulting it to the world’s second largest market for these websites. Fueling this growth is the increased number of internet users in Brazil; in 2012 that number reached 82.4 million. Mobile phones – long popular in Brazil – are becoming more advanced with 15.4 million smartphones and 54.3 million 3G devices in use in the country at the end of 2012.

So 2013 is sure to bring a wave of new investments – both foreign and domestic – into this growth market. But how will those investments happen? How are investors deploying capital in Brazilian startups?

VCs

One way these investments will continue to pour in is via traditional VC firms. The biggest Brazilian VC headline in 2012 was Redpoint e.Ventures announcing the launch of a US$130 million fund focused on the country. For LPs in these VCs, this method has several advantages. One is the sheer amount of capital at these firms’ disposal relative to other investment vehicles (friends and family, angels, etc.). Cash is king and especially for the cash-intensive e-commerce successes of 2012 in Brazil (baby.com.br, Netshoes, and Dafiti, to name a few). These VCs are run by entrepreneurs and finance professionals with deep experience, know-how, and connections to the Brazilian market. Because there are so few VCs, competition is limited, so they often can have their pick when it comes to entrepreneurs and companies. It’s also common for VCs to co-invest and share the risk and upside from an investment with others. In 2012 we saw this in deals like MadeiraMadeira, Oppa, and Peixe Urbano.

All of these advantages, of course, are contingent on one big factor: access. Although traditional VCs present the biggest tech investment opportunity, getting to them can be tough, as only a handful of VCs have a sustained, long-term presence in Brazil. The small number of traditional VCs focused on Brazil means not only that competition is limited, but that there are only a handful of places to put money. While this is an advantage for the funds themselves, as they face less competition for the most promising startups, it is a disadvantage for potential LPs. Options to invest in a traditional VC are usually limited to larger institutional funds (“funds of funds”), friends/family of someone raising a Brazil-focused VC fund, or very wealthy individuals and family offices with a history of VC investing.

Angels

Another method is to invest directly as an angel investor. This method allows investors to gain access earlier, typically for less money, to an enormous online marketplace that still has room to grow. The potential returns are huge and initial investments can be spread across different companies in different sectors.

Angels beware: There are a few risks with this method. One is that the growth of the Brazilian economy has led to an enormous startup boom around Brazil and a new generation of companies trying to make it. While in the long run this is fantastic news for the Brazilian startup ecosystem, it makes it harder for angels to identify the best companies and entrepreneurs, so the logistics of running around and meeting many entrepreneurs is a significant cost and makes it harder to make many bets, thus decreasing the odds of success. But this sourcing complication is just the beginning. Once the angel has decided she has found the perfect startup, she often must mentor the startup (not a passive investment) and navigate a complicated legal system as a foreign owner with a stake in a Brazilian company. She must also evaluate her potential personal liability in case something goes wrong. Without a trusted entrepreneurial, financial, and legal network in Brazil, angel investing can be akin to shooting darts at a growing target: more surface area, but a smaller probability of hitting the sweet spot.

Accelerators

Accelerators present another vehicle for those looking to invest in Brazil. In many ways, these accelerators represent the best of both worlds. Because their portfolio companies must go through a rigorous selection process, investors can be sure that the companies have been ‘vetted’ by those with the eyes and ears to spot a good company (many of the accelerators were founded by successful entrepreneurs). And because accelerators typically work with many more companies per year than a VC, an investor is getting access to many more deals and thereby diversifying risk. The upside is theoretically greater as well, because accelerators typically begin working with a company prior to a Series A venture capital investment, meaning higher returns for the winners. Investing in an accelerator is a great source of “deal flow” for investors looking to become angel investors in a later round of the most successful companies coming out of the accelerator.

Accelerators also offer significant support to companies in the form of mentoring, shared work space, web services, marketing, design, and technical assistance, all of which can help give fledgling companies their best chance for success. Good accelerators provide an on-ramp to the local and international investment community of angels and VCs, thereby lowering the risk that a startup won’t be able to raise its next round of capital. By grouping together entrepreneurs from different companies, it becomes easier for the collective to solve common technology or business problems. Accelerator alumni networks grow fast and provide lasting connections to talent, business development opportunities, and complementary products and services.

Yet accelerators also have their pitfalls. Many Brazilian accelerators take significant equity in exchange for their services, which could discourage proven entrepreneurs with viable business ideas from pitching in the first place. Joining the rush of startups in Brazil has been a glut of incubators promising to accelerate them; investors must vet these accelerators the same way they do startups, which can be time consuming. Lastly, some accelerators have a focus (B2C, mobile, etc.) and thus tend to only work with one type of company, ignoring or rejecting potential big-money opportunities available to investors looking outside of the focused incubators (such as the BNDES-backed, technology-focused Criatec I and Criatec II funds).

For our Weekly Talk on January 24th, Marco Fisbhen, the founder of Descomplica!, gave a presentation on investor relations. Descomplica! is an online platform that provides low-cost, multidisciplinary online classes to help students study for the vestibular, the Brazilian college entrance exam. Through his work, Marco has inspired students across Brazil and helped them get into their dream universities!

During the presentation, Fisbhen shared some helpful tips for securing investments:

- “Sou muito favor de fazer menos.” (I believe in doing less)

When thinking of an idea for your startup, don’t try to revolutionize. Instead, focus on one simple, clear goal and take it from there. For Fisbhen, this meant two things: all high school curriculum + online videos.

