Nathan Lustig

Lo Que Dije Al Presidente

Category : Startup Chile
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El jueves pasado, tuve la oportunidad de contar mis experiencias en mis seis meses en Chile como parte del programa Start-Up Chile en un reunión con Geeks on a Plane, Startup Chile y el Presidente de Chile, Sebastián Piñera.

Cuando llegué a Chile, solo hablaba un poco de español, y nunca en mis sueños pensé que tendría la oportunidad de dar un discurso en un desayuno con el Presidente y un publico de mas de cien personas y cámaras de la prensa. Eso es lo que dije al Presidente Piñera y el resto del publico.

Hola, me llamo Nathan Lustig y soy el cofundador de Entrustet, la séptima compañía que llego a Santiago para Start-up Chile. Quiero decir gracias al Presidente Piñera para invitarnos a este desayuno y por la oportunidad de hablar un poco de Startup Chile.

En septiembre, vi un articulo en Techcrunch sobre la oportunidad de mudar mi compañía a Chile para seis meses. Llené la pagina web y cuatro semanas después, nos eligieron para el programa. Cuando llegué, no sabía mucho del programa, solo sabía que podría trabajar en mi compañía en otro lugar y con una beca. La oportunidad de evitar invierno en Wisconisn sólo fue un incentivo.

Ahora, seis meses después, mi tiempo en Chile está terminando. Puedo decir que estos meses fueron unos de los mejores meses de mi vida. Progresamos mucho en Entrustet pero más que eso, nos hicimos Buenos amigos con los emprendedores del programa. Nos hemos conectados al red de emprendimiento en Chile y hicimos amigos Chilenos dentro y fuera del programa.

Ahora, quiero hablar sobre el programa. Como dijo Jean [Boudegur], Start-up Chile, es un emprendimiento en si mismo y ahora esta creciendo muy rápido. Cien equipos van a llegar en los próximos dos meses. Quiero decir gracias a todos los personas en el gobierno porque sin su permiso, este programa innovadora no tendría éxito. Quiero decir gracias a todos los personas que trabaja en startup chile.

Este programa es muy especial, Creo que mucha gente no entiende eso, especialmente Chilenos. Cuando hablo a mis amigos sobre el programa, me dicen “si Chile puede hacerlo, otro países pueden. Pero en realidad, no. Este tipo de programa nunca ha ocurrido en estados unidos o Europa. El programa es el programa de gobierno mas innovador que he visto en mi vida y todos los Chilenos deberían estar orgullosos.

Han hecho algo magnifico que es el comienzo de algo increíble. Quiero ver como crecen el programa y el emprendimiento Chileno en el próximo año. Quiero terminar con otro agradacimiento a mis amigos emprendedores, startup chile y cada persona que apoya el programa. Gracias.

 

Juan Pablo Salas, Sebastián Piñera, George Cadena, Nathan Lustig

Gracias a Juan Pablo y Javiera para leer y corregir unos versiones de mi discurso y a Jean y Brenna para la oportunidad!

In English:

What I said to the President

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to share my experiences of the last six months in Chile as part of the Startup Chile program at a breakfast with Geeks on a Plane, Startup Chile y the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera.

When I arrived to Chile, I only spoke a little Spanish and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d have the opportunity to give a talk at a breakfast with the president, an audience of over 100 and the press.  This is what I said the President Piñera and the rest of the audience.

Hi, my name is Nathan Lustig and I am the cofounder of Entrustet, the seventh company that arrived in Santiago for Startup Chile.  I want to thank President Piñera for inviting us to this breakfast and for the opportunity to talk a little about Startup Chile.

In September, I saw an article in Techcrunch about the oporuntity to move my company to chile for six months.  I filled out the website and four weeks later, they picked us for the program.  When I arrived, I didn’t know much about the program, only that I would be able to work on my company in another location and have a grant.  The opportunity to avoid a Wisconsin winter was only an added bonus.

Now, six months later, my time in Chile is coming to an end.  I can say that these six months were some of the best months of my life.  We made a lot of progress on Entrustet, but more than that, we made good friends with all of the entrepreneurs in the proigram.  We were connected into the Chilean entrepreneurship network and we made friends with Chileans inside and outside of the program.

