Challenges and possibilities facing Barcelona startups in 2017 — vídeo y transcripción

[00:01] [Music]
[00:14] 
[00:14] Welcome  to  the  ethnic  podcast.  My  name
[00:16] 
[00:16] is  Synindra  Hoplan.  I'm  with  Uh
[00:19] 
[00:19] today  we  have  the  first  uh  podcast  of
[00:21] 
[00:21] 2017.  Uh  and  that's  why  we're  going  to
[00:23] 
[00:23] discuss  Barcelona  and  the  tech  industry
[00:26] 
[00:26] in  the  city.  Uh  cuz  it's  it's  natural.
[00:28] 
[00:28] We're  we're  the  beginning  of  the  year
[00:29] 
[00:29] and  there's  a  lot  of  good  things  coming
[00:31] 
[00:31] ahead.  There's  already  a  bunch  of  things
[00:34] 
[00:34] happening  in  2017  already.  But  uh  we
[00:36] 
[00:36] have  with  us  two  guys,  two  smart  guys  as
[00:38] 
[00:38] always  uh  to  discuss  uh  the  new  year  uh
[00:42] 
[00:42] first  Scott  Mackin  editor  editor  of
[00:45] 
[00:45] Barino  and  founder  and  CEO  of  Bourbon
[00:48] 
[00:48] Creative.  Thank  you  for  coming.  Oh,
[00:49] 
[00:49] thanks  for  having  me.  Happy  New  Year.
[00:51] 
[00:51] Happy  New  Year.  Uh  and  on  the  other  side
[00:53] 
[00:53] we  have  a  director  of  fors  for  now  and
[00:56] 
[00:56] also  the  CEO  of  mobile  world  congress
[00:57] 
[00:57] alle  vice.  Thank  you  for  coming.  Thanks
[00:59] 
[00:59] for  me.  Uh  thanks  for  having  me.
[01:01] 
[01:01] Pleasure.  Pleasure.  So  uh  as  I  said
[01:04] 
[01:04] amazing  things  are  happening  in  the
[01:05] 
[01:05] city's  tech  community  and  you  know  fun
[01:07] 
[01:08] founders  are  building  amazing  products.
[01:10] 
[01:10] Uh  more  established  startups  are  getting
[01:12] 
[01:12] funded.  We're  seeing  bigger  and  bigger
[01:13] 
[01:13] rounds.  Uh  and  uh  we're  attracting  a  lot
[01:16] 
[01:16] of  great  talent  from  abroad  and  and  now
[01:19] 
[01:19] the  height  of  the  year  4  years  from  now
[01:21] 
[01:21] uh  is  coming  up.  I  guess  you're  in  the
[01:23] 
[01:23] middle  of  this.  It's  a  hectic  time  for
[01:25] 
[01:25] you
[01:26] 
[01:26] als  and  just  starting  there  cuz  that
[01:28] 
[01:28] that's  like  the  next  big  thing  in
[01:30] 
[01:30] Barcelona  right  now  if  no  surprises
[01:32] 
[01:32] comes  up,  you  know.  Uh  this  is  like  the
[01:35] 
[01:35] big  thing  every  year.  Uh  but  how  can  we
[01:38] 
[01:38] get  the  four  years  from  now  vibe  to  to
[01:39] 
[01:40] stick  okay  the  whole  year?  What  do  you
[01:41] 
[01:41] think?  I  think  this  year  we  are  going  to
[01:44] 
[01:44] celebrate  the  fourth  edition  of  four
[01:46] 
[01:46] years  from  now  that  is  mandatory  to  do  a
[01:48] 
[01:48] celebration  because  in  our  name  we  force
[01:51] 
[01:51] ourselves  that  every  four  years  we  need
[01:52] 
[01:52] to  do  something  special  and  I  think  that
[01:54] 
[01:54] the  most  special  thing  for  this  year  is
[01:57] 
[01:57] that  what  we  see  at  the  next  edition  in
[02:00] 
[02:00] next  February  or  four  years  from  now  is
[02:01] 
[02:01] that  we  will  have  a  lot  of  startups  and
[02:04] 
[02:04] a  lot  of  companies  traditional  ones  if
[02:06] 
[02:06] you  want  that  they  are  not  belonging  to
[02:09] 
[02:09] the  tech  sector  anymore  right  I  mean
[02:11] 
[02:11] digital  transformation  information  and
[02:13] 
[02:13] especially  startups  that  we  see  here
[02:15] 
[02:15] also  in  Barcelona,  they  are  doing  a
[02:17] 
[02:17] pivot  to  just  not  be  a  B2C  startups
[02:21] 
[02:21] anymore  and  a  lot  of  startups  are
[02:23] 
[02:23] focusing  business  models  on  the  B2B
[02:25] 
[02:25] space  because  corporates  are  looking  for
[02:29] 
[02:29] innovation  are  looking  for  digital
[02:31] 
[02:31] solutions  and  I  think  that  every  time  is
[02:33] 
[02:33] more  and  more  understood  by  the
[02:35] 
[02:35] corporate  side  that  they  cannot  do  it
[02:37] 
[02:37] inhouse  they  need  to  look  for  outside
[02:39] 
[02:39] for  partnership  and  partnership  with
[02:41] 
[02:41] companies  that  they  are  not  used  to.
[02:43] 
[02:43] They're  not  traditional  if  you  want  ICT
[02:46] 
[02:46] suppliers  of  the  big  corporates.  And  I
[02:48] 
[02:48] think  that  four  years  from  now  this
[02:49] 
[02:49] year,  we  will  see  a  change  between  the
[02:52] 
[02:52] interaction  of  the  startups  with  more
[02:55] 
[02:55] B2B  business  models  and  a  lot  of
[02:57] 
[02:57] corporates  showing  up  there  looking  for
[03:00] 
[03:00] partners  or  for  for  solutions  that  are
[03:02] 
[03:02] coming  from  if  you  want  the
[03:03] 
[03:04] non-traditional  ICT  suppliers  of  the
[03:05] 
[03:05] corporate  guys.  Exactly.  So  in  in  some
[03:08] 
[03:08] ways  cuz  I've  been  feeling  like  the  four
[03:10] 
[03:10] years  from  now  has  been  like  the  startup
[03:11] 
[03:11] young  tech  vibrant  community  and  then
[03:13] 
[03:13] you  have  the  mobile  world  congress  which
[03:15] 
[03:15] is  more  corporate  B2B.  So  are  they
[03:18] 
[03:18] emerging  somehow  in  in  some  some  ways  or
[03:21] 
[03:21] how  do  you  I  I  don't  think  that  they  are
[03:24] 
[03:24] merging  they  are  complimentary  products
[03:26] 
[03:26] or  the  complimentary  programs.  I  mean  we
[03:29] 
[03:29] will  keep  always  focusing  that  the  hero
[03:31] 
[03:31] and  the  relevant  guy  at  four  years  from
[03:33] 
[03:33] now  always  will  be  the  startup  because
[03:34] 
[03:34] it's  the  way  that  we  designed  that
[03:36] 
[03:36] product  from  the  really  beginning.  But
[03:37] 
[03:38] we  will  see  is  that  more  corporates  more
[03:41] 
[03:41] responsible  of  partnership  programs  more
[03:44] 
[03:44] responsible  of  innovation  guys  in  the
[03:46] 
[03:46] corporate  side  are  going  to  show  up
[03:48] 
[03:48] there  looking  for  the  right  solutions
[03:50] 
[03:50] that  they  are  doing.  That  means  that  we
[03:53] 
[03:53] are  even  more  complimentary  to  what  is
[03:55] 
[03:55] going  on  at  Mobile  Congress.  That  is
[03:57] 
[03:57] terminals,  is  back  ends  for  networks,  is
[04:00] 
[04:00] big  guys  selling  big  equipments  and  new
[04:03] 
[04:03] generations  of  networks,  but  we  have  if
[04:05] 
[04:05] you  want  this  fresh  new  innovation
[04:07] 
[04:07] coming  from  the  startup  wall  that  every
[04:09] 
[04:09] time  more  and  more  it's  not  just  these
[04:11] 
[04:11] weird  young  guys  doing  weird  things
[04:13] 
[04:13] under  the  radar.  if  not  anymore  is  a
[04:16] 
[04:16] guys  that  we  need  to  talk  with  and  he's
[04:18] 
[04:18] a  guys  that  we  need  to  partnership  with
[04:20] 
[04:20] and  that  I  think  is  a  big  step  that  we
[04:22] 
[04:22] see  in  the  last  four  years.  Exactly.  And
[04:24] 
[04:24] and  and  Scott  every  year  before  for  now
[04:27] 
[04:27] you  can  see  you  can  go  into  Google
[04:29] 
[04:29] Analytics  and  see  the  Barcino  blog
[04:31] 
[04:31] without  mentioning  numbers  it's  spiking
[04:33] 
[04:33] you  know  it's  spiking.  This  is  uh
[04:35] 
[04:35] definitely  our  busiest  our  busiest
[04:37] 
[04:37] season.  The  Mobile  World  Congress  four
[04:39] 
[04:39] years  from  now  coming  here  all  eyes  uh
[04:41] 
[04:41] in  the  in  the  tech  and  startup  world  are
[04:42] 
[04:42] on  Barcelona.  Um  we've  we've  been
[04:44] 
[04:44] fortunate  enough  to  witness  the  growth
[04:45] 
[04:45] of  four  years  from  now.  Uh  you  know  this
[04:47] 
[04:47] is  the  the  fourth  edition.  So  we  are
[04:49] 
[04:50] coming  up  four  years  later  which  is
[04:51] 
[04:52] which  is  fantastic.  The  first  year  was
[04:53] 
[04:53] really  kind  of  um  a  Spain  uh  more
[04:56] 
[04:56] Spanish  audience,  Spanish  startups,  kind
[04:58] 
[04:58] of  a  who's  but  but  of  Spain.  It  was  kind
[05:00] 
[05:00] of  a  seeing  old  friends  from  Madrid
[05:01] 
[05:01] coming  in  and  it  was  it  was  very
[05:03] 
[05:03] friendly  to  the  now  which  is  kind  of
[05:05] 
[05:05] this  um  you  know  global  let's  say  um  or
[05:08] 
[05:08] at least  European  uh  kind  of  focal  point
[05:10] 
[05:10] of  the  year.  Um  and  uh  and  I  agree  with
[05:12] 
[05:12] what  you  said.  I  think  I  think
[05:13] 