- Make a clear presentation

All that is needed is a simple frame that is easy to understand and communicate.

- Find an angel investor

Research the investors you are interested in and look for ones with a management team and board.

- Write a business plan.

Even if you think it is completely useless and will get you absolutely nowhere, just do it. Sit, think and write, and you are bound to discover something unexpected.

- Surround yourself with the right people.

Hang out with other awesome, amazing people who inspire you, motivate you and push you forward.

- $$$ = gasoline

Remember that you don’t need a huge investment right away. You just need enough to get you where you need to go in that moment.

- N X $100,000

Decide whether you aim to secure one large investment or several smaller ones.

- Top characteristics angel investors are looking for:

- Enthusiasm - The most important quality!

- Credibility – Demonstrate that you have a clear understanding of the context of your business.

- Scalability/Sales – Understand how to maintain efficiency with the growth of your business.

- Product design - Have a nice layout, although this is not always the first thing investors look at.

- Return –  Show that you understand how  to look forward and measure your business return. This will save you a lot of stress later on.

- Track record - Show that your past performances have been successful.

- Execution - Demonstrate the results you will have  to show between your first meeting and the second (between 3-6 months).

Check out this quick interview with Marco after the talk!

Thanks to Marco for stopping by and telling us about his experiences! You can follow him on twitter at @marco_fisbhen.

Steven Dean is a New York designer, consultant, educator and entrepreneur focused on consumer health and wellness innovation. He is a partner of Prehype, a product innovation studio with offices in London and New York. Prehype has a partnership with 21212 with the objective of getting more corporations to innovate like startups. For our Weekly Talk on January 16th, our team and entrepreneurs had the chance to hear a little bit about Steven’s amazing experience in behavior design.

Steven Dean opened the talk by describing his work with the Quantified Self, a movement which promotes health and wellness by encouraging the use of technology for internal data acquisition (everything from food consumed to blood oxygen levels). He also mentioned his work at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, where the goal is to “design products and services that get people to do things.”

Dean then posed the question, “What is behavior?”

He explained that every startup’s main goal should be to identify the specific target behavior that they are trying to achieve. For example, YouTube created a business around the specific target behavior of uploading videos. Their designers and developers had a difficult task: to make this experience extremely easy and its interface very user friendly.

The description of the specific target behavior must be crisp and meaningful. Once a startup identifies the specific target behavior, the next question is: “How do I get customers to exhibit this behavior?”

There are two dimensions of getting a particular behavior to occur: motivation and ability. A trigger/cue/reminder/call to action must also be present.  In order for a behavior to happen, it must be easy to do, user motivation must be high and a trigger must be in place. All three of these need to occur at the same time.

B=MAT
Behavior = Motivation Ability Trigger

Entrepreneurs’ goal is to create a platform that puts triggers in the path of motivated people. Examples of successful triggers are IFTTT.COM and OHLIFE.COM (daily e-mail prompts for journal entries). If a startup fails to stimulate its specific target behavior, entrepreneurs must ask: Is there a trigger? If there is, then ask: Is the behavior easy to do? Motivation is very hard to design for.

He explained that in design, simplicity is critically important. All great companies started by doing one tiny thing, finding a little success, and building off of that success.

Dean also shared three insights on human beings. We are lazy, social creatures of habit. There will always be a part of the population that entrepreneurs can’t reach.

Check out this video to hear more about Dean’s thoughts on Brazil!

It was awesome to have Steven Dean in the office to share his knowledge with us and we hope he’ll come back again soon! You can follow him on @sgdean and if you want to know more about him.

This is a series of posts that explains the legal mistakes most likely to put your startup at risk. The material was written by our full-time lawyer Natalie and will be published in Portuguese because they target Brazilian entrepreneurs. If you do not understand Portuguese but would like to read them, click here to read it with Google Translator.

NÚMERO 3: FALTA DE INFORMAÇÃO

Não é mais admissível que um empreendedor não conheça as normas e regulamentos que são específicos ao seu negócio. Qualquer empreendedor deve pelo menos ter uma noção das diversas normas, leis, pagamentos de taxas e outras instruções compulsórias que devem ser seguidas. Se não souber, é importante que antes de empreender, o futuro empresário inicie um estudo sobre o segmento que queira adentrar (existem hoje muitos livros técnicos à disposição nas livrarias) ou consulte um advogado e peça orientação técnica-jurídica.

Além disso, para abrir uma empresa também há toda uma tramitação de documentos e processos. Se você tem algum projeto em mente, saiba que às vezes isso é demorado, então, convém a você já ir adiantando essa papelada. Em um outro post, falaremos um pouco mais das etapas necessárias para a abertura de uma empresa.

Portanto, a dica é: ESTUDE MUITO! Assim você conhece melhor seu negócio e os riscos a ele atrelados, além de obviamente, potencializar sua capacidade de ganhar dinheiro!

NÚMERO 4: FALTA DE RESPEITO E TRANSPARÊNCIA COM SEUS FUNCIONÁRIOS

Qual é a primeira coisa que um investidor vai se preocupar em olhar na empresa que pretende investir? É se ela tem algum passivo!

