Esade Alumni Startup Day began with a Matins Esade session with Jose Manuel Villanueva (Lic&MBA 99), the co-founder of Privalia and 011h and an expert in transforming sectors through digitalization, which can create huge opportunities.
Villanueva spoke with Marcel Planellas, professor in the Department of Strategy and General Management at Esade and researcher in the Entrepreneurial Initiative Research Group (GRIE), and Daniel Sánchez (Lic&MBA 92), president of Esade Alumni, about his 20 years as an entrepreneur, which made him a role model for everyone there. “Lucas Carné and I began Privalia in 2006, a project that is close to my heart, because it was an exceptional experience in my life and as a human, in addition to being very successful. In contrast, 011h is a more cerebral project with a bigger impact,” he said.
After outlining the history of Privalia, the e-commerce fashion outlet, he focused on the objectives of his latest project, 011h, a tech company devoted to construction which employs 80 people in Barcelona: “We wanted to do something with an impact that would go beyond economic objectives to really touch society. We decided on construction, because it is barely digitalized and not very industrialized, and it’s highly polluting, because it also affords opportunities in its productive model”.
Villanueva wanted to explain more about the value proposition of 011h, which is based on transforming construction from four angles: lowering CO2 emissions by using circular materials, lowering times, boosting reliability, and increasing the industrialization of the sector. “We have secured 35 million euros in investment, and we want to use it to create a ‘neo-construction’ company that, will become a benchmark in the world. It’s a huge challenge,” he said.
“We wanted to do something with an impact that would go beyond economic objectives to really touch society”
Founded by Sergi Font (GED&MUA 17), Josep Font, and Gonzalo Noy, the company that won the Award for Best Startup of 2023, Dogfy Diet, makes personalized recipes for pets bearing in mind each animal’s unique characteristics. Its international outlook is the main reason it earned this award. The company’s vision is not limited to the Spanish market, but it has also successfully expanded towards other European markets, which has enabled it to grow exponentially in a brief period of time and become a benchmark in the pet food sector.
“Dogfy Diet was founded with a very clear goal in mind: to revolutionize the pet food market and transform the way we feed our pets. This award is important recognition of the considerable growth we have experienced in the past four years, in both Spain and abroad, making us a leader in natural food for dogs. That’s why we want to express our gratitude to the almost 300 employees that are contributing to this revolution every day,” said Gonzalo Noy.
Eduardo Currás, deputy general director and director of Business Banking at Sabadell, praised the achievements of Dogfy Diet during the presentation, stressing that in just four years, the company has grown to have a staff of 300 people and a production plant measuring more than 10,000 m², making it ready for constant growth with huge global ambitions.
Sergi Font and Gonzalo Noy recalled that everything began with the first 100,000-euro investment that they got from Esade BAN: “We presented a business plan that wasn’t very ambitious, but thanks to our team and the investors we have managed to achieve much more. Since then we have raised 10 million euros, and we’re going to start making a profit within a few months.”
After the Matins Esade session and the awards ceremony for the Best Startup, it was time for the debates. Startup Day continued with two round tables with the participation of entrepreneurs who spoke about entrepreneurship in the sports sector and the importance of finances and the figure of the CFO in startups.
The founders of the sports-related startups Playtomic, Endless, Deporvillage, and Olivier spoke about the important role played by technology in their sector, as well as the importance of making the business profitable and the need to focus on certain fast-growing sports, like paddle tennis and cycling, and the need to democratize other sports, like soccer. Pedro Clavería, Mireia Álvarez (Lic&MBA 03), Xavier Pladellorens, and José González spoke about how to make the business more profitable by using software solutions, democratizing technology, focusing on quality, and focusing on the user experience.
Then, the CFOs of Delvy Law & Finance, Heura, Vicio, and Flax & Kale, and the director of BStartup10 at Banco Sabadell debated the transformation of finances in successful startups, in addition to the required adaptability of the CFO, and the need to focus on processes and uncertainty. Jaime López, Adrià Vázquez, Nuno Alves, and Roger Blanc explained that the classic finance mindset no longer works to manage the dynamism inherent in the risk management of a startup, where the model is to invest in order to continue generating value.
Startup Day is also the ideal opportunity to learn about new projects. Therefore, it welcomed the elevator pitches of startups that have received investments from Esade BAN, like Robingood, Pummba, Love TV Channels, Hello.app, The Residential Club, Wefeel, and April Plants. The event finished with an interview with Elisenda Bou-Balust, Head of Apple Media Knowledge at Apple, by David Rovera, Manager of eWorks Venture Creation at Esade Business & Law School, as the final dose of knowledge before heading to the networking cocktail.
