My best friend from university did leave. He’s in Canada now - good job, stable life, Canadian winter. He got there because his family received an inheritance. Enough to cover Canadian tuition - $8,000 a semester, plus rent, plus food, for at least two years. That’s the bar Canada sets. He cleared it.

I couldn’t.

I was going to go with him. The plan was real. Then Petro won the election, the peso tanked, and the math became impossible. I was a Colombian kid trying to make that work in pesos during one of the worst moments for the Colombian economy. It wasn’t happening.

So he left. I stayed. And I had exactly one option: figure out how to make dollars while spending pesos. That’s literally how BowTiedColombia started. Not as a lifestyle choice. As a survival strategy.

Years later, staying turned out to be the best decision I never made. Because if I'd left, I never would have built what I'm building now. Including Sofía

Who Is Sofía

Sofía is my AI employee. She’s not real - but she works like she is.

She has a corporate email. She has a LinkedIn profile. She has one job: find companies in Latin America that run events and webinars, research the decision-makers, write personalized outreach emails, send them, and follow up automatically. Every day. Without me touching anything.

I built her because I hate cold outreach. The writing of it, the sending of it, the waiting of it. All of it. And when you hate something that much, you either stop doing it or you build something to do it for you.

I built her with Claude as the brain, Apollo for finding leads, and a Telegram bot as the interface. My only job is to check Telegram in the morning and see what she did overnight.

She’s been running for one week.

This morning she booked a meeting.

How It Actually Works

Every day Sofía wakes up before me. Not literally - she doesn’t sleep - but the automation runs on a schedule. By the time I’m drinking tinto, ten researched, personalized emails are already out. Not templates. Not copy-paste. Actual emails that read like a human wrote them after spending time on the prospect’s LinkedIn and company website.

Apollo pulls the leads based on criteria I defined once. Claude writes the emails in the voice I trained it on, with the angles that work for LATAM decision-makers. The system sends, tracks, and follows up automatically on the right days with the right tone.

I built the whole thing through a Telegram bot. I don’t open a laptop to run it. I don’t search for companies. I don’t write emails. I don’t follow up manually.

Sofía does it. jaja

What Broke Building This

The AI was never the hard part. My own thinking was the hard part.

You can’t hide vague strategy inside a prompt. Give Claude fuzzy criteria and it finds fuzzy leads. Write a vague brief and it writes a vague email. The model doesn’t rescue bad thinking - it scales it. Whatever confusion you walk in with, you walk out with ten times more of it, automated and sent to real people.

Building Sofía forced more strategic clarity in two weeks than months of doing it manually. That was not what I expected.

Still Building Together

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about leaving: you don’t actually leave the people.

My friend is in Canada but we still work together every day. He posts on my BowTiedColombia X account sometimes and people either love it or lose their minds - because his take and my take aren’t always the same. haha. We’re brothers. 5,000 kilometers apart, building businesses from Bogotá and Toronto.

The plan now is to bring him back. Once he gets Canadian residency, the math flips completely. A Canadian passport plus Colombia’s cost of living plus dollar income is arguably the best arbitrage on earth. We’re building toward that.

He left to find opportunity. I stayed and built it. Neither of us was wrong. We just had different hands to play.

And now - from opposite ends of the continent - we’re both watching Sofía book meetings while we sleep.

Sofía’s First Win

This morning a decision-maker at a company I’ve been targeting replied to one of Sofía’s emails. We’re on a calendar. I have a call this week.

I didn’t write that email. I didn’t find that company. I didn’t research that person. Sofía did it.

If this call closes it’ll be the first deal sourced entirely by an AI employee. Built in Colombia. Run from Telegram. By someone who almost left but didn’t - because he couldn’t afford to.

Funny how that works.

I’ll tell you exactly how the call goes. If it closes - proof of concept. If it doesn’t - also a story worth telling.

Either way, parcero, Sofía is just getting started.

What’s Next

LinkedIn automation goes live next. When it does, Sofía’s daily reach doubles without me adding any work. Then come the real numbers - open rates, reply percentages, what kind of message worked and what got ignored. I’ll share all of it here.

Ten emails a day is not impressive. Ten emails a day that close is a business. We’re not there yet.

But this morning we got a lot closer.

