Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneurship’

Article Recommendation: Boot Strapping your Start-up

August 2, 2010

Source: Gründerszene

The art of bootstrapping

Excerpt: “Bootstrapping’ is one of the many buzzwords that flit around the startup scene. This is particularly true in times when investors in new ventures are thin on the ground and what funding there is is only being directed at businesses seen as safe bets to go public or be acquired for gazillions at the exit stage. For those entrepreneurs struggling to acquire venture capital, bootstrapping is the art of putting minimal resources to work and growing your business incrementally from the ground up. But how is it done?

To read the full article click here.

Anti-Dilution Calculator

June 29, 2010

Considering that ESADE has a strong focus on entrepreneurship then this might interest you. Financing for start-ups is always a very important factor that every entrepreneur needs to consider. There are many types of financing and one of these are external investors buying shares in your start-up.

Valuations are particularly difficult for start-ups as forecasts and cashflows are difficult to predict. In addition the investments can potentiallly dilute the founder’s shares and share values. In order to avoid a share dilution it is important to consider a protection against dilution. Anti-Dilution clauses are useful however knowing how each investment will impact your equity is even more important. Check out this Anti-Dilution calculator as proposed by the incubator “hackfwd here. This calculator does all the maths for you.

Now be smart about getting the right investor!!!

1 month to go

February 26, 2010

If today is the 26th of February, then today in one month is our graduation! WOW… the time has flown past and so many things have happened. This is really stunning. In addition today we submitted the third and last part of our Business Plan for Entrepreneurship class. That means that my last major essay for this MBA is done…  Time to celebrate with one eye and to cry with the other one.

You know what I also noticed, which I find quite strange? For two months in a row the 1st day of the month is on a Monday. Let’s take it is a good omen.

Barcelona Europe’s next entrepreneurship capital?

February 7, 2010

Barcelona has a clear vision: Becoming the entrepreneurship capital of Europe. That is quite an interesting vision and marketing strategy for a city. Being able to say that you are the start-up capital is quite a titel however will not be easily achieved.

Considering that Barcelona is one of the most liveable and attractive cities and hosts two of the top-ten business schools in Europe, this could however be strategy that might actually work. ESADE’s strong focus on entrepreneurship and ESADE’s business incubator “Creapolis” definitely goes well along those lines.

In fact there is a number of developments, events and institutions, like Barcelona’s Activa, that push for this development, that I would like to highlight. The previously mentioned serial entrepreneur Christopher Pommerening for example has recently been asked by the “City of Barcelona and the “Plan Estratégico Metropolitano de Barcelona” to promote and create a special Advisory Committee for Entrepreneurship, in order to improve the services and infrastructures for Entrepreneurs”, as stated by the website “Barcelona Entrepreneurship City”.

The February 2010 edition of the  “Entrepreneurial Event Aggregator” (here) provides you again with a good overview of all the Entrepreneurial Events happening in Barcelona…

Host: ENB
Topic: TBC
Date: 4th of February, 19:15h
Location: Hotel Casanova, C/Gran Via de les Corts, 559
Confirmation: info@networkbarcelona.com or here

Host: ESADECREAPOLIS
Topic: XIII Foro de Inversión del CEI
Date: 9th of February, 17:00h – 19:00h
Location: ESADEFORUM. Av. Pedralbes 60-62. Barcelona
Confirmation: here

Host: ESADE
Topic: Business Angels Network
¿Qué es un Business Angel? Características y datos claves, con Luisa Alemany, Manuel Martos, Carlos Hernández
Date: 9th of February, 19:30h
Location: ESADEFORUM. Av. Pedralbes 60-62. Barcelona
Confirmation: ESADE Alumni

Host: Camera de Comercio de Barcelona
Topic: The day of Silicon Valley: Business opportunities and new trends
Date: 11th of February, 8:30h – 11:00h
Location: Viver de Glòries de Barcelona Activa, c/ Llacuna, 162
Confirmation: gperarnau@cambrabcn.org or here

Host: Gild International
Topic: Networking Lunch
Date: 11th of February, 13:30h – 16:00h
Location: Gild International, Passatge Permanyer 5, 08009 Barcelona
Confirmation: gildinternational@gildinternational.com or at here

Host: ACC1Ó
Topic: Emprenedors que inverteixen. Sector Internet
Date: 16th of February, 8:30h – 10:00h
Location: Hotel Gallery, C. Rosselló, 249
Confirmation: here

Host: Barcelona Activa
Topic: Growth Academy, Fourth Edition
Performing a process of strategic and growth planning using as a tool the application on-line PEC
Date: 17th of February, 9:00h – 19:00h
Location: Viver – Incubadora d’Empreses. Llacuna, 162 Barcelona Tel: 934019666
Confirmation: here

Host: Gild International
Topic: Webcast: Strategy with Jeff Jarvis
Date: 18th of February, 18:00h
Location: Gild International, Passatge Permanyer 5, 08009 Barcelona, España
Confirmation: gildinternational@gildinternational.com or here

If you want to find out more about Barcelona’s Entrepreneurship City click here. Good luck with starting your own business.