Now, I want to talk a little about the program.  Like Jean said, Startup Chile is a startup in it’s own right and it’s growing really fast.  100 team are going to arrive in the next two months.   I want to thank all of the people in the government because without your permission, this innovative program never would have been successful.  I want to say thanks to all of the people who work in startup chile.

This program is very special.  I believe that many people, especially Chileans, don’t understand this.  When I talk to my friends about the program, they say to me “If Chile can do it, other countries can.”  But in reality, it’s not the case.  This type of program would never had happened in the US or Europe.  The program is the most innovative government program I’ve seen in my life and every Chilean should be proud.

You’ve done something amazing and it’s the start of something incredible.  I want to see how the program and Chilean entrepreneurship growns in the next year.  I want to end by thanking my startup friends, Startup Chile and every person who supported the program.  Thank you.

 

Advice to New Startup Chile Teams

Category : Startup Chile
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Since the next group of 110 Startup Chile companies got accepted, I’ve gotten a ton of emails asking for advice.  Where should I live? What should I make sure I avoid doing?  Where should I travel?  What do you wish you had done?  Any tips and tricks?  I’ve responded to most of them, so I took a compilation of all of the questions and made a list of my advice to the new Startup Chile Teams.  If you’ve got more questions, I’m happy to answer either via email or in the comments.

1. Spanish

Enroll in a Spanish class in your home town.  Take another one when you arrive.  While Spanish is not required, take a crash course before you leave.  Take a 2 week course, at least when you get here.  I regret not doing it.  I had a ton more fun once i started learning in earnest in early January as I made friend with more Chileans and drank beers with the aweome Juan Pablo Tapia twice a week to learn Spanish.  There’s just so many more opportunities when you can at least understand what’s going on and participate a little

If you don’t speak any Spanish, you’ll survive and do fine, but being able to speak just a little bit will make your stay that much more fun.

2. Where to live

If you’re young, live in Providencia between Salvador and Tobalaba metro stops or in Bellas Artes.  Providencia is a little nicer, but Bellas Artes is an up and coming, sorta hip area.  Both are close to the metro, walking distance from bars, restaurants, grocery stores.  I lived right by the Pedro de Valdivia metro stop.  I wished i had lived about 2-3 blocks off of Av. Providencia as it is much quieter.

I also love the Pedro de Valdivia neighborhood across the river, close to Cerro San Cristobal. If you find a good apartment, get it quickly, they fill up fast.  You can live farther “up” in Las Condes, but it gets more expensive and there are fewer things to do at night.  El Golf to Alcantara metro stops is expensive and is the finance center “Sanhattan.”  Farhter up is more high rise condos, around Escuela Militar and Manquehue not much to do.  These are good places for families.  Vitacura is good if you plan to work from home or have a family, but its not close to the metro and is one of the most expensive places in the city.

It’s a good idea to start looking for apartments before you get here.  You can save time, effort and money by doing research ahead of time.  Also, consider living with Chileans.  A few of my friends did it and they paid less, had friends right away and could ask questions of people when they were lost.

3. Internet

We had VTR highspeed internet in our apartment and also an Entel Banda Ancha Movil (high speed broadband card).  They are fairly cheap, soget the fastest one you can.  You can travel and work from anywhere and it works in some of the most remote parts of Chile.

4. Make friends with your fellow entrepreneurs

My friends from Startup Chile are one of the main reasons I had such an amazing time.

5. Accept all invites you can from chilean entrepreneurs and friends

It’s the best way to know the country and were some of the most fun times I had.  I wished I had accepted more.

6. Grocery Store Advice

At the grocery store, they will likely ask you two questions when you’re checking out.  First, they’ll either say “club lider?” o “acumula puntos?” ,which is their rewards points club.  You can either say no or give them your RUT number.  You can use the points for discoutns later.  If you pay with cash, they’ll ask you if you want to donate the last few pesos to a charity.  Say yes, even the homeless won’t accept 7 pesos.  Seriously, a guy gave my friend back the 1 and 2 peso coins today and kept the 10-100s that he gave him.  If you pay with a creidt card, they will ask “cuotas?” which means payments.  Say no o “sin”.  That just means you want to pay it all at once.

Look for a local produce stand.  The one we go to is el changuito on Manuel Montt.  Its 50% the price of Lider and way higher quality.

