Giadha Aguirre de Carcer

Great to catch up with two of the nation's finest ecosystem leaders, Melissa Medina, eMerge Americas [April 22-24] and Paul O'Brien, Founder Institute. * links to full convo and eMerge conference info in comments We discussed: 1. Their career journeys 2. Miami ecosystem 3. Austin/Texas ecosystem 4. Trends, opps and challenges 5. Outlook for 2026   Melissa has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, operator, investor, community leader and philanthropist. A native to Miami, she is CEO & Co-Founder of eMerge Americas with a mission of helping transform South Florida into a global tech hub. The eMerge Americas signature event, launched in 2014, is a global tech conference held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. With Melissa’s leadership, the eMerge Americas conference now attracts more than 20,000+ attendees from over 50 countries. In addition to the annual conference, eMerge organizes year-round executive summits, innovation challenges, startup pitch competitions, masterclasses, webinars, a world-class global accelerator program, as well as publishes venture activity and investment insights reports. Melissa is also a Partner at Medina Ventures, an early-stage venture fund, as well as the President of the Medina Family Foundation, which has a mission to fund local initiatives that focus on mentoring children and empowering families. Melissa was named by the South Florida Business Journal as one of the “2023 Power Leaders in Technology.” Melissa also sits on the Board of The Miami Foundation. She is passionate about transforming Miami into a global technology hub and supporting Miami-based non-profits who seek to empower tomorrow’s leaders. Most importantly, Melissa is a mother and most passionate about her 5 children. ------ Experienced in economic development, public policy, and venture capital, Paul O'Brien puts a focus on shaping the systems that enable entrepreneurship and innovation. He leads legislative and coalition strategy for Founder Institute, around issues impacting startups, capital formation, and civic infrastructure, and as publisher of STARTUP ECONOMIST. With a passion for media innovation and investment, Paul seeded MediaTech Ventures, a media industry venture development group. Former Venture Partner in Meaningful Ventures, O'Brien is Founder and Director of Funded House and Director of Founder Institute for Texas. Historically, a seasoned marketer with an early career at Yahoo! and HP. From there, Paul led the early growth of startups such as Outright.com (Acquired by GoDaddy), Zvents (Acquired by eBay’s Stubhub), and MicroVentures (Venture Capital). Paul has an unusually strong technical background considering the role he tends to play today; he built websites in the '90s and continues to engineer and produce content at seobrien.com. He was featured in the book, Online Marketing Heroes, and frequently speaks at startup and media conferences. #podcast #AFewThingsPodcast

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🌎 Financing the Future of Latin America Talking with (and learning from) the extraordinaire Harvard University educated Reinaldo Fioravanti, PhD this afternoon here at Martin's Tavern, Estd. 1933 in Georgetown about international development lending. The questions abound, and the answers are often as elusive as complex. Questions such as: 🔹 How can we finance infrastructure that drives growth while reducing environmental impact? 🔹 How do we design pro-poor strategies so that new roads, ports, and digital networks also reduce poverty and expand opportunity? 🔹 How can development lending help build local capital markets and expand retail banking—without crowding out the very commercial banks we want to strengthen? It is easy to build a road, a bridge or a power plant. It is way harder to do it involving local capital markets through PPPs, and getting local banks to lend to adjacent private sector players, pulverizing capital dispersion in the system, distributing economic growth through different layers of market players. That’s my two cents… #InternationalDevelopment #SustainableFinance #LatinAmerica #Infrastructure #EmergingMarkets #DevelopmentFinance #ppp #publicprivatepartnership #p3 • Inter-American Development Bank • The World Bank • International Monetary Fund • CAF -banco de desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe- • United Nations 🇺🇳 Asian Development Bank (ADB) African Development Bank Group United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) And the leaders on this topic: Makhtar Diop Anna Bjerde Carlos Felipe Jaramillo William Maloney Ayat Soliman

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What does it take for nonprofits to access more unrestricted funding? If we want nonprofits to build durable institutions and respond to real-world complexity, flexibility in funding is essential - this is a core principle, a critical need, yet also a challenging practice we grapple with as a funder at ACT. Looking forward to being part of this conversation at #MissionBillion Summit by Change Engine. 📍 India International Centre, Delhi 🗓️ 29 January 2026 If you’re building or backing organizations for scale, this will be a valuable room to be in. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gHzZx72N #MissionBillion #NonprofitUnicorns #ScalingImpact

