“Learn from mistakes, and you will go faster.” This maxim, from David Casellas, CRO and partner at Borneo and co-founder of Pridatect and Red Points, joined by Patrick Bales, founder and CEO of Stoyo, kicked off the first edition of the Esade Entrepreneurship Summit, two days of discussions on the various stages of entrepreneurship and company financing. The event was jointly organized by the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute (EEI), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this academic year, and eWorks.

In the panel on growth management and how to scale companies and foster sustainable growth, Timo Buetefisch, co-founder and CEO of Cooltra, explained how he got the idea of founding his company and discussed the process of expanding into other cities, such as Paris. “It usually takes us about two years to turn a profit in this process,” he said. He was joined by Jan Reichelt, founding partner at 10xFounders, who said that the key to growth is “making optimal use of investment” and “dividing the growth process into stages.” Also present was Fiona Garvey, CEO of Softonic, an idea that began as a final degree project and today has more than 50 million downloads per month in multiple languages.

Value creation and attracting talent 

Patrick Spain, co-founder of the telemedicine platform First Stop Health, recounted his various success stories with regard to value creation and exit strategies. He was joined by Helena Torres, venture partner and Investment Manager South Europe at Hans(wo)men Group, who underscored the importance of profitability as a key factor when it comes to selling a start-up to a large company, as well as the importance of the executing team, who, most of the time, following an acquisition, is kept on at the company. Along with Bernat Ripoll, CEO and co-founder of Holded, they agreed that a person should not start a company just to make money (and then sell it), but rather because he or she is passionate about it. “Start-ups are not sold, but bought,” Ripoll pointed out.

Wilfried Beeck, founder and CEO of ePages, and Yara Paoli, Chief Growth Scientist and co-founder of Growth OS, discussed how to retain talent at start-ups with S. Manoj Harasgama, founder of Join. They agreed that “company culture is fundamental to attracting talent.” Maria Alegre, CEO and co-founder of Flori Ventures and Chartboost, discussed valuations and fundraising with Philippe Gelis, co-founder and CEO of Kantox, and Sia Houchangnia, partner at Seedcamp. 

The Esade Entrepreneurship Summit also featured, among many other things, a virtual fireside chat with the start-up guru and serial entrepreneur Steve Blank, as well as a start-up pitching session with Haydee Barroso Bañales, CEO and founder of Atani; Alex Bisbe, CEO and co-founder of Sekondary; Paula Pardo, senior manager for innovation at IATA; and Fernando Zallo, director of Esade BAN, the Esade Alumni business angels network.