Rodolfo Carpentier from digital assets deployment

On Friday, our last session of "Managing the Tech Start-up" was Rodolfo Carpentier. He is founding member, Chairman and CEO of DAD – Digital Assets Deployment, a new incubator in Madrid.

We went through a real business case based on Watch-Fit, Parisa's business. Though sometimes he pointed out her plan strictly, it was really practical and gave us a significant learning for start-up through this business case.


The key lessons I have learned is
● There are a large number of projects/business plans which do not need for funding from VCs and attractive for VCs.  But, there are some projects actually work well, even if they are not attractive.
● Don’t get in a venture, where all partners get equally. It will not work 
● Online Advertisement business is really tough to get funding because it is too competitive and most of them are not attractive models for VCs.
● Do not use the word of "Plat Form"
● For start-up entrepreneurs, they need to devote most of their time to their business. Keep in mind.
● If we copy some other business models, in that case, we need business managers who have enough experience to lead the team. For young entrepreneurs, innovative business models are required because of lack of management skills.
● Do not try too many things at the same time. Firstly, we should focus on our main/core business.
● If we have enough money for start-up, it would be better for us to start because it shows the commitment to our company.
● If we start B to C business, firstly we need to get potential customers as many as possible.
● If we start a niche business, it must be global one.
● Before starting business, firstly we need to test it.
● We have to get customers who have the same profile/preference because it would be easier.


It was really nice&exciting class. I was impressed so much and he was eligible for the last session of my MBA class. Great thanks Enrique & Rodolfo!!

Pablo Larguía from La Red Innova

Last Wednesday, Pablo Larguía, founder of  Bumeran, Weemba, DoctorSIM, La Red Innova, and many other ventures in the arts areas, spoke in "Managing the Tech Start-up class" in session 11.
After selling Bumeran, job search site in Latin America, to Terra/Telefonica, he started to entertainment industry which provides movies and theater shows. 
In a RedInnova, he organize  on tech entrepreneurship　conferences. In this conference, he takes care about to provide at least 3 take aways for participants to differentiate from other tech-related conferences.

His presentation was funny and unique. 
First, he had read our blogs before the class and started comments.
Second, he spoke his ambitions as an entrepreneur passionately and described us his business ideas with writing on white-board.
Finally, he finished his presentation about 50 min and ran out of the room. ( I know he must be busy. Thanks for nice presentation in busy situation.... )


What impressed points from his speaking was...
- Respect for team and customers
He placed a emphasis on team work. If we want to become great entrepreneur for start-up, firstly we must find food business partners. We will spend most time with partners( This will be more than family ), so if the relation ships is bad, the business itself would be go down even if it is unique and nice concept. 
Regarding customers, they give us business insight and opportunity for expanding. Hence, we should respect for them and keep good relation ships.
- Find boy/girl friends before start up
Entrepreneur has always hectic schedule. If we launch business as entrepreneur, we have to devote almost our lives to working. We do not have enough time to go to the party and find nice boy/girl friends. So, we have to find them before starting, otherwise, we will end up spending single life for a long period.
- Be confident and create magic
When we create business, we have to make it unique. Business is selling ideas/products, which is every one mostly cares about. Therefore, we have to be confident of our unique business ideas and have passionate for expanding them.


I was able to have a profitable time in this session. Thanks Enrique and Pablo!!

Roberto Saint-Malo from Adara Venture Partners

On Friday, Roberto Saint-Malo from Adara Venture Partners gave us lecture in Managing the Tech Start-up class. Though many entrepreneurs have spoken in this class so far, it was first time that the VC guy lectured and it was really fresh.

During the class, he stressed 2 important insights.

● Respect for imitator

As a successful entrepreneur, we do not always have to come up with new innovative business ideas, as Google and facebook do. Imitating the existing business model and applies it to a different market segment, such as expanding geographically, are also successful elements for attracting VCs.

