My Final Blog Post in Brazil

     It is hard to believe that my journey in Brazil is rapidly coming to an end. This Saturday, I will be flying home to Chicago and the reality of graduating college and the ‘real world’ will set in. Until then, I am focusing my mind on enjoying each and every day I have left in Brazil. At the end of this blog post, I will elaborate on what I have done to prepare the next intern to take my place.

     As I mentioned in my last blog post, I visited Iguazu Falls two weekends ago. My flight left on Thursday night from Curitiba and I arrived in Iguazu Falls roughly around midnight. Coincidentally, Joao, the husband of the director of Brazilian Experience (the agency that placed all of the George Mason students in their internships and Portuguese classes) was on my same flight. As a result, I ended up getting a ride from the airport to my colleague Andre's house from my internship, where I would be staying for the weekend. Upon arriving at Andre's family's house, I was mesmerized from the sheer size of the house and property. Within the property, Andre's family's house had eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, a pool, hot tub, soccer field and additional guest house with four more bedrooms. I have truly been lucky throughout my experience in Brazil.

     On Friday, I spent the morning taking in the property and getting to know Andre's family. In addition to his immediate family, some of Andre's cousins from Sao Paolo were also staying on the property to experience the X Games in Brazil. Later on that afternoon, I ventured off with Andre's sister to buy a couple of gifts for friends and family back home. Upon returning, we all drove over to the X Games to watch the BMX and Moto X Big Air Final. My friend Laura from George Mason was staying at a hostel nearby so she was able to tag along. After watching those two events, we stayed to catch a concert from a Brazilian rock band from Rio de Janeiro. We capped off the night enjoying a couple of beers with some of the other international students that were staying at Laura's hostel. I met two guys from France, one guy from Italy and a girl from Mexico. Despite all of our distinct backgrounds, it was a really a cool experience to speak in Portuguese together given the fact that Portuguese was everybody's second or third language.

     On Saturday, Andre's family and I headed to the Iguazu Falls state park to watch the skateboarding half-pipe final, which featured some of the world´s best skateboarders like Bob Burnquist. After catching the end of the half-pipe final, I walked over to the waterfalls to experience one of the seven natural wonders of the world live in person. There are truly no words to describe the natural beauty and power of the waterfalls in Iguazu. The fact that the waterfalls are located in the middle of three countries (Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay) is an experience in itself. On my way back, I coincidentally ran into Mehanna, my boss from my internship at TORO Investimentos, who was also taking in the waterfalls with two of his friends from Curitiba.    

     During my last full day in Iguazu Falls, I decided to relax and spend most of the day talking with Andre's family and experiencing the neighborhood surrounding the property. In the afternoon, I ventured off to Argentina to do some shopping with Andre, his girlfriend, and his sister. Later on that day, I went go-karting with Andre and his brothers which turned out to be a blast. That night, I met up with Daniel and Laura from George Mason at a bar that was hosting a party for all of the X Games athletes and international workers. We ended up meeting Tony Hawk (arguably the world's most famous skateboarder) and sitting with some of the professional skateboarders from the U.S. that were so glad to have finally found friends that spoke English. As a result, we had a myriad of local people come to our table and request to take photos. Later on, these same local people came back to our table asking to sit with us, offering to buy the next round for the table. One of the guys that ended up sitting with us was from Uruguay and didn’t speak Portuguese. Later on, he asked me if I spoke Spanish as he admitted he didn’t speak Portuguese all that well. Upon responding affirmatively, I started talking with him in Spanish while I was simultaneously having conversations with the American skateboarders in English and the other local people in Portuguese. After the fact, my head was spinning but as I look back, it was truly a definitive moment in my ability to speak three languages.

