Last Thursday, November 17, the entrepreneurs met in a Coffee Break at the Vivero de Empresas in Vicálvaro. On this occasion we have had Javier Osa, CFO and co-founder of Kiwoko, the leading chain of animal and pet stores in Spain. In addition, he has extensive experience in the Venture Capital sector and holds an MBA from Stanford University.
What is an entrepreneurial project?
For Javier Osa it is “the sum of equipment, market and capital”, and he tells us that they had equipment and capital, so the opportunity came when he entered the market. That is why he believes it is essential that the market be favorable when it comes to undertaking: "When a bad market and a good team come together, the market usually wins".
Win or lose
Javier explains how his father "had much less network to undertake, but also much less to lose", as well as how his family undertook "out of necessity, not because of an epic vision of entrepreneurship". In this sense, he understands that failure is not a reason to stop trying: “When you start, there is always a positive side, even if you fail. If Kiwoko fails, I would try again."
Business ethics and passion
Javier highlights the need to be ethical when undertaking, and affirms that there must be “an ethical component in the management of our business”. Likewise, he believes that the desire and mentality of the entrepreneur are fundamental: “You can contract many things, but not the vision of the entrepreneur. It is very difficult to recruit the passion of a founder”, which is why he would like to “restart a project as an entrepreneur, after having learned from my beginnings”.
Venture Capital: Key point of the business?
When asked if Kiwoko could have developed without Venture Capital, Javier says that "in fact, it did." His tips for entering Venture Capital are: "Understand who is on the other side, as in any negotiation" and "Be clear about what I really want that money for."
the spanish model
Javier Osa believes that “it is impossible to repeat a Silicon Valley in Spain or anywhere. You can repeat a Villarreal or Depor, but never a Real Madrid”. The fundamental explanation is that “around Stanford there are 6 times the stock market capacity of Spain”. However, he believes that there are many Spanish entrepreneurs who can be taken as role models: "There is no need to go to Steve Jobs, here we have Amancio Ortega."
After chatting with the attendees, Javier Osa wrote a sentence on the windows of Vicálvaro's Vivero de Empresas: “Team, team, team”.
You can see the video of this Coffee Break in http://www.froozetv.com/alacarta/?p=425
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