Five of the Valencians included in the ’30 Under 30′ list compiled by Forbes Spain today revealed the keys to their success.
Pep Gómez, founder of Fever and Reby; Fran Villalba, CEO and founder of Internxt; María Tatay, CEO and co-founder of Prisma; José J. Burgos, CEO and co-founder of Fresh People; and Roberto Mohedano, CEO and co-founder of Timpers, have made their entrepreneurial projects grow exponentially and are benchmarks for current and future generations. Startup Valencia has brought them together in a meeting in front of more than 100 attendees to share their experience as founders of startups and serve as an inspiration to other entrepreneurs.
The event took place this morning at Jeff’s offices in Valencia where Karina Virrueta, Ecosystem Development Manager at Startup Valencia, was in charge of the presentation of the round table that was moderated by three of the members of the Startup Valencia Seed Committee: Pilar Prados, CEO and co-founder of Bounsel; Clara Torrijos, CEO of GoKoan, and Pablo Rodrigo Juan, CEO and co-founder of Trazable.
Among the topics discussed were the keys to success of each of the projects and their differentiating elements with regards to the competition, the expectations for growth of each of them, and the attitude required to be an entrepreneur.
In that regard, all the speakers agreed on highlighting the human value of the people who make up their companies and the importance of instilling a team culture as the basis for success.
The meeting was conceived as a dialogue in which Valencian entrepreneurs were able to learn about the keys to transforming an idea into a successful company. As Juan Luis Hortelano, president of Startup Valencia, explained: “having the experience of these five Valencian entrepreneurs is a source of inspiration for the tech and innovation ecosystem as well as an opportunity to discover first-hand what has led them to become leaders in their sectors”.
The first to speak at the meeting was Pep Gómez, founder of Fever and Reby, who did so via a phone call, during which he spoke about his professional career and his experience when founding Fever, a platform aimed at planning leisure experiences; and Reby, a company that seeks solutions in shared mobility, while prioritising pedestrian safety and urban coexistence.
Regarding the keys to making it to Forbes’ ’30 under 30′ list, Roberto Mohedano, CEO and co-founder of Timpers, highlighted Timpers’ philosophy and social values as a differentiating factor. “At the moment, we are working on improving the service we offer, so that the customer forgets about the social project behind it and really buys our trainers because they are a good product”.
Fran Villalba, CEO and founder of Internxt, wanted to highlight the pressure that is put on growth expectations, taking into account the macroeconomic perspective, when working with investment funds; as well as the importance of being convinced of your own project. “Entrepreneurship is not easy. You have to be clear that behind everything that looks like success, there is a lot of work and effort”, he stressed.
With regard to the differential values to become successful entrepreneurs, María Tatay, CEO and co-founder of Prisma, highlighted: “passion for what you do, decisiveness, flexibility and adaptability to circumstances”.
“The greatest advantage of starting a company on your own is that you are very close to the business. When you don’t have a large cash cushion you have to know the customer’s needs very well. In our case, the investment comes from our savings and from the family of one of the partners, so there is total responsibility”.
When asked about the importance of the human team when it comes to carrying out projects, José J. Burgos, CEO and co-founder of Fresh People, indicated that the key was “to surround myself with people who are better than me. That is a gift, because you are able to avoid taking on all the responsibility yourself and know that the solutions that these people generate are better than those that you can generate by yourself”.
In addition, the CEO and co-founder of Fresh People emphasised the importance of technology and generating quick and human solutions for the customer. “The customer has to know that they are working with people who help them to be better and who give them technology to do so”.
Finally, they all agreed on the importance of knowing how to differentiate between personal and business affairs; as well as believing in your project, knowing how to manage the doubts that may arise from the environment and not worrying if, eventually, the project comes to an end.
“It is essential to know how to stop in time. The image of the entrepreneur who dedicates himself exclusively to his company has done a lot of damage. The important thing is to be aware that if the company fails, it does not mean that you are a failure”, concluded María Tatay, CEO and co-founder of Prisma.
Working together
makes us stronger