     Getting back to my internship, it is just as hard to wrap my head around the fact that after today, I only have two more days at TORO Investimentos (Wednesday is a federal holiday). In terms of preparing my area and work for the next intern, the fact that there are two interns that are working beside me will significantly aid to the ease of the transition. Augusto and Diego (my fellow Brazilian interns) plan on continuing to intern with TORO for the next few months. As I mentioned previously, Diego works in the morning and Augusto works with me in the afternoons. Whereas Diego and Augusto have done normal intern tasks, like answering the phones, tending to clients for meetings, answering emails and entering data, I have been charged with continually updating the blog that accompanies TORO Investimentos website, enhancing our social media and further developing our marketing materials and strategies.

     As I prepare to end my internship, the majority of my due diligence in terms of the transition will be to explain what I have been doing with our marketing and social media strategies and help partition my duties between Augusto and Diego. I am currently sharing Diego's workspace and as a result, leave my workspace clean at the end of each day so that the area is neat and organized when Diego comes in the next morning. As a result, the majority of my duties to help with the transition will be to clear out all of my files on the computer we share.

     With that being said, this post wraps up my blog about my reflections and experiences while living in Brazil. I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to read my blog and hope that you were able to experience some of my adventures and learning experiences vicariously.

     I wish everyone the best in their future endeavors and encourage everyone to travel and experience new cultures, places and people when given the opportunity.

All the best,
Peter

Fostering Entrepreneurship: Creating a Startup in Brazil

     As I pause to reflect in order to write this post, I am faced with the fact that I will be heading back home to Chicago two weeks from this Saturday. It´s hard to believe that these last few months have gone by as fast as they have and that I only have three more weeks and two more full weekends here. Although from the beginning my mindset has always been to enjoy each and every moment and experience as many things as possible, I have obviously begun to think about how to take advantage of each and every day I have left in this wonderful country.

     Two weeks ago, I participated in a Startup Weekend event located in Curitiba. Startup Weekend is a non-for-profit that was formed in Boulder, Colorado by Andrew Hyde in 2007. Startup Weekend was initially created as an event where a group of individuals would brainstorm a single business idea and work to bring that business to fruition over the course of the weekend. The event has since grown increasingly global and as of this year, Startup Weekend has hosted events in over 300 cities and 100 countries. These events have helped create over 5,000 startup companies all over the world.[i] This, in part, has led companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to sponsor the event and offer every participant signifcant discounts on their products targeted toward startups. The conference was located at SENAI, a fitting location given the fact that SENAI is self-described as an incubator of innovation and entrepreneurship.

     The first day of the conference commenced with a series of lectures given by two general partners of venture capital firms located in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. After the lectures, there was a short pause in order to give the entrepreneurs, developers and designers an opportunity to meet and share ideas. The night was capped with an opportunity for each and every entrepreneur to give a one minute pitch about their proposed idea for a startup. Afterwards, everyone was allowed to vote for the three ideas they thought were most viable. As the night concluded, 11 teams were formed and the competition was set to begin. I joined in with a team that was centered on an idea for an e-commerce business that centered on fashion, an idea that was admittedly vague but showed legitimate promise if developed correctly.

     On Saturday, everyone gathered at 8 a.m. to begin working on developing their ideas in order to make a final presentation on Sunday evening. The final presentation would ultimately decide who would receive initial investments from local angel investors and consulting services from local technology accelerators.[ii] One of the first things my team did was decide what role each member of our team would play in terms of fostering the development of our idea. My team included two web developers, two web designers, two marketers and myself. Given my background in finance and economics, I played the role of economist and business strategist. Furthermore, I also assisted our marketing department by researching socioeconomic demographics and narrowing down our target niche market.

     Throughout the day, we bounced ideas off of each other and finally narrowed down our idea and target market. We decided to name our company Armario de Macho, which in English translates to something like ´a macho man´s closet.´ The e-commerce site functions as a service for college-educated men between the ages of 25-40 who know they need to continually update their wardrobe but don´t like going out to shop. The site, in theory, will function as a personal stylist for each user and will pick out clothes according to the preferred style of each individual, whether that be for business, leisure, or going out. Each client will develop their own personal profile which will include brands and recent style trends. Furthermore, each user will be shown a series of photos upon logging in that mimics a ´hot or not´ feature that will further help customize each client´s experience. In addition, we will incorporate customized and variable payment and shipping plans to meet the needs of each individual, given budgetary constraints and needs.