Essas contingências às vezes são inevitáveis, mas existem inúmeras ações que podemos fazer para diminuí-las ou até prevenir qualquer processo.

Primeiro que tudo, o empreendedor tem que ser correto com seus funcionários, assinando o contrato de trabalho, pagando os salários em dia, respeitando e cumprindo com as legislações trabalhistas e previdenciárias.

Recomendamos também assinarem um Contrato de Confidencialidade e não concorrência direta, principalmente na área de TI, onde o funcionário tem acesso à essência do projeto.

Segundo, como tudo na vida, o empreendedor tem que guardar todos os documentos necessários e indispensáveis, como comprovantes de pagamento de salário, troca de emails com o funcionário, material elaborado pelos funcionários, etc. Sua preocupação constante tem que ser com a fiscalização que um dia bater na sua porta, ou com um possível processo trabalhista de um ex-funcionário. Nessas horas, você terá que ter tudo em mãos para demonstrar que, como empregador, está em dia com suas obrigações.

Terceiro, seja transparente com seus funcionários. Faça com que todos se sintam como se estivessem no mesmo barco. Mesmo que você tenha trabalhado ao lado desses profissionais durante anos, isso não significa que você os conhece. Entenda o que os estimula, como motivá-los, o que os deixa apreensivos ou preocupados. Dê a sua atenção e dedique tempo para eles. Eles se sentirão não só valorizados, mas a sensação de camaradagem criado no ambiente de trabalho fará com que todos se preocupem com os rumos da sua empresa e se esforcem para que todos os objetivos sejam atingidos.

Por último, o respeito é essencial! Manter um ambiente de trabalho profissional evita outros tipos de ações (como as de assédio moral e assédio sexual), muito comuns no judiciário brasileiro. Sabemos que os ânimos se exaltam de vez em quando, algo até normal para qualquer um que vive em sociedade, mas evite xingamentos ou brincadeiras indecentes. Você quer criar um ambiente de trabalho e não uma mesa de bar.

Portanto, sempre tome cuidado como fala com seus funcionários. Se algo lhe incomoda, converse e oriente. As regras precisam estar claras entre as partes. Esta é a melhor recomendação para evitar riscos jurídicos.

E lembre-se: uma empresa que diminui a quantidade de ações judiciais contra si possui muitos benefícios! Entre eles, temos:

- Quanto menos ações judiciais contra a empresa, maior o lucro e maior o valor economizado;

- Facilidade em manter uma contabilidade segura, podendo assim calcular com mais precisão a margem de lucro e possíveis investimentos; e

- Menor preocupação com o setor jurídico, dedicando-se assim, em maior intensidade, a outras tarefas.

Em breve postaremos a terceira e ultima parte, aguardem.

Por Natalie Witte

This is a series of posts that explains the legal mistakes most likely to put your startup at risk. The material was written by our full-time lawyer Natalie and will be published in Portuguese because they target Brazilian entrepreneurs. If you do not understand Portuguese but would like to read them, click here to read it with Google Translator.

Como vocês podem verificar, o nosso tema de hoje é muito importante para a sobrevida de uma empresa.

 Infelizmente, muitos empreendedores acham que os aspectos jurídicos do seu negócio e de sua empresa podem ser avaliados em um segundo momento, pois o mais importante é sempre ganhar dinheiro e colocar o produto/serviço na rua. Pois é, o primeiro lema de qualquer empreendedor é “Money Money Money!”

Apesar de todos querermos a mesma coisa (!!), o empreendedor de hoje em dia precisa ganhar dinheiro, MAS COM RESPONSABILIDADE E CONSCIÊNCIA DE SEUS ATOS. Uma desinformação jurídica pode chegar a ser fatal para a maioria das novas empresas, pois normalmente quando o problema surge, a solução pode ser cara demais para um empreendedor que acabou de iniciar suas atividades.

 Pois é, despesas não provisionadas como, pagamento de multas decorrentes de autuações, custas processuais e administrativas, honorários advocatícios e periciais, penhora sobre bens, etc., ainda são experimentados pelas empresas mais desavisadas.

No entanto, o que mais impressiona é que na maioria das vezes, uma análise jurídica desde os primórdios da empresa pode evitar muitas dores de cabeça. Ou seja, ela não pode ser tratada como uma despesa, mas sim como um investimento no futuro e rumo de sua empresa. É o que chamamos de “advocacia preventiva”.

COM ESSE INTUITO, AO LONGO DE ALGUNS POSTS, LISTAREMOS OS TOP 5 ERROS JURÍDICOS MAIS VISTOS ENTRE OS NOVOS EMPREENDEDORES.

NÚMERO 1: NÃO VER O ADVOGADO COMO UM ALIADO

O maior erro (e infelizmente ainda um grande costume) das empresas é acionar o advogado apenas quando o problema já esta estabelecido, ou seja, quando a situação já está preta ou até já concretizada em um processo contencioso.

O que o empreendedor tem que entender que a assessoria jurídica de forma preventiva agrega um grande valor não só na execução de estratégias de controle e minoração de problemas que diretamente afetam a saúde financeira da empresa, mas também nos estudos de matérias sensíveis ao seu desenvolvimento, tais como revisão jurídica dos modelos de negócios adotados pela empresa. O advogado tem que ser visto como um aliado na hora de empreender!

