Alejandro Rogers Bozzolo, MBA '09

“What I learned in the race around the world” by Felipe Cubillos

This is an eglish translation of a letter written by Felipe Cubillos, a Chilean entrepreneur. Mr. Cubillos died recently in a airplane crash as he was travelling to Juan Fernandez in order to cooperate with the post earthquake rebuilding effort.  I have included my favorite quotes, the rest of the letter is available here

Lo que aprendí en la regata de la vuelta al mundo (in english)

If you´re fortunate to one day compete with rivals the size we had to face in this regatta, honor them, admire them, but deliver all you have to beat them fair and square, they deserve it.

...

And never take too seriously a sailor who is finishing a race around the world. He will only knows how to sail a little more, nothing else!

 

Steinfield on Blackberry and iPhone

Will Smith on Greatness and talent vs skill

Very inspirational stuff from a great person.

 

 

Water has Memory

Really interesting.

 

Ubuntu: Video to MP3 Conversion

This is the code for converting Video to MP3

ffmpeg -i /home/video.mp4 -ac 2 -ar 44100 -ab 320 /home/video.mp3

It also works with other formats such as flv.

 

 

Ubuntu: Gave up waiting for root device

For some reason Ubuntu failed to boot and I got the following message "Ubuntu: Gave up waiting for root device". I found out that the easiest way to get over this without losing data was to reboot your PC with the instalation CD in. When propted for installation go for the full install and when asked about partition keep your original installation in one partition and this new one on another one (do not delete the old partition!). At some point of the installation the wizard will ask if you want to import settings from your other partition, say Yes. Once installation is over, restart and chose the new partition, you should be able to enter your old partition using the new partition with the old username and password.

There is a pretty good explanation on this at http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubuntu-initrd-bug.html

Must See: Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed

US$ 1.5 billion merger finalized

Happy to finalize this long process of merging two investment funds. This will give investors more liquidity. More info here

Climbing the Villarica Volcano-Chile

A must if you come to this region and like trekking. Some tips:

- It is a short climb (4-6 hours) but it's all steep uphill
- Crampons are a must as there is a good amount of ice
- Weather is a key factor if you want to see the crater: best days are those with no wind and vertical column of smoke. If there is wind all you will see up there are toxic gases. But it's fun anyway, not a deal breaker!
- Going down is pretty fun. If you go on a tour, which is highly recommended,  part of the equipment you will bring to the top is a tobbogan (seriously!) and you will be able to make all the trip downhill at top speed! So fun, I felt like 10 year old kid... :-)
- Best time to go: Not on january-february or any high season date. On a high season over 400 people climb every day, on a low season day only 100.  

Venture Capital in Chile - Capital de Riesgo en Chile

 

Finally my first book is out! Venture Capital in Chile. You can get your copy here