     Each individual will subscribe and pay each month, but can choose to receive packages every 1, 3 or 6 months. We will have incentives built in to buy more, i.e. free shipping and quarterly discounts. As we further develop our client base, we will look to develop relationships with local brands in Brazil that want to grow but haven’t found the right avenue to do so. It will be a win-win in that our company will receive a percentage of the sale of each product from these local brands (as we are helping promote and market their brand) and the local brands will gain additional exposure which will undoubtedly open up new markets and opportunities. As we continue to grow, we will look to continue to diversify our revenue streams as much as possible.

     My team worked extremely hard throughout the weekend. We worked together for 15 hours on Saturday, from 8 a.m. until 11 o´clock at night and for 9 hours, from 8 a.m. until 5 o´clock in the afternoon on Sunday. Throughout the weekend, we developed our website´s landing page (http://armariodemacho.com.br/), completed our business plan and developed our marketing strategy. Upon conclusion of the final presentations, my team was awarded 2nd place. Our price included an initial investment of 6,000 reais (approximately $3,000) and offers from local technology accelerators to help further cultivate our idea, company and brand. Among the myriad of experiences I have had in Brazil, I can now add being a silent partner and an economic consultant to an e-commerce startup. Not a bad result given the fact that I was participating in my first startup conference in my third language. In addition to working individually with my team, I got to meet a multitude of major players in the private equity and venture capital world in Brazil. It served to be an invaluable learning experience for me and will surely be a story I will tell for the rest of my life.

     This Thursday, I am heading to Iguazu Falls with two of my fellow colleagues from TORO Investimentos and two of my fellow students from George Mason. Iguazu Falls sits on the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil so I will be able to experience three countries in one weekend. In addition to experiencing one of the seven natural wonders of the world, I will be able to experience the first ever X Games event in Brazil. For my final blog post, I will discuss my experience in Iguazu Falls and will elaborate on my final reflections about my four months in Brazil.

Chao for now,

Peter

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[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_Weekend

[ii] An angel investor is an individual who provides capital for a startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. An accelerator is a type of consulting firm that helps newly formed companies in their early stage development initiatives, e.g. developing a brand and marketing strategy.

Easter in Sao Paulo

     As I sit down to write this blog post on Easter Sunday, I do so in hoping that it will help pass the time as I wait for my bus to arrive in São Paulo.  Being overly optimistic, I waited until arriving at the bus terminal on Sunday night to book my bus ticket to return to Curitiba.  When I arrived at roughly 8:30 at night on Sunday, the station was already completely packed and each line to buy a ticket at literally every bus company was completely saturated.  When I finally made my way to the ticket counter, the earliest bus that had availability was scheduled to depart at 12:30 in the morning.  Having thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and spending a good amount of money in the process, I really wasn’t in a place to go back to the heart of the city and enjoy my last couple of hours.  In other words, I was stuck with one option; sit and wait.

                

     I ventured off to Sao Paulo on Friday night, traveling alone, in order to meet up with my friend Pat and his friend Stephanie.  Pat and Stephanie are both part of a group from Middlebury College in Vermont who are exchange students at the Universidade Federal do Santa Catarina.  I initially met Pat back in high school in Chicago and as we were catching up last semester we realized we would both be studying abroad in Brazil, just a few hours apart. Pat and Stephanie are studying at the main campus of the Universidade Federal do Santa Catarina, which is located in Florianópolis, an island right off the coast in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.  To give some perspective, Florianópolis is roughly the same distance away from Curitiba as São Paulo, albeit in the opposite direction, which means it´s about a five hour bus ride each way. 

