Below are some perspectives from Ingrid Riley on the website “Silicon Caribe” about the announcement that JGX labs, a business incubator founded by JJ Geewax will be officially launched in New Kingston, Jamaica today.
We think the initiative is definitely Big in Jamaica. Locals weren’t doing it before. Hopefully this will open up investors eyes to the possibilities that exist here. All the best Mr. Geewax. Good to get the conversation started. Also big up to SiLiCON CARiBE.
“What JJGeewax and his JGXLabs IS and IS NOT in Jamaica
Posted by Ingrid Riley on July 17th, 2013
I was first introduced to JJGeewax at the Developing Caribbean Open Data Conference held earlier this year at the University of the West Indies by Matthew McNaughton, Founder of Slashroots Foundation and co-producer of the conference.
After that, JJ and I traded we-must-meet up-and-chat emails with him, then I was included in an email thread by Julian Robinson, the Government’s Tech Entrepreneurship Champion in State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Mining Julian Robinson, as JJ announced his intention to open up JGXLabs. That thread included a link to the site which was not publicly live as yet.
JJ and I then finally had a sit down chat at Cannonball cafe in Barbican along with partners Imani Duncan-Price and Ashley-Ann Robinson-Foster and then after that at JGXLabs itself one Friday afternoon. In between all of that talking to JJ, his partners, I was listening to the various feedback I was getting from people from various sectors and from the tech industry. Yes the Google guy had landed in Kingston and everyone and their mother had an opinion about what he was doing and what JGXLabs was all about. I was constantly being asked by phone, email and what’s app what do I think of JJGxLabs, even was pressed for “my official opinion on it”.
So here goes:
What JJGeewax and his JGXLabs IS:
1. Timely- He couldn’t have been a more perfect time to land his lab here in Kingston. The eyes and ears of the Jamaican government and Corporate Jamaica are open for the most part and they are seeking to manifest more success stories by facilitating, investing resources and aligning themselves with it all. It comes at a perfect time when the government has made its intention clear re their Startup Jamaica initiative and will stage a Venture Capital Conference in September.
Most importantly, after years of being starting and/or being in microgroups on college campuses, online in Google, Facebook and Linked groups; attending meetups and conference; competing in hackathons and innovation challenges; by reading local, regional and international blogs and magazines; watching Youtube videos, trying and failing and trying their ideas again and again, teaching themselves things they didn’t learn in college courses; taking courses online and by sheer self interest -the Jamaica Tech/Entrepreneurial Community is primed to pop. Where we are now and are headed was part of a process that started years ago.
2. He is An Entrepreneur with Experience in the Tech Startup Scene: JJ Geewax along with his partners raised US$5 million for their Philadelphia-based company Invite Media which “developed technology that enables advertisers and agencies to use “real time bidding” to buy display ad space, and to optimize display ad campaigns, across multiple advertising exchanges, all in a single interface.” They sold it to Google for US$81million dollars. He and his partners all now work for Google.
What does this really mean? He’s had the experience of building a product the market wants from scratch, something investors wanted in on, a company is willing to buy- all with by working with a team of other smart people. Frankly it’s that experience that is most valuable at JGXLabs and the entrepreneurs inside it – not his acquired Google pedigree.
3. A Beacon that’s now showing up the local investment and entrepreneurial community : Yeah I said it! If I had US$1 for every time I heard someone was “about to” launch an accelerator or incubator here, especially over the last 2 years, I’d be richer than Oprah. Fact is there has always been talented entrepreneurs, developers, designers IT professionals here, but have struggled long with perception of what is grown here ain’t good enough or that they simply do not exist at all, justifying them not rolling up their sleeves and getting down with the fast growing tech/entrepreneurial community. The Tech and Entrepreneurial community has to take part blame for that perception too, by acting as unproven prima donnas at times and also for not learning the soft skills or the ability to market themselves in a way that inspires trust, credibility and confidence.
