I'm Brazilian and I tried building a company there after two successful products both in the EU and US. Brazil simply doesn't have the culture that's necessary to foster a startup ecosystem. Chile is in a much better position to be that sort of local leader, but still only relatively. And it's not something you can change by prosecuting corrupt politicians - it goes all the way back to our colonial heritage, and the…
Since I can't downvote, I just wanted to note I find your comment really offensive. Is the current zeigeist is to devalue anything remotely Brazilian? My experience is the absolute opposite of yours. I've built companies here that worked with very little prior experience. I've worked with lost of spectacular leaders, made really good money, and seen many things technology and business-wise improve dramatically over t…
I'm sure there are exceptions, but the majority of cases always rules.
There's an entire historical background that explains why most "executives" and founders see programmers, or any employee of any sort, as obedients servs that must compel and be grateful for their jobs.
That "classism" will always be present and act as the strongest force against innovation in that country.
Technology is not a factory and, whenever you try to modularize it in such form, you see mediocre, subpar, results.
There might have some small local companies that are able to challenge the even worse local oligarchs from past generations, but they will never be able to compete at a global level, as you'd expect from a real startup ecosystem.
And if they end up facing an international competitor, they might as well be crushed or acquired by them.
I don't get into a personal attack here, but you may want to experience more in depth some of these places like SF, Israel, Chile, Paris, Berlin to understand these profound cultural differences.