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Luis Daniel Maldonado Fonken Architect of Proprietary Solopreneurship Operating Systems Most founders do not fail because they lack ambition. They fail because they attempt to build independence without a coherent operating system. For more than three decades, I have been developing proprietary systems inspired by nature, complex systems intelligence, regenerative economics, and human development architecture. My work is simple in principle, but rare in practice. I design and license integrated solopreneurship operating systems that allow founders to transition from fragmented effort into structured, regenerative, high-leverage businesses. ⸻ Three Principles Behind My Work 1 — Structure precedes growth Talent and effort are not enough. Without a coherent operating system, growth multiplies chaos. ⸻ 2 — Tools only work inside architecture Technology, strategies, and methods become powerful only when integrated into a unified system. ⸻ 3 — Regenerative systems outperform hustle Businesses designed through regenerative principles create leverage, stability, and long-term independence. ⸻ What I Provide I create and license integrated operating architectures that include: • Proprietary intellectual property • Growth frameworks and methodologies • Technology-supported operating structures • Strategic learning environments • Precision growth navigation These systems allow founders to operate their companies with clarity, leverage, and long-horizon stability. ⸻ Who This Is For This work attracts individuals who value: • Sovereignty over dependency • Structure over hype • Leverage over volume • Long-term architecture over short-term tactics ⸻ Next Step If you are building—or planning to build—a high-leverage solopreneur company, we can explore whether this operating architecture aligns with your stage of growth. The first step is a strategic conversation.

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Luis Daniel Maldonado Fonken Architect of Proprietary Solopreneurship Operating Systems Most founders do not fail because they lack ambition. They fail because they attempt to build independence without a coherent operating system. For more than three decades, I have been developing proprietary systems inspired by nature, complex systems intelligence, regenerative economics, and human development architecture. My work is simple in principle, but rare in practice. I design and license integrated solopreneurship operating systems that allow founders to transition from fragmented effort into structured, regenerative, high-leverage businesses. ⸻ Three Principles Behind My Work 1 — Structure precedes growth Talent and effort are not enough. Without a coherent operating system, growth multiplies chaos. ⸻ 2 — Tools only work inside architecture Technology, strategies, and methods become powerful only when integrated into a unified system. ⸻ 3 — Regenerative systems outperform hustle Businesses designed through regenerative principles create leverage, stability, and long-term independence. ⸻ What I Provide I create and license integrated operating architectures that include: • Proprietary intellectual property • Growth frameworks and methodologies • Technology-supported operating structures • Strategic learning environments • Precision growth navigation These systems allow founders to operate their companies with clarity, leverage, and long-horizon stability. ⸻ Who This Is For This work attracts individuals who value: • Sovereignty over dependency • Structure over hype • Leverage over volume • Long-term architecture over short-term tactics ⸻ Next Step If you are building—or planning to build—a high-leverage solopreneur company, we can explore whether this operating architecture aligns with your stage of growth. The first step is a strategic conversation.

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Most founders chase visibility. Very few understand credibility. On February 26th at Venture Week Miami, we’re hosting #PRtalks: From Visibility to Credibility, a practical session on how founders build trust that actually converts. We’ll break down: • When PR actually makes sense for your stage • How earned media, podcasts, and partnerships compound authority • How to pitch yourself without sounding desperate or salesy • The reputational funnel: visibility → trust → conversion → leverage Led by karla cobreiro (cobreiro comms) and Andrea Lievano Macias (PRPARATODOS), founders who have built credibility engines for real operators. If you’re fundraising, selling, or positioning for partnerships, narrative is not optional. Miami founders, investors, operators, see you at #Mindspace Downtown Miami. Link in comments

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Founders in frontier industries: a DC strategy is not optional – it’s essential. In this clip from High Stakes, I sit down with James Barlia, former Revolution investor, currently Executive Director at STATION DC, to discuss the importance of engaging early with the Washington ecosystem. If you're building in technology or any innovation-driven sector, the path to meaningful scale and distribution often runs through DC. It's not just about lobbying, it’s about proximity, presence, and participation in shaping the environment your business will operate in. Because in DC, if you're not in the room, you're not in the conversation.

