Innovation Insurgent – Jorge Barba

about Jorge Barba

Hi, my name is Jorge Barba. I long ago discovered that I had a passion for novelty while also pursuing excellence. Always keeping up with the latest, always wanting to know what’s next, and more importantly making change happen.

I’m fascinated by invention, creation, imagination and the power of the mind that drives all human achievement. This blog is my intention of exploring these passions and hopefully contribute some lasting value to the world.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT ME:

I’m an entrepreneur, consultant and advisor. Have started 5 companies, and have been a part of 8 startups. In my early days out of college, I worked as both as an information technology and internet marketing consultant with businesses in the San Diego California area and Baja area of Mexico. I had an innovation agency called Blu Maya, which I started with a couple of my friends to help ordinary companies become extraordinary and later sold which I sold in 2013.

Currently, CEO of The Big Bang Group, Technology Strategist and Advisor at Idoo Group, President of the Innovation Cluster of Baja California, Mexico and ex-Board Member of Spaq Omni Corporation.

When I’m not working I like to play and watch basketball and UFC, play video games, practice Ninjutsu, read widely and think.

“I can accept failure but I can’t accept not trying” – Michael Jordan

Like every entrepreneur I’ve had my ups and downs and have failed quite a few times, but have no problem celebrating my failures:

  • A few years ago I founded an ecommerce company, BCNow, with a couple of friends. We created a couple of ecommerce stores that never became anything worthwhile. I learned a lot here!
  • I joined a friend of mine in her celebrity baby clothing startup, Tuni&G, where I wore both the CTO and CMO hats for two years. The company had to be shut down in the middle of the recession. This was a crazy time because our brand was on every celebrity magazine and made it into both Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, with no marketing budget whatsoever. All word of mouth.
  • After Tuni&G closed, I joined Kids Entertainment startup The Jumpitz Corporation as its Social Media Strategist for almost two years. It later got sold off to Nickelodeon.
  • In 2008, I launched a project with the city of Tijuana Mexico called Tijuana Pinta Tijuana! which failed miserably because of a fight over ownership of the idea with the Government.
  • In 2009 I launched a community project for the city of Tijuana www.conocetijuana.com (think Yelp in the US) in close collaboration with other agencies. The project went through design and development but was left to die because of lack of funding. There was also a  political battle over the rights of ownership of the project which eventually provoked me to close the project.
  • In 2011, I Co-Founded the Society of Creative Generalists with @arnoldbeekes. to create space for Generalists, an eclectic group of people.
  • In 2012, I Co-Founded and organized the first Startup Weekend in Tijuana from May 4 – 6 2012. A total of 45 people participated, there were 25 ideas proposed and 8 were executed. (Links: main website, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter profile)
  • 2012, co-organized and participated in the 2nd Startup Weekend Tijuana from October 12 – 14. Created a concept for a new business venture called Ucovers, which is still being worked out.
  • 2012, organized a Conference about the Process of Animation at Blu Maya HQ.
  • 2013 joined Club Lia Kinder as lead strategist, helped them test and develop their education product for the american market.
  • 2014, launched the concept “Renaissance Men” where we use Google Hangouts as an innovation lab to take on systemic problem. We attacked to industries so far, banking and education. This project is still ongoing…
  • 2014 – 2015, launched a production company called Spuma that aimed to help craft brewers position themselves by telling the story of their brand with an art performance (see here). I closed this venture after six months for various reasons, one was that we couldn’t find a sustainable business model.
  • 2014 – 2015, joined Vioozer as lead strategist. I helped the startup develop and execute its go-t0 market strategy in Mexico.
  • 2016…

The two videos below tell you a little bit about my backstory and mindset:

My Reinvention story:

My evaluating question for everything I do is: What are we changing?

My burn the rules, take-no prisoner approach to everything has gained me a reputation as an ‘Innovation Insurgent’. This moniker was given to me by my amigo Jonathan Amm from @ThinkTank_, and I have adopted it ever since.

What you won’t find on this blog

You won’t find maps, how-to’s or silver bullet ideas that will make you a gazillionaire. This is a blog for Game-Changers. People who are willing to shake things up because they’re not content with the way things are done.

What you will find on this blog

You’ll find lots of uncommon sense ideas on strategy and innovation. There’s no way around it, if you’re out to do things better than they are you’ll need to be creative, and that means unconventional ideas reign supreme.