That aside, while there has not been large scale venture capital investments happening in the Tech Sector outside of the usual telemarketing Business Processing Operations (BPO) sector, the Tech sector has always seen low profile angel investing for many years by some wealthy Jamaicans. Added to that, in the past recent years, there has been US based venture capitalists who have flown down, invested in Jamaican tech startups and gone right back, with zero fan fare.
So things are happening, it’s just that we need more and local investors and investment houses to take the time to understand more about the stunning potential of the Jamaican Tech sector especially when it comes to software, mobile, internet, animation, digital content etc. Then they need to take some calculated risks, get closer to the feeder pipe of ideas and talent growing here, who can either be partners in business or disruptors and competitors in your marketplace. Yes the Jamaican tech community has it like that! Of course they need some training, mentorship, cash and some more global connections…and that’s why more accelerators and incubators are needed. We still as Jamaicans need to stop underestimating the very talented, locally trained, self taught, developers, designers and other IT professionals we have here and we haven’t really started tapping the talent at the high school levels. The possibilities are amazing I’m telling yah!
4. A hybrid of an incubator and a nearshore Development Shop: His idea as I’ve been told is to invest a small amount of money US$5k-US$15k(which I am sure is tax writeoffable so government and corporate Jamaica please take note of that as we develop our own Venture Capital Ecosystem here) per project and transfer that wealth of experience and knowledge of building products that global markets want. According to this website jbxlabs.com, if you don’t have an idea no problem, he has a store of ideas so you can come in and work on one of his. At the moment, with this first batch, outside of Edufocal started almost two years ago by Gordon Swaby and one other I believe-the ideas that developers and designers are working on at JGXLabs are JJs.
Fact is, JJ has decided to start small and as he said, it is an initial 3 month summer programme, that comes with a 4 month office lease and most importantly a 3 month deadline for the startups on the inside to totally focus on building the products and getting them to market. If for whatever reasons it fails – meaning the products are not built in time or the products are built but there is not enough of a market uptake, then he is going to close and start again with fresh people next summer. He believes in failing fast, cheap and often and that’s right in line with the global ethos of startups. Additionally, it’s a smart way of working a scenario like this vs setting up permanent stakes in the ground and then die on the vine to prove a point, even when things are just not working. Some people will like that and others won’t, but that’s cool. Let some Jamaican and US-based Diaspora people stop their long talking and cough come cash and launch a flavour of their own.
The companies being built in JGXLabs now are:
” Blaze Payment is a mobile payment tool allowing persons to “top up” their account, either with a credit card or by purchasing credit from a friend, and use this credit to buy meals and other items from the Blaze Network of merchants. “ This is essence making using your phone credit to buy products and service, somewhat formalising what’s been happening in a certain sector of the economy already….this is somewhat akin to movie currency.
“An online learning website, EduFocal is focused on training and test-taking to prepare students in Jamaica for GSAT and CSEC exams. The long-term goal of EduFocal is to tackle corporate learning which, according to recent estimates, is a US$56 billion market.” Launched over a year ago by Gordon Swaby.
“HireForge is an online application tracking and hiring pipeline system targeting small businesses.”
Labelled as an “internal version of Twitter”, Checkpoint.io is focused on helping small companies or teams keep track of what members are doing on a day-to-day basis, using daily reminder and team summary emails.
5. Another reason for the world to take notice that things have been happening in Jamaica and the Caribbean and if they are smart they too can take a little risk with a little money and get close to some talented, smart, globally minded aspiring and current tech entrepreneurs, developers and designers here.
What JJGeewax and his JGXLabs is NOT:
1. Revolutionary or the answer to Jamaica’s job and wealth creation dreams: As I said earlier in this blog posts, JGXLabs is not revolutionary, he’s a fast moving entrepreneur who understands the value of moving fast and getting things done, but it is still just that, one way of getting things done in the Jamaican Tech Startup Ecosystem. This is no magic bullet that will all of a sudden populate the landscape with hundreds of startup and success stories for millionaire and billionaire entrepreneurs. It’s not the first and of course it won’t be the last. As I had said earlier in this post, like every successful global startup ecosystem, diversity is the key, an open playing field where different flavours of accelerators and incubators can come to bear on the Startup Scene.
