LID Editorial en la revista Business Life

TRENDS TALENT TECH THOUGHTS TRAVEL April 2015

WHERE NEXT?

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Why South Yorkshire is leading the world in manufacturing Plus: The inside track for outsiders – and why it pays to get personal TOTAL READING TIME

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businesslife.ba.com

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ADVENTURES IN ENTREPRENEUR COUNTRY

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oughly 470 million people speak Spanish as a first language, and I’m reminded of that every time I travel through Madrid airport. It’s big, boisterous, sort of organised, and feels like the centre of its own universe: the Spanish-speaking world.

That world is going through massive change right now, and don’t think it’s not leading in its own way. The Anglosphere tech and venture capital world tends to think it starts everything, but those Latin folk know what they’re doing.

Consider the following.

Ana Botín recently ascended to the chairmanship of Santander and is in the process of building a bank for the digital future. She’s thinking differently, having recently suggested that Santander has a core asset in managing and storing data.

In the UK, the bank has forged a brand out of the relics of old, tired assets, and – largely due to Botín’s magnetic personality – it has become one of the most entrepreneur-friendly brands in the world.

José María Álvarez-Palette López, COO of Telefónica and founder of Wayra, a startup accelerator, has built from Madrid a network of ecosystems that are whipping up innovation in a non-Anglosphere way.

Their model is to take equity in exchange for office space and support. It creates huge PR and social good; but whether it’s positively affecting Telefónica’s financials is another thing. They may have created a kindergarten, not a digital P&L. Álvaro Pérez Pastor, founder and CEO of aBoatTime and BoatGrid Yacht Charters, is one entrepreneur, based in Madrid, who is world class. aBoatTime is essentially a global distribution system (like Sabre and Amadeus in the airline industry) for the large yachting and boating world, which has lacked structure until now. He’s getting to grips with the large amounts of data that can explain consumer preference and drive liquidity in this emerging marketplace. And he has grit. Pérez Pastor

THE LIST

ALL ABOUT CROWDFUNDING

Murray Jack offers ten tips to help you get financial backing for your idea.

1. GET THE RIGHT PLATFORM If you are using an online platform, check it is right for your business and ensure it has a track record in the sector you are targeting or has successfully raised funds for similar ideas.

2. KEEP IT CONFIDENTIAL Consider what you’re happy

Soaring expectations Madrid’s financial district has reasons for optimism

THE GAIN IN SPAIN Julie Meyer celebrates a new generation of movers and shakers reshaping Madrid with their innovative business models

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to disclose publicly. Once your big idea is out there it could be copied by someone who already has funding in place.

3. CREATE A BUZZ Consider how to generate a buzz about your project.

This should be carefully planned to peak at the point when your project goes live.

Relevant publicity could help generate interest but speak to your lawyer about publicly advertising share-based crowdfunding schemes.

4. BE REALISTIC Not every project receives the desired investment. It’s important to have realistic expectations about the likely level of investment and have a contingency plan.

5. STAY FOCUSED Remember you are trying to appeal to the masses, so distil your idea down to its simplest form. Overly complex ideas or projects that are trying to achieve too much tend to be a turn-off for investors.

APRIL 2015

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SHUTTERSTOCK

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has scraped and done backflips, but has his hands firmly on the tiller of a very high-growth venture. His shareholders must be very pleased.

One of the most interesting aspects about going to Madrid for me is how the old Europe is crashing into this new Europe. If Europe is being redefined by its entrepreneurs right now, as I believe it is, then business people such as Marcelino Elosua are worth considering. He is president of business publisher LID Editorial Empresarial. Decades ago, his businesses may have been in olive oil, but today he is a global leader in digital publishing and communities. Before any of the publishers in the UK were understanding the 360° opportunities for authors, Elosua Latin lessons Madrid’s IE business school is world-class

6. DON’T FORGET THE BENEFITS You may have a technically brilliant product or idea, but if you don’t focus on articulating its benefits then investors are unlikely to be interested.

7. BE OPEN ABOUT RISK If your project is high risk, then don’t hide away from this. More sophisticated investors will understand there will be risks but will want to understand how you plan to mitigate those risks

was reshaping the industry with different business models.

Diego del Alcázar Silvela, the 10th Marquis of la Romana, founded one of Europe’s leading business schools, IE, based in Madrid, in 1973.

The ambience there and the programmes it leads set it out from other European schools, and you can tell it’s led by an entrepreneur. It’s a very business-oriented place.

Many of Europe’s business schools falter because they are not run like businesses. IE has done an outstanding job of making itself a European leader. It’s not yet in the league of INSEAD, based in Fontainebleau and Singapore, which is probably the best global business school, but for Spanishspeaking students, it’s world-class.

My old friend Frank Gelardin, ex-Lehman banker and formerly on the board of Acciona, the large water and infrastructure firm, relocated to Madrid many years ago and has become part of the furniture in the innovation and entrepreneurship space.

Having backed many entrepreneurs, he does a mean job of advising startups in the music sector.

These bankers and investors from the old industrial world make some of the best backers of the new digital industry. One huge tech success out of Spain is eDreams, which was created in 1999 by Javier

to satisfy themselves that they believe your idea could work. Arguably a higher risk investment might be more attractive to investors if presented in the right way, as they may see the opportunity for higher returns.

8. BE ORIGINAL Lighting rarely strikes twice.

If you’ve seen an off-thewall idea that got great results then it’s best to remember that a lot of other people saw it too. Novelty

Brand builder Santander’s magnetic chairperson Ana Botín

Pérez-Tenessa Block, ex-EADS, ex-McKinsey, ex-Netscape and AOL. The old internet 1.0 entrepreneurs are now backing other entrepreneurs, having been in the burning building of an early startup and living to tell the tale. No one does this better than Rodolfo Carpintier, who has backed dozens through his DAD investment firm.

NetNet – if you want to understand how Spain and the Spanish-speaking world are leading and building their ecosystems, Madrid is a great place to land.

One interesting aspect of Madrid is how the old Europe is crashing into a new Europe

Julie Meyer is an entrepreneur and investor. BA flies direct to Madrid up to 15 times a day from London Heathrow and City airports. Join the Executive Club and earn from 1,572 Avios* when you fly there return. Visit ba.com

pitches work well once but there will be diminishing returns over time.

9. HAVE REALISTIC TIMESCALES Don’t set yourself too little time to achieve your stated goals as this may undermine your credibility with investors.

Make sure you have everything in place before moving ahead with your idea and try to communicate a realistic timetable of key project steps to your investors.

10. AVOID DONOR FATIGUE Be careful about targeting any groups of investors who have already invested in a similar idea/product.

It’s best to try to put yourself in the shoes of the investor and ask yourself what might make them invest in a similar product again. Q Murray Jack is a partner at the national law firm HBJ Gateley in Glasgow.

Visit gateleyuk.com

APRIL 2015

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