Last Thursday, November 24, the entrepreneurs met in a Coffee Break in the Vivero de Empresas of San Blas. On this occasion we have had Antonio Manzanera, partner of the Venture Capital company Savior Venture Capital, specialized in business development services and investment in startups, as well as author of the book "Finance for Entrepreneurs" and professor and speaker in various forums, organizations and business schools. Antonio is an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau) and DEA in Economics from UNED, with research on game theory applied to business purchasing processes.
How to present our projects
When asked if we should carry out a presentation of our project with Power Point, Antonio is clear about it: "Only if you need it, and with few words". And be careful not to introduce too many elements in the slides, because “if they are too visual, they may pay less attention to you”.
investors
Antonio tells us something important when attending investor forums: "It's not about telling your business plan in 8 minutes, but about creating interest and making contacts."
Regarding business angels, he says: "An individual who has money and lends it to you is a business angel, even if he doesn't know it."
Finance
Antonio thinks that it is necessary to ask what our company really needs before asking for financing. "It is clear that to reach the end of the month, either you are making cash, or you need financing." You have to know where you are and what you want to achieve: "Finances are like English: anyone can speak it in a jumble, but understanding a Tarantino movie is something else."
Tips for financing our company
Antonio believes that when financing R&D "it should not be with bank credit, they will demand the payments without having received income yet." He also recommends considering financing alternatives, such as "instead of having a financial partner, have an industrial partner."
On the other hand, Antonio thinks that "crowdfunding is less recommended if you need high funding."
Requirements to be investable
Antonio believes that the fundamental thing when requesting an investment is "that the project progresses, that the product is marketable and that there is a competitive advantage".
When asked if the problem is that there is little financing or few projects to invest in, he affirms that "if the demand for financing increases, due to competition, investors increase the demands."
After chatting with the audience, Antonio Manzanera wrote a sentence on the window of the Vivero de Empresas in San Blas: "Create, inspire, show."
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