Councilor representatives for Economy, Local Employment and Ecology of the City of Donostia, Marisol Garmendiak, San Sebastian EKINN. He inaugurated the Entrepreneurship Summit in Donostia, which took place on November 29, during the tenth edition of the WeekINN Innovation Week.

The conference was held in the Kursaal conference center, and had a comprehensive program on innovative entrepreneurship, divided into "challenges" worked on in various round tables.

The event addressed some of the key challenges that start-ups face in the early stages of their life cycle and early growth and expansion phases. Some of the difficulties were raised, such as generating the first sales, financing and investment, or attracting and retaining talent. Special attention was paid to the field of women, international connections, as well as encouraging bilateral meetings between investors and local start-ups. The culture of entrepreneurship was also reflected through the activities for young people.

When he took the floor, Garmendia emphasized that the X of the "Xpedition" slogan of this year's Donostia Innovation Promotion Week is the tenth "x of the anniversary, but also the x of doubt, the doubt that we move forward even when we are there, the one that every entrepreneur knows well".

Donostia investing in entrepreneurship

"Donostia is investing in science, entrepreneurship and innovation, is progressing and is working on various projects related to biomedicine, materials, nanosciences and artificial intelligence", said the councilor, adding that the council's intention is to make Donostia a "city of opportunities" as a city of people who believe in their dreams and have the purpose and commitment to make the world a better place."

He thanked all the entities and institutions that participated in the WeekINN week for their support, and then emphasized the importance of the collaboration of all the players in the city's ecosystem of science and innovation, highlighting the following: "one of the distinctive features of Donostia's R+D+b one is that we are all links in a chain that is growing every day, and thanks to all of you here, investors, companies, start-ups and the entire educational ecosystem, you help build the dreams of the future."

The general director of Donostia Promotion, Iñigo Olaizola, reminded that the main purpose of Donostia Promotion is to "organize and energize" everything that is happening around innovative entrepreneurship and innovation, by incorporating programs and tools to accelerate innovative entrepreneurship projects through knowledge and financial support, for example, Ekin+, "to measure made garment" for selected start-ups.

A new building

Olaizola said that a bet in favor of a new building is under way, as a physical space is "very necessary" to promote innovation and entrepreneurship there, which will be a reference and will undoubtedly reflect Donostia Promotion's tasks as "enabler and connector". The institution was founded in 1902, and its aim is to make the agents of the entrepreneurship ecosystem feel that Donostia is with them "at all times", and thus add added value to the city and to the projects themselves.

Therefore, thanks to this new building, whose name is still hidden, there will be a physical space in the center of Donostia, where "we want things to happen as a result of the activities we have planned and other external ones that may arise"; among other things, conferences, events or trainings will be held to attract talent. In fact, the future is "supporting all those who have innovative ideas and projects, connecting them and discovering the excellence of everything we have available for them", said Olaizola, and at the end of the speech he recalled the 100 years of the Jazz Festival, the Film Festival and the legendary Behobia-Donostia race, among others. that have more than 100,000, that they are clear models of success, and a reflection of "doing things from the city and for the city".

San Sebastian EKINN. The Entrepreneurship Summit continued with a panel discussion focused on supporting innovative entrepreneurship. There, representatives of five public entities took the floor, and reported on and discussed their programs to support innovative entrepreneurship projects.

The economic and financial director of the Spanish Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), Pilar Carrato, reported on INNVIERTE, which is the entity's venture capital company. As he added, the institution "has many tools that reflect that they have historically supported innovative entrepreneurship, such as the NEOTEC grants, the 2022 women entrepreneurs call, co-investment with corporate funds and partially reimbursable support for technological projects".

The president of the National Innovation Company (EINSA), Juan Manuel Garrido, mentioned that the entity is "directly focused on innovative entrepreneurship". It is subordinated to the General Directorate of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises (Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism), and its main shareholder is the Treasury. ENISA's function is to help innovative projects with financing, from the very beginning phase, with small tickets, and to continue increasing the financing until the companies "take power".

Also, the Director of Financing and Investor Relations of España Exportación e Inversiones (ICEX), Alberto Sanz, mentioned the work they have been doing with technology for almost two decades and with technological entrepreneurship for six years. This public business entity operates throughout the country, and its main purpose is to promote the internationalization of Spanish companies and foreign investment. At ICEX, they collaborate with all kinds of actors and work with start-ups, in all their stages (but the focus is on scalable ones), as well as investors (business angels, venture capital, etc.), national and international corporations interested in technological projects and other entities, but always to internationalize.

Sanz took the opportunity to talk about the CHALLENGE, and, as he stated, "talent is a challenge for everyone, but many factors make it easier; in fact, in addition to existing, it is created, it comes and the most important thing is to keep it".

