"It has been really great for me to help people without asking for anything in return"
26 de September de 2018
26 de September de 2018
The fourth session of EAE Entrepreneur Experience focused on Jesús Alonso Gallo, a mentor and investment expert, who shared an in-depth insight into the topic of "Serial entrepreneur and investor in the 21st Century". This online session also welcomed the participation of Rocío Álvarez-Ossorio, the Director of the EAE Lab startup incubator, who took charge of leading the interview with the conference speaker.
Employee, entrepreneur and serial investor, Jesús Alonso Gallo is a humble, friendly and generous man who believes in karma and the universe. The way he understands the world embraces the concept of helping people and striving to understand things with perspective. From all this, Jesús has learned a life lesson that started during his professional stage as an employee in other people's companies, before the moment that he heard "the call of the jungle" and he embarked on his entrepreneurial adventures. Later on, Jesús quite naturally moved on to the world of investment, where he began spending the money he had earned from his entrepreneurial projects (he has created four companies, of which he sold two) He is now the founder of www.restaurantes.com and is involved with more than 20 different companies.
The challenge of launching an entrepreneurial venture and the importance of teams
Jesús understands entrepreneurship as a way of life rooted in each person's inner strength. Not everybody is equipped for it and it has a lot to do with a positive attitude and a set of principles that make sense. "Start an entrepreneurial venture to develop a value proposition for thousands of people all over the planet". This has to be an entrepreneur's first and last objective. They also need to have good heterogeneous and complementary teams focused on doing something they can put their heart into, not simply thinking about the money.
The investment expert expressed optimism in view of the multiple opportunities offered by blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and big data. In response to these changes in business models, several transformations will be required to generate value as an entrepreneur. As far as Jesús is concerned, new technologies will also change professional profiles. Technological profiles will become cross-disciplinary and their competence will depend on "how well they get on with robots". Moreover, technological companies will be looking for knowledge related to philosophy, psychology and sociology, which will contribute towards generating value in organizations.
Advice for entrepreneurs: partnership agreements
Jesús advises entrepreneurs who want to make their business venture a reality to draft a partnership agreement in which they specify the company's power structure, what each person's duties are and how the capital is divided. After establishing each partner's roles, the next step involves focusing most of your energy on making the product/service and speaking to customers. For an investor, counting on the support of mentors is essential, but it is also important to contact a professional lawyer specializing in commercial law to help you incorporate the company.
The investment market and number analysis
"When you are an investor, your mindset changes because there is a model to apply and a more analytical procedure to follow" explained Jesús Alonso Gallo, within the framework of the EAE Entrepreneur Experience session, adding that "the investment market is highly regulated and there are very distinct investor profiles that promote entrepreneurship of new projects". Jesús says that the investment market is tremendously complex and it is very easy to make mistakes. "The investor asks for 10 times what they give you because they know that, 9 times out of 10, they make a loss on the projects that they invest in. There is no magic formula".
To become an investor, Jesús recommends having overseen an entrepreneurial venture yourself because it gives you a far broader overview of what is involved in the investment. Financial and legal knowledge is also essential. In the mentor's opinion, specialization and verticalization are important factors in the investment strategy, considering them to be a trend in capital fund management. In terms of the future of investment, Jesús Alonso Gallo explained that he expects "to see the majority of the most successful risk capital funds headed by entrepreneurs who has have had success", adding that "for these entrepreneurs to be the best, they will have multidisciplinary teams in their structures with the best financial profiles and lawyers, as well as the top advisors in technology".
To enjoy the full version of the fourth session of EAE Entrepreneur Experience, entitled "Serial entrepreneur and investor in the 21st Century", click here