2nd Place in the Elevator Pitch Contest

November 30, 2009

Source: ESADE Entrepreneurship Club

What a great evening it has been. First of all I would like to thank the Jury and the Entrepreneurship Club for organising this event. Secondly I would like to thank my team mates and colleagues Quique de la Mata and Shinsuke Ogawa for working on this project together. We won the 2nd price for the business idea of mobile payments and now we are even more convinced that therre is a lot opportunity in this market. This event was a great opportunity to get feedback on the business idea, the exposure, criticism and experience.

Special mention also has to go the project Cell Tag which won the competition, presented by Eric King. The concept evolves around putting barcodes and tags on cells during the embryo fertilization process for humans. Excellent idea and I am looking forward to watching this project grow.

The third price went to Pedro Martinho whose business idea evolves around air plane maintenance. It is a company of aviation engineers and mechanics whose job it is to reduce the “on the ground time” of airplanes that have been experiencing technical difficulties or damages.

All the other projects were great too and it was great seeing all the presentations. May the entrepreneurial spirit continue!!! Hopefully we get to see the videos soon!!

Top 10 Business Ideas – Elevator Pitch Contest

November 26, 2009

Last night the jury for the ESADE Entrepreneurship Club Elevator Pitch Contest, comprising of professors and VCs, has chosen the following ten projects from 26 applicants. These ten projects will give a 3min pitch on Monday, 31st of November 2009, at 6.30pm at the ESADE Forum.

1. Ad deliverers - Eduard Cansado
2. AFADS - AbdelAziz
3. Aircraft on Ground - Pedro Martinho
4. Jet A Suits - Marc Winter
5. Cell Tag - Eric King
6. Houseactioneer – Alfredo Paul
7. Microfinance for Profit - Chinmoy
8. New in Town - Ivaylo Vasilev
9. Park IT - Joan Muni
10. Mobile Payment System - Tobias Caldeweyher (myself)

We will be closely watched by students, alumnis, VC’s, professors, IESE and local entrepreneurs. If things turn out well a project might be picked up by an investor and the business takes off. This provides a great opportunity and it will definitely be a great event. The event will be followed by a networking cocktail for all the participants. The event costs 12€.

 

Cerebration 2010: Global Business Plan Competition

November 21, 2009

Message from MBASA:

Dear All,

It gives us immense pleasure to announce the launch of Cerebration 2010 and invite you to participate in the Global Business Plan Competition. Cerebration is now in its sixth year and is already one of the top-notch premier business plan competitions among leading business schools around the world.

The competition gives participants the opportunity to work on live cases based on 3 global organizations that are seeking solutions to their complex business challenges. The competition begins with registration, where participants form a team and choose their preferred Case Sponsor based on the Case Summaries on our website. At the close of the registration period, complete Case Documents of the preferred Case are mailed to all participating teams based on which they will write comprehensive business plans and compete for a chance to present their strategy to the top management of their chosen Sponsor.

So if you think you are ready for a true battle of mind, mettle, and matter, register now. This competition is open to all Graduate level students. We look forward to your participation.

With best regards,

Team Cerebration 2010

NUS Business School, Singapore

Email: cerebration@nus.edu.sg

URL: http://nus.edu.sg/cerebration

Must-See Video: ESADE Entrepreneurship Elevator Pitch

November 20, 2009

The Entrepreneurship Club created a great video for the Elevator Pitch Contest, which you have to see. If the event is as great as the video then this event will be excellent. Have a look at this and special mention has to go to William and Keely for the acting! The MBA has paid out already…

Entrepreneurship Club: Elevator Pitch Contest

November 16, 2009

Deadline submission extension! Round 1 submission extended to Sun., Nov 22nd 2009!

- Submissions should be sent in documents of up to 2 pages (1 page front & back)

- Teams of up to 4 members (for the final round, select 1 person to deliver the pitch)

Over € 1000 in CASH prizes!

