LinkedIn: Luis Barrios
Twitter: @lxbp

What do you do currently?
Work alongside entrepreneurs.

How and when did you get involved with the Mexican entrepreneurial ecosystem?
How? I am an entrepreneur myself with extra-rational motivations to share my experiences, failures and continuous learning combined with my network to push talented entrepreneurs to the achieve their next milestone. I started back in 2010 after my Babson MBA when I tried to launch a consumer app with no entrepreneurial ecosystem and failed. My comeback was in 2013 founding ThePool – Entrepreneurship Club, with the mission to build a supportive entrepreneurial community and provide resources for future entrepreneurs; thus collaborate with many others to build the Mexican entrepreneurial ecosystem of tomorrow.

How would you describe the ecosystem in Mexico? 
Rising. Great potential. Several cultural and mindset issues to solve.

What do you expect in the next 12 months?
A transition of certain de-Accelerators, Vulture Capital Funds and Devil Investors playing zero-sum game towards a rising of new and fresh value-adding Accelerators, Venture Capital Funds and seasoned Angel Investors executing a sum-for all collaboration aspiring for a brighter future.

What are the main challenges?

1. Improving the communication and connection flow among ideas, talent and capital that makes a true entrepreneurial ecosystem based on collaboration, trust and good karma. This will reduce the transactional cost between humans to interact and innovate faster.
2. Eliminate the confidence gap among new and seasoned investors to bring more capital to early stage, non-proven, pre-revenue, young, innovative potential companies of the future.
3. Wake-up our trust. Trust among our population that we have the ideas, talent and capital on our own backyard to build the next big thing: a great company that changes the world. We are not a 500M Spanish-speaking population or a US5 trillion economy for nothing. Reflect on that.

What change or result would bring the greatest benefits for the ecosystem?
Although sometimes we need inspiration or success stories to jump or dream of Silicon Valley… in my beliefs we only need a change in mindset: Wipe out our “Conquered” mindsets since Hernán Cortés and truly believe we can become Conquerors. Eliminate our “Malinchismo” and start believing in the “Mexican Dream”. If we join and collaborate, reduce transactional costs among us and improve the flow of collaboration between leaders, investors, startups, mentors, corporations, and all those who want to get involved, is ALL what we need.

Describe your typical day
Playing sort of “chess match” jumping from table to table every minute with the Startups at ThePool giving advice.

Who is your favorite entrepreneur?
Joshua from Boletia has proven to become an inspiration for future entrepreneurial leaders in Mexico.

A recent book do you recommend?
The Rainforest by Victor Hwang – Kauffman Fellow Class 12.

Smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop?
Desktop?? Mobile first and laptop.

iOS or Android?
iOS.

Favorite App?
eConduce para no quedarme sin scooter.

Favorite social network?
Offline.

Ideal vacation?
Involving outdoors, water, snow, great cities.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
Graduate from my Kauffman Fellowship and position Mavericks – Formation Capital as the largest Angel Investor Network and Training in Mexico by training more people to create a community of new and seasoned Angel Investors to invest in Early Stage Startups.

One word that describes you?
Resourceful.

Previous interview: Mario García