Business opportunities, growth, and strategy in the spotlight at the first Esade Entrepreneurship Summit

22.05.2023

The first edition of the Esade Entrepreneurship Summit featured the founders of start-ups such as Cooltra, Holded, First Stop Health, Stoyo, ePages, Kantox, and Flori Ventures, among others, alongside investors and financing experts

Monday, May 22, 2023. “Learn from mistakes, and you will go faster.” This maxim, from David Casellas, CRO and partner at and co-founder of and , joined by Patrick Bales, founder and CEO of , kicked off the first edition of the , two days of discussions on the various stages of entrepreneurship and company financing. The event was jointly organized by the (EEI), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this academic year, and .

In the panel on growth management and how to scale companies and foster sustainable growth, Timo Buetefisch, co-founder and CEO of , 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 , 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 , 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 , 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 , 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 , 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 , and Yara Paoli, Chief Growth Scientist and co-founder of , discussed how to retain talent at start-ups with S. Manoj Harasgama, founder of . They agreed that “company culture is fundamental to attracting talent.” Maria Alegre, CEO and co-founder of and , discussed valuations and fundraising with Philippe Gelis, co-founder and CEO of , and Sia Houchangnia, partner at .

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 ; Alex Bisbe, CEO and co-founder of ; Paula Pardo, senior manager for innovation at ; and Fernando Zallo, director of , the Esade Alumni business angels network.