- All Competition participants will have access to the event and Networking Cocktail free of charge

- For non-members, non-participants: € 15 at the door, or € 12 in advance (register by Nov. 22nd)

Find out more information on the website of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Club here

- Still completely confused? Try some of the following resources:

http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/jun2007/ca20070618_134959.htm

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/nivi/2009/04/how-to-write-an-elevator-pitch.html

For any questions: mbaentrepreneurshipclub@alumni.esade.edu or, speak to a club Board member in your class: Ahmad Al Alami, Christian Behn, Zorina Dimitrova, Rahul Trivedi, Saurabh Mishra, William Busch, Carles Costa

Presentation: Sourcing from China

November 12, 2009

Now it is November and memories about China are already fading however it surely has left a mark on all of us. It was a great experience and we learned a lot however we are still missing one important aspect of the Study Tour. In order to address one shortfall of the China Study Tour we thought it might be interesting to provide you with the opportunity to see China from the angle that has been kep hidden from us: the non-Chinese perspective!

The ESADE Operations Club and ESADE Entrepreneurship Club have invited Tom von der Heyden, 3S Managing Director, to present some realities of what it is really like to do business in China as foreigner. Many of you have already received the email from MBASA however I would like to stress that this presentation is mainly addressed to you, the participants of the Study Tour to China.

It would be great if joined this presentation this Friday because it is for you:

Date: Friday 13, 2009
Time: 5-6 PM
Location: ESADE – Building 3, Avinguda d’Esplugues 92-96, Barcelona
Room: A012

We are looking forward to welcoming you

Operations Club

Start-up Weekend in BCN: iWeekend (20.-22.11.09)

November 9, 2009

The worldwide phenomena of start-up weekends has reached Barcelona. iWeekend is taking place in Barcelona on the weekend of the 20th until the 22nd of November 2009. This event was mentioned in the entrepreneurship aggregator I posted a few days ago but I would like to emphasize this particular event a little further:

Start-up weekends are events for entrepreneurs, who meet over an entire weekend, with the goal to have developed a business concept by the end of the weekend. This is similar to an un-conference or user generated conference that leverages the drive, motivation and creativity of the users. On Sunday night hopefully the result is a start-up with like-minded people.

This is definitely worthwhile experiencing and you should check it out here! Happy creations!

Source: iWeekend.org

My ESADE MBA: Statistics and insights

November 7, 2009

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Update: This article made it to the 6th most-read article in a few hours and today the blog has received the largest amount of visitors in one day, exceeding the record by 22% reation!

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After having written 99 articles and having had 4000 visitors (October 1050 alone) since March 2009 I was thinking that it might interest you to find out some statistics about the blog.  The following are the 10 most read articles of my blog, which should give you an idea of the topics people are most interested in:

  1. About My ESADE MBA
  2. The Economist – FT MBA Ranking 2009
  3. Good luck for the first exam!
  4. Barcelona – Insider Tips
  5. My ESADE MBA: Statistics and insights
  6. Accomodation – ESADE Entrepreneurship
  7. Recommended Pre-MBA Readings
  8. MBA Career Portals
  9. Subjects & Seminars
  10. Pre-MBAT Soccer Match: ESADE vs. IESE

The following are the 10 most searched terms on the My ESADE MBA search engine:

  1. entrepreneur
  2. esade mba
  3. esade
  4. esade mba blog
  5. esade blog
  6. esade entrepreneurship club
  7. esade student blog
  8. my esade mba
  9. esade good at entrepreneurship?
  10. esade marketing career

I have received an increasing amount of personal emails, questions and enquiries about ESADE, the MBA and myself. A few issues keep popping up and I wanted to share my thoughts about some of these with you:

  • Many people are enquiring about entrepreneurship and marketing, which highlights the fact that ESADE is still famous for these, which also reflected in the statistics.
  • Yes, ESADE is focusing increasingly on Finance and Consulting
  • Yes, the fact that ESADE is famous for producing entrepreneurs makes it complicated to score on the salary-related aspects of the MBA rankings because usually entrepreneurs don’t earn that much at the start-up phase.
  • Barcelona plays an important role for people chosing ESADE
  • Why did I chose ESADE over IESE, IE and LBS? I will dedicate an article about this soon. Bear with me
  • What is the quality of the teaching, professors and course material?
  • Who is writing this blog, why and whether I have a link to ESADE? I would like to refer to the page About MYESADEMBA and reinforce that I have NOT received a scholarship from ESADE for writing this blog and I am free what I post here. To(un)bias-ed ;)

I wanted to thank you all for your support, comments and readership! I  hope that I keep helping you in answering some of the questions that you have been asking yourself about ESADE and the MBA. Please don’t hesitate to spread the word about the blog and happy reading :)

Entrepreneurship Events in Barcelona (Nov’09)

November 5, 2009

The Barcelona Entrepreneurship City has launched its Entrepreneurial Event Aggregator. The following are the upcoming events for the entrepreneur scene of Barcelona in November 2009. See you there?