7. Arrival

When you first get here, walk all over the city to get to know the place.  Try to make sure that you arrive when Startup Chile can help you get your bank account, RUT and id card.  Your life renting an apartment will be 100x easier if you have these all set up.  Stay in a hostel in Providencia to get acclimated.

8. Taxis

They will likely try to rip you off.  They probably got all of us when we first got here, but just always insist on the meter.  And if the meter looks like it’s going up too fast, just say no, get out and get the next taxi.  There are tons.  Rates should be: $13-15k from the airport to providencia. Bellavista-Central Providencia $1000-2000.  providencia to vitacura, between $2-6k, depending on how far you are going up.  You don’t tip in taxis.

Another sure fire way to make sure you don’t get ripped of is to just get in, say your address with authority, then shut up.  Then they don’t know if you’re a foreigner who lives in Santiago or a tourist.  Or if you start to get comfortable, talk to the taxi drivers.  They are usually super interesting and are the best people to practice Spanish with.  If you screw up, you’ll never see them again and if you don’t understand you can just stop talking.  They also won’t rip you off if you’re trying to talk with them and say that you live here.

9. Metro

The metro is your friend. its easy, cheap and safe.  Buy a BIP card (metro card) your first day here.  Put $5000 on it and recharge as necessary.

1o. Restaurants

They are fairly expensive for what you get.  There are good restaurants here, but you have to find them.  It’s not like in NYC, San Fran or even Madison where you know that if you walk into a restaurant it’s gonna be good. Check my list of my favorites here.

11. Take advantage of the ability to travel.

Go to Mendoza, Viña, San Pedro de Atacama, whatever you can.  Buses are cheap, safe and excellent.  Check last minute deals on LAN or on Sky for cheap flights.  Specials come out every tuesday.  Look in Spanish, the prices are cheaper.  Also, use your RUT to book, you sometimes get better deals.  Be sure to not miss your LAN flights or want to change them.  They are really hard to deal with.  Or just pay more to have the option to change.  Their inflight service is awesome.

Note: If you’re a US citizen and are traveling to Argentina, fly into the non international airport in Buenos Aires, you can likely avoid the reciprocity fee.  If you’re going into Bolivia, you can likely bribe your way in and pay way less.

12. Eat Peruvian food, drink Chilean Wine.

They are both awesome.

13. Take advantage of the networks

Startup Chile gives you a direct line into Chilean entrepreneurship and business culture.  Use it as much as you can.  Make connections.

14. Blog about your experiences

My Startup Chile posts are some of the highest trafficked on my blog.  Plus, the memories are worth it.

15. Going out

Learn to like Pisco.  It’s cheap and it gets you drunk.  Plus, it’s good.  Try pisco sours, piscola (pisco and coke) or piscola blanca (pisco and sprite).  People eat late and go out late.  If you go to a club before about 130, it’ll be empty.  Thursday and Saturdays are the best nights to go out.  Fridays are ok, but not as good.

16. Nothing is open on Sunday

Only the big chain restaurants, big malls and a few of the grocery stores are open on Sunday.  Most restaurants are closed.

17. Enjoy every minute, it goes by way too fast

It seems like just yesterday, I was getting off the flight with Jesse, not knowing what to expect, meeting Shahar and Brenna.  Next, Tiago, George, Raj, Felipe and the rest of the crew in the hostel.  Then Paige, Diego(s), Jean and everyone else in the office.  It’s gone by so fast.  I wish I had the energy to do more and would have taken advantage of more of my opportunities.  That said, it’s been the best six months of my life.  It goes by so quick, so take your changes with alacrity!

UPDATE May 7:  I got lots of questions emailed to me, so I added a few here:

1. If you had to do it over again and got the chance to choose any incubator in any tech hub in the world, would you choose Chile again?

From a strict business perspective, there’s no doubt that Y Combinator or Techstars are better programs than Startup Chile.  Business wise, this is a perfect program for founders who don’t have a product fully launched and can build one and start to get results quickly, or a team that has a product launched, but has yet to get lots of traction.

2. How was your experience overall? Is it worth it? I am in India, in what terms was it better than being in your homecountry?

It was a great experience and well worth it for me and the business. $40k in cash, connections with other SUP entrepreneurs and Chilean entrepreneurs, plus connections into the Chilean business networks.

3. What happens to your startup after the program? Do you take it with you? Or are you supposed to leave everything behind? My co-founder has been wondering about that.