[05:13] corporations  are  learning  that  they're
[05:15] 
[05:15] not  moving  fast  enough  internally.  They
[05:16] 
[05:16] need  to  create  create  avenues  for  these
[05:19] 
[05:19] uh  startups,  these  innovations,  these
[05:21] 
[05:21] these  technologies  to  either  come  up
[05:22] 
[05:22] through  acquisition  or  at  least  even
[05:24] 
[05:24] through  um  you  know  a  sales  a  sales
[05:26] 
[05:26] product.  So  they're  developing  their  own
[05:27] 
[05:27] internal  silos  uh  CIOS  like  you  know
[05:30] 
[05:30] chief  innovation  officer  to  really  try
[05:32] 
[05:32] and  speed  up  the  the  implementation  of
[05:35] 
[05:35] these  these  external  uh  technologies
[05:38] 
[05:38] into  their  corporations  otherwise
[05:39] 
[05:39] they're  going  to  die  you  know  and  and
[05:41] 
[05:41] Gartner  research  forester  research  even
[05:42] 
[05:42] startup  boot  camp  uh  just  released  a
[05:44] 
[05:44] report  last  week  saying  that  corporates
[05:46] 
[05:46] are  realizing  they're  too  slow  and
[05:48] 
[05:48] they're  going  to  they're  going  to  you
[05:49] 
[05:49] know  um  you  know  cease  to  exist  if  they
[05:52] 
[05:52] don't  move  faster  they  don't  change
[05:53] 
[05:53] their  ways  so  I  think  uh  four  years  from
[05:55] 
[05:55] now  offers  was  kind  of  a  uh  you  know  an
[05:57] 
[05:58] avenue  for  that.  But  uh  but  we
[05:59] 
[05:59] definitely  back  to  your  original  we
[06:01] 
[06:01] definitely  see  a  huge  spike  um  this  time
[06:03] 
[06:03] of  year.  But  h  how  how  can  we  keep  it
[06:05] 
[06:06] how  can  we  keep  this  keep  this  is  it  is
[06:08] 
[06:08] it  possible  even  to  to  keep  this
[06:10] 
[06:10] pressure  so  high  all  all  year  round  do
[06:12] 
[06:12] you  think?  Uh  certainly  I  think  you  know
[06:14] 
[06:14] I  think  as  long  as  we're  we're  keeping
[06:17] 
[06:17] the  discussion  and  the  conversation
[06:18] 
[06:18] strong  um  you  know  the  the  the
[06:21] 
[06:21] investment  rounds  the  the  growth  if  we
[06:23] 
[06:23] can  highlight  some  of  these  stories  um
[06:25] 
[06:25] and  if  we  can  create  some  of  these
[06:26] 
[06:26] synergies  and  and  uh  and  share  that  news
[06:28] 
[06:28] it's  going to  be  helpful  to  keep  a
[06:30] 
[06:30] spotlight  on  Barcelona  throughout  the
[06:31] 
[06:31] year.  Um  that's  actually  part  of the
[06:33] 
[06:33] reason  that  that  mobile  world  capital
[06:35] 
[06:35] Barcelona  was  founded  right  to  keep  that
[06:36] 
[06:36] momentum  all  year  round.  So  I  mean  maybe
[06:38] 
[06:38] Alish  has  has  more  insights  into  what's
[06:40] 
[06:40] happening.  I  guess  cuz  we're  trying  to
[06:42] 
[06:42] build  hubs  here,  right?  I  guess  all  kind
[06:44] 
[06:44] of  cities  around  Europe  are  trying  to
[06:46] 
[06:46] become  a  hub  for  some  kind  of  industry
[06:48] 
[06:48] in  tech  and  I  guess  Barcelona  has  always
[06:51] 
[06:51] been  the  e-commerce  center  and  some
[06:53] 
[06:53] other  kind  of  you  know  uh  hubs  for  other
[06:56] 
[06:56] kind  of  industries  as  well.  But  what  are
[06:58] 
[06:58] what  are  we  trying  to  specialize  in?  I
[07:01] 
[07:01] think  my  my  vision  or  the  vision  that  we
[07:04] 
[07:04] share  in  our  team  is  that  in  the  next
[07:07] 
[07:07] four  or  five  years  it's  going  to  be  a
[07:09] 
[07:09] dramatic  loop  in  some  four  five
[07:12] 
[07:12] communities  or  haps  around  cities  in
[07:14] 
[07:14] Europe.  I  mean  the  the  Silicon  Valley  or
[07:17] 
[07:17] the  European  version  of  Silicon  Valley
[07:19] 
[07:19] is  going  to  be  four  or  five  haps
[07:22] 
[07:22] verticalized  in  several  one  two  sectors.
[07:25] 
[07:26] I  don't  know  if  sectors  technologies
[07:27] 
[07:27] sectors  technology  uh  nowadays  I  think
[07:31] 
[07:31] Barcelona  it  depends  how  type  of  report
[07:33] 
[07:33] you  look  for  it  will  be  the  fifth  London
[07:36] 
[07:36] ahead  do  you  have  after  that  Berlin
[07:38] 
[07:38] Paris  Amsterdam  and  Barcelona  is  there
[07:40] 
[07:40] maybe  Madrid  later  but  the  question  is
[07:43] 
[07:43] that  nowadays  when  you  see  the  the  KPIs
[07:46] 
[07:46] of  that  ecosystems  depends  on  the  report
[07:48] 
[07:48] things  change  that  means  that  there  is
[07:50] 
[07:50] not  a  dramatic  gap  between  each  of  them
[07:53] 
[07:53] what  I  see  is  that  it's  going  to  happen
[07:54] 
[07:54] something  at  the  Champions  It's  going  to
[07:56] 
[07:56] be  like  five  cities  that  yes  or  not  they
[07:59] 
[07:59] are  going  to  fight  to  be  on  the  final
[08:01] 
[08:01] and  it  will  be  the  others  that  they  are
[08:02] 
[08:02] lucky  enough  they  will  be  at  the
[08:03] 
[08:03] semi-finals  and  how  that  is  going  to
[08:06] 
[08:06] happen  because  corporates  are  going  to
[08:08] 
[08:08] enter  into  the  game  that  will  not  be
[08:10] 
[08:10] anymore  a  game  of  startups  and
[08:12] 
[08:12] investors.  Corporates  are  going  to  jump
[08:15] 
[08:15] into  the  stage  and  now  we  are  going  to
[08:17] 
[08:17] see  startups  B2B  business  model  base
[08:19] 
[08:19] with  big  revenues.  not  just  about
[08:22] 
[08:22] millions  of  active  users  is  about
[08:25] 
[08:25] millions  in  revenue  of  your  P&L  and  that
[08:27] 
[08:28] will  take  the  startups  to  a  next  level
[08:30] 
[08:30] more  easy  to  be  able  to  engage  with  new
[08:32] 
[08:32] type  of  capital  not  just  for  the
[08:34] 
[08:34] classical  BC  that  is  more  used  to  B2C
[08:37] 
[08:37] business  models  that  they  are  looking
[08:38] 
[08:38] for  more  stable  and  more  if  you  want
[08:41] 
[08:41] sustainable  revenues  models  where  they
[08:43] 
[08:43] feel  more  comfortable  to  enter  with  that
[08:45] 
[08:45] will  take  these  five  cities  to  the  next
[08:47] 
[08:47] level  London  on  the  fintech  but  there  is
[08:49] 
[08:49] a  big  question  mark  about  what  is  going
[08:51] 
[08:51] to  happen  with  the  Brexit  thing  and
[08:53] 
[08:53] especially  because  when  you  look  at  the
[08:55] 
[08:55] type  of  funders  that  London  has  nowadays
[08:58] 
[08:58] almost  60%  are  coming  from  abroad  if  to
[09:01] 
[09:01] go  to  London  and  hire  talent  to  London
[09:04] 
[09:04] it  became  more  difficult  that  will
[09:06] 
[09:06] decrease  the  number  of  talent  that  will
[09:08] 
[09:08] choose  the  city  as  a  place  to  start  a
[09:10] 
[09:10] business  that  will  create  if  you  want  an
[09:12] 
[09:12] opportunity  for  Barcelona  to  be  able  to
[09:14] 
[09:14] capture  that  Berlin  is  the  opposite  side
[09:17] 
[09:17] in  Berlin  you  see  that  almost  60  70%  of
[09:20] 
[09:20] the  funers  they  are  Germans  they  are
[09:22] 
[09:22] more  investing  in  a  in  a  national
[09:24] 
[09:24] culture  to  become  entrepreneur  and  you
[09:26] 
[09:26] have  rocket  internet  that  has  been  the
[09:28] 
[09:28] one  who  lead  the  building  of  the
[09:29] 
[09:29] ecosystem  we  are  missing  this  type  of
[09:31] 
[09:31] rocket  internet  approach  I  don't  say
[09:33] 
[09:33] copycats  I  say  the  ones  who  are  able  to
[09:35] 
[09:35] make  that  exit  but  when  you  see  the
[09:37] 
[09:37] amazing  projects  like  let  go  different
[09:39] 
[09:39] type  of  projects  that  we  have  already
[09:41] 
[09:41] here  in  Barcelona  raising  money  as  crazy
[09:43] 
[09:43] we  will  see  in  the  next  2  3  years  this
[09:46] 
[09:46] raising  starts  if  they  are  not  unicorns
[09:48] 
[09:48] close  to  that  will  take  us  to  the  next
[09:51] 
[09:51] level.  That  is  my  my  thought  my  vision
[09:53] 
[09:53] what  is  going  to  happen  on  the  if  you
[09:56] 
[09:56] can  say  in  the  next  four  years  of  course
[09:59] 
[09:59] and  I  think  is  is  is  what  Barcelona
[10:02] 
[10:02] needs  to  be  focused  is  is  is  the
[10:05] 
[10:05] strategy  that  Barcelona  needs  to  follow
[10:07] 
[10:07] to  be  sure  that  we  became  the  Barcelona
[10:09] 
[10:09] football  club  not  just  on  the  on  the
[10:12] 
[10:12] football  space  on  the  soccer  space  also
[10:14] 
[10:14] on  the  on  the  digital  side.  Sure.  No,
[10:16] 
[10:16] definitely.  And  you're  you're  nodding.
