{"id":1055,"date":"2016-10-13T01:19:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T01:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.startupblink.com\/blog\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2023-10-24T18:02:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T18:02:06","slug":"guadalajara-startup-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupblink.com\/blog\/guadalajara-startup-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Guadalajara Startup Ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Guadalajara<\/p>\n

Click here to view Guadalajara’s Startup Map<\/a><\/h5>\n

Introduction to Guadalajara’s Startup Ecosystem<\/h1>\n

Guadalajara in Mexico (don\u2019t let yourself get confused with the one in Spain) is the second largest city in the country with more than 4.5 million inhabitants enriching it every day, bestowing the area with a hallmark of big cultural contrasts. For the past 30 or so years, the very strong sense of tradition, folklore and conservativeness has merged perfectly with the influx of domestic and foreign migration that leveled the pitch for a culture of innovation and tech entrepreneurship. In StartupBlink’s 2019 report,<\/strong> Guadalajara ranked 3rd in Mexico and 90th globally.<\/p>\n

Guadalajara is the capital of Jalisco, which is the 4th largest economy in Mexico by GDP. There are over 700 electronics manufacturing shops and IT companies (ranging from Dev shops, Startups and Platform Companies) throughout the state that combined adds up for more than 17 billion pesos\u2014over 60% of State\u2019s trade exports\u2014making it a predominant activity for Jalisco\u2019s economy. It all started in 1968 when Motorola established a manufacturing unit within the City. The abundance and growth of cheap qualified labor, decent higher education infrastructure and quality of life\u2014that all remains to this day\u2014boosted the arrival of other subsidiaries, competitors and spin-off companies like IBM, NEC, Siemens, Kodak, General Instruments among others. Slowly but consistently the region has overrun the \u201ccheap labor\u201d self-image by attracting R&D and product development units, instead of manufacturing ones.<\/p>\n

Guadalajara – A collaboration-driven ecosystem<\/h3>\n

With over 30+ tech related communities\u2014and growing\u2014helding educational and networking events each week just for the sake of sharing best practices and success cases, that alone has helped to inspire, educate and connect more people to work together and efficiently and then give back to the new entrants.<\/p>\n

The most important communities are Hackers and Founders, iTuesday and MakersGDL that each one holds monthly meetings with more than 100 people (besides H&F\u2019s main event there are 4 themed, educational regular events).<\/p>\n

Due to this in 2014, Meetroopers was created. A community of communities that aims to integrate and coordinate the efforts and to incentivize the creation of new ones within Guadalajara and throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Advantages of starting in Guadalajara<\/h3>\n

Weather: Never too hot neither too cold. The low average is 11\u00baC (51.8 \u00baF). Topping an average of 27\u00baC (80.6 \u00baF). It rains a lot during the summer to early autumn.<\/p>\n

People: With most of its population ranging from 15 to 64 years old, Guadalajara can be considered a young, vibrant city. As a magnet for new incomers, people tend to be warm and welcoming.<\/p>\n

Government: Jalisco was the first Latin American state government to create a Department of Science and Innovation, that has helped promote and foster a culture of innovation within the most influential related entities and to align and coordinate the efforts on this matter.<\/p>\n

Disadvantages of starting in Guadalajara<\/h3>\n

Bureaucracy: Despite having a Department of Science and Innovation, there\u2019s still\u2014as in most governments through Latin America\u2014a proclivity to give priority to bureaucracy and politics when trying to get things done.<\/p>\n

The business community and tech adoption: Guadalajara has had a strong nation-wide position in goods trading. From home furniture to processed foods and candies, these large trading companies are family owned and managed in a very traditional way. They tend to be very conservative and risk-averse often seeing technology adoption to improve their processes as a waste of money instead of an investment.<\/p>\n

Lack of angel investors: Not having had a major startup exit, local investors\u2014historically\u2014have preferred to put their money in real state and governmental bonds.<\/p>\n

Insecurity: Like any large Latin American city, the sense of insecurity is always there. This has an important affection on publicly acknowledging success, reducing the spotlights on those local entrepreneur heroes that prefer to go unnoticed, and probably leaving the country to enjoy their newly acquired wealth.<\/p>\n

Most successful startups in Guadalajara<\/h3>\n