NÚMERO 2: NÃO DETERMINAR REGRAS CLARAS NA ORGANIZAÇÃO DA EMPRESA

Toda empresa precisa ter regras claras de como funcionará, principalmente na relação entre os sócios. E como na maioria das vezes, os sócios são amigos ou familiares, as regras do dia a dia de uma empresa não são nem conversadas, porque a confiança entre todos é muito grande. Mas ditados não são criados a toa: “Negócios são negócios, amigos (e família!) a parte”.

 Pois é, a definição das regras de como funcionará a empresa pode ser uma conversa desconfortável, mas extremamente necessária. O desentendimento entre sócios é uma coisa grave, e muitas empresas lucrativas acabam fechando as portas por que os sócios não chegavam a um acordo, estragando um relacionamento amistoso por uma falha profissional.

 Por isso, antes de se montar uma sociedade, é preciso avaliar muito bem as prospecções pessoais de cada sócio, as idéias, além de sua participação efetiva (em valores) e fazer um contrato/estatuto social bem elaborado, definindo de forma clara e transparente as obrigações, direitos e limitações de cada sócio. É recomendado inclusive elaborar também um acordo de acionistas/quotistas.

 Obviamente, a intuição e o conhecimento do advogado que irá elaborar o documento, instituindo as regras da empresa, serão de grande importância neste momento.  Assim, se as diversas situações de crise são detalhadas corretamente nos documentos sociais, atritos desnecessários serão minimizados e isso demonstrará maturidade profissional para qualquer um que for analisar/investir em sua empresa.

Em breve postaremos a segunda parte, aguardem.

Por Natalie Witte

On the 24th and 25th of November 2012, we hosted the third edition of the Geeks on Mocha Hackathon at our office.

It was a great experience to have around 40 hackers at the 21212 office in a 30 hours event. In between all the pizza eating and energy drinks drinking, they had to work 18 hours straight in order to develop an online game. They were divided in 5 teams to brainstorm about the game’s plot and code a prototype. We were thrilled to see the results!

We had a lot of young programmers who were not even in university yet. Even so, in a short period of time, they end up proving to have great potential!

Check out some results and further information about the event on this link (in portuguese)!

First off, we’d like to thank all the entrepreneurs, investors, sponsors and supporters that participated in the 2nd 21212 Demo Day on October 19th. It was a huge success and a testament to how quickly the startup ecosystem in Rio and Brazil is evolving. Demo Day is an invitation only event for investors and it’s clear the community of active investors is growing very quickly — this time around we had 350+ people in attendance and over 100 investors from Brazil, US, and Europe.

At Demo Day we announced some of 21212’s initial results and we’d like to share those with all of you now. In our first 2 programs this past year 21212 has accelerated a total of 18 companies. So far, 12 of those companies have received outside capital or firm commitments for outside investment, totaling over R$7.5M. This number is growing quickly and the pace of investment is increasing as both our companies and the ecosystem mature.

The early results are encouraging, but we have a lot more work to do. We always tell our companies, in order to build the best product, you need to talk to your customers all the time. We apply the lean startup methodology of “build, measure, learn” to 21212 in the same way we would to any of our companies.

So, in the past months we’ve been measuring, learning and talking to our customers about 21212. In fact, we’ve talked to hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs to better understand how we’re doing and what the market needs and now, we are responding. We decided to make a few key changes to 21212 for next year so we could do more, faster in 2013.

More Companies
21212 will increase the number of programs from 2 to 3 cycles per year. Each program will still have around 10 companies, so now the goal is to accelerate about 30 startups per year. We’re also expanding our program to work with companies at different stages:

- Stage 1: Pre-revenue startups that have great founding teams, a big idea and some product built, but are still seeking real traction.
- Stage 2: Companies with a product, traction and revenue, who already have product/market fit and are in a better position to accelerate growth.

More Cash
We’re increasing the amount of survival money that we offer to companies in the program to up to R$50k per company, depending on the number of founders. We’re always very clear with entrepreneurs that the real value of 21212 isn’t the money, but the time, experience, team and network. That being said, living costs are rising and we want entrepreneurs to be focused on building great products and not so worried about paying the rent.

More Services
In addition to more cash, 21212 is also adding even more services from the partners like Amazon, Rackspace, Google, BooBox, SurveyMonkey, ZenDesk, PivotalTracker, SendGrid and others, totalling over R$200k per company.

More Flexible Equity
Given the broader range of companies we’re including in the program, 21212 is also moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to our equity participation. We will offer a range of terms for Stage 1 and Stage 2 companies relative the stage of the start-up and the experience of the team.

Welcome Hackers, MBA’s and Entrepreneurs
We’re also starting a “hacker in residence” program — if you’re a top developer who’s passionate about entrepreneurship but don’t have a company yet, we’d love to make you a part of 21212. In addition, we are always looking for qualified MBA’s from top schools and entrepreneurs with proven track records that are interested in starting something or working with an existing team. If you fit this description please apply here. If accepted, you’ll get a package that includes salary and equity to work on one of our own projects or with one of our portfolio companies.

If you have questions or comments about these changes, feel free to send us a message! We will be happy to chat and learn even more.

Cheers,

21212 Team

In the last three blog posts, we posted videos of our companies’ presentations at the second 21212 Demo Day.