Dios te bendiga,

BowTiedColombia

The tweet says: 'Is it just me, or is something changing in Medellín's real estate scene? Now there are tons of 'For Rent' signs everywhere

Rental Market Trends in Medellín

The rental market in Medellín has undergone a notable shift in its dynamics over the past few months. Until the third quarter of last year, the demand for housing far exceeded the available supply, leading to a significant increase in rental prices. According to Federico Estrada, the manager of the Lonja de Propiedad Raíz, this phenomenon surprised industry experts, who did not anticipate such a marked imbalance between supply and demand.

Even a friend of mine, Justin, was offered an apartment in July at an exorbitant price. But that was already a rip-off because prices have since stabilized. I'm not saying prices will drop, but they definitely won't go up any further.

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I don't know if what I'm going to say is illegal or not, but what I can say is that it's true. Last week, I met a millionaire in Colombia. He is a young man, not even 40 years old, and he has a company that produces millions of dollars. However, he is not a self-made man; he is an heir.

The most ironic thing is that we studied at the same university. From totally different backgrounds, haha, incredible. In fact, this speaks poorly of him. If he studied at my university, it's because he is not very intelligent and does not have much talent because, with his family's money, he could have studied in a much better country.

But anyway, the point is that this article is more like consulting on how business is done in Latin America. My job allows me to have privileged information about many businesses, and in this case, he has a software and hardware company that works with ports, airports, and more.

What I could infer from a dinner I had with him is that he contacts people in migration and sells the software directly to government people.

That is, he has people inside the entities because they are much better to sell to, even though they may not buy directly. Government entities manage all the airports and ports in Latin American countries, so it has worked for him to have direct contact with them. I don't know if he probably bribes officials to help him win tenders, that I don't know because that would be illegal, but what I do know is that to sell software, his first approach is with state entities and not with private companies that manage ports or airports.

Besides that, he said very interesting things like he has an army of programmers, 100 employees directly whom he pays a salary to, and they do not only work on one software but are always ready to offer all kinds of solutions. What he does is offer companies beta or free solutions, and if they like them, he then offers to sell them. And of course, with an army of programmers, it is not difficult to do that.

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What I can say about his apartment is that it's in the best area of Bogotá, close to Zona T. It's so close that I've been there myself haha. Women love the location of his apartment—once I went for a beer with him, and afterward, a friend of his joined us and they walked back to his apartment. This gives the impression that he lives in a good area, gaining respect from people in Colombia, especially women, because you can't beat being able to walk home from Zona Rosa, where the best malls, clubs, and restaurants in the country are, within 5 minutes.

I'll leave details and photos of the apartment. He authorized me to publish this information, and if you need any more information, I will put you in touch with him. You can comment on this post if you wish.

Investment Opportunity: Chic Apartment in Bogota's Best Neighborhood

Are you dreaming of a stylish retreat or a savvy investment in one of Bogota's finest areas? Look no further. This charming 62 square meter apartment, nestled in the Virrey neighborhood, offers both luxury and convenience.

Property Highlights

Prime Location: Situated just 500 meters from the lively Zona T, with a grand Carulla supermarket and a plethora of shops and restaurants at your doorstep.

Security and Amenities: The building features a 24/7 reception and security service, ensuring peace of mind for all residents.

Top Floor Perks: Located on the 8th and final floor, enjoy a clear, sun-drenched view every afternoon, complete with a private terrace for relaxation and a large communal terrace perfect for barbecues.

Modern Comforts: This well-maintained, 13-year-old residence includes a spacious bedroom with a walk-in closet, an open kitchen, a semi-independent laundry area, and modern bathrooms (one with a WC and an additional separate WC).

Extra Features: The apartment comes with a convenient parking space and a storage room on the same floor, adding to the ease and comfort of city living.

Tranquil Living: The building is quiet and very well inhabited, providing a serene living environment.

Financial Details:

Monthly Charges: 429,000 COP ($110 USD).

Asking Price: 595,000,000 COP ($154,000 USD).

Rental Income: The apartment has a strong rental history, with the last monthly rent being 4,700,000 COP (~$1,220 USD), offering an attractive rental yield of approximately 9.5%.