It’s your startup. You take it wherever you want.

4. Where did you choose to live during this period? I saw that organizers recommended Ameristar Apart hotel. Did you live there?

I lived in Providencia near the Pedro de Valdivia metro stop.  The Ameristar is in Bellas Artes and a bunch of the teams lived there.  They have good lease terms, but for me, I would rather be in Providencia.

5. About 40K$ subsidy that organizer promise, did you get the full sum?
Yes.

6. How exactly do you get it, is it only comes exactly for covering your business and living expenses during 6 months or is it your money that you can spend as you wish?

I’m not sure how it works for the new teams, but for us, it was all reimbursements.  We could spend it on business expenses, rent, food etc.  No alcohol, vacations, gambling etc.  $40k was $40k no matter how we spent it.  We lived cheaply and spent the rest on the business.  Not sure what the rules are for the new teams.

7. How productive was your work at Chile? Are you satisfied from it?

We were less productive while in Chile, no question, but I think the loss of productivity was probably 10% or so.  I think the lowered productivity was a result of becoming friends with new entrepreneurs and taking advantage of the opportunity to be in a new city.

8. Did you succeed to create any new business possibilities in Chile and South America or your worked mainly for your original home market?

We mostly attacked the US market, but Chileans are now our second most registered users.
Travel posts:

Travelogue: Torres del Paine, Patagonia

Travelogue: Mendoza, Argentina

Travelogue: San Pedro de Atacama

Travelogue: Uyuni, Bolivia

Travelogue: La Serena and Valle del Elqui

My Favorite Places in Santiago

Travelogue: Pichilemu

A Quick Trip to Viña del Mar

Chile posts:

Startup Chile FAQ

I am United Statesian

Chile at Ten Weeks

Punishing Failure

Christmas in July

Futbolito, Facebook and Other Observations from Chile

My First Christmas Away from Home

First Impressions from Santiago

Updated:

If you’re looking for a furnished rental in Santiago, Chile, check out Andes Property, my furnished apartment rental service.

Travelogue: Torres del Paine, Patagonia

Category : Travel
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My brother Jake came to visit for a week a few weeks back and we decided to go south to Patagonia since he loves hiking.  My friend Tiago came along and we had a great time exploring the amazing beauty of the Magallenes Province.

Tiago, Jake and the Machine

We took a 3.5 hour flight south to Punta Arenas and then a 4 hour bus to Puerto Natales.  Since we had some no planning and it was the low season, we needed up having to rent a jeep instead of taking the buses.  We stayed over in Puerto Natales then set out really early to get to the park.  We drove in on a wet, gray day and went past deep blue water and glacier carved landscapes.  We arrived at the edge of Lago Pehoé and took the catamaran across the incredibly smooth water.  The weather was warm, but rainy and the water was an amazing shade of light blue.

We arrived to the other side and checked into a refugio.  It was super nice, but seemed to be expensive, about $50 per night for a bed, but the location was unreal.  We walked down the path, through the rain down toward Galcier Grey.  Jake and I had to turn around, as it was getting dark, so we didn’t get a close up look at the glacier, but the walk was beautiful.  We got back and ate dinner in the warm lodge.

We slept in the next day and woke up to amazing weather.  It was a little cooler, but sunny and clear.  We took the ferry across the lake, got back in the jeep and drove across crappy roads toward the base of Torres del Paine.  The water was unlike any other color I’ve seen, except maybe in the Swiss Alps.

We set off up the path at about 215pm with the goal of walking about 1.5 hours, dropping off our bags at the refugio and then going another 2.5 hours to the top, then back 2 hours down.  After one hour, we realized that the refugio was closed for winter and that if we wanted to see the top, we’d have to go all the way up and down before about 8pm when it got dark.  A slight hitch in the plan, so we booked it and did a fast pace up and back down.  We knew we’d cut it close, but it was our last day so we were willing to push it.

The walk was beautiful.  A combo of the pacific northwest and the great smokey mountains, but bigger and more colorful.  It was fall, so the trees were red, orange and green.  We crossed glacial mountain streams on small wooden bridges and went up and down the small hills through the forrest.  We were moving fast and with our packs, so it was pretty tiring. The last hour was 300 meters up in about 1km.  It was super steep.  After struggling for a bit, I had to take my pack off and walk to the top.