Last, but not least, we would like to share with you our final company presentations: Access Club and Zona Universitaria.

The Access Club is a private, invite-only, social network, that provides exclusive offline benefits through an online platform. With the comfort and convenience of the Access Card subscribers will be able to access (permanently) all the privileges, such as late check-outs and category upgrades at hotels and resorts, free gifts at top brands and restaurants, skipping to the front of the line at nightclubs and VIP events. Access Club wants to give their members the best experiences possible.

Zona Universitaria is a social marketplace for Brazilian university students. This platform helps students construct a “map of achievements” capturing all of their career goals in a structured plan they can follow and share with others to get help. Once we they where students want to go, they help them find educational and professional opportunities they might not otherwise have known existed based on their goals and give them real world rewards once they achieve their goals.

Thank you for watching, we hope you enjoyed it!

We hope that you have enjoyed watching the videos we have shared so far of the companies that presented at the second 21212 Demo Day!

Now we would like to introduce to you two other great companies: Bidcorp and Site Sustentavel.

Bidcorp is a marketplace that manages and sells surplus assets from completed construction sites to other construction contractors, businesses, or individual consumers.Through their online platform, construction companies can make their new and used assets available to the brazilian market at very attractive prices. Additionally, this company offers all the necessary services to make these transactions possible, such as marketing, client interactions, payment management, and logistics.

Site Sustentavel offers a way for e-commerce websites to show to their clients that they are environmentally conscious. This company provides a seal on websites for companies who pay to plant enough trees to neutralize their carbon footprint. Given the amount of energy it takes to run servers, and the large amount of public interest around the environment, Site Sustentavel is the perfect way for websites to show customers their commitment to sustainability.

Please feel free to watch the rest of the videos of our companies on Vimeo. Enjoy!

As we mentioned in our last post, 21212 hosted its second Demo Day on October 19th, 2012, and we are very proud of the outcome and of our companies’ performance. We already shared with you videos of two great companies, Zeropaper and Queremos, pitching their ideas at the event. We hope that you enjoyed their presentations.

Now, we would like to share with you the videos of two other companies, Easyaula and WeGoOut.

Easyaula is an online marketplace for offline classes. It connects students, teachers and local venues, enabling individuals to easily offer a class in absolutely any subject. Easyaula features all types of classes, from academic tutoring to dance, music and professional development.

WeGoOut is a social night-life-discovery platform that suggests, specifically to you, the most popular events, places near you and events where your friends are going. This innovative platform shows you details about who is going to events and parties and also provides real-life information by showing live photos.

Once again we would like to invite you to watch the rest of the videos on Vimeo if you do not want to wait until the next posts. Enjoy!

On October 19th 2012 we were very proud to host our second Demo Day! The energy was amazing and we had great presentations during the event. Unfortunately, we could not open the event for everyone and we know that not everyone had the chance to watch it on Livestream.

For this reason, we want to share with you the videos of our companies pitching during the event.

Today we have selected two companies, Queremos and Zeropaper.

Queremos is an online platform to crowdfund and promote concerts and live events. Fans depend on local producers to bring their favorite bands to play in their city, producers take too many risks producing concerts and artists don’t play as much as they want. Queremos puts together fans, producers and artists in order to reduce producers risks, help artists know where people want them to play and give power to the fans so that they can choose the artists they want to bring to their city.

Zeropaper is solving small businesses’ problems regarding financial management. Zeropaper offers a simple and intuitive tool where companies only need to input their financial data and the system provides them with reports and analyses of the company’s situation. Zeropaper also aggregates expense data from the physical notes and invoices for businesses and organizes it in an easy-to-read format.

We will post the other videos on the following days, but feel free to watch the rest of them on Vimeo.

No próximo fim de semana a aceleradora 21212 recebe o Geeks On Mocha Hackathon e seus 40 hackers com o objetivo de desenvolverem games em 24 horas. A maratona de programação está sendo realizada em parceria com os organizadores do meetup de tecnologia Geeks On Beer.

O evento terá início no sábado às nove horas, com a divisão das equipes e um workshop ministrado por Hamilton Lima. Nesse encontro o fundador da Vaca Vitória Softwares ensina como como desenvolver games em tão pouco tempo.

A maratona, que só terminará às 15 horas de domingo, contará com pizzas fornecidas pela Domino’s Pizza, muito café e energéticos para manter os times acordados, além de guloseimas que irão alimentar os hackers a noite inteira.

A equipe vencedora ganhará uma licença pro da Unity -software para desenvolvimento de jogos multiplataforma-, no valor de US$ 1500,00 e um mês de acesso gratuito a todos os cursos da CodeSchool para um integrante da equipe vencedora.

Ficou interessado? Quer participar? Restam poucas vagas, acesse o site do evento e garanta a sua: www.geeksonmocha.com

To help show off Brazil’s rapid development in the area of entrepreneurship, RJTV came to our office to hear more about us and our great entrepreneurs!

Bidcorp recently graduated from the second 21212 acceleration program and proudly talks about the more than 60 million reais in assets available for sale on their platform. The attribute much of their success to their experiences and mentorship during the 21212 acceleration program. But first, they had to pass through a highly competitive selection process in order to be part of the gallery of incredible entrepreneurs.

