My experience with Patricio Daher, the co-founder and CEO of Blar, has been one of the most enjoyable adventures I have had in the world of LatAm startups.
Blar uses AI to make databases more accessible to employees of an organization. You don’t need to know SQL or be an expert on a business intelligence system to get key insights. Their vision is much bigger and they plan to use AI to transform and optimize how companies build and use data. But that is a story for another post 😀
I heard about Blar through many sources (Platanus – thank you Paula Enei and Joaquin Stephens , Natalia Gonzalez Vela, direct outreach from Blar, Sebastian Kreis at Xepelin, etc.) but was reluctant to meet them because I was not sure I could really help an AI team focused on a technical audience. My focus is fintech, proptech, and supply chain.
However, given all the outreach from people I really respect, I decided to have a zoom call and do my best to help Patricio. We worked on the pitch, I connected him with investors with more AI experience, got back channels on what these investors thought, and generally did my best to help where I could.
Patricio was kind enough to introduce me to Miguel Paredes, PhD who within a few days of the initial intro visited me at my home. I posted on LinkedIn about Miguel and in passing mentioned Patrcio and Blar. I immediately got a WhatsApp asking for me to introduce some investors to Blar and provide my perspective and within a few short days/weeks, Blar had their initial institutional investor (thank you Collide Capital)!
Since then Patricio came to San Francisco and my daughter (Sofia Montoya) helped him pick the neighborhood for his Airbnb. And eventually we met in person at the Stanford University Golf course.
I am always amazed at the power of a compounding network. If you act in good faith and support many people, over time that network becomes very powerful.
One of the greatest parts of the Silicon Valley ethos is the idea of “paying it forward” and helping others without expectation of anything in return. I love doing my part to spread good karma and encourage the success of the startup community in Latin America.
Congrats Patricio and the entire Blar team!
José Domínguez, Benjamin Errazuriz, Elias Mufarech, Brian Hollins, Juan Pablo Silva E., Antonia Rojas Eing, Axel Christensen, Salvador Said, Benjamín Abu-Gosch, Francisco Javier Valdés Morales, Javier Pedrals, Eduardo Beltran Au, David Perez, José Tomás Valdivieso, Evelyn Von Bischhoffshausen, Markus Schreyer, Nicolas Chacon, Camilo Acosta