Certainly, creating innovative & new business idea which have a great potential to make money and contribute society might be an ideal pattern for entrepreneur, but we can not always come up with innovative business ideas/technologies ; not every entrepreneur can become Larry Page or Sergey Brin…

● Professional background/MBA is not required

Every entrepreneur who attracts VCs is not always necessary to have professionals back ground. I mean, we do not need from Consulting or Banking sectors to become an entrepreneur.

In addition, MBA is not necessarily required to become an entrepreneur. It is sad story but it might be true in a certain point. Successful entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Steven Jobs, do not have MBA degree. Actually, some of my successful entrepreneur mates do not have MBA….

However, I do not want to say MBA is useless for future entrepreneur because MBA life, especially IE, gives us many opportunities to cultivate entrepreneurship and contact with many successful entrepreneurs.

Kibo ventures investment takes only 8 weeks – that is too short cycle because normal VCs take 4-6 months.

Kibo invest in 3 types of ventures.

Type1)   Proven model optimization

Type2)   Early stage investments

Type3)   International opportunities

The following are the Kibo’s criteria for investment

●  The characteristics of entrepreneur

●  Good Team

●  Business model / business opportunity

●  Low capital at the beginning

10 sessions have already passed. Through this class, I have learned a lot as entrepreneur focusing on technology business. After the MBA, I will join Internet search engine company in Japan and would like to create new service in the future by reference to the enlightenment that I have learned in this course.

Ronald Friedlande from review Pro

Last Wednesday was the session of Ronald Friedlande from review Pro, which provides hotel reputation service through the Internet.

In this site, review Pro manages the reputation of various kinds of hotels and provides this information to customers in cheap prices, targeting at long-tail markets.

In 2008, review Pro was founded in Barcelona and there are 30 members. Now, the number of clients is more than 1,000.

This service significantly important in that not only giving useful information to travelers in the world, but also improving hotel service/capacity according to customer reputation for hotels, so this service is innovative.

The business chance of reputation management is mentioned by Warren Buffet.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently”

Business policy

At an early stage, review Pro did not spend so much money on SEM/SEO tools, such as Google Adwords and Google Analytics, instead it focused so much on cutting-edge technology which suits to customer needs & wants. I think it is to the point and ideal business strategy. Nowadays, most companies are really focusing on how they promote their services through on-line marketing without thinking too much on what they provide their service/products. Although marketing activity is important with using such tools, providing services/products what customers want/need is much more important.

Funding

With regard to funding, not only Ronald invested his own money, but also government funded, which is fresh idea because most entrepreneurs are funded by their own cash, VC, business angel.

Lastly, Ronald gave us insight suggestions.

● Be different and give innovative service to the customers what they want

● Pick up appropriate business partners

● Keep good relationship with customers

Thank you for exciting lecture Enrique & Ronald !!

Pedro Jareño from Minube

The last Monday, in Managing the tech start-up class, Pedro Jareño, co-founder of Minube, gave lecture to us. 

Minube is travel social network company running in Spain. He founds that although there are some travel social network companies focusing on travel planning, there is no social network companies focusing on inspiration & sharing memories. Most travelers firstly decide to which areas they travel according to their inspiration, but no companies offered this kind of service. Also, tourism is changing as technology is changing.

Then, he detected a business opportunity and launched Minube.

He explains to us the traveling process – 1) inspiration, 2) planification, 3) Comparation, 4) Booking, 5) Traveling, and 6) Sharing memories. ( See the following picture )

Travel social network and web service is not unique, but he founds the niche market in this kind of business. This gives us great learning that we can find business opportunity seemingly existing business.

Now, Minube’s achievements are

- 1,500,000 users per month

- Leaders in social travel in Spain

- Global project

- 125,000 registered users

- Approximately 900,000 pictures

- Approximately 200,000 real experience

- 20 staffs( 10: tech staffs, 1 designer, the rest is commercial & marketing staffs )

Following is the idea of Minube’s building business opportunity

1) Target Identification

- Look for travel bloggers

- Social Media Research

2)  Get users

- Contests to attract travelers 

- Create a friendly brand

3)  Dynamization( Proactivity )

- Be the first user

- Conversation

- Contests

4)  Fidelization( Loyalty )

5)  Public recognition( Prizes, gratitude )

His lecture was really passionate and inspires me that detecting business opportunity, launching it, and leading to success are quite exciting!!

