On building GO (the GO Project) – Reflections sent on Tuesday, June 17, 2014.

Exactly a year ago, we had our first of many Google Hangouts to start talking about the creation of this very unconventional experience that we eventually got to call The GO Project.

It’s been a hell of a ride! Thank you, Megan, Maxwell, Matt, Cecily, Kevin, Minh, Dorothy, and now Noora, for everything! For having this crazy idea, for all the fights, the struggles, the laughs, the dancing, the drinks, the never-ending work, the indecisiveness, the volatile arguments, the (over-budgeted) meals, the lack of sleep, the dreams, the learning, the synchronicity, the randomness, and the countless memories that will take years to process.

Challenges lay ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to face them with you.

Thank you to our partners, for believing in our craziness, and having on board the absurd number of 8+...

On building GO (the GO Project) – Reflections sent on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 8:30 am.

Equipazo-azo-azo,

I started writing this after we finished in Istanbul and before I reached you here in Yangon. I took some time to reflect on what we had just went through during the last months, and wanted to share some of this with you:

First of all, THANK YOU! I thank you for coming over to Istanbul. Thank you for choosing to share this experience with me after I wanted to come no matter what since it appeared to me to be a no-brainer opportunity at the time. Thank you for giving it all, for helping me, for testing me, for surprising me in so many ways I cannot even start enlisting (for good and not-so-good –although I mean it in a very positive way). Thank you for owning this whole thing –stepping up individually and as a Team–, for taking the lead when it was required and for following...

The bullshit as much as the facts. The fuckups as much as the accomplishments. The shortcomings as much as the achievements. Fear as much as confidence. Defeat as much as victory. Failure as much as success. Even better, reflect credit but embrace blame. Demand responsibility but do not worry about authority. Forgive and forget, but learn. Take better decisions, and even better, lead for everyone to take better decisions. And carry on! Do it and do it right! Do it right away!

Seth shared some of his thoughts about this on thinking backwards, getting the work we want and where we want to be. “How much of your day is spent working to get better clients versus pleasing the clients you’ve already got?”

Finally, as I read from [James](sg.linkedin.com/in/motochan) & our friends and partners from Silicon Straits, “It’s one thing to start a company, and another to manage growth and scale. (…)...

“No pienses, Oppenheimer, ¡escribe!”
–Andrés Oppenheimer
(“Don’t think, write!”)

I have previously had the desire to start writing, maybe have a blog, maybe write for certain renowned websites, maybe even get published in magazines. But all of those attempts finished as soon as they began… although they all seemed a brilliant idea at the time, they were just that: an idea. I did not have the time for that or I was not giving myself enough time. Perhaps I just did not want it enough.

Back in Istanbul, Matt challenged me to draw something daily and post it and that became the beginning of our 30-day challenge, and now I had a blog. I then realized that it was never a matter of talent or capacity, but of commitment and discipline.

So I started this project as my own birthday present, as a constant reminder to what I want to build for myself and a commitment to what needs to be done in...

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
–Peter Drucker

And technology for lunch, and products for dinner, and soon thereafter everything else too…

So what is ‘culture’? And what is the hype about it?

I had the opportunity to share what I have learned about it from my own experience while organizing student events back in college, working in factories around Northern Mexico and finally taking the leap to become an entrepreneur by launching and building GO.

So, culture… think of it as a racing car: we are all inside a racing car but only one person is behind the wheel and starts accelerating. There are usually two reactions to this: either you get scared, freak out and want to stop it and get out right now, or you awkwardly start laughing without knowing why, you don’t know what to expect out of this situation, but hey! We are all sharing the same experience, so let’s just enjoy the...

“Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”
–Confucius

Yesterday while looking for a book in our house I found a hand-written note that caught my attention. “Successful people keep two things in their lips – smile and silence,” it read.

One of the things I have learned the most about during this year abroad is the value of silence. I already cherished it before this journey – living alone when I started working years ago, I would realize by the beginning of every other week that I had not spoken a single word during the past weekend. Living with eight people is a very different experiment, and I have come to not only appreciate my own silence, but also learn from it. As a matter of fact, silence has allowed me to have a better understanding of myself and my surroundings, to guide my thought while taking decisions, to foster open dialogue and create the inclusive and accepting...

Our friend Andrés was our first contact and partner in Santiago, the one who believed in what we were planning to build, and helped us make this a reality. Days ago, he was planning to come visit us in Yangon after presenting his work in crowdfunding at the 10th Trade Promotion Organization Network World Conference and Awards (WTPO) held in Dubai, but could not get his tourist visa for Myanmar on time, so Megan and Noora went to meet him in Bangkok representing the rest of the Team to do some catch up and see what he was planning now.

Back from the quick trip, they were both eager to update us on the latest from his front (hint: it is bold!) and for all of us to start working with him again on new projects for 2015. Great news!

On one side, this is the exact answer to previous discussions we have had on how to maintain the relationships with our past-partners. And more than just keep...

Big names partnering up for the game-changing project, walking-and-talking suits with fancy job titles, ambitious goals bragged around press releases, poses for the pictures… but then, countless excuses are pulled to avoid the actual work, all in the name of pride and brands, pretension and alleged prestige. Worse than not getting things done is not even getting started. Better to avoid the ‘strategic’ buzzwords that are usually in the way of getting everyone’s hands dirty for once and for good. So, find a way, focus (to be said out loud… twice) and do the (extra) work!

So here’s to commitment for big and great projects… and to discipline for doing what it takes to make things happen.

–at

Yangon, Myanmar. November 11, 2014. ttt

Back in May in Santiago, we argued for some time about what we wanted to achieve out of this year and every engagement we would have. We wanted to learn from the mistakes that Start-Up Chile had.

We agreed that we would constantly face the same dilemma, whereas we want to increase our impact by staying in the same place for a longer period or extend our reach by finding projects with another rising entrepreneurial community in a different city.

Now looking for our 2015 partners, we come back to the same question. After our experience in Santiago, İstanbul and Yangon, we know the value we create along with our partners and have grown confident about our performance and results* wherever we go, yet the question remains the same.

While we get to clarify what are they in our potential accomplices’ expectations and how to track what we have done with our past-and-current partners, here’s...