2. A model for everyone to follow. In every startup ecosystem across the world there are development shops, incubators and accelerators of every stripe, it typically is dependent on the bias and intentions of its founders and their partners. Having choice, is in fact great for aspiring and current entrepreneurs, developers and designers – so they can find one that match their type of startups and and the working, mentorship and investor environments that suits them. There is no single entity that can match the needs of every startup whether they are in early stages or in scaling up mode.
Words of Advice Already Given to JJGeewax
And JJ when I met with you I told you some of this already but I wanted to put this on the record too .
1. Relax, Stop trying so Hard. Stop trying so hard to win friends and influence people here. It’s not necessary, you have nothing to prove. The one thing that will draw the right entrepreneurs, partners and endorsements is the success that you and the entrepreneurs there produce and also the mistakes and lessons learnt that you and your lab will experience along the way. If you have the time or inclination have your media people and your lab entrepreneurs, blog their journeys and share it with the world. As I’ve said transparency achieves a lot, especially when you have nothing to hide.
2. Stop walking around with the damn entourage, it’s not necessary. This isn’t New York or Silicon Valley. While I understand you being here and what you are doing, could play out like a scene from sharks the water, where people smell your money and opportunity and want to take advantage of you- the simple answer to that was to do your homework. Google it! Find out who are the boots on the ground are in the tech and entrepreneurial community and build “authentic relationships” with them….don’t hard sell them, disrespect them or question their pedigree and tell that to your partners too.
(Updated…So 3 people after reading this entire post which is 99.9%positive in JJ’s favour and actually should have pissed off other people, have chosen to focus on a single paragraph and a single sentence…and then telling me that my tone was “harsh”, even “malicious”…..lol…seriously?! and pointed only this paragragh above…me referring to JJ’s partners as “entourage”. People relax, and stop taking it so personally, I am not referring to Imani and Ashley individually, but at the concept of him walking around with a group of people. So let me expand…As I had said before, this is something that I had already said to JJ when I met with him in his lab, I told him that I thought it was unnecessary to be always walking about with this partners ( Imani who helps him to meet the right people and Ashley his lawyer who makes sure he doesn’t say anything that will get him into an legal trouble or give away too much) if his goal is to build one on one relationships with certain people as he said . And I told him why…it’s not the culture here in Jamaica and it may work against him and it already has in a couple of instances). Also remember that’s just me talking to JJ. JJ could simply had said whatever in his mind and continue to do what he believes is best for him. But, it doesn’t mean I can’t give the opinion for which I was asked. Seriously, David, Karen Marc, have a glass of wine on me tomorrow and take a chill pill. Get impassioned about more important things, please.
3. Pick your other local partners wisely and that’s if you need them at all. Your entity is private, just pay your taxes, keep your nose clean and do your thing.
So, in a nutshell, I am all for anyone, any organisation who is working to get us to what I know Jamaica/Caribbean will achieve- I’ve always said it, we will deliver to the world the Tech equivalent of Usain Bolt and Bob Marley. Watch for it, but help us achieve it if you can.
So there it is, my official opinion as Editor of SiliconCaribe.com and Founder of ConnectiMass Tech Entrepreneurship Foundation. See you all tomorrow Thursday evening at JJ’s media launch.”
The original announcement from the Jamaica Observer is shown below:
“Techie Injection – Google engineer investing in technology start-ups
Incubator targets exportation of software by the end of summer
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant Business Co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
AMERICAN tech expert JJ Geewax has set up a business incubator in Jamaica that will invest in local start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in the global technology industry.
The incubator, JGX Labs, is based in New Kingston and will be officially launched tomorrow. JGX will inject capital and provide office space, legal support, technical and business mentoring to the start-up companies.