Marcelo Sales talks about the intense program our entrepreneurs need to survive so that they can have the best chances of succeeding. In support of Sales’ words, Marcio Campos (founder and CEO of PagPop) talks about his success after graduating from the first 21212 acceleration program. His company grew 5X, received an investment from Intel Capital and is now ready to dominate the mobile payments industry in Brazil!

Check out the full video to hear from some of the people behind 21212!

Our acceleration program is extremely focused on achieving meaningful results in a short period of time. However, these results keep coming after the program. Here is a small part of what we achieved so far with our alumni companies from the first program (ended March 2012).

Check out the video below and see for yourself how it works after you finish the acceleration program and become part of our alumni network!

Fundo binacional tem R$ 100 mi para bancar startups.

A 21212 é uma aceleradora de empresas binacional, comandada pelos brasileiros Marcelo Sales, Rafael Duton e Leonardo Constantino, que gerenciam a empresa a partir do Rio de Janeiro (21), e por Benjamin White e Jeff Levinsohn, sediados em Nova York (212).

Já mantém em seu portfólio 18 empresas digitais que passaram por uma rigorosa seleção entre centenas de jovens empreendedores e que durante quatro meses entraram no programa de aceleração. No processo, elas foram preparadas por meio de mentorias e couching com nomes fortes do mercado, como Daniel Simon da Gávea Investimentos, para participarem do Demo Day. O evento apresentou, no dia 19, no Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio, nove empresas inovadoras, que atuam com soluções digitais, a 120 investidores institucionais entre fundos de investimento e de venture capital e investidores anjo nacionais e estrangeiros.

Leia mais em:

http://www.valor.com.br/empresas/2895858/fundo-binacional-tem-r-100-mi-para-bancar-startups#ixzz2BdwEUnnE

Adriana Cisneros, the keynote speaker at our second Demo Day and mentor of our startups was featured in O Globo.  In the piece they mention 21212 as one part of the Cisneros Group’s transition to digital areas. Check it out (in portuguese):

RIO Onipresente em países latino-americanos de língua espanhola, o gigante venezuelano de mídia e entretenimento Cisneros não quer desperdiçar as oportunidades que agora se abrem no Brasil, o país da região onde sua presença é mais fraca. Adriana Cisneros, vice-presidente e herdeira do conglomerado, esteve no Rio há duas semanas para participar de um evento de start-ups e, entre outras missões, encontrar o parceiro certo que lhe permita ingressar no mercado brasileiro de TV. Ela admite que essa chegada poderia se dar por meio de parceria com SBT ou Rede TV!.

Quando digo que estamos considerando todas as possibilidades em redes de TV no Brasil, pode-se concluir que essas duas empresas estão, sim, na lista disse Adriana, em entrevista ao GLOBO. Historicamente, é difícil comprar uma TV no Brasil sendo estrangeiro. Então, precisamos da parceria certa, e também deve haver boa vontade do governo. E essas mudanças estão começando a acontecer.

O grupo SBT informou, porém, que não está à venda. E a Rede TV! disse que mantém boas relações com o grupo Cisneros, mas não está em negociações.

negociação com eike

Em 2002, uma emenda constitucional passou a permitir que estrangeiros tenham capital em empresas de comunicação, o que era proibido. Mas a participação pode ser, no máximo, de 30% daí a necessidade de um sócio local. Eike Batista já admitiu a um site que estaria interessado no SBT, enquanto nota publicada há algumas semanas no jornal O Dia dizia que, na verdade, ele tentava comprar a Rede TV!.

O problema de você ser um dos homens mais ricos do mundo é que todos acham que você vai comprar tudo no mundo brincou a executiva, desconversando sobre a possibilidade de o homem X ser o parceiro em questão.

Se ocorresse, seria um casamento de bilionários. Fundada em 1929 em Caracas pelo avô de Adriana, Diego Cisneros, a empresa evoluiu de um pequeno negócio de transportes para uma das maiores corporações midiáticas de capital fechado do mundo. Seu conteúdo atinge 550 milhões de pessoas em mais de cem países. Segundo a revista Forbes, o pai de Adriana, Gustavo Cisneros, é o homem mais rico da Venezuela e o 255º do mundo, com uma fortuna de US$ 4,2 bilhões.

NOVA CLASSE MÉDIA

Aos 32 anos, Adriana integra a terceira geração da família na empresa. De Nova York, onde mora, Adriana também dirige outros braços da companhia, como a Tropicalia, um resort com apelo sustentável na República Dominicana, e a fundação educacional sem fins lucrativos que leva o nome da família. No Brasil, o grupo esteve presente sobretudo com o provedor de internet AOL e com a rede de TV por assinatura DirecTV, na qual tinha participação. Aliás, segundo ela, o grupo também busca parceiros no Brasil no setor de TV paga.

O que tanto atrai os olhos de Adriana para o Brasil é a convergência entre classe média pulsante, universalização dos serviços bancários e a ubiquidade da tecnologia na vida das pessoas. Ela percebe o momento como um ponto de inflexão em que todos deveriam estar focados.

Tecnologia parece ser um de seus assuntos favoritos. E não é à toa: Adriana lidera na empresa a transição da mídia tradicional para a digital. Um dos seus compromissos no Rio é participar de evento da aceleradora carioca de start-ups 21212, onde é mentora de duas jovens empresas.