No Agency Fees: This sale is directly between buyer and seller, with no intermediary or agency commission, making it a cost-effective investment.

Additional Benefits

Legal Support: We offer assistance with legal services to ensure a smooth and secure acquisition process, giving you peace of mind every step of the way.

Imagine waking up in a beautiful, sunlit apartment, enjoying a coffee on your private terrace, and then stepping out to explore the vibrant streets of Virrey. Whether you're looking for a cozy home base in Colombia or a solid investment opportunity, this apartment has it all.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to see more photos. We're here to help you find your perfect spot in Bogota's best neighborhood. Don't miss this chance to invest in a remarkable property!

I have to start by saying that I am not an expert nor I consider myself as a trader. My investing experience is short and here I am trying to show you my approaches to the market.

I think I mentioned in another mail that my knowledge come mainly from reading and applying The Intelligent Investor approach, I always try to look for companies with value at a discount rate. Also one of my main source of knowledge comes from the book Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, which I think has been one of the best books to guide me in this journey.

I recommend checking those two books, they provide great value and insights.

I am here for the long run. Later in this mail I will tell you the composition of my international and Colombian portafolio. I invest in things I believe at a risk I consider not to be too crazy.

(But I also like to play around with crypto and meme coins, in which the volatility is crazy)

One of my main mental frames that helped me to organize how I wanted to approach investing came from reading Nicholas Taleb: the barbell strategy I took it as a way to identify my approach to risk. He mentioned this concept in his book The Black Swan

What I consider my main “safe-net” or low risk is 50% of my portafolio, I always avoid to keep any money in my checking account and invest it in index funds that track the SP500. I follow this by the advice of Warren Buffet which make me realize that in the long run the market always will outperform inflation.

Now, I also like to pick individual stocks that I know have a great track of being a respectable and long term companies. In this regard I try to always compare inside the industry the financial information of the company and the financial health of it, as well as a track of growth in the las few years and the overall debt. As stated in the Intelligent Investor, I compare EPS, P/E, EBITDA, BV/S, Debt/Equity, Acid test, cash flow…

I know is just a collection of numbers but at least it gives me an idea if the stock I am interested to get is in reality a good company in a good financial state with the possibility of growth. All I want to be sure is that investors are valuing positively the future of the stock.

The rest of my international portafolio consist in small trades that, honestly, I am really new at it and I just want to try if the risk/reward is as good as it looks. I am little by little having fun with option trading, which I see as a bet on a particular stock to go up or down on price.

Even if is a bet, I try to do research on the financial health of the company and a deeper technical analysis of it. Remember I am not expert or potentially good at it, but I check indicators like the moving averages and trend lines to guide me overall; then, I rely a lot in the MACD, RSI and volumes to see the overall sentiment of the stock. with this approach I can make my mind to place the option on a particular stock, also having in mind the context, maybe the company is in the midst of some sort of scandal that make the price go down or maybe there is a rumor of acquisition that makes it go up.

Now, the Colombian stock market I also have some positions. But here is my strategy on it. I am bullish on Ecopetrol right now and my main goal is to hoard on their stock for its dividend. Also here is my approach is the same, essentially I just wait on prices to drop and keep buying it. Right now I think the price.

But also the the Colombian market has given many valuable returns. in 2021/2022 the stocks were insanely cheap. a lot of people saw this opportunity and made a good amount of money, Argos, Mineros, Isa and Celsia were outstanding. I just wish I bought A LOT more. But at that time I wasn’t rally aware of the market and didn’t really have extra money to invest.

Also I notice that the Colombian market there is a weird thing, the value of preferential (Class A) stocks are cheaper or the same as the regular stock. People again took advantage of the undervalued market and I am happy for all of the people that make money out off it.

For now, I will keep my mind into the dividend style investing in the Colombia market, even tho the government is not helping a lot the industry, in the long run I am bullish on them.

This mail is just an overall composition on how I like to approach investing. I consider it my hobby and I honestly enjoy the rush of placing a trade, right now I think I am starting to rise my risk and try to be more aggressive. I would say because of my age and because in reality nobody depends on me, I am willing to up my risk, specially in option trading and crypto.

If you have more insights about the market and you would like to discuss your investing strategies, always shoot me a message in twitter:

BowTiedColombia