[10:18] 
[10:18] Uh  I  guess  you're  you're  agreeing  but
[10:19] 
[10:19] like  the  startup  we  have  now  that  the
[10:21] 
[10:21] the  biggest  companies  that  are  like
[10:23] 
[10:23] raising  the  biggest  rounds  and  uh  by
[10:24] 
[10:24] some  measures  having  the  most  success
[10:26] 
[10:26] it's  consumerf  facing  products.  So  Scott
[10:30] 
[10:30] can  you  think  of  any  like  B2B  companies
[10:32] 
[10:32] that  are  like  up  and  coming  or  you  know
[10:34] 
[10:34] there  there  was  one  that  just  made  a  big
[10:36] 
[10:36] splash  in  in  the  past  few  weeks.  It's
[10:37] 
[10:37] Travel  Perk.  Um  I  think  that  they  have  a
[10:39] 
[10:39] very  very  interesting  business  model
[10:41] 
[10:41] into  a  yet  untapped  um  B2B  space  that  is
[10:44] 
[10:44] still  very  traditional.  It's  still  very
[10:46] 
[10:46] fragmented.  It's  still  very  analog.  Um,
[10:48] 
[10:48] so  essentially  Travel  Park,  what  they're
[10:50] 
[10:50] doing  is  they're  trying  to  disrupt  uh
[10:51] 
[10:51] business  travel,  right?  So,  so  the  guys
[10:53] 
[10:53] who  are  traveling,  you  know,  180  days
[10:55] 
[10:55] out  of  the  year,  they're  they're  living
[10:57] 
[10:57] out  of  a  suitcase  in  hotels.  I  mean,  I
[10:59] 
[10:59] think  they're  more  focusing  on  some  of
[11:00] 
[11:00] the  smaller  and  mediumsized  businesses,
[11:01] 
[11:01] not  not  corporate  yet  or  enterprise  yet.
[11:04] 
[11:04] Um,  but  I  mean,  that's  still  a,  you
[11:06] 
[11:06] know,  I  don't  know,  maybe  $50  billion
[11:09] 
[11:09] market.  Um,  if  you  think  about  all  the
[11:11] 
[11:11] the  travel  that's  happening  around  the
[11:12] 
[11:12] world  and  how  they  do  it,  it's  usually
[11:14] 
[11:14] done  through,  you  know,  office  managers
[11:16] 
[11:16] or  even  the  sales  guys  themselves.  I
[11:18] 
[11:18] mean,  they're  trying  to  bring  a  solution
[11:19] 
[11:19] that's  kind  of a  turnkey  uh  travel
[11:21] 
[11:21] system.  I  think  that's  going  to  be  um
[11:22] 
[11:22] immediate  revenue.  You  know,  they  I  I
[11:25] 
[11:25] think  the  as  the  story  goes,  uh,  Spark
[11:27] 
[11:27] in  New  York  City  invested  in  them  um
[11:29] 
[11:29] after  meeting  the  CEO,  you  know,  and
[11:31] 
[11:31] talking  to  him  for  4  days.  I  don't  think
[11:32] 
[11:32] they  were  even  raising  money.  Um,  and
[11:34] 
[11:34] so,  you  know,  I'd  like  to  see  companies
[11:35] 
[11:35] like  that  uh  continue  to  to  grow  and  and
[11:38] 
[11:38] take  Barcelona  as  their  home.  Um,  you
[11:40] 
[11:40] know,  traditionally  the  the  corporate
[11:42] 
[11:42] the  corporate  element  was  the  ingredient
[11:43] 
[11:43] that  was  missing  here,  right?  Um,  we
[11:45] 
[11:45] have  we  have  big  global  corporates,  but
[11:46] 
[11:46] they  weren't  so  involved  in  the  startup
[11:48] 
[11:48] scene.  We'd  definitely  like  to  see  um,
[11:50] 
[11:50] you  know,  some  attraction  that  will  uh,
[11:52] 
[11:52] bring  more  talent  to  Barcelona.  It  will
[11:53] 
[11:53] raise  some  of  the  salaries,  which  I
[11:54] 
[11:54] think  is  important  in  the  long  run.  Uh
[11:56] 
[11:56] but  um  you  know  for  the  most  part  we
[11:59] 
[11:59] haven't  seen  one  of  the  one  of  the  big
[12:01] 
[12:01] uh  kind  of  global  tech  giants  u  put
[12:03] 
[12:03] their  stamp  on  Barcelona  yet.  So  so  you
[12:06] 
[12:06] know  we'll  see  if  if  we  can  uh  we're
[12:07] 
[12:07] missing  that.  Yeah  we're  missing  we're
[12:09] 
[12:10] missing  kind  of  that.  It's  also  it's
[12:11] 
[12:11] also  a  source  of  exit  activity  you  know
[12:13] 
[12:13] and  a  company  that  could  possibly  you
[12:14] 
[12:14] know  acquire  some  of  these  uh  some  of
[12:15] 
[12:16] these  technologies  that  are  being  built
[12:17] 
[12:17] here.  I  agree  with  what  you're  saying.  I
[12:18] 
[12:18] think  it  is  you  know  your  Champions
[12:20] 
[12:20] League  analogy  is  great.  I  think  I  think
[12:21] 
[12:21] it's  a  city  versus  city  uh  type  of
[12:24] 
[12:24] contest  here.  It's  not  country  to
[12:25] 
[12:25] country.  This  is  a  global  war  for
[12:27] 
[12:27] talent.  And  what  we're  seeing  with  the
[12:29] 
[12:29] Brexit,  what  we're  seeing  with  with  now
[12:31] 
[12:31] the  new  leadership  in  the  United  States.
[12:33] 
[12:33] Um,  you  know,  it's  it's  creating  um,  you
[12:36] 
[12:36] know,  a  lot  of  uncertainty  in  the
[12:37] 
[12:37] investment  world.  and  and  and  that  that
[12:39] 
[12:39] creates  a  vacuum  and  that  that's  going
[12:41] 
[12:41] to  create  opportunities  for  for  uh
[12:43] 
[12:43] Europe,  for  Asia,  for  Africa,  for  for
[12:45] 
[12:45] for  uh  South  America  too  that  that  are,
[12:47] 
[12:47] you  know,  investors  are  going  to  start
[12:48] 
[12:48] looking  elsewhere  because  if  it  comes
[12:49] 
[12:49] down  to  a  war  for  talent  and  you  have
[12:51] 
[12:51] two  of  the  main,  you  know,  epicenters  of
[12:53] 
[12:53] of  innovation  closing  their  borders.