Thanks Enrique & Pedro!!

lberto Torron Rodriguez from Todotaladros.com

Friday’s gurest speaker was Alberto Torron Rodriguez, founder of Todotaladros.com. He started business from his personal problem – to pay tax….

Firstly, he launched a small web-shop on e-bay( first sale was in August 2009 ), and through this experience, he found the great opportunity of e-commerce business.

He started e-commerce site which sells different lines of products. The base capital was 40,000 euros and nowadays sales are 1,000 euros/day. Although their business is small, they are growing steadily. The key points their success are…

- Quick response

After getting order from customers, they try to send products as soon as possible. As amazon does, shipping early is an important factor for success.

- KISS( Keep it Simple, Stupid )

He emphasized on getting a great deal of benefits from simplicity. The Jesús Encinar, founder of idealista also emphasized on the same story.

- Technology

He makes use of sophisticated web business tools - Google Adwords / Analytics and analyze numerically their business/service and promote their business well.
Also, on their web-site, he uses cloud service to keep the cost-of-owner ship low.

- Cheap price

They offer their products with cheap price to customers, which attracts many customers.

- Guaranteed

If customer does not satisfy what they bought after getting products, they can ask for refund.

Thanks!! 

Jesús Encinar from Idealista.com

Yesterday’s “Managing the tech start-up” class was about Idealista.com, which is the most famous real estate web site in Spain.

Jesús Encinar founded Idealista.com in January 2000. Actually, when I looked for my apartment in Madrid after arriving, I used to browse this web site and contact landlord through it. Therefore, I am familiar with this company.

Before his launching Idealista.com, most people looking for apartment got the information through newspaper which is plain text-base and has no picture.

When he decided to launch Idealist.com, there were a plenty of competitors (25 websites in Spain ) and internet technology was still on a learning curve( It was before Google came in ). His approach to build initial database was unique and to the point. His team walked around 10,000km in Spain, cold called more than 25,000 calls, and asked agency to get advertisement in idealista.com. It seems to be excessive amount of time, but he did it.

He started this business in small (Initially focused on Madrid) and then expanded other areas in Spain, such as Barcelona and Valencia.

Now, Idealista.com is expanding its business internationally – Portugal and Italy. In Italy, it has around 45 employees and is still competing with local players and has reached break-even point. In Portugal, it has only call center and no employees.

To create web site in initial phase, he ordered Andersen consulting to design IT architecture & system, but he was not satisfied their work. Then, he decided to rework it and created today’s idealista.com. He taught us that it is important to give away something if it does not match to our requirement. (The courage to abandon is important.)

In addition, he recommended that having simple web site is important: simple is best. It should be easy for customers to navigate and get required information. Standing the customers point of view and designing web site is extremely important.

I sympathized with his homespun approach… Though thinking about some business strategy on a desk is important, his homespun behavior is the most important skills as great entrepreneur.

Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria : Chicisimo

Yesterday, Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria, the founder of Chicisimo gave lecture to our class.

He has already been the entrepreneur for 3 startups and has enough experience of Internet business.

He had spent significant time in Sillicon Valley and made alliance with websugar.com, which focuses on women blogs in US, and found the online business chances targeting for women fashion.

Then, he launched online fasion community site – Chicisimo in Spain. In Chicisimo web-site, members can upload their fashion pictures and share fashion trend among members.

The key points which I impressed are…

●  Business idea

By utilizing nowadays Social network trend, Gabriel targets at women fashion and launched Chicisimo. I think that the key point is normal women can upload their pictures and share them in this community ; every women who join this community can become a fashion model on this site. If only the pictures of fashion models are uploaded on this site, it would get hard to call on… (Their style & appearance are perfect and sometimes it is hard for normal women to refer to their fashion…. )

In Japan, similar kind of web site (http://www.zoolook.me/) is now catching on because ordinal women can share their fashion by uploading their picture…. All members can feel a sense of affinity ….