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Why FUNDES Group Exists: Closing Gaps for Small Businesses and Impact Ventures in the underserved markets (...but high-potential markets) Last week in Washington D.C., sitting with catalytic capital leaders, social investors, and ecosystem builders, including Alicia DeLia (Buen Vivir Capital Institute), Elizabeth Garlow, Felipe Witchger, Charles Higgenbotham, Abigail Napsuciale Heredia (she/her), Devin Chesney one insight kept coming back: Inequality in underserved markets isn’t a technical challenge. It’s a systemic one. And systemic challenges require institutions built for systems, not only projects. For some time 😜, FUNDES Group has been exactly that: a platform dedicated to reducing inequality by strengthening the economic engine that has sustained Latin America for decades, micro and small businesses and impact-entrepreneurs. Because in our region: 🔹 They create most of the jobs. 🔹 Yet they remain underserved by finance, data, technology, and fair value chains. This is the core problem we exist to solve. Our solution: A dual engine that combines 1️⃣ FUNDES Impact Consulting, scaling what works: integrating small businesses into markets, value chains, tech ecosystems, and sustainable business models. 2️⃣ Fundamental Venture Studio, building what doesn’t yet exist: new enterprises designed to address structural gaps the market frequently ignores. We also discussed integrated capital, an idea FUNDES Group has been practicing for decades: grants → advisory → venture building → blended finance → impact measurement → systemic adoption. And we know it works, because small businesses don’t need a miracle. They need an ecosystem. 👉 I’m grateful to every partner helping us make that vision real.

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In the latest episode of Risky Routes, I spoke with Eleanor "Ellie" Rusling, CEO of microEra Power Inc. What started as an unexpected moment in Colombia quickly turned into a powerful reminder: things don’t always go as planned and that’s where the real growth begins. In high-pressure or uncertain situations, you’re forced to adapt, stay composed, and problem-solve in real time. Experiences like this don’t just create stories they build resilience, confidence, and perspective. What’s a moment that challenged you—but ended up teaching you something valuable? 🎧 Full episode link in the comments.

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Building on John Fullerton’s reflection about our crisis of institutional trust - (and the limits of “trustless” blockchain or tech fixes alone) Grassroots Economics offering a simple agreement with John and grounding: tech is a layer, not the ground. The ground is right relationship. The base protocol I point to is Commitment Pooling: four verbs anyone can practice (curation, valuation, limitation, exchange). You see it in village ROLAs and VSLAs, and you can render it in smart contracts. Overlapping pools build resilience (including an emergency lane), while trust is practiced offline-first (witnesses, notebooks, oaths) when software or laws wobble. Let’s keep testing this protocol in teams, communities, and ledgers (toward Ubuntu, peace, and harmony). Full article with more of my thoughts on John’s reflection and nRhythm: https://lnkd.in/dqrmTWCP

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Most early-stage founders don’t fail because of the product, the market, or even funding. They fail because they never built a Founder Operating System, a simple rhythm that turns chaos into consistent action. Motivation is unreliable. Structure is undefeated. Inside YFA, we teach founders an operating rhythm that creates momentum automatically, even when motivation disappears. Here’s what it looks like at a high level: Daily: One priority. Not three. One action that moves the company closer to traction. Everything else is noise. Weekly: Review KPIs, customer signals, and learning loops. Decide what to double down on and what to kill. Most founders never prune; operators prune constantly. Monthly: Rebuild your narrative. Refine ICP. Evaluate your GTM experiments. Ask the only question that matters: “Did we create real traction or just movement?” Quarterly: Set milestones that investors actually respect. Nothing vague. Nothing aspirational. Real proof. Real progress. When founders adopt a true operating system, everything changes: Firefighting drops. Clarity rises. Stress decreases. Momentum becomes predictable instead of accidental. Great founders don’t wake up inspired every day. They wake up inside a system that continues working even when they’re tired, uncertain, or overwhelmed. If you want the tools to build your own Founder Operating System, weekly dashboards, KPI frameworks, GTM rhythms, pitch structures, and more, the Deliverable Library gives you affordable, tactical assets that plug directly into your workflow. 👉 Explore the Deliverable Library: https://lnkd.in/gVdTmMDH Structure creates momentum. Momentum creates founders. #YourFirstAngel #LatinoFounders #Startups #FounderOS #OperatorMindset #Traction #SeedStage

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A valuable contribution to the challenges many of us are navigating in practice, particularly in understanding the different forms of collective action and how they work together to deliver impact at scale.

