San Francisco author and journalist Jonathan Littman launches Jon Club SF – a new international cross-border community

American author, journalist and networker Jonathan Littman has done it again! The co-founder of San Francisco-Lisbon cross-border tech community RedBridge has left his first Portugal-based project to start another community, this time with a broader reach to include more countries and regions of the world, particularly Africa and Brazil.

However, the eponymous Jon Club SF looks like a spinoff from RedBridge, but isn’t since RedBridge aren’t involved, although the idea looks rather similar but has a broader reach and appeal.

The launch was held at the elegant Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant Ponja Nikkei Chiado in downtown Lisbon where invited guests were served with Peruvian-Japanese hand-made rolls with a silky texture with a sour bite from Pisco Sour.

“I was born in San Francisco and had the good fortune to know Steve Jobs and see him rise and fall and rise again.

And then, as a San Franciscan, you realise after a while that you have to jump to the next big thing” said Jonathan Littman” best-selling business author, journalist and co-founder of RedBridge, the hugely successful San Francisco-Lisbon cross-border tech community that he helped found during the Covid-19 crisis.

Jonathan says he has created a network of partners in other countries and regions of the world, including Africa and Brazil taking the cross-border community concept further, across other continents.

I ask him why he had a set up an organisation so similar to RedBridge, which also is expanding beyond San Francisco and Silicon Valley to other key tech innovation cities and hubs throughout the United States, and has seen membership swell to well over 200 members, with regular meetups with invited guests from different sectors speaking on intimate panels?

“RedBridge is great and it is still RedBridge, but for me it was time to move on”, he said. That means looking at opportunities elsewhere in Europe and the world”.

Take Poland, for example. It was hailed by Paddy Cosgrave at this year’s Web Summit has the country in Europe which had sent one of the largest contingents of startups – and for the first time more than Germany.

“Lisbon has become increasingly international, and this is reflected in this launch event which has attracted startups and representatives of around 15 countries and regions worldwide – Asia, Europe, UK, Latin America and the US, and Poland.

“Poland has great startups, the Polish government saw what we are achieving, and Dariusz Duda, the Lisbon Bureau Chief of the Polish Investment & Trade Agency (Trade Office in Portugal) reached out to us,” explained Jonathan, adding that it was one of the sponsors of this new cross- borders community, and had invited two high-level Polish startups to the event – one of them tech PR firm Liberty Communications (also a sponsor); the other, the digital payments solution company Bilk

Another sponsor for the event is Oria Real Estate Advisors, a boutique luxury and premium real estate advisory for relocation founded by Joana Branquinho who is a member of the new community.

I spoke to Joana Branquinho at the event and Oria’s involvement in John Club SF: “We are based in Lisbon, but we also cover other areas, and we have opened an office in Porto.

“Our focus is to increase value to all the clients who want to do transactions in Portugal. We add value to the entire relocation process from sourcing property, advising on the best investments, and property management rental of those who just want to land here and test the waters before making a more permanent move”.

Taking the cross-border community concept and making it global

Jonathan Littman said he felt he needed to create a new independent platform because he is “building bridges in Brazil’s São Paulo and had already started building a bridge with Cape Verde, as well as looking to Morocco.

“Lisbon is a great bridge because it’s just an hour and thirty minutes to Morocco and three hours and forty minutes to Cape Verde. It’s about taking the concept of the bridge further and making it more global”.

The new community had actually already held two major events before the launch last week, with two Lisbon events featuring Cape Verde.

Also at the launch was business angel investor and entrepreneur, Pedro Coutinho who invests in Agentic AI B2B startups led by Portuguese talent and is an executive board member for COREangels Lisbon.

“We consist of around 40 different angels who banded together to invest in Portuguese startups or startup founders with a Portuguese founder or links”, he says.

I ask him why Portugal, when he spent much of his time investing in the US? “Personally, I fell in love with the vibe of Portugal.

Initially, I started angel investing in the US, and then started looking at valuations for similar companies in Portugal and comparing them.

“I discovered the valuations are way lower in Portugal, but I feel that Portugal is on the verge of something greater which is why I am at the launch”, he said.

Pedro says that he has always felt that Lisbon could be the San Francisco of Europe and is on the road to becoming that.

I also chatted with Toy Ogunka, an investor, anesthesiologist and “problem solver” who invests in early-stage companies.

Toy lived in North Carolina, but moved to Portugal four months ago. He had visited Portugal in the past and spent a month in the country in 2023 when he was between jobs.

And having two small children, he thought it would be great for them to live in a different place and experience a different culture.

“It’s great to meet people with similar mindsets but from different cultures and Jonathan Littman is a great facilitator and connector in bringing such people together”, he said.

If you are interested in joining the club or finding out more about Jon Club SF and its events you can connect directly with Jonathan Littman on LinkedIn. 

Event Sponsors:

World Talents
Liberty Communications
Polish Trade Agency
Grupo Quispe’s Ponja Nikkei
ORIA ADVISORS

Photos: Marie Bacelar