Managing the Tech Startups Series - No.3 Iñaki Arrola p. II

What about entrepreneurial experience? On part one, there was a question on the air “Maybe Guerson, Sammy, Daniel, Jacobo and Martin can share what they are experiencing now (or fairly recently) in terms of work-life balance".

Iñaki Arrola starts on his blog post: “¿Para qué quieres ser emprendedor? ¿Quieres ser Mark Zuckerberg? ¿Y quieres serlo por crear un Facebook o por la vida de su fundador? “// since he hasn’t replied about translating his post, I’m just going to translate this bit: “What you want to be an entrepreneur for? You want to be Mark Zuckerberg? And you want to be like him to create a Facebook or because of his (Mark Zuckerberg) life?”

Well, Iñaki is an entrepreneur to be happy. That’s what he loves to do. And he has the mental strength and determination (plus support from his loved ones: spouse, friends & family) to pursuit, relentlessly, success each and every day.

“Nobody is thinking about the users” - Iñaki recognized. And once an opportunity aroused, Iñaki decided to solve a problem. Premise: Offer to the customers with coches.com, an easy, reliable (trust is a must) and clean way to quote a car online. Don’t you worry about doing some similar to what is already out there, many times (more often than not) there’s nothing new under the sun. And it’s just a matter of exploring opportunities.

Coches.com might be a follower (for the time being, I'm sure they’ll be leaders in a future) in terms of market share or traffic within their sector, but they are a bench mark (a poster child if you will) in terms of finding opportunities and giving the customers what they want.

For what it is worth, I have to say Iñaki has succeeded so far because he is doing two things, all entrepreneurs should learn from. First of all, he has the ability to transmit a dream, and in doing so he investing in persons and talent (not a project) creating a fun place to work. Money isn’t everything, there’s passion & fun (ask Julio Alonso). And secondly, he has learnt the importance of having a healthy work – life balance; that has kept him “grounded”, focused and human. But most importantly: happy. And that is the way an entrepreneur should be in order to convey a dream.

Well, from that conversation with Iñaki Arrola here are 5 points I consider relevant either for a tech start-up or a social-entrepreneurship start-up

1. Gauge right-timing. Remember: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” (still don’t know who said it) Focus on the opportunities, not the problems ahead, and be prepared to use those opportunities.
2. Have a healthy work life balance. Again: “When embarking in a startup it is very important to have the support of your family and closest people. Otherwise it’s twice as hard.” 
3. Money isn’t everything. Hum? Interesting, and I hope people understand the importance of this. You are investing in people, their dreams and their passions. 
4. Reputation is critical. Trust takes a lot to build and can easily be destroyed, so offer value and content. For coches.com that means verifying each and every car, and offering a clean, transparent UX (user experience) website. For an NGO it means being coherent.
5. Be happy. That is the bottom line. That will make you wake up every single day with a purpose.

¿Do you want to be Mark Zuckerberg?

PS. Here is Iñaki's account of the session. How cool is that!