[12:56] 
[12:56] Well,  you  know,  we're  going  to  start
[12:57] 
[12:57] looking  elsewhere  for  for  attracting
[12:59] 
[12:59] that  talent.  I  think  Barcelona  has  a  lot
[13:00] 
[13:00] of  the  natural  ingredients  to  attract
[13:02] 
[13:02] that  talent.  If  we  can  get  some  of  the
[13:03] 
[13:03] the  laws  and  regulations  to  let  up,  I
[13:05] 
[13:05] think  it  will  even  help  faster.  So  how
[13:07] 
[13:07] how  are  you  doing?  What  what  are  you
[13:08] 
[13:08] doing  to  to  try  to  you  know  soften  up  uh
[13:12] 
[13:12] you  know  the  environment  for  corporates
[13:13] 
[13:14] to  come  here  for  more  talent  to  come
[13:15] 
[13:15] here.  I  guess  this  is  your  job.  Mhm.
[13:17] 
[13:17] It's  part  of  our  role.  I  mean  we  are  not
[13:19] 
[13:19] responsible  of  everything.  Thanks  God.
[13:21] 
[13:21] And  we  try  to  and  we  try  to  put  our
[13:23] 
[13:24] piece  on  that.  I  think  what  what  is
[13:26] 
[13:26] missing  sometimes  is  a  good  PR  campaign.
[13:29] 
[13:29] when  we  travel  around  and  we  explain
[13:31] 
[13:31] what  is  going  on  in  Barcelona,  there's
[13:34] 
[13:34] still  a  lack  of  PR  campaigns  to  see
[13:36] 
[13:36] exactly  how  how  dense  and  how  big  is  our
[13:39] 
[13:39] ecosystem.  We  try  to  at  least  put  a
[13:42] 
[13:42] report  in  English  once  a  year  that  we
[13:44] 
[13:44] try  to  promote  it  as  much  as  possible  as
[13:46] 
[13:46] a  reference  about  what  is  the  size  and
[13:49] 
[13:49] the  and  the  type  of  ecosystem  that  we
[13:50] 
[13:50] are  managing.  something  that  helps  with
[13:53] 
[13:53] our  acceleration  programs  in  partnership
[13:54] 
[13:54] with  the  startup  boot  camp  and  NUMA.
[13:56] 
[13:56] Last  year  we  were  in  more  than  70  uh
[13:59] 
[14:00] cities  and  more  than  90  events
[14:02] 
[14:02] recruiting  startups  from  around  Europe.
[14:04] 
[14:04] We  received  more  than  1,200
[14:06] 
[14:06] applications,  right?  Is  that  a  good  PR
[14:09] 
[14:09] campaign?  I  don't  know.  This  is  what  we
[14:11] 
[14:11] do.  And  at  the  moment  that  we  pitch  the
[14:13] 
[14:13] startups  to  invite  them  to  join  to  our
[14:15] 
[14:15] accession  programs  is  a  way  to  explain
[14:17] 
[14:17] to  entrepreneurs  from  around  Europe  that
[14:19] 
[14:19] something  is  going  on.  And  Barcelona  is
[14:21] 
[14:21] a  good  place  to  come  and  run  your
[14:23] 
[14:23] business.  And  if  we  get  more  resources
[14:26] 
[14:26] and  more  bandwidth,  if  you  want  instead
[14:28] 
[14:28] of  just  be  able  to  invite  and  invest  in
[14:31] 
[14:31] 20  projects  per  year,  most  probably  will
[14:33] 
[14:33] be  able  to  reach  200.  Then  uh  our
[14:35] 
[14:35] mission  is  be  able  to  find  the  resources
[14:38] 
[14:38] to  to  be  able  to  get  this  200  on  the
[14:40] 
[14:40] city.  And  not  just  to  bring  talent,  also
[14:43] 
[14:43] to  promote  the  talent  that  we  have  here.
[14:44] 
[14:44] And  I  think  four  years  from  now  as  Scott
[14:47] 
[14:47] was  uh  remembering  first  edition  it  was
[14:51] 
[14:51] 50  international  50  national  so  far  now
[14:54] 
[14:54] we  have  almost  all  of  the  ecosystems
[14:56] 
[14:56] coming  we  have  accelerated  programs
[14:59] 
[14:59] coming  from  LATAM  from  US  from  Asia  we
[15:02] 
[15:02] are  traveling  with  four  years  from  now
[15:04] 
[15:04] to  Asia  to  Israel  for  the  really  first
[15:06] 
[15:06] time  this  year  we're  going  to  do  an
[15:07] 
[15:07] event  in  San  Francisco  that  means  that
[15:10] 
[15:10] we  are  trying  to  create  this  type  of
[15:12] 
[15:12] interaction  between  ecosystems  because
[15:13] 
[15:13] at  the  end  of  the  day  our  message  is
[15:15] 
[15:15] clear.  Barcelona  is  a  good  place  to  run
[15:18] 
[15:18] your  business  or  to  to  scale  up  your
[15:20] 
[15:20] your  startup.  And  for  people  that  are  on
[15:22] 
[15:22] the  ground,  like  working  in  the
[15:24] 
[15:24] ecosystem  every  day,  we  know  that
[15:25] 
[15:25] community  here  is  is  quite  fascinating,
[15:28] 
[15:28] quite  vibrant.  It's  growing  a  lot  and
[15:30] 
[15:30] people  are  very  willing  to  help  each
[15:31] 
[15:31] other.  It's  very  friendly,  very
[15:33] 
[15:33] welcoming.  But  that's  hard  to  show,  you
[15:35] 
[15:35] know,  I  guess  traveling  around  with  4
[15:37] 
[15:37] years  from  now  banners,  it's  hard  to
[15:38] 
[15:38] show  that  we  have  a  great  community  and
[15:41] 
[15:41] a  lot  of  the  people  that  are  coming  here
[15:43] 
[15:43] are  having  a  great  time  and  and  the
[15:44] 
[15:44] people  that  are  having  a  success  are
[15:45] 
[15:45] mostly  not  mostly,  but  a  lot  of  them  are
[15:47] 
[15:47] local  people.  So,  in  some  ways,  uh  I
[15:50] 
[15:50] don't  know  if  it's  true.  Uh  it  used  to
[15:52] 
[15:52] be  a  bit  more  like  this,  but  we  have
[15:54] 
[15:54] like  two  camps  maybe  in  Barcelona.  You
[15:56] 
[15:56] have  like  uh  a  lot  a  lot  of  experts  and
[15:58] 
[15:58] you  have  a  lot  of,  you  know,  Katlan
[16:00] 
[16:00] people  that  having  a  lot  of  success.  Uh
[16:02] 
[16:02] do  you  think  Scott  it's  it's it's
[16:04] 
[16:04] necessary  to  try  to  you  know  merge  these
[16:07] 
[16:07] communities  more  than  they  are  merged
[16:09] 
[16:09] today  to  you  know  really  boost  you  know
[16:11] 
[16:11] the  PR  of  of  Barcelona.  Yeah,  I  think  I
[16:14] 
[16:14] mean  I  think  that's  definitely  a  great
[16:16] 
[16:16] goal  and  objective  to  have,  you  know,
[16:18] 
[16:18] but  I  think  it's  also  happening
[16:19] 
[16:19] naturally.  Um,  in  the  evolution  of  the
[16:20] 
[16:20] last  three  to  four  years  here,  um,  we've
[16:22] 
[16:22] seen  that  kind  of  maybe  oil  and  water
[16:26] 
[16:26] starting  to  mix.  You  know,  it  it  uh  it's
[16:28] 
[16:28] become  more  of  a  of  a  unified  ecosystem
[16:30] 
[16:30] from  what  I  can  tell  in  just  in  the  last
[16:32] 
[16:32] few  years.  I  think  that  will  continue  to
[16:33] 
[16:33] happen.  Um,  I  think  with  the  the
[16:35] 
[16:35] increasing  I  mean  you  were  saying  that
[16:36] 
[16:36] Barcel  can  always  use  PR.  we  all  can
[16:38] 
[16:38] use,  we  can  always  use  more  PR,  but  it's
[16:40] 
[16:40] done  a  great  job  of  of  promoting  itself
[16:42] 
[16:42] as  an  innovation  capital,  as  a  smart
[16:44] 
[16:44] city  world  capital.  The  IoT  World
[16:46] 
[16:46] Congress  is  here.  The  obviously  the
[16:48] 
[16:48] mobile  world  congress  is  here.  Um,  you
[16:50] 
[16:50] know,  so  I  think  as  that  that  happens,
[16:52] 
[16:52] more  and  more  of  the  local  and  and  expat
[16:54] 
[16:54] or  international  community  will  continue
