Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: I just have one last set of questions before we retire. You are one of the few entrepreneurs I have interviewed who has roots in Latin America. We see entrepreneurial activity in the technology industry from Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs. Why has Latin America been slow on developing in the technology industry?

Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 6)

Andres Rodriguez: I’ll tell you the short answer. For young entrepreneurs today, they can do it but they have to have technical people in the team that have lots of equity in the company. The one thing that an investor wants to see is the proof point that you have a concept. This is for the

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Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: In modernizing the enterprise storage using cloud principles, was there any other competitor or were you the first to come into that space? Andres Rodriguez: When we came out, we thought we were the first but there are always competitors in the space. We have competitors today. Sramana Mitra: Big opportunities tend to

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Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What happened next in your history? Andres Rodriguez: After we sold Archivas, we had all the top venture capitalist wanting to fund the next project. Sramana Mitra: I’m sure. What’s good with being an entrepreneur is, capital follows you. Andres Rodriguez: Success breeds capital. Sramana Mitra: However, let’s talk about the investment pieces

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Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What year did you start Archivas? Andres Rodriguez: Towards the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002. Sramana Mitra: Was it the same team that you had in Abuzz? Andres Rodriguez: Some of the engineering team was the same, but a key ingredient was missing. This is happens often when you shift

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Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What were the mechanics of Abuzz? Was it a venture-funded company? Andres Rodriguez: Yes, it was a classic Series A venture funded company. It was funded by SoftBank, Brad Feld, Solstice Capital, and Flatiron Ventures, which is no longer around. I was very lucky to have good guys. They were especially good with

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Building Fat Startups: Nasuni CEO Andres Rodriguez (Part 1)

Andres Rodriguez is a rare Latin American entrepreneur in hard core tech. In this era of ‘lean startups’, Andres has built a couple of ‘fat ones’ and in this interview, we discuss what he has learnt, and what he advises other entrepreneurs wrestling with the need to raise money to fund ‘fat startup concepts’. Sramana Mitra: Andres, where

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