Queremos ser a parceira estratégica em língua espanhola para as empresas digitais brasileiras. Sendo nossas parceiras, podemos ajudá-las a ganhar relevância regional, entrando em países como Argentina e Chile disse.

Jornalista com graduação e mestrado pela Universidade Columbia, em Nova York, Adriana fala sobre essa mudança no universo da mídia com entusiasmo de estudante. Mas um assunto lhe fecha o sorriso: Como é a relação entre os Cisneros e o governo do presidente venezuelano Hugo Chávez, com quem já tiveram rusgas públicas no passado?

Bem, nós ainda estamos lá, não estamos?

Link to original article 

While our Demo Day had an awesome guest list, not everyone who wanted to be there could.

Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro couldn’t make it but sent a video message for the startups and investors.

He congratulated our startups on  presenting at Demo Day and talked a bit about Rio’s development in the technology sectors and what we can expect in the years to come!

Among other points, he mentioned that Rio is building one of the largest fiber optics networks in the world.  First class media and data centers are all coming to the city and research and technology areas continue to grow.  He excited the crowd right before Marcelo Haddad of Rio negocios announced the launch of Rio Digital.

DD – Mayor – leg from 21212 com on Vimeo.

The 2nd 21212 Demo Day was a great success! The event was held at MAM/RJ and had a wonderful group in attendance and lots of excitement as our second class of companies delivered their pitches to an audience of over 350 people, including more than 150 investors, several entrepreneurs, journalists, thought leaders and market insiders.

The keynotes from Adriana Cisneros (Cisneros Group) and Davis Smith (Baby.com.br) offered great insights into tech entrepreneurship. Additionally, the panel discussion moderated by Pedro Doria (O Globo) with Cassio Spina (Anjos do Brasil), Marcio Campos (PagPop), Matt Coffin (Coffin Capital) and Yann de Vries (Redpoint eVentures) gave a thorough overview of the Brazilian startup investment ecosystem. It was a great chance for the investment community to come together, network and meet some great companies.

The Second Class of 21212

To catch some of the highlights from the event check out the press coverage from G1 / Globo.com, O Globo and The Next Web. New stories and press about the event are available here.

Here are the companies:

Access Club – An online-to-offline platform that delivers VIP privileges to high-end customers.

Bidcorp – Solutions for surplus assets.

Easyaula – Learn from inspiring people, next to you.

Queremos – A social platform to crowdfund and promote live events.

Site Sustentável – Neutralizing websites` carbon footprint, while increasing traffic and sales.

Xjobs – People for your projects.

Wegoout – Social nightlife discovery.

Zeropaper – The easiest way to manage the finances of small companies and professionals.

Zona Universitária – Career building and recruiting for Brazilian university students.

Program 3 begins in January 2013

Applications for our 3rd Acceleration Program are open and we will continue to accept applications year round, utilizing the new model we announced during Demo Day (more information to come in this blog). The next program officially starts in January, so there is still time to apply! If you have a digital startup with proven traction that fits our selection criteria, click here and submit!

We would like to thank our supporters, mentors, partners and sponsors for their commitment to making Demo Day happen. Thank you to our Premium Sponsors: Amazon Web Services and Sebrae/RJ.Thank you to our Supporting Sponsors: Mazars, Google, Silicon Valley Bank, UOL Pagseguro, UOL Host, Totvs, Brasil Plural, Movile, Instituto Millenium. Thank you to our supporters: Heineken, Airbnb, Printgram and Videolog. Without them the event would not have been possible and we are grateful for their support.

Cheers,

21212 Team

We are proud to announce that Sebrae – Rio de Janeiro, huge supporters of the Brazilian entrepreneurship community,  a will be sponsoring 21212 Digital Accelerator’s Demo Day on Friday.

A key part of the strategic mission of Sebrae is to support entrepreneurship, understanding that strengthening the entrepreneurs in the country will allow for the creation of an ecosystem that will lead to sustainable development, and bring gains to the whole society.

We’re all working hard to make the event a success so thank you Sebrae/RJ for the support!

Read a bit more about Sebrae (in portuguese) below:

O Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Sebrae) é uma entidade privada sem fins lucrativos que tem como missão promover a competitividade e o desenvolvimento sustentável dos empreendimentos de micro e pequeno porte e fomentar o empreendedorismo. O segmento representa 99% dos estabelecimentos formais e emprega 51% dos brasileiros com carteira assinada. Constitui, portanto, importante fator de desenvolvimento socioeconômico do país.

O Sebrae está presente em todo o país e conta com uma rede de centenas de pontos de atendimento presencial. São mais de 6 mil colaboradores trabalhando para transmitir conhecimento para quem tem ou deseja abrir um negócio. No Estado do Rio de Janeiro existem, aproximadamente, 880 mil empresas formais (incluindo empreendedores individuais, micro e pequenas empresas) e o Sebrae/RJ busca apoiá-las com ações em todas as regiões, de acordo com as vocações econômicas locais, por meio da capacitação de empresários e suas equipes, do estímulo à inovação e da difusão de informações e novas tecnologias.

Assim, o Sebrae/RJ mantém o foco de sua atuação nos diferenciais competitivos que podem ajudar as micro e pequenas empresas a vencerem os crescentes desafios do mercado.

We are proud to announce that Amazon Web Services will be sponsoring 21212 Digital Accelerator’s Demo Day on this Friday.

