Do you know any programming language? Which? It's nice to have some previous project to show. Consider contributing to some open source project. They don't care about your official education in university if your code compiles and follow the local tab vs spaces rules, and a few other quirks of each project. [1]

Start with something small, like fixing a typo or adding a tiny feature. You never know if your fix is a bad idea, or it is not compatible with the vision of the maintainer or the maintainer is just a moron. Don't expend more than a weekend (or a week) for a first contribution. Also, I recommend to pick a project you use, instead of a random project you don't care about.

[1] You can't be a Medical Doctor without an official degree of an University.

[1'] You can try publishing in a Math journal without a degree, but it is very difficult without a coauthor/mentor that knows how frame the results and how to discuss with the editors/referees, and pick a subject that is consider new and interesting.

We reskinned a chat application for Portugese speakers and we got upwards of 300,000 members while I was still involved -- ultimately he sold the company, not for an astonishing amount of money, but for something.

Mauricio did many of the 'right things', including going to one of the business schools in Boston (I think MIT) and working for the McKinsey group and developing a network so he knew people who had a chat application ready to skin.

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Something else is that I have encountered so many brilliant people from Argentina; my short list of firms that could succeed at outsourced NLP work is heavy on Argentina -- between being in a good time zone to work from New York and the depth of talent I am a believer.

I don't think they are as close knit as they could be however: many of these good firms aren't aware of the others.