Meet Adrian Avendano, organizer of LATAM & MENA
We interviewed Adrian Avendano, an organizer of LATAM (Latin American) and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) Tech Meetup in New York.
Profile
Adrian Avendano
Organizer of LATAM & MENA Tech Meetup and CEO of LanguageHunt, Learning English app
Adrian was born in Mexico City, raised in New York, and has lived in Chile, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, and San Francisco. Adrian is a startup tech Founder, and his obsession is making things that connect people and ideas. He started his first company called Meetforeal in Ireland in 2008 and has founded six companies in total for seven years until now. With all companies, he connected people with similar interests to meet face to face.
In 2014, Adrian founded LanguageHunt, a mobile app connecting people who want to practice English with a native/fluent speaker in person. In the same year, he also started the LATAM in New York to connect the Latin American tech ecosystems with the USA and vice versa.
Why so many countries?
I was born in Mexico City and spent one-third of my life there and another third in the USA. I went to a university in Mexico City, London, and Copenhagen. I moved to Holland to work in a software company in 2006. Later, I moved to Ireland with my ex-cofounder and partner and worked for another software company; a year later, I quit my job and started my first company.
I also spent much time in Berlin meeting tech people with my startups. We received funding from StartupChile, a government program, and moved to Chile and lived there for seven months. And now I live mainly in New York but travel a lot worldwide, almost 50 countries!
Could you tell me about LATAM and why you started it?
The Latam Tech Meetup started in 2014 after returning from Chile and my travels in South America. I realized how vibrant the tech ecosystem was in the region. After returning to New York, I realized there were very few bridges between the two areas and decided to connect them.
The LATAM community has grown to more than 22,000 people, and the events are happening regularly in New York, San Francisco, and Miami!
Are there any significant events you have done so far?
I’ve done events with Scott Heiferman (CEO of Meetup), John Collison (Co-founder of Stripe<), Joe Fernandez (Founder of KLOUT), Jose Fuentes (Co-founder of Duolingo), Jake Schwartz (CEO of General Assembly), Vivek Wadhwa (Singularity University) and many other high-level venture capital and investors!
Adrian at Meetup event with Scott Heiferman (CEO of Meetup ), June 2015
CEO of Meetup, Scott Heiferman (right) and Adrian (Left).
How about MENA?
It just started in 2015. I recently returned from a trip to Iran, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. I was super impressed by the emerging tech scene in Istanbul and Iran. I traveled to different cities and met a lot of very well-educated Iranians through Couchsurfing. The internet is blocked by the Iranian government, especially all English websites. For example, when I was there, I could use only Wikipedia. Yet young Iranians still use smartphones intensely and a VPN to get around the filter.
MENA in New York, December 2015
MENA, December 2015. having guest speakers, Daniela Terminal (VP of endeavor), Alberto R. Tornes ( Co-founder of Startup Cuba), Richard Fallah ( Middle Eastern Tech founder), and Sam Friedman (CEO of MX connect, MENACA)
Are there opportunities in Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa?
Yes! Tech adoption in those regions is enormous, and a robust local startup ecosystem is developing. A significant factor to consider is that, on average, two-thirds of those regions’ population is under 35!
Who are the majority of people attending your event?
In general, people are under 40 years of age. Almost fifty percent have founded a startup or are working at one. The other fifty percent are people working within the tech sector interested in learning more about the emerging tech ecosystem in both regions.
How often do you hold your Meetup events?
Every six to eight weeks in New York, San Francisco, and Miami.
I was talking with Adrian at the cafe in SOHO, Manhattan.
Could you also tell me about what’s happening in the Latin American startup community?
It has changed a lot recently. For example, five years ago, there was barely any tech community in Latin America except Startup Chile. In the last five years, many accelerators and funds have been created, including:
StartupMexico, Parallel18, StartupCuba, StartupPeru, StartupChile, StartupBrasil<, NXTPLabs, Rutan, Socialatom Ventures, Orion Startups, 21212, Wayra, SEED Startup, Angel Ventures Mexico
And many funds have been actively investing in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia.
How about in the Middle East and North Africa?
Most of the startup activity can be seen in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the UAE They all have startup accelerators and early-stage tech funds available. There are also tech conferences happening in Cairo, Lebanon, and Dubai.
Adrian traveled to different places all over the world and met a lot of well-educated people through CouchSurfing. (left) Shiraz, Iran in the Hafez mausoleum. (right) He is holding a headless goat. “This is how people play polo in Kyrgyzstan.”
How about a startup community in New York, compared to other cities in the US?
The New York City tech ecosystem is the most diverse, in my opinion. People in New York view tech as an enabler to other industries like fashion, media, finance, etc. In San Francisco, the tech community thinks just about technology for the most part. New York City provides the right mix of all industries and connections that would not be possible in other US cities.
Can you give me some examples of startups that draw your attention?
A media company, GlobalVoices works to find the most compelling and essential stories from marginalized and misrepresented communities such as Kazakhstan and Nigeria. Countries that you barely hear about. Among many topics, they speak out against online censorship and support new ways for people to gain access to the internet.
Adrian recently did a MENA Meetup event in New York in December 2015.
What are some goals you and what you have for the organization in the future?
My goal in life with these organizations is to emancipate humanity by connecting them with people they would have never met or by allowing them to discover an idea they would have never realized possible.
Since 2008, I have been obsessed with using technology that ultimately connects people in a meaningful way. And by meaningful, I mean in essential ways. The internet provides a way to access all the world’s information and connect with anyone. Yet, we still need to find a way for technology to join us with the right people in the real world with exciting and necessary knowledge to share.
The more critical connections happen around the world between people in the real world. The more likely is humanity to progress positively. And pushing for this change has been my life’s work.