Episode 4: Avengers Assemble, A closer look
Episode 4 in “The Road to Tiny Village Cartagena” DocuSeries is entitled, “Avengers Assemble.” One of the things I am most proud of about the Tiny Village Cartagena project is not only what we have been able to do, but who I’ve been able to do it with. I worked in Silicon Valley for almost 10 years before venturing off to create Tiny Village Cartagena, and from the beginning I told myself that I would try my best to keep this project totally independent. I had seen and worked with plenty of companies who had amazing ideas, talent and vision. These companies raised a ton of money from inventors (what a dream, right!?) but, in some cases, these investors didn’t REALLY understand the vision, or didn’t care enough about it— they were focused on returns (which is understandable for an INVESTOR). They exercised their influence to force the company to ship a product before it was ready and/or with concessions. When I started this project, I told myself that I refused to let someone force me to launch something that was ANYTHING less than MY DREAM. So, I decided to try to do it by myself.
Very early in the project, I realized that I might have bit off a biiiiiitt more than I could chew (BY MYSELF that is). I knew nothing about construction. Nothing about hotels. Nothing about the hospitality industry. Really, nothing about anything that would be critical to success of the project (haha, jk — well, not NOTHING, but close to it). Luckily, I had the good fortune to have childhood friends who were rockstars in their respective disciplines. From engineering, to hospitality management, to creative, to product development— my friends are dope. More importantly, these were the friends who supported my move to Colombia from the beginning and were rooting my success before the project was even established. So, after the initial “oh, shit, what did I do?” feeling, I got an idea, “why don’t I see if they want to be involved in the project?”
I spent months analyzing what type of knowledge base I was lacking in order to bring Tiny Village Cartagena to life. Then, I spent a few months canvasing which one of my good friends would be good fits to fill these holes for the project. At the same time I began gaging their interest (luckily, everyone I talked to was pretty much “in” from just hearing the concept — I’ll explain that later). I spent another few months fine-tuning the actual structure I thought would work, and then it was pitch time.
The Prototype
When I was at Hampton University, I started a company my freshman with my best friend Mikaela Maxwell. The catalyst to starting the company was basically us being pretty frustrated with the social life at Hampton University — it felt super limited (2006-2010 y’all). Compared to other schools, there wasn’t much in the city in terms of “events and entertainment” and the University hadn’t done much off campus to help that. So, we started pulling people together to do small events with unique themes. We’d host events like a huge capture the flag game across campus, games of “manhunt,” etc (Class of QT7, I know you all remember that!). The events started to become bigger and bigger, and we eventually decided to create a company to attempt to monetize it. One of the unique aspects about the way we ran that company is that we allowed our friends who were helping us promote events not only invest a bit in each event but to practice their vocation for the company. The people that were studying finance and accounting did all the numbers. The people that were studying graphic design and physiology did all the creative design. The people studying marketing and business created on marketing and sales plans. We were able to use everyone’s passion for what they were studying to develop the company, and we all got the real world experience waaaay before we would of had the opportunity to as freshman/sophomores in college. We were able to use our small investment in the company (every team member was allowed to invest $100 -$500) to produce our events, and in turn we would get paid a return on those events. We used our enthusiasm to help promote our events, which would in turn help our events be more successful. This scheme worked out so well that we couldn’t believe it. Some events we would double our triple our investment. As freshman and sophomores in college, it was amazing for us!
Enter Nick Fury
When I started thinking about what was missing in “knowledge base “for Tiny Village Cartagena and how I could fill those gaps, I immediately thought about how exciting it was my freshman year in college embarking on that journey with my friends. As much as I tried to brush it off as just “juvenile” side hustle, I still couldn’t completely write it off. I began to think, “wouldn’t this work better now?” My friends aren’t just “passionate students” anymore, they had evolved into the best at what they do. They were now expert marketers, nuclear engineers, entertainment lawyers, seasoned hospitality veterans, creative directors (and for some of the most influential companies in the world, might I add). If I could get them to lend their expertise to the project, I could build a team of “Avengers” that will help Tiny Village Cartagena become unstoppable (Mwwwahahhah)!! I came up with this structure that allowed these hand-picked group of friends to become the ONLY investors in Tiny Village Cartagena. I would ask them to invest a small amount in the project to have some “skin in the game” AND ask them also to serve as advisors to the company, lending their expertise in areas that were critically important. For their commitment of time and energy, I would give them some “bonus” equity in the company as advisors. Luckily, all of them said yes, and we were off and running.
The Impact
Three years later, I can honestly say that this group has made a profound impact on the company. The project could not be successful without them and they have already done some really amazing work (which you all will see soon)! Eli, has designed the entire solar system (and more). Zaakira has created all the documentation and standard operating procedures for the hotel and events operations (and more). Mikaela has done all the branding and interior design work (and more). Kayla has done the creative (and directing) of all of our video and documentary content (and more). Tre has built out an incredible marketing campaign (which you all will see soon) and more. Ralph has helped us create and develop new business strategies to realize new revenue streams (and more). Alba has done all of the financial modeling, budgeting and accounting (and more). It’s truly been a blessing to have them part of the team as advisors, investors, coworkers, and family. It is even more gratifying to know that if and WHEN Tiny Village Cartagena becomes successful, I would have done it with some of my best friends! What a story to be proud of!