Geewax is a chief engineer at Invite Media, a New York City-based advertising display company that was acquired by Google for US$81 million ($8.2 billion) in 2010. He decided to embark on the project in Jamaica after noticing that the country is rich in software development talent. With proper guidance, Geewax believes many locals could have successful businesses in the global technology industry.
“I’ve been coming to Jamaica for quite a while, and there are some really smart people when I have met who know how to build software,” Geewax told the Business Observer. “My argument is that the world is on this level playing field and that anybody can compete on this Internet-based playground,” he said, noting that JGX will be providing the start-ups and entrepreneur hopefuls with the “right mentorship and guidance on the technical side, and business side, to actually do something with all this knowledge and skills that they are getting in the tech industry.”
It is a standard venture capital model, but with a lot more hand-holding services, Geewax said.
“Financially, it follows the same model as a venture capital firm, where they get money and we buy shares, but we do a lot more hand-holding,” he noted. “We give less cash and more services.”
For instance, the start-ups won’t need to pay for attorneys, overseas designers or commercial space, as JGX provides all of that for free.
JGX Labs already has four local companies, owned by young Jamaicans, on-board: Blaze Payment Ltd, EduFocal, HireForge and Checkpoint.
Blaze Payment is a mobile payment tool allowing persons to “top up” their account, either with a credit card or by purchasing credit from a friend, and use this credit to buy meals and other items from the Blaze Network of merchants.
An online learning website, EduFocal is focused on training and test-taking to prepare students in Jamaica for GSAT and CSEC exams. The long-term goal of EduFocal is to tackle corporate learning which, according to recent estimates, is a US$56 billion market.
HireForge is an online application tracking and hiring pipeline system targeting small businesses.
Labelled as an “internal version of Twitter”, Checkpoint.io is focused on helping small companies or teams keep track of what members are doing on a day-to-day basis, using daily reminder and team summary emails.
The details of each contract are confidential, but the companies are each injected with capital of anywhere between US$5,000 ($506,000) and US$15,000 ($1.5 million), according to Geewax.
“These are not hard and fast rules, just guidelines to keep us on a path. If there is a company that needs $2 million instead of $1.5 million, we will give them $2 million, but we haven’t seen that yet,” he said, noting “We want to keep the money to a minimum because we want people to focus on being creative and make sure they are not wasting time figuring out how to spend the money.”
According to JGX, the tech companies are run by their own teams and they work on their projects as if they would anywhere else. The incubator helps people to turn their idea into a tech business or expand their existing customer base outside of Jamaica, by teaching them how to build software the right way, sell products to customers abroad and help them with problem-solving.
But aspiring tech entrepreneurs must not be detered if they don’t have an existing business, or even an idea. The basic requirement for joining JGX is technical knowledge, according to Geewax.
“At the very beginning, I think that you need technical people who know how to build software. I don’t mean experts who have 10 years of experience, but fresh college grads who understand the fundamentals of building any form of web applications,” said the tech expert, who himself has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Geewax serves as a mentor and a technical resource. He interacts with the developers remotely through a quality assurance process known as code review, which makes source codes available for other experts to review, with the intention of catching mistakes.
“The goal is for us to share as much knowledge and experience that we can so these kids don’t make the same mistakes that we made when we were younger,” said Geewax, who highlighted that he travels to Jamaica around every other week.
JGX’s directors are Imani Duncan-Price, JMMB Group’s chief strategy officer, and attorney Ashley-Ann Robinson-Foster.
The lab aims to have the start-ups exporting software and earning hard currency by the end of summer, and provide useful solutions to clients in the USA, Europe and Asia on a sustained path.
“There is a reasonably interesting imbalance where if your customers are in New York City, they are willing to pay New York City prices; if your production facilities and the people building your software lives in Jamaica, the cost of living are in Jamaican prices,” Geewax reasoned.
“You end up in a situation where you are earning money and being paid, to live and work in Jamaica, as if you are living and working in New York City,” he noted. “It’s an amazing imbalance and could end up being very profitable for everyone.””
Big In Jamaica 