We got to the top and saw the torres with a small glacier lake below.  It was a little cloudy, so we didnt see all of it at once, but it was completely worth it.  It was amazing to hear the water rushing down the mountain sides directly from the melting glaciers.  We hustled back down the valley as the light was beginning to fade.  We had to make sure we were mostly out off the trail by the time it got dark since we didn’t have any big lights with us.  The sun was setting over the valley and we were getting close to the bottom.  The moon rose and the stars were beautiful as we walked the last 20 minutes in the dark.  My body ached from the pace, the pack and generally being used to living in the city.

Patagonia is a beautiful special place.  I wish I had more time to explore and I would love to come back some day and see the rest of the park, Calafate, Bariloche and the rest of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia.  We drove back to Natales and ate a lamb grill while waiting for the bus.  The town is basically base camp with tons of coffee shops, restaurants and places to buy/rent gear.  It was a cool town, but we didn’t get to see much.  It was a quick trip to Patagonia, about as short as we could do it.  I really enjoyed going out of season, as the weather was perfect for hiking and there were hardly any people.  It would have been nice to do a full 5-6 days, but with 3 days actually in the park, it was definitely worth it.  One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.

The Customer is not Always Right. Sometimes He’s an Asshole.

Category : Personal Thoughts
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I went to lunch at Domino the other day right near my office in Santiago.  There is a very large, fast moving waiter who works there.  He has to run from the counter, across a busy pedestrian filled street and out onto the outdoor seating area to deliver food and clear tables.  The other day, he was moving quickly to clean off a table so another set of diners could sit and a man carelessly stood up from his table without looking, knocking a few plates out of the waiters hand.  It was clearly the diner’s fault.  The waiter’s response?  Something along the lines of “fuck your mother, you should look where you are going.”  The diner’s response?  I’m sorry.

A few weeks earlier, I was in a bar and a guy kept demanding faster service, even though the place was super busy.  After he kept complaining, the waiter came over with his boss and the boss told the guy to leave.

Both of these scenes are so completely different from what we have in the US and I love it.  In the US, in the first scenario, the waiter would have apologized profusely and the diner would have likely gotten angry at the waiter, potentially complaining to his manager.  In the bar, the manager might have apologized and given the demanding customer a free drink.

I’ve seen it countless times in restaurants, shops and coffee shops.  I’ve seen customers go off on service employees for having the audacity to make the customer wait 5 minutes instead of 3.  Or having the audacity to make a simple mistake.  And the employee can’t do anything or risk being fired.

So what explains the difference in reaction?  It comes down to the fact that in the US we’ve bought into the philosophy that the customer is always right.  In the most of the rest of the world, if you’re being an asshole, the service worker will tell you so.  I’ve seen it in the UK, Europe and now Chile.  It’s one of the worst parts of our culture and it wasn’t always that way.  So how did we get there?

Back when companies started to grow and the franchise/chain model started to take over from small, family owned businesses, companies needed ways to make sure to standardize operations.  They started to write company policies and employee handbooks.  Instead of trusting their employees to make good, smart decisions on their own, they tried to commoditize the work and wrote black and white rules.  One of them was that the customer is always right.

As this policy became the norm, many in the US started to respond to the new reality.  They could act like assholes and treat employees like shit and still be right!  They might even get rewarded with discounts and free dessert.  As employees became commodities and realized that they had to sit back and take abuse from customers, they just sort of went back into themselves and stopped really caring about their jobs.

And can you blame them?  Service jobs went from where one could think and make decisions to jobs where you had to suck up to people who treated you poorly and you couldn’t respond, no matter how irrational the customer was.  Customers responded to the new policies and now we have spoiled, bratty customers who treat service workers like dogs and service workers who are little more than commodities.  It’s sad.

It’s now bleeding over into non service workers too.  I got an email from a customer today who took it as a personal affront that we had a specific part of our site designed in a different way than he would have preferred.

Obviously, not all people in the US treat service workers poorly.  I bet its only 25-30%, but its a huge number.  When I’m in the US and see behavior like that, I want to say something, but many times don’t.  When I get back, I am going to make it a point to do it from now on.  I encourage you to do it as well.

The customer is not always right. Sometimes he’s an asshole.  And he deserves to be called on it.