As we approach the event and the expection increases, we’ve interviewed one of our guest speakers, Gustavo Caetano, founder and CEO of Samba Tech, the largest online video platform of Latin America. Here’s a bit of what you can expect from Red Innova Brasil.

1. You’ve studied Marketing at ESPM, Innovation at MIT and product management at Silicon Valley. What’s the importance of an academic graduation on innovation and Internet projects?

The programs that I did abroad were key. To have the opportunity to be at one of the main poles of technology of the world open my mind. In the US, they have a different way to teach. They give you support for your theories, but in many cases they build you to became an entrepreneur.

Here in Brazil, we still have the culture of “get a job”, our parents did that, and their parents as well. Fortunately this culture has been changing and now, more than never, I see how important it was for me to bring back what I’ve learned to apply at Samba Tech’s everyday routine.

2. Samba Tech was created in 2004 as a mobile games distributor, and now is the largest online video platform of Latin America. Can you talk about the trajectory and facts that contributed for the company’s success?

Samba tried 3 tomes until consolidate in the market. Beside being a mobile games distributor we also sold PC games on the Internet. None of the business model worked out, but the technology did! We used the base that we’ve developed and apply that to the video market.

There’s a Canadian army law that says “between the map and the land, take the land”, that means if you are at a place that a river doesn’t run trough it and in your treasure map there’s one, believe in what you see. Bringing that to the business world that means: bet in what the market is showing you and don’t focus 100% on your first business plan. We’ve made an early bet on online video communications because the market was showing us that were the trend. Today we are the lead Online Video Platform of Latin America. But everything that we’ve built wouldn’t be possible without the team of talents that are part of the Samba Tech’s family.

The employees here “bought” a dream that I had and certainly that is the main differentials of the market.
I’ve assembled small startups here inside Samba Tech and adopted the tactic of “Power to the edges”, that means each one here have their responsibilities really defined and has the autonomy to make decisions. That contributes so the opportunities are not mssed and stimulates innovation.

3. Samba Tech started in Brazil and consolidated in all Latin America. How was the expansion, and which are the main online video markets of the region?

We are at the beginning of the expansion process. We opened an office in Argentina to act strongly in all Latin America. I always thought in creating a global company, that could scale, whether in technology, wheter in market – and then to be on the Internet facilitated a lot.

Latin America is the fatest growing market in number of Internet users in the world. E online videos are going to be responsible for 90% of the Internet traffic in 2013, according to Cisco, we are seeing this market as an excellent alternative.

4. What’s your opinion on what people are saying about Brazil being “the next big thing” to invest?

Amazing! We are seeing the birth of startups that are being born global and with excellent business model, making the country an entrepreneurship pole and focus of Venture Capitals of many parts of the world. The investment culture” is changing here, not only in startups but in investors as well.

The companies are losing the fear to search for accelerators and Venture Capitals, and we’ve never seen son many VC companies wanting to invest in Brazilians startups. That shows that besides the market being “hot”, that we are building innovative solutions in a world level.

5. You were nominated for Entrepreneur of the year by PEGN magazine in 2009, and now this year you are running for the Entrepreneur of the year for the INFO magazine. Which personal characteristics do you give for this kind of recognition?

I’ve started as an intern at a big company, but at that company, I was bothered with the slowness and bureaucracy of the process. I always dream of working at a place that I could expose my ideas and have fun. My entrepreneurship story started with a pinch of luck, but I always ran after of “make it happen”. One of the tactics that we use here at Samba is “Fail Fast”. Many executives are afraid of something going wrong e wait too long to launch a product. The innovation thought goes with that. It’s impossible to deliver a done “Mona Lisa” to your client, that’s why the sooner you use your client and research source and fail the better. You’ll only know if what you’re doing is going to succeed if real people are using it, and if you do it from the beginning of the development you could kill – learning from your mistakes – and discontinue what is wrong right away.

Besides, I think that being flexible is essential. If we had focused on our first business plan we would be selling mobile games until today – or not! Adapting to the market is essential, even so in a market so dynamic as the technology market.

“Rework”, a book from 37signals and a New York Times Best seller, talks about “planning is guessing” – to plan is to try to predict the future. Don’t waste too much time thinking about what to do and don’t take your first business plan as “Koran”, is what I’ve learned and adopted to the Samba Tech’s context.

6. What is your advice to new entrepreneurs that are trying to make it in this market?

(a) Focus: Focus on a big market or a promising niche. Specialize in something that no one does and that a big company is not interested at the moment. With that you will raise as a leader and may take advantage of that. However is important to draw a line in the sand and recognize the boundaries: one who does everything doesn’t do anything.

(b) Be flexible: explanation on the question above.