The director of the School of Industrial Organization (EOI), Fernando Garrido, mentioned that the entire working group had considered how to coordinate with all the public institutions involved in the renovation process. Thus, following the leadership of ENISA, the Startup Nation project was created in the EOI, a road map, "what we want to be in the form of states and countries and what we want to achieve in the coming years, just as we are at the table right now".

First sales

The conference continued with a panel discussion on first sales issues. The CEO of NUUK Technologies, Alberto Algans, took part in it, together with Rubén Heredia, head of innovative public procurement at Zabala Innovation Consulting, and Fernando Garrido, head of the Actiba Startups program at EOI.

Algans explained that NUUK Technologies develops a software product that collects various multimedia sources and distributes them through a multi-application visual intelligence station. The company participated in the Ekin+ Promotion program, it was created in 2020 and had sales, but when mentioning the problems it had as a start-up in that activity, it said that the first problem it encountered with a product like its own was the first test and the response of those who trust you as a potential customer of receiving them as soon as possible, as they often refer to IT departments and may not be the best to validate them. "A fledgling start-up is not well-known, and in order to build trust it needs the endorsement of others opening the door. Companies ask for referrals, with the boost of endorsements to reduce risks, but if they direct it to the wrong person, it's an extra effort to get sales."

NUUK is one of the emerging companies within EOI's Activa Startups program. In this regard, Fernando Garrido recalled that a few years ago a call was made in the autonomous community to face the challenges of open innovation, which has given many start-ups the opportunity to turn to SMEs to solve a challenge (of up to 40,000 euros), with funding in hand.

Linked to Zabala Innovation Consulting, and following the thread of innovative public procurement, Rubén Heredia explained that the challenges of public entities are not different from those of private ones and that many innovative companies have benefited from the processes, although "everything can be improved", because a common language between the two types of entities is necessary .

Invest in start-ups

After that, a panel discussion on investing in start-ups began, where the current situation and the forecast for 2024 were analyzed. The panel was completed by the managing partner of Easo Ventures, Pedro Muñoz; Guillermo Soto, managing partner of Pinama Capital23 and investing partner of Core Angels Internacional; President of the Spanish Association of Business Angels, Marta Huidobro; and the managing partner of Ysios Capital, Julia Salaverría.

Easo Ventures, the first private venture capital in the Basque Country, was founded in 2018. It is the bet of companies from all over Spain that are "getting going" and need resources and speed when their business models have begun to be validated.
Guillermo Soto made a distinction between venture capital and business angels, because they start the investment process a little earlier, when the "trust money" ends, that is, the action 

of the family, friends and immediate surroundings. Pinama was founded in October 2023, from which they try to give something more than that money and, in this sense, Soto talked about contacts, new investors, customers or even physical offices, adding that they do not immerse themselves in the governing bodies of companies, but that their intention is for the activists to listen to them and the other interlocutors.

Marta Huidobro expressed an opinion shared by the rest of the panelists. "It is unfortunate to speak of Venture as a word that carries with it danger." In the opinion of the investor, it is like the other things that are done in life, but "there is something about enjoying and sharing, something important, because we have that philosophy as business angels". Following the speech, Huidobro confirmed that most such investors are "doing well in life" and that they give back to society what they know how to do, and that they give money to projects in which they believe in many aspects. "A part of the money must be for the entrepreneur, and we must add passion and a lot of knowledge of the sector", however, he determined that many companies forget about the business aspect after they are completed, and by the time they start thinking about it, they have stopped on the way because they have not thought, for example, in the treasury, in the process or in the way of industrialization. Therefore, "in the name of the United States", he asked all the entrepreneurs who were there to put a business angel in their lives, from the beginning, to give them business knowledge, "with complete generosity".

As for YSIOS, it is a manager of venture capital funds that invests exclusively in companies in the life sciences sector, precisely those that have not reached the market or are starting, those that require their own resources and those that require additional support to develop as a company.

After the presentations, the panel discussion turned into a lecture, and it was mentioned that emotional return and empathy are needed with projects and entrepreneurs. "It is essential to enjoy the path of entrepreneurship and to believe in what you invest in," said Guillermo Soto, who then announced that the Pinama Capital 23 team will invest in start-ups, thanks to the financial support obtained in record time.

Marta Huidobro addressed the women who attended the event directly, as president of W4Steam. This entity invests in the projects of innovative women entrepreneurs of the STEAM profile, without taking a specific amount of money as a starting point. On the contrary, after the presentation of the business initiative, the investors of the organization that want to support it do so without a minimum.

Among the topics discussed was the success probability of start-ups. Easo Ventures agrees with the opinion of the representative of AEBAN, who explained that the risks are different in some sectors, but that they can be mitigated if the entrepreneur has a diverse network of investors around him, an advisory board with strength in various fields and a balanced team that will help to balance and navigate creatively, and these are "which increase the chance of success".

