The guest speakers included Ana Viñals and Artur Massana, partners at Siakara; Jordi Aránega, vice-president of Hengrui Corporation; Carles Escribano, manager at Pupgam Studios; Adrià Guerrero, UIC Barcelona alumnus and entrepreneur; and Paco Solé Parellada, full professor of Business Organisation at the UPC.
After the speakers delivered their presentations and questioned attendees as to their interests, the moderator, Paco Solé, threw out a series of questions that would later be used to guide the round table discussion: “What qualities or characteristics must or should an entrepreneur have?” “What have been the main problems or obstacles facing entrepreneurs?” “What role does access to financing play in setting up a new company?” And “What advice would you give an entrepreneur who has just set up a company?”
With regard to the characteristics an entrepreneur should have, Ana Viñals pointed out that, “Entrepreneurship is an attitude. It’s about being curious and joining up with other people who are curious, and being willing to take risks.” Carles Escribano, in turn, stressed the importance of “having technical knowledge of the field in which you want to be an entrepreneur. Having an idea is not enough. You have to understand the technical side, because otherwise outsourcing is expensive.”
Jordi Aránega advised future entrepreneurs “not to fall in love with your idea. If it fails, you need to be able to shut it down.” As for financing, the team from Siakara both agreed that, “Barcelona is a great place to secure financing. I’ve never seen a good project that didn’t have financing. That said, it’s a whole different story if you’re looking to give your project to an investor.” In this regard, Carles Escribano recommended that entrepreneurs should put off finding investors as long as possible to keep the idea fresh and raise the project’s value. And Aránega took it a step further by saying that, “You should only look for money when you don’t need it.”
This round table took place within the context of the new Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital and Private Equity which is due to start in October. More information
