Chile has established programs like CORFO and Startup Chile to boost entrepreneurship. CORFO, founded in 1939, provides financing for startups but mostly helped small, local businesses. Startup Chile, founded in 2010, provides seed funding and visas to attract global entrepreneurs but startups often leave after the program. While these programs had some impact, Chile needs to focus on building scalable startups in specific fields and connecting them to enterprises and investors to truly establish itself as Latin America's innovation hub.

1. Let’s learn from Chile
How to Create a Startup Ecosystem
Done by Abdullah Alshalabi
Date: 3/9/2012
startupq8@gmail.com

2. Chile
A brief about Chile
 Chile is considered the wealthiest and safest country in South America
 Chile has a diversified GDP, however natural resources such as Copper,
Agriculture and fishery represent more than 30% of their national GDP
 Chile established a Cornfo to boost entrepreneurship more than 70 years
ago, however the results were modest until Startup Chile is established 2
years ago
 Other international organizations helped to play a major role to increase
the entrepreneurship activity such as Endeavor
Startupq8@gmail.com 2

3. Chile – CORFO Chile
Established: 1939
Team:
Board members: 6 (Chairmen is the Minister of Commerce)
No. of Employees: 38
Goal:
Encourage entrepreneurship and innovation to improve productivity in Chile and it’s
global position in competitiveness
Program description:
Provide financing for startups and small businesses to start or grow their businesses
through different types of tools and funds (both debt and equity).
It also organize competitions and provide the winners with up to 70% funding.
Competitions covers many sectors and varies from producing movies to energy projects.
Results:
- More than 16,000 transactions are guaranteed during the period from 1st of Jan to
end of March 2012, helping mostly small businesses and farmers working in
Agriculture sector
- More than 40 different programs and competitions to boost technology and
innovation in different fields such as business innovation competition, packaging
competition and R&D competition .
Startupq8@gmail.com 3

4. Chile – CORFO Chile
Advantages:
• Helps to increase productivity and growth of small businesses
• Helped in creating jobs
• Bootstrap R&D and innovation activity
Challenges:
• Didn’t succeed in establishing multi billion companies that can expands
globally and create a huge number of jobs
• Most of the business benefiting from the program are small and family
businesses. The owners of these type of businesses doesn’t have the vision
to grow beyond his/her local region
• The challenges mentioned above led to the creation of Startup Chile
Startupq8@gmail.com 4

5. Chile – Startup Chile
Established: 2010
Team:
Board members: 8 (4 global, 4 locals) (2 from Stanford University, 1 from HP)
No. of Employees: 16
Goal:
To convert Chile into the definitive innovation and entrepreneurial hub of Latin
America by attracting the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs to bootstrap their
startups in Chile, and create the next US$1 billion company.
Program description:
Provide US$40,000 of equity-free seed capital, and a temporary 1-year visa to develop
their projects for six months, along with access to the most potent social and capital
networks in the country.
Results:
- 320 Startups benefited from the program until the end of 2011
- 630 apx. Is the number of people that benefited from the program
- Teams represent 36 countries around the world
- Money spent on the startups = US$12.8M
- Total funds raised by some of the startups = US$5M (outside investors)
- More than 20% of startups in the program are local startups
Startupq8@gmail.com 5

6. Chile – Startup Chile
Advantages:
• Encourage local Chilean people to become entrepreneurs
• International teams are contributing to build a first class Startup eco-system
• The increase attention from global entrepreneurs, media and investors was a
wakeup call to all Chileans that they are capable to change the status quo
and become the leading destination of innovation in South America
• Attracted many speakers and brilliant minds around the world to help
achieve the new Chilean dream
• Attracted back some of the local talents that migrated to pursue their
dreams on other parts of the world
Challenges:
• Startups from abroad usually leave after they spend the 6 months required
• The success of the program in recent years doesn’t guaranty success in
future years if Chile doesn’t have a competitive advantage other than giving
up money for free
Startupq8@gmail.com 6

7. Chile Analysis
What can we learn from Chile experience?
The Good:
- Even small programs with small budgets can have big impact in the entrepreneurship
community
- Having international teams helped to contribute in shaping a high quality startup ecosystem
The Bad: (Analysis by Steve Blank after visiting Chile late 2011)
- Small Business versus Scalable Startup: there’s confusion in both the Government and
Universities about the difference between small business entrepreneurship (startups designed
to be family businesses,) scalable startup entrepreneurship (startups designed from day one to
scale big inside Chile and then expand globally)
- There is no focus in a specific field: Entrepreneurship and innovation in what field? Where will
Chile establish technical and innovative leadership? Is the only way they will attract talent by
paying entrepreneurs to come to the country? Or will students and entrepreneurs come to Chile
because it is one of the best places in the world for innovation in certain specific industries (pick
your favorite – alternative energy? materials science? food science?
- Lack of connection with big enterprises
- Lack of Venture Capital and Angel investors
Startupq8@gmail.com 7