.CO Case Study

Building companies in Miami – a conversation with Juan Calle

Mr. Calle will lead discussion through a study of .CO – learn how a simple domain extension became synonymous with big ideas and how that led to the growth of a major tech company.

Schedule

• 6:30-7:00pm – Registration @ Networking
• 7:00-7:30pm – Keynote Interview moderated by Marco Giberti
• 7:30-8:00pm – Audience Q&A
• 8:00-8:30pm – Wrap-up & Networking

More about the Speakers

Juan Diego Calle (Guest Speaker)

Juan Diego Calle is a serial entrepreneur who is best known for being the Founder and CEO of .CO Internet, the company behind the .CO top-level domain extension.

Under Juan’s leadership, .CO was launched internationally in July of 2010, and has quickly become one of the most successful domain extensions in history, with more than 1.7 million domain names registered by people and companies in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. 

In April of 2014, .CO was acquired by the publicly traded company, Neustar, for a reported sum of $109 Million USD.

Besides .CO, Juan has also founded, built and operated several other successful companies, including:

• STRAAT Investments (an investment company that manages a portfolio of Internet, real estate and private equity investments);
• BoutiqueHotels.com (a hotel and travel booking platform);
• POP.co (a simple solution to help people launch an integrated web presence);
• TeRespondo (the largest pay-per-click advertising network in Latin America) – which was acquired by Yahoo, Inc. in 2005.

Born in Bogota, Colombia – Juan was raised in Miami and is an active part of the Miami startup ecosystem.

He’s the father of two beautiful babies – and runs triathalons for fun.

RELEVANT BACKGROUND ARTICLES ABOUT JUAN

• Wikipedia: Juan Diego Calle
• Recent Article on Quartz on new gTLDs
• Miami Herald: .CO sets sights on changing ‘the fabric of the Internet’
• Miami Herald: Miami tech company .CO Internet to be acquired for $109 million

Marco Giberti (Moderator)

Mr. Giberti is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor with more than 20 years of intensive experience in marketing and communications with focus on the media, internet and events industry. After several years in a successful career as a corporate executive at Apple computers, Mr. Giberti decided to give free rein to his entrepreneurial spirit and became:

• Co-founder and Board Member of Mind Opener, a leading publishing group in Latin America that was later sold to British Pearson Media Group, and
• Co-founder and Board Member of e-mind, an internet and media communications company that was sold to Liberty Media.
• President, CEO and co-founder of Mind Trainer, a firm specialized in the organization of major regional trade-shows and events.

After a very successful growth, regional expansion and partnerships, including a long term relationship with E.J.Krause, Reed Elsevier bought a controlling position in the business in the year 2005, and Mr. Giberti became its president and regional partner for the events and trade show division in Latin America.Over the course of his business career, Mr. Giberti has been awarded a number of distinctions in his field, including, among others, Entrepreneur of the year Award and was named one of the top 100 most influential people on the global convention and exhibition business by the Trade Show Week magazine. Mr. Giberti is a Harvard Business School OPM Graduate, and member of YPO, the Young Presidents Organization.