●  Start early

Owing to his enough knowledge & experience with Internet business and human network, he was able to launch this business less than a week. Firstly he created ugly prototype with UI (User Interface) and launched it in this short term. Normal entrepreneurs might wait for launch until they can complete neat business model & products, but he did it immediately. This energy & spirit is the point where most entrepreneurs should follow.

I respect not only for his attitude toward disclosing everything he thinks and wants to say, but also for his ability to get things done.

Thanks…

Earthquakes and Cloud Computing

Source: http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2011/03/earthquakes-and-cloud-computing/

“We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet and lecturer.

Switch on the television, and there’s only one news item grabbing headlines around the globe – the earthquake in Japan. Unless you have been meditating in the Himalayas, you must know that Japan has been hit by the strongest earthquake in 140 years, measuring a massive 8.9 on the Richter scale.

Although the epicenter was hundreds of miles from the mainland, the resultant tsunami has resulted in extensive loss of life and material damages. The official death toll stands at 574, while local media reports put fatality totals closer to 1,300 people. With thousands unaccounted for, that number is expected to rise. Damages are expected to exceed $50 billion.

What is causing consternation among people is the threat of nuclear radiation. A nuclear power plant exploded on Saturday 12 March, triggering a nationwide atomic alert. Being the only country to have witnessed the horrific nature of nuclear fallout on civilian populations following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in World War II, the events at the Fukushima nuclear plant in northern Japan, 250 kilometers north of Tokyo, has caused panic among the people.

So, what do all these have to do with cloud computing?

It may seem heartless talking about business when there’s so much death and destruction, but it’s a proven fact of life that life goes on, and for that to happen, building up businesses is a necessary requirement. And in this, cloud computing can lead the way.

I have argued that one of the advantages of cloud computing, quite contrary to popular perception, is security. This is the security of redundancy, the knowledge that if data in one location is lost to natural disasters like earthquakes and fires, there’s data still available at locations far away. (See:Computing Without Borders – What Works, What Doesn’t and Is Cloud Computing Secure? Yes, Another Perspective)

In my opinion, the ability of a business to recover from such calamities and return to one’s feet can be one of the major attractions of cloud computing. And there has been actual research to back up this argument. According to a recent report by Enterprise Strategy Group, disaster recovery is the prime reason for adopting cloud computing solutions.

It may see uncanny, but only days before the Japan earthquake, IDC Research country manager Ulrich Loeffler spoke about how cloud computing can help with disaster recovery after an earthquake. IDC or Industrial Data Corporation is a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Although Loeffler was speaking in a different context, the earthquake that hit New Zealand on 22 February earlier this year, his words seems strangely prophetic in retrospect. “I think a lot of them will consider the cloud option. For businesses that have had their offices or systems destroyed, you would have to think whether you invested to build up your own infrastructure again,” Loeffler had been quoted as saying. With Japan’s much larger knowledge-based economy and much more severe earthquake, his words are even more relevant here.

On a more immediate note, cloud-based solutions can be effectively used to coordinate relief efforts. With traditional IT infrastructure damaged, relief agencies can draw upon resources on the cloud for their needs. It’s our fervent hope that Japan recovers from this blow as soon as possible and regains its position as a leading light of human and technological achievement.

※ I think from this disaster most companies in Japan will migrate from in-house IT system to cloud service. If this kind of disaster happens, companies who have system server and manage their own IT system in-house, would face a huge risk ; server down and all systems down..... From this experience, many companies will realize the importance of cloud service.

lessons I learned from Coches.com founder

The last Wednesday talk was from Iñaki Arrola, Founder and CEO of Coches.com.

The first motivation and ideas he started to launch business were “two cars were merchandised in two different prices”. 

This is quite simple phenomenon but he had an eye on it and launched this business. I think unique & interesting business models are scattering in our daily life, therefore, we should take care our life, as he did, and once we find unique phenomenon or problem, we should tackle on it immediately. Otherwise, this might be scooped by someone else….

