On: October 20, 2015 In: Business Comments: 0

H3 Tech Conference Calling Hustlers, Hacker and Hipsters to Nov 20-21 Meeting

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The second H3 Tech Conference, where big-idea entrepreneurs, computer wizards and creative geniuses meet to fuel the island’s startup ecosystem, will take place Nov. 20-21 at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The H3 Tech Conference aims to transform the way Puerto Rico does business by triggering the formation of innovation-driven enterprises or IDEs, following the example of companies that have become huge worldwide successes.

“H3 Tech is the first tech conference developed to bring the three Hs together to maximize their potential as a group and foster the birth of new tech startups and IDEs,” said event organizer Carlos Cobián, serial entrepreneur and founder of Cobian Media.

The three Hs, or H3, refers to the three groups that make up a startup’s dream team in today’s tech-heavy economy: hackers, hipsters and hustlers. Hackers are computer programmers or software developers who deliver technology solutions. Hipsters are the creatives, usually designers, who provide the look, feel and cool factor of the product. Hustlers are the ever-optimistic entrepreneurs bursting with ideas and ways to sell them.

This dream team helps startups to overcome the hurdles that have left many companies in the lurch. Unfortunately, the H3 traditionally have had a difficult time coming together.

“It’s just like high school,” Cobián explained. “On the one hand, you have the hustlers, the popular kids. Then there are the hackers, the nerds. Finally, you have the hipsters, the artists. These three types seldom bump into each other or hang out together, even in the business world.”

The H3 Tech Conference cleverly sets the stage for hackers, hipsters and hustlers to meet and share ideas, knowledge and experiences. Hundreds of participants are expected this year.

More than 30 successful local and international entrepreneurs, marketing professionals, social media experts, software developers and academics from top-ranked colleges will speak at the event and guide concurrent sessions in entrepreneurship, software development and design.

H3 Tech participants will learn how to turn social problems into entrepreneurial opportunities, create digital experiments, use design thinking to build customer-driven products, avoid venture launching dilemmas, and how to fund a startup, among other topics.

The conference will feature special activities such as a Startup Camp, where participants learn actionable lessons on how to create, design and market their products and services, and the Meet Market, a space where the H3 can collide and recruit the talent they need.

“This is where the magic happens,” said Cobián, noting that connecting and collaborating with others is critical for the success of any startup. “No one can do it alone and succeed.”

Puerto Rico’s economic decline began two years before the Great Recession, when manufacturing tax credits expired in 2006. While employment levels recover on the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico continues to lose jobs. These conditions have led to an out-migration wave of mostly younger workers seeking better job opportunities elsewhere.

What do you do with an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent and negative GDP growth? You improvise. You innovate. You collaborate. That is the goal of the H3 Tech Conference in Puerto Rico.

“Fortunately, the current economic situation has served to encourage entrepreneurs to take charge, not only for their sake but also for the sake of the island,” Cobián said.