European Entrepreneurship
Spanish Startups
and the NASDAQ: Enough of the Flirting By Joe Haslam
I have lived in Spain close to ten years and one of my observations is that while the people of Spain care much more deeply about sport than they do for business, it does show that when they put their mind to it, the Spanish can be a match for anyone. So as more and more start-ups and entrepreneurs head to colder climes in search of growth and capital, is there a possibility that the same level of strategic planning and spirit of togetherness can reverse the tide?
over the Entrepreneurship Law (La Ley de Emprendedores) shows there is much disagreement over how near we are to this. Many believe that Spain isn’t really that far and that reforms in angel investing, a startup visa and less red tape are all that is lacking. Others talk much more broadly about cultural factors, everything from the attitude to risk and failure to how a strong attachment to family makes it difficult to trust others. What is true is
W 38 entrepreneurcountry hile everyone in the
startup ecosystem agrees that what Spain needs is for a Google or a Skype to
emerge, the debate
that Spain doesn’t have a startup problem so much as a get big problem. To quote Rodolfo Carpintier, CEO of Digital Assets Deployment, “There are many projects that can reach annual sales of 2, 3 or 4 million, but projects that can hit 100 million are few. It is difficult to find giants. If you analyse the Spanish internet over the last 15 years, there have been six major projects.” As six struck me as an exceptionally low number, I DMed Rodolfo to get their names. He replied to say the ones he had in mind were eDreams, BuyVIP, Privalia, Terra, Kelkoo and Rumbo. So let´s look at these and try to find some patterns.
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