“small companies thinking big”

We must build bridges between countries and these international people visiting Barcelona are a powerful one. Contacts, networks, long trips, international friends, understandings of culture, companies with a foot on each side… all of these are different shapes a bridge can take, and we need to extend as many as we can to bring the spirit of the Valley around the world.

Jerry Engel in this article talks about the differences in mentality that make Silicon Valley unique:

• Small companies thinking big: It’s not about who you are but about what you’re capable of doing. What applies to people also applies to companies. And the way you see yourself is going to determine how others are also going to see you.
• You’ll be paid for your success, not for your work: it makes sense, the service-providers surrounding startups (lawyers, consultants, public relations companies…) are paid with stock, not cash, and this stock will be of any value if the company succeeds. People don’t measure their work by the number of hours they spend on it because results, not time, is what will be rewarded.
• Environment built from the ground: it’s the innovative spirit from people, universities and companies that has created this wonderful environment, not the government. Innovation works when someone believes on it and is willing to risk everything to create, transform and make money out of it. Having an “innovation budget” from the European Union is not going to create Silicon Valleys around the world.

Luckily we’ve been born in a time when traveling is easy, learning other languages is felt as important and internet enables us to communicate instantly with anyone around the world. Steve Jobs didn’t have it so easy in his time.

I’m from Barcelona, but I know I can come to the Valley to start a company, plus I know how things work in Europe, I’ve lived in Africa and Latin America… And, like me, many people that speak several languages and have traveled the world will be able to innovate with a global perspective taking the good part from each continent: the spirit from the Valley, the quality of life from Europe and the challenges of the developing world…

Any thoughts?

“because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who’ll do it”

Being surrounded by people following their passions and their dreams is a good inspiration for thinking about what one really wants to achieve in life, and about what you want to spend your time and your life on.

One of my grandfather’s wise advices is that “en el mar como en la vida hay que mirar alto y hay que mirar lejos” (“in the sea, as well as in life, you must look up and and you must look far away“). Have big aspirations, know where you are going, and look your life with long term perspective.

I often remember these advices when I need to take important decisions. I remember my dreams and try no to be submerged by the daily activity. I guess it’s important to realize that the things you don’t like are not going to change alone. No one says it’s going to be easy but, again, the biggest failure is not trying and the worse that can happen is 3 more months spent in learning that this was not the correct way.

These are my thoughts today… we’ll see how they materialize. And that’s a quote for inspiration:

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the trouble-makers, the round heads in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who’ll do it. “

Apple Computer advertising, 9/27/1997

hello world!

Looking back… and trying to be inspired in this difficult and uncertain moment. Pasionate but difficult decitions.