The maturity of the ecosystem, the greater accessibility to financing and the professional support networks mean that starting a business in Spain today is easier than it was a decade ago.
The entrepreneurial ecosystem it is going through a good time and more and more initiatives are coming to fruition. However, Spanish startups continue to face difficulties that must be overcome in order to continue advancing, such as the valuation of companies, since a company in Spain is usually lower than one that has its headquarters in the United States or the United Kingdom.
Despite this, cities such as Barcelona, Madrid or Valencia are increasingly attracting more local and international talent. Thus at least the main players of the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem that RSM Spain has brought together at the startup Summit stand out, Future in progress for the presentation of the study “The Spanish entrepreneurial sector in the first person”.
The event has had powerful startups, technological and strategic partners, as well as investors, such as Alejandro Vigaray, COO and co-founder of Bipi; Jordi Plana, founder and CEO of Beezy; or Luis Bardaji, co-founder and CEO of Trucksters, among others.
In addition to knowing some of the keys to the success of startups, they have also talked about the challenges facing the entrepreneurial ecosystem despite the fact that, as they point out, today it is easier to start a business in Spain than it was ten years ago.
Along with this lack of appreciation for international startups, the need to financing, technological demands and bureaucratic obstacles are other great challenges for entrepreneurs.
To this is added that these companies must deal with the need for international adaptation, the rapid growth of their workforce, and the lack of emotional support from a personal perspective.
On the other side of the scale, the support of other startups and public financing through entities such as Enisa, with ICO loans or Next funds, have become the positive part in recent years. Something that banks do not enter, either because they do not understand the dynamics of startups, or because they are in competition with the idea that seeks financing.
The support of strategic partners also stands as one of the pillars that are allowing many ideas to advance, counting on RSM as a key ally when it comes to guiding customers and technological implementation.
Overcome barriers when undertaking
How to attract foreign capital is one of the issues highlighted by the RSM study, carried out in collaboration with GfK, and which indicates that establishing the business exclusively in the Spanish market does not help foreign investment.
Demonstrating that there is a real interest in expanding to other international markets will contribute, according to the study, to capture that necessary investment. But having a presence abroad through acquisitions of local companies becomes another way to confirm your interest in operating outside our borders as well.
For this objective, Spanish companies have as a preference some of the main European economies such as Germany, France, Holland, Italy, United Kingdom or Portugal; but also Latin American locations, such as Brazil, Colombia or Mexico, ahead of the United States and Canada.
Spanish startups usually land in other countries, initially directing operations from our country until they have the necessary resources to create local headquarters with native professionals. This allows companies to double, and even triple, their workforce each year, both in Spain and in the country to which they are expanding.
Strengthening these internalization processes is a common challenge in most of the Spanish startups from all sectors, but also the need to deepen the digitization of internal processes and attract new customer segments.
To face these challenges, attracting and retaining the best talent is a pending issue that startups will have to solve.
