H/F Chapter Highlight — Santo Domingo
October 2018
Santo Domingo is the capital of Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, and site of an active Hackers/Founders chapter that has been going strong since 2012.
Jorge Vargas, one of the organizers of H/F Santo Domingo, knows a lot about the importance of community in the world of tech startups. Before becoming an organizer for the Hackers/Founders chapter here, he was responsible for running the Python meetups in the city and helped other communities get started. He also worked with Startup Weekend, a well-known hybrid hackathon event that holds events all over the world, including Santa Domingo. Even while Jorge guides the course of H/F Santo Domingo with his colleague Sandy Ramirez, he’s running a software company and is involved in various other projects.
Jorge became aware of Hackers/Founders when an early co-founder remarked to him, “ ‘Hey, this is cool. It’s like an inbetween between a hangout and technology.’”
“And we had a call back then with Jonathan [Nelson] and he literally was like, ‘Hey you know you guys can do the chapter,’ ” continued Jorge.
So it began. After the first year of gatherings, H/F Santo Domingo decided to throw a party for itself. Around 150 people showed up, an amazing turnout for a relatively small city. For ongoing gatherings, H/F Santo Domingo draws around 80 attendees a month, which is a healthy crowd to draw consistently. H/F Santo Domingo has become an local institution. “[P]eople know in the Dominican community know that if it’s the first Friday of the month you go to have beers at Hackers/Founders. It’s kinda our standard,” said Jorge.
It’s no wonder Jorge and Sandy receive a slew of disappointed emails if the meetup is cancelled for any reason.
The secret to Santo Domingo’s success as a H/F chapter is that the meetups are not complicated. In this way, it mirrors the example of the first Hackers/Founders chapter as it began in a Silicon Valley bar ten years ago. It only takes a few components: a setting, some beer, name tags, a consistent meeting time and a lot of people willing to share their common experiences as tech entrepreneurs.
One of the problems Jorge identified as common in his location are the lack of exits available in Latin America. This can make it difficult for startups to obtain funding. It happens this is part of the inspiration for Jonathan Nelson’s creation of the HACK Fund, that hopes to democratize funding and exits for startups across the globe.
The Santo Domingo chapter has been a catalyst for connections. By creating a way for entrepreneurs to support each other, the community as a whole is more robust and individuals are better able to navigate the challenges of startup life. H/F Santo Domingo is also the way at least one couple met and started their life together!
So we say, good job Santo Domingo! Keep connecting founders and finding way to grow!.