Amazon Web Services is the world leading provider of Cloud Computing through a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in 190 countries around the world. With data center locations in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, Singapore, and Japan, customers across all industries.

We’re only three days away so  we are excited to have Amazon Web Services on board for the event!

We’re only a few days away from 21212′s second Demo Day on October 19th. During the event, we are lucky to have some great speakers and panelists that will present, in addition to our companies.  We will have Adriana Cisneros (Cisneros Group) giving some opening remarks.  Davis Smith will discuss his entrepreneurial experience at baby.com.br.  We will also have a panel about the Brazilian entrepreneurial ecosystem moderated by Executive Editor of Digital Platforms and Columnist Pedro Doria (O Globo) with Cassio Spina (Anjos do Brasil), Marcio Campos (PagPop), Yann de Vries (Redpoint eVentures), and Matt Coffin (Coffin Capital).

If you won’t be in Rio for our Demo Day, don’t worry! We’ll be streaming the whole event live!  Visit demoday.21212.com and click on “Keep me posted” to get all of the news this week leading up to the event!

Bios:

Opening Remarks

Adriana Cisneros (Cisneros Group of Companies)

Adriana Cisneros is Vice Chairman and Director of Strategy of the Cisneros Group of Companies, one of the leading privately held media, entertainment, telecommunications and consumer products organizations in the world. She is also President of the Fundación Cisneros, an NGO dedicated to improving access to quality education in Latin America. As the head of strategy she is overseeing the company’s transformation from a regional enterprise to one increasingly focused on global markets. In addition she is heading the organization’s innovation and adaptation of digital technologies and new media.

Keynote Speaker

Davis Smith (Baby.com.br)

Davis Smith is the Co-CEO and founder of Baby.com.br, Brazil’s leading e-commerce company focused on the baby care space. Davis co-founded Baby.com.br in October 2011 and has since raised $23 million in venture capital led by Accel Partners and Tiger Global. With over 1 million Facebook fans and Brazil’s best-known female celebrity as their CMO (Chief Mommy Officer), Baby.com.br is revolutionizing e-commerce in Brazil. Prior to starting Baby, Davis founded, and later sold, PoolTables.com, America’s largest pool table retailer. Davis has spent 13 years living in Latin America. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University (BA in International Studies), the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute (MA in International Studies) and Wharton School (MBA). He is married with two children and lives with his family in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Panel: A Discussion of the Brazilian Startup Ecosystem Moderated by Pedro Doria (O Globo)

Cassio Spina (Anjos do Brasil)

Graduated in electronic engineering by Escola Politécnica of USP, was an entrepreneur for 25 years in tech sector and currently is an angel investor for innovative startups. Cassio is also the founder of Anjos do Brasil (www.anjosdobrasil.net) a non profit organization for fostering angel investment, and Altivia Ventures (www.altivia.net.br) an investment and advisoring company. He is also columnist of Exame, INFO and Endeavor, board member of companies and author of the book “Angel-Investor – A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs and Investors” (www.investidoranjo.net).

Marcio Campos (PagPop)

Marcio Campos is founder and CEO of PagPop Mobile Payments, a Brazilian startup focused on mobile payments in the Brazilian market. He has B.A in Dentistry at USP and MBA, and has been an entrepreneur since he was 19 years old.  After building PagPop for 4 years and learning everything about payments, participating in the 21212 Acceleration program, and raising fund from Cetus Investimentos and Intel Capital, he feels that with his strong team and great shareholders, PagPop is ready to be the leading mobile payments services and solutions in Brazil and Latin America, improving and developing a new way to accept payments and including people in a new socioeconomic environment.

Yann de Vries (Redpoint eVentures)

Yann de Vries is a Founding Partner of Redpoint e.ventures. Yann brings to Brazil more than 15 years of international experience in the high tech industry across a variety of positions. Before co-founding Redpoint e.ventures, Yann spent five years heading Cisco’s Corporate Business Development activities (investments, M&A and corporate strategy) in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. He also worked for six years in Silicon Valley with venture capital firm e.ventures, in a start-up with Sonim and in management consulting with Bain’s technology practice. He started his career as an engineer with Alcatel in Cairo and Agilent Technologies in Hong Kong.

Yann holds a MSEE from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Matt Coffin (Coffin Capital)

Matt is a serial investor and entrepreneur, having started and invested in over thirty early stage digital companies, including ShoeDazzle, Rubicon Project, Hautelook (sold to Nordstrom), Goldstar, Demand Media (IPO), InAdco, Mahalo, eBureau, Buscape (sold to Naspers), DocStoc, 2tor, Caring.com, and GraphEffect. Additionally, he is on the board and an investor in Machinima (#1 gaming network on YouTube), eBureau (predictive analytics), Mahalo (learning based apps) and Brighter.com (healthcare marketplace for dental care). He was CEO and Founder of LowerMyBills.com, a company that was sold to Experian for $350 million in 2005. Thru his investment firm, Coffin Capital and Ventures, Matt co-founded Brighter.com.

Matt graduated from Babson College with a BA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies and soon after, began his career at Miller Publishing Group, the company which owned titles such as Vibe, Spin, Tennis, Sailing World, Where and several other special interest magazines. His forward thinking business ideas earned him the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007 and was Southern California Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.