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Big news for small-business owners.  A new wave of grant opportunities is now open, offering meaningful, non-dilutive funding to founders ready to grow, innovate, and deepen their impact in the communities they serve. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/esiKcaDG #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurs #Brands

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In news that just as important, if not more so, Fervo Energy has closed on over $400M in non-recourse private debt proving out that if you build it (profitably) they (debt providers) will come. As geopolitical risks spike, it's a good time be invested in firm, domestic energy sources whose costs are 100% detached from global oil prices.

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Had a great time at DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week) moderating a panel with Scott Christensen (Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund (CBSCF) , Faith Davis (Exelon) and Bill McNulty (NextEra Energy Investments), convened by the great C'pher Gresham. Here's a quick recap: 1) The panelists were phenomenal - a mixture of corporate, state and foundation-backed VC's all focusing on climate. They're actively funding companies across a range of sectors - e.g. nature-based solutions, energy + AI, water, etc. Point being, we were lucky to have experts with such broad purviews. 2) The current climate could be pushing at least some climate VC's to focus on software and move away from hardware, at least temporarily. This type of capital may indeed just be better suited for software companies at this juncture. It also reflects the fact that certain segments of the climate-tech market are just more mature than others - e.g. software performs best once the hardware and the business case around it are solid, then it becomes and optimization and efficiency game. 3) Founders need to target "must-solve" climate problems from the investor lens. In other words, yes there's a sea of climate challenges where startups can be additive. However, in this environment, few of these areas are attracting meaningful capital. There's nothing wrong with tackling problem areas that are under-invested, we need this in spades. However, for those trying to get capital in the door, realize the constraints that come with targeting problems that investors just aren't prioritizing. 4) Look to funders overseas. The EU, where so much climate finance, policy and general expertise has come from, could be playing a much more important role. I'd also argue that Gulf countries like KSA and UAE are going to be critical here too, not to mention China, of course. 5) We need mentoring and coaching to be at an all-time high. With so much uncertainty, networks/communities where both founders and investors can learn from/lean on each other have never been more important. The panel/audience was a nice microcosm of the types of support networks we need to be actively building. Big thanks again to C'pher, Faith, Scott and Bill, as well as the whole DC Startup + Tech Week team. Til next year!

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This is an excellent report on the #VC activity in Florida for the first half of 2025, put together by our partner,s eMerge Americas. 💡 5 Takeaways from the eMerge Americas 1H 2025 Florida VC Insights Report: 1. Startups across Florida raised $2.85B across 270 deals, putting 2025 on pace for the strongest year since 2022. 2. AI dominates, 33% of all funded startups are AI-focused, with $830M raised in South Florida alone. 3. Cybersecurity and defense tech are booming, with Tampa emerging as “Cyber Bay” and major new AI-cyber programs launching. 4. Fintech, climatetech & Web3 continue to shine, with record funding and renewed investor confidence in Miami. 5. “If you’re not investing in AI, you’re asleep at the wheel,” says Me! https://lnkd.in/eVb-eYA9

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Do you have the GSD gene? Then this episode of Ecosystem, Scale! is for you. In Episode 8, world-class ecosystem-builder Jess Edwards breaks down how the real magic isn’t just execution — it’s turning goodwill, relationships, and momentum into sustainable infrastructure that outlives any single program or initiative. If you’ve ever wondered how to move from hustle to systems… from activity to architecture… from “one more program” to lasting impact — this conversation is a foundational guide. 🎧 Give it a listen, and if it resonates, pass it along to someone else you know who carries the GSD gene. https://lnkd.in/duRG5P8d Because ecosystems don’t scale on effort alone — they scale on what we build that lasts. Apple: https://lnkd.in/eS389tsK Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eVPEzzuB Melanie (Akwule) Nnogo, MBA, Anastasia Jackson, Isabel Wen, Next Economy MBA, Mitch Smith, Sean R Reid, Jason See, Jess O'Brien, Josh Heller, Gary Livingston, Elizabeth Brigham , Lavonya Jones, Demetria A. Gallagher, Anand Macherla, Jenny Tacka, Bernita Platt, MBA, Tony Kershaw, Jeannine Briggman Rogers

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