[16:55] 
[16:55] to  merge.  Um,  like  I  said,  we  have  all
[16:58] 
[16:58] the  ingredients.  Before  we  didn't  really
[17:00] 
[17:00] have  a  hub,  but  we're  starting  to  build
[17:01] 
[17:01] hubs  now.  You  know,  uh,  the  pure  one  uh
[17:03] 
[17:03] is  is  growing.  I  think  there's  a  lot  of,
[17:05] 
[17:05] you  know,  I  don't  know,  over  500  or  so
[17:07] 
[17:07] employees  in  that  building.  Um,
[17:08] 
[17:08] thousand,  I  think.  Thousand  now.  So,
[17:10] 
[17:10] yeah.  So,  I  mean,  it's  it  looks  like
[17:11] 
[17:11] it's  going to  even  get  bigger.  That  may
[17:13] 
[17:13] be  kind  of  a  centerpiece  magnet  to  to
[17:15] 
[17:15] try  and  create.  But  what  we  need  now  is
[17:16] 
[17:16] events.  We  need  we  need  content.  We  need
[17:18] 
[17:18] we  need  socializing,  you  know,  between
[17:20] 
[17:20] those  to  to  create  more  synergies  and
[17:22] 
[17:22] and  uh  and  there's  other  events  like
[17:23] 
[17:23] Barcelona  Global  that  does  that  more  on
[17:25] 
[17:25] a  not  just  for  startups,  but  on on  a
[17:27] 
[17:27] citywide  basis.  Their  mission  is  to
[17:29] 
[17:29] connect  the  globals,  the  the  Barcelona
[17:31] 
[17:31] by  birth  versus  Barcelona  by  choice.  So
[17:33] 
[17:33] there's  some  great  initiatives  that  are
[17:34] 
[17:34] that  are  doing  that  and  I  think  it's
[17:36] 
[17:36] working.  Um  what  do  you  think  you're  a
[17:38] 
[17:38] local  yourself  you  know  do  you  feel
[17:41] 
[17:41] that  what  how  do  you  think  of  the
[17:43] 
[17:43] community  when  you  think  about  it?  What
[17:45] 
[17:46] I  saw  in  the  last  5  years  is  that  for
[17:48] 
[17:48] example  a  project  like  Scott  is  leading
[17:51] 
[17:51] like  Barc  5  years  ago  most  probably  will
[17:53] 
[17:53] be  something  that  will  not  succeed  or  it
[17:55] 
[17:55] will  that  doesn't  make  any  sense
[17:58] 
[17:58] nowadays  it's  needed.  If  doesn't  exist
[18:00] 
[18:00] most  probably  we  need  to  invent  it.  We
[18:02] 
[18:02] need  something  like  is  for  example
[18:04] 
[18:04] scouting  promoting  the  ecosystem  in
[18:06] 
[18:06] English  because  is  the  natural  language
[18:09] 
[18:09] if  you  want  to  get  international  and  I
[18:11] 
[18:11] don't  know  what  are  the  the  the  metrics
[18:13] 
[18:13] of  the  people  who  are  reading  your
[18:15] 
[18:15] newsletter  and  are  following  you  but  for
[18:17] 
[18:17] sure  there  are  people  that  is  from
[18:19] 
[18:19] Barcelona  or  that  they  are  browsing  or
[18:21] 
[18:21] reading  you  from  Barcelona  because  they
[18:23] 
[18:23] are  experts  here  that  they  are  living  in
[18:25] 
[18:25] Barcelona  are  using  your  channel  and  the
[18:26] 
[18:26] other  way  around  is  something  that
[18:28] 
[18:28] sometimes  I  used  to  send  it  to  someone
[18:30] 
[18:30] outside  to  say  this  is  what  is  going  on
[18:32] 
[18:32] I  think  that  the  things  that  has  changed
[18:34] 
[18:34] is  that  our  startup  ecosystem  is
[18:36] 
[18:36] becoming  more  global.  Mhm.  We  have  43  uh
[18:41] 
[18:41] VCs  putting  money  inside  startups  in
[18:44] 
[18:44] Barcelona.  If  the  founders  of  the  team
[18:47] 
[18:47] they  are  not  if  not  experts  proficient
[18:50] 
[18:50] in  English  international  talent  facing
[18:52] 
[18:52] international  markets  they  are  not  able
[18:54] 
[18:54] to  raise  money  from  that  business.  That
[18:56] 
[18:56] means  that  naturally  it's  not  just  a
[18:59] 
[18:59] question  of  appealing  of  willingness  to
[19:01] 
[19:01] have  expert  friends  is  that  you  need  it
[19:03] 
[19:04] as  an  employee.  Yeah,  it's  true.
[19:07] 
[19:07] You  need  to  recruit  that  guys  because
[19:09] 
[19:09] you  need  to  understand  the  culture  of
[19:10] 
[19:10] the  country  of  the  expert  that  are
[19:12] 
[19:12] coming  here.  You  need  the  talent  because
[19:13] 
[19:13] maybe  you  are  not  able  to  recruit  it
[19:15] 
[19:15] here.  Then  it's  just  not  just  an
[19:17] 
[19:17] appetite,  right?  To  get  an  international
[19:19] 
[19:20] dinner  and  speak  English,  right?
[19:22] 
[19:22] is  a  must  when  you  are  running  a  global
[19:25] 
[19:25] startup  is  a  must  to  have  a
[19:27] 
[19:27] multicultural  international  project
[19:29] 
[19:29] especially  when  you  are  facing  different
[19:31] 
[19:31] type  of  markets.  Yeah,  that's  very
[19:33] 
[19:33] interesting.  And  and  I'm  thinking  about
[19:35] 
[19:35] you're  you're  mentioning  the  English
[19:36] 
[19:36] lang  English  language  several  times  here
[19:38] 
[19:38] and  we're  in  Spain  and  Spain  is
[19:40] 
[19:40] beautiful  great  huge  language,  but  right
[19:43] 
[19:43] now  English  is  the  main  business
[19:45] 
[19:46] language  of  like  the  western  world  at
[19:47] 
[19:47] least  uh  we  got  to  face  it.  Uh  should
[19:50] 
[19:50] should  everything  in  the  Barcelona  tech
[19:53] 
[19:53] community  be  in  English?  I  I  think  both.
[19:56] 
[19:56] I  mean  yes  English  has  to  be  a  natural
[19:59] 
[19:59] language  and  everybody  on  the  digital
[20:02] 
[20:02] community  has  to  be  proficient  or  able
[20:05] 
[20:05] to  have  I  don't  know  in  the  right  level
[20:08] 
[20:08] of  English  to  work  in  English
[20:10] 
[20:10] environment  but  on  the  same  time  we  are
[20:12] 
[20:12] Barcelona  and  we  don't  need  to  if  you
[20:15] 
[20:15] want  to  delete  our  DNA  right  and  and
[20:17] 
[20:17] then  I  think  that  the  beautiful  piece  of
[20:19] 
[20:19] that  is  to  be  able  to  combine  and
[20:20] 
[20:20] coexist  at  at  the  two  sides  and  when  you
[20:23] 
[20:23] go  for  example  to  basic  80  lunch.  If  you
[20:27] 
[20:27] only  speak  English,  you  are  welcome  and
[20:29] 
[20:29] you  will  be  able  to  interact  with  almost
[20:31] 
[20:31] anyone.  At  Pier  01,  you  will  get  uh  into
[20:33] 
[20:33] the  lift  and  you  see  people  speaking
[20:35] 
[20:35] English  or  people  speaking  Catalan  or
[20:37] 
[20:37] speak.  What  I  say  is  that  I  don't  know
[20:39] 
[20:40] if  the  generation  is  the  need  of
[20:41] 
[20:41] business  is  everything  together.  I  don't
[20:44] 
[20:44] see  that  Barcelona  that  maybe  time  ago
[20:46] 
[20:46] that  people  complain  when  they  arriving
[20:48] 
[20:48] and  wow  if  you  don't  speak  Spanish  or
[20:51] 
[20:51] Catalin  you  are  not  able  to  develop  your
[20:53] 
[20:53] professional  career  here.  I  think  that
[20:56] 
[20:56] at  least  on  the  startup  scene  if  you
[20:58] 
[20:58] speak  just  English  even  can  be  an
[21:00] 
[21:00] advantage  for  you  depends  the  moment  of
[21:03] 
[21:03] the  project  you're  jumping  in.  Yeah.
[21:04] 
[21:04] What  do  you  think  Scott?  No,  absolutely.
