Conector Startup Accelerator, to my mind the top accelerator in Spain, has put its trust in me to grow in Madrid.
Five years ago Carlos Blanco, together with seven other partners with proven experience and a solid track record in the entrepreneurial world, decided to launch the entrepreneurs’ accelerator. People of the calibre of Xavier Verdaguer, Marc Ros, Marc Vidal, Risto Mejide, Miguel Vicente (LetsBonus, Wallapop), Gerard Olivé (Antai, Wallapop, Glovo) and Elisabeth Martínez.
As for Carlos, he has invested in 85 start-ups to date and keeps launching top initiatives in the ecosystem, such as Encomenda VC and Nuclio.
As for Conector, they undoubtedly stood out from the start thanks to their best bet: THE MENTORS. Not advisers, not consultants, nor any other profiles that haven’t been through the tough experience of starting a business. Today there are more than 300 active mentors at the accelerator, among whom you’ll find serial entrepreneurs, several who have had one or more exits… and the executives among them have 15–20 years’ experience in a sector to help the entrepreneurs they support to grow.
Another plus of Conector’s mentors is that some of them have an investor profile, and at the end of the acceleration programme we come on board the project.
For me it was a real privilege when Carlos asked me to be a mentor. After nearly 20 years working as an employee in marketing at small, medium-sized and multinational companies, I started mentoring start-ups at AJE Madrid in 2012 and I’m still at it. And am I an entrepreneur? Well, after almost 7 years sailing solo with my marketing agency, I think I am, and that I have a lot to share with the entrepreneurs we accelerate. I’ve been through every stage 😉
In 3 years at Conector I’ve mentored 4 start-ups and I’m going for my 5th. I think I’ve now mentored more than 30 in total. At Conector you can really tell the calibre of the projects that come to us, and the calibre of the mentors who keep joining our accelerator too.
My role in Madrid will be to grow the number and quality of mentors, so you can contact me via LinkedIn if you’d like to join as a mentor: established entrepreneurs and business owners from any sector, or key executives with more than 15 years’ experience in one or more sectors and in one or more business areas (marketing, sales, finance, strategy, human resources…)
Conector is arriving in Madrid in force, in a new coworking space that helps us grow our visibility, since we’ve decided to open some of the training sessions, or rather master classes, to entrepreneurs at Loom House. You can see the upcoming ones here: Loom Events Calendar
And if you’re an entrepreneur, are you interested in Conector? I think so, because I’m seeing more and more senior entrepreneurs who are on their first or second project and want to let an accelerator with our experience help them. In 5 years there have been more than 150 start-ups accelerated, more than 22 acceleration programmes, more than €200M invested and, as I mentioned, more than 300 mentors.
In 5 months we’ll make you fly with 4 mentors who will complement your team and act as your top-level advisory board: one with experience as a CEO, a strategist; one with experience in finance and investment who can help you if you’re going to seek funding; one with plenty of experience in online and offline marketing or business development; and finally one with real experience in the sector your start-up operates in.
On the other hand, the training, which is really a series of master classes, will mean you learn something new every week to apply to your business. Keys to marketing, sales, communication, legal matters, finance and funding, intellectual property and a dozen more interesting topics you mustn’t neglect if you want to consolidate your start-up.
Something else that will add value to your start-up is a coworking space, as well as more than 40 agreements with top companies giving you perks that will save you a lot of money: Stripe, AWS, KPMG, Kompyte, Google, IBM, SendGrid, Sabadell, Typeform, HubSpot…
So, if you fancy accelerating your start-up in Madrid or in any of Conector’s programmes: Apply here (you’ll be able to see the terms and next steps).
I’ll be waiting for you in the Madrid one.
P.S. It’s only right to be grateful, and I’ve taken over the baton at Conector from Bernardo Martinez, Sixto Arias + Ismael Elqudsi + Marta Fdez de la Vega and Pascual Aparicio, who laid the foundations of Conector in Madrid 😉
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