Host: Global Entrepreneurship Week
Topic: Entrepreneurship for everybody
Date: 16th-20th of November,
Location: Everywhere in Barcelona
More information here

Host: Gran Foc – The Founders Lounge
Topic: “Boost your business with Twitter”: learn how to get the most out of Twitter with tips on personal branding, value-based relationships, increasing your audience and important do’s and dont’s. Join the microblogging age with trainer & media specialist Tom Hayton.
Date: 17th of November, 20:00h
Location: Gran Foc, Roger de Lluria 28

Host: Barcelona Activa
Topic: Barcelona Networking Day: Una jornada de networking con todas las plataformas y redes que forman el espíritu emprendedor y de innovación de la ciudad Barcelona.
18’00-18’30 : Acreditaciones y registro.
18:30-19:00: Presentación del Networking Bazaar por parte de todas las redes.
19’00-20:30: Sesión plenaria con André Vanyi-Robin, fundador de Bestv, Adecq Digital, Conseguir financiación: Luis Martin Cabiedes, principal business angel de internet en España y otros ponentes a confirmar
20:30-21’30: Dinàmica de Networking multisectorial entre las distintas comunidades de emprendedores.
Date: 18th of November, 18:30 – 21:30h
Location: CCIB, Rambla Prim, 1-17 Barcelona 08019
Confirmation: here

Host: Bioagora
Topic: Un espacio de encuentro entre inversores y científicos-emprendedores
Date: 19th of November, 10:00h
Location: Hotel Hespera Tower, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat
Confirmation: http://www.bioagora.cat/

Host: iWeekend
Topic: Weekend es una experiencia pionera en España que reúne a profesionales y emprendedores con talentos diversos para seleccionar una idea, desarrollar un producto y lanzar una startup de base tecnológica ¡en sólo un fin de semana!
Date: 20th – 22nd of November
Location: TBC
Confirmation: here

The Facebook Group of the Barcelona Entrepreneurship City Meta Community has more information. Check it out and join here.

Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition

November 4, 2009

The ESADE NetImpact Club has brought the following event to my attention. The University of Washington is organising a competition called the “Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition“. This competition tries to accumulate business ideas how to”alleviate a problem(s) of poverty in developing economies around the world.* To read more about this interesting Business Plan Competition read the instructions hereto below.

Source: University of Washington

GSEC Entry and Competition Criteria

GSEC business plans must clearly demonstrate the financial Return on Investment (ROI) and the Social Return on Investment (SROI), in addition to the social impact of the business idea.  Please refer to the GSEC Submission Requirements and Resources for application and business plan criteria.

GSEC plans are judged on three criteria: (1) effect on the quality of life and poverty alleviation in the developing economies; (2) financial sustainability; (3) feasibility of implementation.  To learn what former GSEC participants have proposed, visit the GSEC business plans section.

GSEC is open to students from any academic institution worldwide. Teams may be comprised of students from difference disciplines and institutions, and multi-disciplinary teams are highly encouraged. Both graduate and undergraduate students are eligible.  Looking for team members? Become a fan of GSEC on Facebook and post on the Discussions page to recruit a team or team members.

Review the GSEC rules for full eligibility details.

How to Apply
GSEC applications will be accepted August 03-Novemeber 11, 2009.  Before applying, please review the GSEC rules and GSEC Submission Requirements.

To apply, GSEC student teams must complete both of the following by 11/11/09:

1)    Submit an executive summary of your team’s business plan via email to gsec@u.washington.edu.  Executive summaries must adhere to the GSEC executive summary requirements, detailed in the GSEC Submission Requirements.

2)    Complete the online application, available here.

Both the executive summary and the online registration must be received by November 11, 2009, 11:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time.  Only one application per team.

To read more visit their website here.

Entrepreneurship Club – “How to write a Business Plan”

July 7, 2009

The “Entrepreneurship Clubinvites the ESADE MBA students to attend the “Business Plan class” today, 7th July 2009, 16:00 -19:00 hrs. The class will be taken by Professor Jordi Vinaixa and provides an in-depth analysis of how to write a Business Plan. This class will be very interesting for those people joining the competition “The Good Entrepreneurof CNBC, which I have mentioned earlier.


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