[21:06] 
[21:06] I  mean  I  think  um  I  think  even  beyond
[21:08] 
[21:08] just  language  we  have  to  we  have  to
[21:10] 
[21:10] appreciate  the  cultural  differences  the
[21:11] 
[21:11] the  backgrounds  because  that  that
[21:13] 
[21:13] diversity  is  what's  actually  going  to
[21:14] 
[21:14] bring  value  to  the  company,  right?  It's
[21:15] 
[21:16] we're  moving  to  a  to  a  to  an  age  where
[21:18] 
[21:18] everything's  moving  faster  and  faster
[21:19] 
[21:19] and  and  innovations  are  happening
[21:21] 
[21:21] quicker,  growth  is  happening  faster.  Um
[21:23] 
[21:23] you  know  if  you  look  at  companies  like
[21:24] 
[21:24] let's  say  you  know  Facebook  it  took  uh
[21:26] 
[21:26] you  know  let's  say  10  years  to  reach  100
[21:28] 
[21:28] million  users  you  know  something  like
[21:29] 
[21:29] that  um  you  know  well  Snapchat  did  it  in
[21:31] 
[21:31] in  two  right  you  know  so  so  we're  moving
[21:34] 
[21:34] we're  moving  faster  faster  faster  so
[21:36] 
[21:36] what  we  need  is  to  be  able  to  solve
[21:37] 
[21:37] problems  quicker  and  for  that  you  need
[21:39] 
[21:39] diversity  you  need  cultural  different
[21:40] 
[21:40] cultural  backgrounds  and  so  of  course
[21:42] 
[21:42] English  is  is  the  the  language  of  of
[21:44] 
[21:44] international  business  I  think  that  will
[21:45] 
[21:46] continue  to  to  grow  and  and  it's
[21:47] 
[21:47] necessary  but  you  also  want  to  embrace
[21:49] 
[21:49] the  the  different  things  and  and  for
[21:51] 
[21:51] speed  and  efficiency  if  you're  in
[21:52] 
[21:52] Cataloonia
[21:53] 
[21:53] um  you  know  and  and  there's  two  Catalan
[21:54] 
[21:54] guys  they  shouldn't  be  trying  to
[21:56] 
[21:56] communicate  you  know  in  in in  English  or
[21:58] 
[21:58] or  in  you  know  in  a  second  language  if
[21:59] 
[21:59] they  can  go  things  faster  and  and  not
[22:01] 
[22:01] lose  anything  in  translation  but  uh  but
[22:03] 
[22:03] in  the  end  the  companies  that  do  the
[22:04] 
[22:04] best  are  the  ones  that  um  the  ones  that
[22:06] 
[22:06] have  the  most  diversity  and  they're  the
[22:08] 
[22:08] ones  that  are  continue  to  thrive  I  think
[22:09] 
[22:09] right  right  so  we  talked  a  lot  about
[22:11] 
[22:11] about  the  great  things  of  Barcelona
[22:13] 
[22:13] which  there  are  a  lot  of  but  but  uh
[22:16] 
[22:16] there  are  things  that  are  lacking  as
[22:17] 
[22:17] well  in  your  opinion  alleg  what what
[22:19] 
[22:19] what  are  are  we  lacking  when  we  compare
[22:22] 
[22:22] ourselves  us,  you  know,  to  Berlin  or
[22:24] 
[22:24] Amsterdam  or  London.  What  do  you  think?
[22:27] 
[22:27] There  are  several  things  that  if  you
[22:29] 
[22:29] want  are  related  to  Barcelona  or  they
[22:31] 
[22:31] are  related  to  to  Spain  as  a  general
[22:34] 
[22:34] because  for  example  there  are  some  tax
[22:35] 
[22:35] environment  that  can  be  easily  changed
[22:38] 
[22:38] to  make  more  efficient  for  example
[22:40] 
[22:40] became  a  business  angel  and  get  a  better
[22:42] 
[22:42] tax  relief  when  you  are  doing  a  business
[22:45] 
[22:45] angel  investment.  That  is  something  that
[22:47] 
[22:47] it  can  be  changed.  We  don't  need  to
[22:49] 
[22:49] reinvent  the  wheel.  For  example,  we  can
[22:51] 
[22:51] copycat  what  is  going  on  on  UK  or  if  you
[22:54] 
[22:54] became  a  business  angel,  you  have  a  good
[22:56] 
[22:56] tax  relief  on  your  on  your  personal  tax
[22:59] 
[22:59] at  the  end  of  the  year.  That  is
[23:01] 
[23:01] something  that  I  think  is  working  well.
[23:03] 
[23:03] It's  already  bulletproof  that  if  you  put
[23:05] 
[23:06] that  type  of  rules  in  place,  it  helps  a
[23:08] 
[23:08] lot.  That  is  if  you  want  on  the  business
[23:11] 
[23:11] angel  side  on  the  other  is  about  stock
[23:13] 
[23:13] options  piece.  I  mean  nowadays  the  the
[23:16] 
[23:16] way  that  the  stock  options  are  managed
[23:18] 
[23:18] on  the  Spanish  way  is  something  that  if
[23:20] 
[23:20] you  want  is  not  really  startup  friendly
[23:22] 
[23:22] that  is  just  to  avoid  taxes.  No  stock
[23:26] 
[23:26] options  is  a  really  powerful  tool  to
[23:27] 
[23:27] keep  the  talent  engaged  into  your
[23:29] 
[23:29] project.  Sometimes  the  salaries  you  can
[23:31] 
[23:31] offer  in  early  stage  startups  are  not
[23:33] 
[23:33] the  most  competitive  one  if  you  compare
[23:35] 
[23:35] to  to  corporates  and  the  way  to  engage
[23:37] 
[23:37] your  team  and  be  sure  that  they  are
[23:39] 
[23:39] fully  committed  to  the  project  and  they
[23:40] 
[23:40] are  not  going  to  leave  for  a  better
[23:42] 
[23:42] salary  is  to  offer  them  an  stock  option
[23:44] 
[23:44] plan.  Exactly.  But  the  worst  thing  is
[23:46] 
[23:46] that  even  I  have  a  low  salary  you  give
[23:48] 
[23:48] me  stock  options  and  now  I  have  to  pay
[23:50] 
[23:50] taxes  for  the  stock  options  I  receive.
[23:52] 
[23:52] then  the  business  is  horrible  or  the
[23:54] 
[23:54] sacrifice  that  they  are  asking  for  you
[23:55] 
[23:55] especially  in  early  stage  that  you  don't
[23:57] 
[23:57] know  if  that  stock  options  ever  in  your
[23:59] 
[23:59] life  is  going  to  make  some  money  out  of
[24:00] 
[24:00] it  right  that  is  not  really  startup
[24:03] 
[24:03] friendly  and  I  think  that  we  need  to
[24:05] 
[24:05] design  if  you  want  a  stock  options  maybe
[24:07] 
[24:07] related  only  to  the  startup  space  and
[24:10] 
[24:10] not  for  the  corporate  space  that  can  be
[24:13] 
[24:13] helpful  for  that  and  especially  when  you
[24:15] 
[24:15] go  to  international  investors  the  stock
[24:17] 
[24:17] option  plan  is  something  that  is  asked
[24:19] 
[24:19] because  especially  for  the  key  people  on
[24:22] 
[24:22] the  project  they  really  want  to  be  sure
[24:24] 
[24:24] that  they  are  going  to  stay  there  for
[24:26] 
[24:26] the  next  year  and  keep  getting  the
[24:28] 
[24:28] product  better  and  getting  the  the
[24:29] 
[24:29] startup  to  the  next  level.  That  is
[24:31] 
[24:31] something.  The  other  is  about  uh  visa.
[24:35] 
[24:35] How  easy  is  to  land  in  Barcelona  and  get
[24:38] 
[24:38] the  permit  to  work  not  just  to  visit
[24:40] 
[24:40] because  visit  is  quite  simple.  The  other
[24:43] 
[24:43] is  how  simple  and  how  fast  is  the  way  to
[24:45] 
[24:45] plaque  into  Barcelona  ecosystem  and  be
[24:47] 
[24:47] able  to  get  a  visa  to  work  that  I  think
[24:50] 
[24:50] always  there  is  a  room  of  improvement
[24:51] 
[24:52] and  it's  something  that  maybe  we  can
[24:53] 
[24:53] consider  to  do  it  better  right  and  the
[24:55] 
[24:55] other  is  is  if  you  want  the  amount  of
[24:58] 
[24:58] space  and  the  raising  of  the  rental  cost
[25:02] 
[25:02] of  apartments
[25:04] 
[25:04] if  that  trend  that  we  see  on  this  last
[25:07] 
[25:07] year  it  gets  every  time  more  and  more
[25:10] 
[25:10] uh
[25:12] 
[25:12] strong.  It  can  be  talent  at  burst.  The
[25:15] 
[25:15] fact  that  yes,  there  are  good  projects
[25:17] 
[25:17] in  Barcelona  is  a  nice  place  to  live  but
[25:19] 
[25:19] really  expensive  to  stay  there.  It  can
[25:21] 
[25:22] be  something  that  makes  more  difficult
[25:23] 
[25:23] for  entrepreneurs  and  founders  getting
[25:26] 
[25:26] the  talent  coming.  Right.  Yeah.  Scott,
[25:28] 
[25:28] you  you  you  have  been  you  you  went  to  to
[25:31] 
[25:32] university  in  Boulder,  like  a  huge
[25:33] 
[25:33] startup  community  in  the  US  and  also  you
[25:35] 
[25:35] started  your  first  company  in  the  west
[25:37] 
[25:37] coast  in  the  US  where  everything  is
[25:38] 
[25:38] happening  everything  and  uh  what  do  you
[25:41] 
[25:41] think  when  you're  comparing  to  other
[25:42] 
[25:42] places  Barcelona?  Uh  I  I  would  agree
[25:44] 
[25:44] with  a  lot  of  things  Alish  said.  I  think
[25:46] 
[25:46] I  think  the  the  stock  options  issue  and
[25:48] 
[25:48] and  the  exit  tax  that  that's  placed  on
[25:50] 
[25:50] uh  vested  shares.  So,  so  if  you  were  to
[25:52] 
[25:52] be  an  early  employee  or  a  co-founder  and
[25:54] 
[25:54] you  were  to  leave  Spain,  you  actually
[25:56] 
[25:56] have  to  pay  taxes  on  unrealized  gains,
[25:58] 
[25:58] meaning  you  have  to  pay  taxes  on  the  on
[26:00] 
[26:00] the  the  current  valuation  of  that  of
[26:02] 
[26:02] your  of  your  options.  Um,  and  you
[26:04] 
[26:04] haven't  even  cashed  out  yet.  So,  so
[26:06] 
[26:06] there  are  some  adverse  effects  for  the
[26:07] 
[26:07] stock  options,  but  I  think  that  is  um
[26:09] 
[26:09] something  that  could  be  easily  fixed.