The talent

Then it was time for talent and how to keep it. After that, a panel discussion was held with Batea Consultores, Linqcase, EIT Manufacturing West and the organizers, Donostia Sustagena.

Batea is a human resources consultant, and therefore acquires and manages talent. According to the managing partner Íñigo Calvo, he works with large companies and technology start-ups in Gipuzkoa, and brings a fairly broad perspective to the market, because the problems are the same in all such companies. The difficulty is to fill the working groups away from the discourse of "lack of talent", and recognizing the value of the skills and attitudes that people have when doing work, starting from management positions and down to the lowest, and using this look at talent and management as a key to access and retain people.

"Talent brings value to organizations," Calvo continued, and Ibon Iribar, CEO of Linqcase, which makes quality control machines for a wide range of industrial sectors, agreed. "We can have fewer and fewer engineers, regardless of whether we are in any company or work in any, as in my case" said the CEO of this Donostia start-up and participant in the Ekin+ program, who added that there are no big differences in the companies, in the processes of attracting people and them recognizing the shortcomings they encounter "to be content".

Business creation manager Javier González appeared as a representative of EIT Manufacturing West. It is an organism of the European Union that helps to promote the manufacturing sector and mainly operates in three key areas: innovation, supporting new businesses and start-ups, and talent, emphasizing the importance of education, which "will be key in the future in a company to make it special".

"Technology has changed so much that we are struggling to find the right profiles for organizations, and we cannot forget that the emergence of artificial intelligence can also be an obstacle to removing talent," González said when he took the floor.

"Our mission is to see, hear and feel", stated Ainhoa Aldasoro, Head of Innovation and Competitiveness of Donostia Promotion, and added that the aim is "to take into account what small and large companies tell us, as well as what young people who are in their education period have said, and therefore , being in both worlds." As Aldasoro said, the entity firmly supports that "it must be sown and cultivated, and in such a rich place, in the middle of all the existing ecosystem, when such interesting start-ups are growing, it is an essential pillar to have references that will inspire children for their careers".

In the Basque Country, the size of the business network "is very small, and there are not those big image and marketing campaigns, unlike in other places", explained the Donostia Promotion spokesperson. For him, often what people and start-ups do in the centers "is not very tangible, and it is difficult to understand". For this reason, the purpose of the Promotion is to invest and make an effort to change things, with exercises like those proposed in WeekINN, because it must be revealed that the talent is there, and that the only thing missing is "connecting with the project and the team, and we are the link makers".

Women's entrepreneurship

EKINN in San Sebastián. The Entrepreneurship Summit continued with the second part of the challenges, which were addressed: women's entrepreneurship, local connectors for innovative entrepreneurship and funding for expansion.

The talk on women's entrepreneurship was moderated by Teresa Alarcos, an independent consultant to several companies and the founder and president of the W Startup Community. The words of Mónica Guardado began, saying that from the AFI entity, whose CEO and partner, they support entrepreneurship in various fields, and have their own venture capital investment line for companies based on financial services, technology, asset management and education services. In addition, he said that within the group they have a company for the management of collective investment institutions, and one of the funds within that company is for social impact risk capital. The purpose of the latter is not only profitability, and, in this case, the purpose of the investment is health, well-being, sustainable production and consumption, quality education for all, diversity and social integration, and sustainable energy and mobility.

Kibo Ventures' head of investments, Covadonga García-Valdés, mentioned that the company has 300 million euros to manage its assets, and that its goal is to invest in entrepreneurs who are looking for the most impactful solutions to the challenges facing society today, and, at the same time, to obtain the best possible returns for the investors. Since they started in 2012, they have invested in more than 70 projects, and more than 20% have been created by women.

The only male representative at the table was Juan José Landazuri, business angel and independent consultant of ESADE Ban Madrid of the Harvard Club, and he spoke about his work as a business angel. He announced that they have invested in 300 start-ups in their portfolio so far. "Regardless of the sex of the investor, the key parameter of interest in evaluating the startup is the reason for its success," said the investor, for whom it is important to evaluate the psychology and human capital of the entrepreneur, and whether or not he has risk training and, even more, is he ready for it. Before the activity, rotating, looking for a group and being very dynamic until three or four years after the project.

The president of Aspegi, Amaia Bernarás, said that the entrepreneurship supported by the association is in its early stages, although their focus is only on initiatives led by women, complementing institutional programs such as Donostia Promotion's EKIN+. Various conclusions have been drawn regarding their profiles in women-only support programs. They are trained people, between 35 and 55 years old, who want to change jobs and, for whatever reason, decide to become entrepreneurs.