                

     When I stepped off of the bus early Saturday morning, I´d be lying if I didn’t admit to being just a little nervous, as I was in fact traveling alone in the largest city in South America.  Did I mention that Sao Paulo has a notoriously high rate of crime?  With that being said, I felt at ease as soon as I stepped onto their metro (subway) system.  Having grown up in the city of Chicago, I was comfortable using public transportation and found Sao Paulo´s public transportation system to be extremely user-friendly which in fact made getting around the city fast, efficient and enjoyable.  In addition, I came away with a sense of security upon leaving because police officers were visible at all times and appeared to have sufficient control of the neighborhoods I visited in Sao Paulo.

                

     My main rationale for traveling to Sao Paulo this past weekend was to experience Lollapalooza Brasil, a now infamous music festival.  Experiencing Lollapalooza in Brazil was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and definitely a day I will never forget.  Lollapalooza originated in my hometown of Chicago but has since grown internationally, having annual events in Santiago, Chile and Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In fact, 2013 marked only the second time that Sao Paulo has hosted Lollapalooza.  I watched live music all day from a mixture of American, Brazilian and Canadian bands, hip-hop artists and DJs.  The highlights of the day for me personally were The Black Keys (an American rock band from Ohio), Nas (an American hip-hop artist from New York City), Alabama Shakes (an American rock band from Alabama) and Criollo (a hip-hop artist from Sao Paulo).  The music festival took place at the Jockey Club in Sao Paulo, which means the stages were located in the middle of a horse race track.  It lasted 10 hours, from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. and I´d be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t savor every minute of it.

                

     On Sunday morning, Pat and Stephanie headed off to the airport to catch their 12:00 p.m. flight back to Florianópolis and I was once again on my own.  After getting to the closest metro station, I proceeded to ask one of the employees about the main sites in Sao Paulo and which were worth going to, given the fact that I only had one day.  After discussing the pros and cons of each attraction, I narrowed down my list to three stops, one of which offered a free tour provided by the Sao Paulo Metro Association.  When I headed off to the train, I knew which stops I was going to get off, but I didn’t necessarily know what was around each stop only that there were sites were visiting walking distance from each stop. 

     When I walked out of the station at Luz Avenue, my first stop, I thought that the agent who appeared to be genuine had given me disingenuous advice.  The first two or three blocks away from the station was filled with abandoned buildings, sidewalks filled with the less fortunate and abundant illicit drug use.  However, after a few more blocks of walking, I found myself in front of a national museum that focused on major social and political themes in Sao Paulo.  These stories of political and social persecution were represented visually through various forms of art.  Most of the art featured was produced in the 1950s and 1960s and told the story of the most significant social and political issues during that same era.  Afterwards, I ventured into a park across the street that was littered with sculptures and local bands.  Next, I visited another art museum down the street that featured classic paintings and sculptures primarily from South America but also contained some art from European artists as well.

     I then made my way to the Se Avenue metro stop where I participated in a free tour offered by the staff at the Sao Paulo Metro.  We toured a Japanese neighborhood in Sao Paulo, briefly visited a Japanese-Brazilian museum, and even sampled some sushi at a local market.  After the trip, I ventured back to the Metro and took the train into the historic center of town to see the biggest cathedral in Sao Paulo, some of the major government buildings, and the financial district.  Running out of daylight, I made my way over to Avenida Paulista, arguably the most iconic avenue in Sao Paulo.  In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Michigan Avenue in Chicago, home of the ´Magnificent Mile.´ Avenida Paulista was filled with skyscrapers, a multitude of shops for the fashionistas, and local restaurants offering some of Brazilian´s finest food.  Given all that I did in one weekend, I have definitely put Sao Paulo on the list of place I want to further explore in the future.

     Everything on the home-front back in Curitiba is running smoothly.  My internship continues to be a learning experience each and every day.  In fact, last week my boss introduced me to an event that I am going to attend this upcoming weekend in Curitiba.  The name of the event is, "Startup Curitiba" and the three day conference is focused on offering lectures and materials that provide aspiring entrepreneurs every opportunity to succeed.  Most of the lectures are being taught by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other consultants focused on startups and entrepreneurship in Brazil.  It will be an interesting conference to say the least.

Until next time,

Peter