[26:11] 
[26:11] Um,  the  the  visa  problem  I'm  I  went
[26:14] 
[26:14] through  myself  here.  I'm  I  did  the
[26:16] 
[26:16] entrepreneurship  and  residence.  I'll  be
[26:17] 
[26:17] the  first  one  to  say  it's  not  perfect.
[26:18] 
[26:18] Uh,  it  it  it's  painful.  it's
[26:20] 
[26:20] timeconuming.  However,  3  years  ago  it
[26:22] 
[26:22] didn't  exist.  So,  I'm  very  grateful  that
[26:24] 
[26:24] it  exists,  you  know,  and  I,  you  know,
[26:26] 
[26:26] it's  as  much  as  I  might  be  cursing  under
[26:27] 
[26:27] my  breath  every  time  I  have  to  go  to  the
[26:28] 
[26:28] NA  office  and  produce  these  these
[26:30] 
[26:30] documents,  um,  I'm  grateful  that  it
[26:32] 
[26:32] allows  me  to  stay  in  Spain  and  and  and
[26:34] 
[26:34] and  create  a  company  in  Spain.  And  so,  I
[26:37] 
[26:37] think  um  I  think  we're  moving  in  the
[26:38] 
[26:38] right  direction,  right?  I  mean,  it's
[26:39] 
[26:39] it's  it's  a  it's  sometimes  it  feels  like
[26:41] 
[26:41] a  slow  battle,  but  we're  getting  there,
[26:43] 
[26:43] right?  Um,  that'll  be  crucial  in
[26:45] 
[26:45] attracting  talent.  We'll  be  we'll  be
[26:46] 
[26:46] opening  up  those  those  opportunities.
[26:48] 
[26:48] The  other  one  is  is  give  the  companies  a
[26:50] 
[26:50] runway,  right?  Reduce  the  subsidy.  I
[26:52] 
[26:52] mean,  add  subsidies.  Um,  give  incentives
[26:54] 
[26:54] to  hiring.  Uh,  make  it  easier  to  fire
[26:56] 
[26:56] people.  You  know,  make  it  so  it's  um  the
[26:58] 
[26:58] first  year  or  two  in  business  isn't  as
[27:00] 
[27:00] painful  as  it  is  now,  right?  The
[27:01] 
[27:02] autonomous  fees  are  high.  Um,  the  the
[27:04] 
[27:04] the  SAS,  you  have  to  start  paying  taxes,
[27:06] 
[27:06] you  know,  revenue  or  not.  So,  um,  you
[27:09] 
[27:09] know,  I  think  that's  one  of  the
[27:09] 
[27:09] differences  I've  seen  between  the  US  and
[27:11] 
[27:11] and  and  Spain  or  Europe  in  general  is,
[27:13] 
[27:13] um,  there's  a  lot  more  incentives  and
[27:16] 
[27:16] subsidies  for  early  early  businesses,
[27:18] 
[27:18] right?  So,  uh,  what  Spain  does  really
[27:20] 
[27:20] well  is  they  have  a  lot  of  grants  and
[27:22] 
[27:22] opportunities  to  get,  um,  you  know,  to
[27:24] 
[27:24] get,  uh,  some  extra  funding  on  very
[27:25] 
[27:25] good,  uh,  terms  and  and  rates  with,  you
[27:27] 
[27:27] know,  programs  like  Ana  or  Sedeti.  You
[27:29] 
[27:29] know,  I  think  these  public  private
[27:30] 
[27:30] partnerships  are  fantastic.  Um,  they
[27:32] 
[27:32] also  invest  in  the  fund  of  funds  to  spur
[27:34] 
[27:34] innovation.  they'll  they'll  create  uh
[27:36] 
[27:36] funds  for  VCs  to  tap  into.  Um  so  I  think
[27:39] 
[27:39] it's  definitely  um  you  know  heading
[27:41] 
[27:41] heading  into  a  more  favorable  uh
[27:43] 
[27:43] community,  but  even  if  you  compare  it  to
[27:45] 
[27:45] France,  France  has  better  uh  incentives
[27:48] 
[27:48] to  for  early  hiring  uh  than  than  Spain
[27:50] 
[27:50] does.  And  I  think  there's  some  some
[27:51] 
[27:51] great  programs  that  could  be  implemented
[27:53] 
[27:53] fairly  easily  here  uh  to  boost  uh  early
[27:55] 
[27:56] startup  growth  and  create  jobs  and  and
[27:57] 
[27:57] that's  what's  happening.  But  I  think  we
[27:59] 
[27:59] can  even  go  faster.  Yeah.  Yeah.  and  and
[28:00] 
[28:00] you  mentioned  uh  or  Scott  mentioned
[28:02] 
[28:02] earlier  that  uh  we  we  we  should  have
[28:05] 
[28:05] have  one  of  these  big  global  companies
[28:07] 
[28:07] come  to  Barcelona  like  that's  what
[28:09] 
[28:09] that's  one  of  the  things  we're  lacking
[28:10] 
[28:10] like  a  big  Facebook  or  Google  or  uh  the
[28:14] 
[28:14] HQ  of  Airbnb  or  some  something  like  this
[28:16] 
[28:16] but  uh  is  do  you  think  that  uh  you  know
[28:19] 
[28:19] the  state  and  and  the  local  government
[28:21] 
[28:21] has  had  this  clash  with  some  of  these
[28:23] 
[28:23] companies  Uber  Airbnb  we're  struggling  a
[28:26] 
[28:26] bit  with  some  of  these  sharing  economic
[28:27] 
[28:27] platforms  or  collaborative  economic
[28:29] 
[28:29] platforms  Is  this  something  that  we  need
[28:31] 
[28:31] to  to  settle  before  getting  some  of
[28:34] 
[28:34] these  bigger  companies  here?  Do  you
[28:35] 
[28:35] think  I  mean  yes  and  not?  I  mean  I  have
[28:40] 
[28:40] my  my  heart  divide.  I  mean  if  I  don't
[28:43] 
[28:43] know  Facebook  is  landing  in  Barcelona
[28:44] 
[28:44] with  a  big  R&D  department  if  I  was  an
[28:47] 
[28:47] entrepreneur  I  will  start  to  be  worried
[28:50] 
[28:50] because  that  most  probably  that  will
[28:51] 
[28:51] create  is  a  lack  of  talent  and  increase
[28:53] 
[28:53] of  the  salary  of  developers.  Then  I
[28:56] 
[28:56] don't  know  if  suddenly  Facebook  is
[28:59] 
[28:59] looking  for  a  thousand  engineers  in
[29:01] 
[29:01] Barcelona  and  I'm  running  a  startup  I
[29:03] 
[29:03] don't  know  in  artificial  intelligence  I
[29:05] 
[29:05] will  start  to  be  concerned  about  if
[29:07] 
[29:07] these  guys  are  landing  here  because  most
[29:08] 
[29:08] probably  my  engineers  some  of  them  will
[29:11] 
[29:11] resign  or  if  not  the  salary  of  my
[29:13] 
[29:13] engineers  it's  going  to  increase  then
[29:15] 
[29:15] yes  to  come  be  corporates  especially  the
[29:18] 
[29:18] R&D  departments  the  ones  that  has  value
[29:20] 
[29:20] all  that  uh  we  need  the  tech  guys  from
[29:23] 
[29:23] Facebook  and  Google  of  course  they  are
[29:25] 
[29:25] sexy  and  appealing  to  come.  But  with
[29:28] 
[29:28] digital  transformation,  there  are  so
[29:30] 
[29:30] many  companies  nowadays  that  we  can
[29:32] 
[29:32] consider  non  tech  that  they  are  looking
[29:34] 
[29:34] for  talent  that  maybe  that  is  for  me  a
[29:37] 
[29:37] better  bet  especially  if  we  believe  that
[29:40] 
[29:40] we're  going  to  be  verticals  at  some
[29:41] 
[29:42] point  and  maybe  it's  better  to  get  I
[29:44] 
[29:44] don't  know  R&D  and  innovation  or  digital
[29:46] 
[29:46] department  from  Nestles.  we  have  for
[29:49] 
[29:49] fast  moving  consumer  goods  that  we  are
[29:51] 
[29:51] able  to  get  retailers  focusing
[29:53] 
[29:53] innovation  on  digital  space  in  Barcelona
[29:56] 
[29:56] for  example  that  for  me  will  be  really
[29:58] 
[29:58] much  more  a  smart  strategy  because  we
[30:01] 
[30:01] can  create  this  pole  of  attraction  where
[30:02] 
[30:02] we  have  the  startups  on  the  retail
[30:04] 
[30:04] e-commerce  space  the  investors  that  they
[30:05] 
[30:06] understand  that  business  the  talent  that
[30:07] 
[30:07] are  coming  to  Barcelona  because  they
[30:09] 
[30:09] know  a  lot  about  that  and  the  big  guys
[30:11] 
[30:11] on  that  space  that  they  see  that  the
[30:12] 
[30:12] digital  strategy  of  them  yes  or  not  they
[30:15] 
[30:15] need  to  need  an  antenna  in  Barcelona
[30:17] 
[30:17] Yeah,  that  for  me  will  create  the  right
[30:19] 
[30:19] ecosystem.  And  about  the  second  piece  of
[30:21] 
[30:21] your  question  about  what  we  need  to  do
[30:22] 
[30:22] regarding  sharing  economy.