He started this business with 28,550 euros and no tech person in the team in the first 3 years. I was surprised because in this kind of internet business, I thought the role of CTO is inevitable…. But, he did business without CTO….

What I am impressed most from his lesson/message were

●  Don’t start business with friends

I think this might be true. Actually, some of my friends started venture with friends and mostly failed. As an entrepreneur, Iñaki Arrola taught us the importance of finding good business   partners according to the roles.

●  Motivate for employee

Almost all employees join the start-up hoping to dream…. Even if the salary is low at first stage, the entrepreneur should give them some equity and challenging responsibility.

Entrepreneur can make employees highly motivated.

●  Listen to customers

This is the basic business concept and everybody knows it. But, it does not always work well…. Coches.com makes out.

The questions I want to ask ,,,,

● Coches.com dos not turn over other goods, such as used jewelry, watches, and home electronics, besides cars ?

● Cohes.com has no plan to expand business in different countries ?

Thanks Enrique & Iñaki for exciting lectures!! 

Managing the Tech Startups session4 Iñaki Arrola

I just finished reading mini case of COCHES.COM.
Used car auction through the Internet looks pretty saturated market, but I am interested in his final decision and entrepreneurial spirits.
( In spite of severe competition and existing of strong competitor... )
 I want to listen today's lecture , focusing on how Coches made a promotion to customers, approached first customers, and established brand awareness...

Managing the Tech Startup class- session2

Wednesday was the first session of Guest Speaker in Managing the Tech Startup class. The speaker was Julio Alonso from Weblogs SL(http://www.weblogssl.com/). I am really interested in Web marketing & Internet business, so, for me, it was perfect and really fruitful session!!

The birthplace of this service was in US and Weblogs SL treats blogs written in Spanish for Spanish readers.

Weblogs gathers a number of blogs vertically in a network. Weblogs earns profits from web advertisement, mainly from Google Adsense. The blogs are covering a broad range of topics, such as consumer electronics, economy, fashion, and foods.

They focus on 1) user behavior, and 2) revenue.

By making use of Google Analytic, they gather a number of information and analyze them 
- what pages are popular for users ?
- estimate user traffic in web site
- what is effective keywords?
- where user comes from
- calculate of cost-effective of advertisement

 etc...

In my opinion, Weblogs make use of inbound marketing method and this business model meets the needs of today’s web/internet times. Weblogs utilize many Google products, including Google Adsense and Google Analytics, and have succeeded well.
For Google itself, the more these kinds of business spread, the more Google earns revenue. Does Google keep win champion ship of this kind of Internet advertising business? 
For me, it is “Yes” in a few years but, from the perspectives of long-term, I am not sure….Facebook or Twitter might be a competitor for Google a little bit,,, but their core business model is different… 
So, anyone knows Who is the most threat for Google in this kind of business, please let me know.

Julio Alonso Weblogs

Today is the first guest speaker session - Julio Alonso.
I read short business case on campus online and this business model looks pretty interesting and getting ahead of times.
I have questions about...

1) how much advertising revenue Google itself can earn from  Weblogs
2) what is the next strategy for Weblogs to keep long sustainability....

Anyway, I am looking forward to taking today's class.

Managing the Tech Startup

Monday was the first session of Managing the Tech Startup.
Although I wanted to attend this class, due to the big earthquake happened in Japan, I was stuck in Japan and took this class virtually via Skype.
Thank you for warming support - Jacobo & Enrique!!.

Japan is now facing terrible disaster.

On March11th, this massive earthquake( M 9.0 ) occurred and tsunami  struck our country.
So far, more than 3,000 people have passed away and more than 10,000 people have still missing in Tohoku, Japan.

Tthe problem of nuclear nightmare has not yet solved.

A lot of aftershocks have followed in eastern Japan.

To make up for power shortage in Tohoku area, scheduled blackout has started in Kanto area since this Monday.

I'd like to offer my deepest condolences and truly hope Japan will get over this disaster.