Promoting Entrepreneurship 2023 edition
March 24th 2023 at Tech Barcelona Pier 01 (Barcelona)
Promoting Entrepreneurship: lessons learnt from research
To celebrate our 30th anniversary, the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute (EEI) launched the Promoting Entrepreneurship event to connect research on entrepreneurship to support high-growth and high-quality entrepreneurship.
Planning to launch your startup? This is how research can help you
Empowering evidence-based startup development
Organized by the EEI, and led by Georg Chondrakis, together with EEI’s researchers, professors from other top universities, entrepreneurs, founders, professionals, and investors, we discussed how data and knowledge are vital for building quality and sustainable startups that can generate real positive impact in society.
contacts
speakers
attendees
The speakers
This event was led by Professor George Chondrakis and EEI’s researchers and covered the stages of venture creation: from ideation, to scaling up, and to financing. Researchers from other universities were invited as well as founders and investors. Together with Lluis Juncà and Joan Rodon, they fostered a dynamic discussion, showcasing their work and experience in the different stages of venture creation.
Entrepreneurial ideas and testing
KEYNOTE
- Professor Annelore Huyghe (Lead of the session), Associate Professor, Esade Business School
- Professor Alfonso Gambardella, Full Professor of Corporate Management, Bocconi University
ROUNDTABLE
- Albert Bravo, Founding Director Innovation Growth Lab
- Philippe Gelis, CEO & co-Founder Kantox
- Zina Jarrahi Cinker, General Director Matter
Entrepreneurial scaling up
KEYNOTE
- Professor Dimo Ringov (Lead of the session), Associate Professor, Esade Business School
- Professor Veroniek Collewaert, Full Professor of Entrepreneurship & Master's Director Vlerick Business School
ROUNDTABLE
- Miquel Martí, CEO Tech Barcelona
- Marta Antúñez, Director Wayra
- Raphaelle Simunek, Co-Founder Ready
Entrepreneurial financing
KEYNOTE
- Professor Daniel Blaseg (Lead of the session), Associate Professor, Esade Business School
- Professor Annamaria Conti, Associate professor IE Business School
ROUNDTABLE
- Maria Alegre, CEO & co-Founder Flori Ventures & Chartboost
- Carlos Trenchs, Co-Founder & Managing Director Aldea Ventures
- Marc Antoni Macià, Founder & Advisor NoviCap
Experimentation as a key factor in a startup’s success
"You observe, you theorize, you test the hypothesis and with the outcome you learn and take action."
We explored ideation and testing, tackling the challenges, new frameworks, and the entrepreneurial mindset. Entrepreneurs are exceptional scientists who intuitively hypothesize. They face problems under a huge amount of uncertainty, and so to avoid acting blindly they observe, theorize, and test a hypothesis – and with the outcome of that experiment they learn and then take informed action. Some of the tips shared:
- Before launching your high-growth company, test it and experiment to make sure it’s a winner.
- Expose yourself to as many things as possible because you never know where that unconventional element or idea might come from.
- Don’t let fear stop you, but don't go in blind.
Myths vs. realities about scaling-up
“Continuous growth puts a lot of pressure on the company and employees, and it is difficult to maintain.”
In this session, we debunked the top myths on scaling up by pointing out that only a few founders scale up their venture, and most entrepreneurs do not want to do so. When deciding to grow, it is essential to choose the right pace and to consider the key elements for expanding in a healthy, profitable, and sustainable way. Some of the tips shared:
- High growth puts a lot of pressure on the company and its people, sometimes it is better to slow down your startup’s growth and accelerate faster later.
- Before starting the scaleup phase you need to analyze the key metrics of your company and how the scale-up will affect them.
- Even though standardization and processes are something that entrepreneurs tend to dislike they remain key elements for scaling up successfully.
Different ventures need different financing options
“Not every startup needs a VC. Each venture has different needs which require a different financing option”
Entrepreneurship boosts a country’s employment, innovation, and economic growth. The current market conditions are favorable for investment, but entrepreneurs must prioritize the delivery of value by generating traction using key data and metrics. Investors want to have an honest and direct conversation. To attract investors, it is essential to show the unit economics in the investor pitch to see the results and achievements of the company. Some tips to attract investors:
- Generate traction by including key metrics, evolution, and unit economics.
- Every investor has a specific area of interest, so it is important to find out who best fits your startup.
- Having a balanced team is key. Hire people and profiles that are complimentary to you.