[30:25] 
[30:25] We  need  we  need  we  need  to  take  a  step
[30:29] 
[30:29] forward.  I  mean  nowadays  we  are  at  some
[30:32] 
[30:32] point  doing  a  regulation  by  no  that  I
[30:36] 
[30:36] think  is  on  the  short  term.  I  think  that
[30:39] 
[30:39] the  what  is  needed  is  a  deep  discussion
[30:42] 
[30:42] with  all  the  people  that  is  at  some
[30:44] 
[30:44] point  will  be  affected  but  no  and  ban
[30:48] 
[30:48] things  I  think  is  a  short-term  reaction
[30:50] 
[30:50] right  and  what  I  would  like  to  see  is
[30:52] 
[30:52] that  yes  on  the  meantime  we  say  no
[30:55] 
[30:55] because  we  need  time  to  design  what  is
[30:57] 
[30:57] the  sharing  economy  landing  in  our  city
[31:01] 
[31:01] but  that  that  type  of  thought  and  that
[31:03] 
[31:04] type  of  uh  work  has  to  be  done  because
[31:07] 
[31:07] at  the  end  the  answer  has  to  Yes,  but
[31:09] 
[31:09] under  that  rules.  Right.  Right.  Right
[31:11] 
[31:11] now  we  are  on  the  no  and  I  hope  that  on
[31:14] 
[31:14] the  next  years  and  not  really  far  away
[31:16] 
[31:16] we're  going  to  say  yes.  But  that  is  the
[31:19] 
[31:19] type  of  rules  in  Barcelona  if  you  want
[31:21] 
[31:21] to  run  your  sharing  economy  business.
[31:23] 
[31:23] Okay.  So  uh  we're  running  a  bit  out  of
[31:25] 
[31:25] time  but  to  to  end  it  on  a  high  note  uh
[31:28] 
[31:28] we're  in  the  beginning  of  a  of  a  of  a
[31:30] 
[31:30] new  year.  So  I  just  want  to  ask  you  uh
[31:33] 
[31:33] one  company  like  seedstage  company  in
[31:35] 
[31:36] Barcelona.  If  you  have  if  you  believe  in
[31:37] 
[31:37] one  company  uh  like  let  let  us  know  like
[31:40] 
[31:40] give  some  PR  to  a  cool  company.  So  Al  if
[31:43] 
[31:43] you  would  pick  one  company  like  early
[31:44] 
[31:44] stage  company  Barcelona  to  really
[31:46] 
[31:46] prosper  in  2017  who  should  we  look  for?
[31:48] 
[31:48] It's  a  bit  tough  question  because  we
[31:50] 
[31:50] invest  in  20  startups  already  and  41  on
[31:53] 
[31:53] the  last  and  then  I  will  say  somebody
[31:55] 
[31:55] that  we  have  at  some  point  some  interest
[31:57] 
[31:57] and  conflict  of  interest  but  if  I  don't
[31:59] 
[31:59] say  any  of  the  ones  that  at  some  point
[32:01] 
[32:01] we  are  supporting  strongly  I  say  that
[32:04] 
[32:04] type  form  I  really  like  this  one.  Yeah.
[32:07] 
[32:07] I  know  that  is  not  really  early  stage
[32:09] 
[32:09] but  it's  this  concept  of  B2B  concept  and
[32:12] 
[32:12] different  I  really  like  this  one.  Right.
[32:13] 
[32:13] Right.  Yeah.  I  mean  I  I  agree  with  the
[32:15] 
[32:15] antiiform.  I  think  they  did  a  great  job
[32:16] 
[32:16] planting  their  flag  in  Barcelona,  saying
[32:18] 
[32:18] we're  going  to  stay,  you  know,  we're  not
[32:19] 
[32:19] going  to  raise  money  and  leave.  That  was
[32:20] 
[32:20] kind  of the  MMO  before.  Um,  they've  made
[32:23] 
[32:23] uh  Barcelona  their  home  and  they're
[32:25] 
[32:25] probably  the  closest  thing  that  I've
[32:26] 
[32:26] seen  in  Barcelona  to  a  Silicon  Valley
[32:28] 
[32:28] startup.  You  know,  the  way  they've  they
[32:29] 
[32:29] the  the  track  they  took  to  get  to  series
[32:31] 
[32:31] A,  the  investments  they  made  in  the
[32:33] 
[32:33] city,  um  the  talent  they've  they've  uh
[32:35] 
[32:35] they've  attracted,  uh  the  office  they
[32:37] 
[32:37] built,  uh  and  the  way  they  operate.  I
[32:39] 
[32:39] think  I  think  it's  a  a  great  example  of
[32:40] 
[32:40] a  post  series  A  success  story  here  in
[32:42] 
[32:42] Barcelona.  and  it'd  be  great  to  watch
[32:43] 
[32:43] them  grow  right  through  to  to  IPO
[32:45] 
[32:45] possibly.  Um,  you  know,  for  early  stage,
[32:49] 
[32:49] um,  there's  some  fantastic  things
[32:50] 
[32:50] happening  in,  you  mentioned  before,
[32:51] 
[32:51] artificial  intelligence,  machine
[32:53] 
[32:53] learning,  computer  vision.  Uh,  I  like
[32:55] 
[32:55] that  space.  I  think  there's  a  lot  of  PhD
[32:57] 
[32:57] and  research  programs  in  Barcelona  that
[32:58] 
[32:58] we  can  take  advantage  of.  Um,  and  uh,
[33:01] 
[33:01] and  we're  seeing  a  couple  companies  now
[33:02] 
[33:02] coming  up,  you  know,  year  1,  year  two.
[33:05] 
[33:05] Uh,  one  one  um,  and  and  I'm  going  to  be
[33:07] 
[33:07] biased  because  I  have  two  two  clients  in
[33:08] 
[33:08] this  space.  One  is  um,  everybody's  here.
[33:11] 
[33:11] No  real  answers.  One  is  one  is  Compite.
[33:14] 
[33:14] I  think  they're  doing  fantastic  uh  in  in
[33:16] 
[33:16] the  SAS  uh  field.  They  have  a  a
[33:19] 
[33:19] proprietary  technology  that  tracks  your
[33:21] 
[33:21] competitors  in  real  time.  Really,  no  one
[33:23] 
[33:23] else  can  match  their  their  uh  their  core
[33:27] 
[33:27] uh  their  technology  there.  And  now  they
[33:29] 
[33:29] just  got  into  500  startups  in  Silicon
[33:30] 
[33:30] Valley.  So,  they're  getting  accelerated
[33:32] 
[33:32] kind  of  simultaneously  here  in  Barcelona
[33:34] 
[33:34] and  uh  and  San  Francisco.  Um  the  other
[33:37] 
[33:37] one  in  in  art  artificial  intelligence  is
[33:39] 
[33:39] bringing  um  a  solution  for  image
[33:41] 
[33:41] recognition  and  and  uh  machine  learning
[33:43] 
[33:43] to  um  the  real  estate  and  auto  industry
[33:46] 
[33:46] is  a  company  called
[33:47] 
[33:47] RESTB.ai.  And  RESTB  is  is  competing
[33:50] 
[33:50] head-to-head  with  with  companies  like  um
[33:53] 
[33:53] IBM  Watson  uh  with  Google  Vision.  Uh  you
[33:55] 
[33:56] know  uh  Amazon  has  a  has  a  has  an  image
[33:58] 
[33:58] recognition  in  in  these  things  and
[33:59] 
[33:59] they're  they're  going  headtohead.  This
[34:01] 
[34:01] is  like  five  guys.  They're  going
[34:02] 
[34:02] headtohead  and  they're  winning  market
[34:03] 
[34:03] share  which  is  fantastic.  So  I  I  would  I
[34:05] 
[34:06] would  I  think  those  are  two  names  that
[34:07] 
[34:07] you  could  probably  watch  in  2017  to
[34:08] 
[34:08] really  take  some  big  steps  forward.
[34:10] 
[34:10] Cool.  All  right,  Alles  Scott,  thank  you
[34:12] 
[34:12] so  much  for  coming.  Pleasure  having  you
[34:15] 
[34:15] both.  Thanks  for  having  us.  This  is
[34:16] 
[34:16] great.  Thanks.  Uh  this  was  the  podcast.
[34:20] 
[34:20] My  name  is  Cindra  Hoplan.  H  be  sure  to
[34:22] 
[34:22] check  out  the  podcast  on  iTunes,  on
[34:25] 
[34:25] YouTube,  on  all  the  social  channels  of
[34:27] 
[34:27] of  Thank  you.
[34:31] 
[34:31] [Music]