There’s no doubt that entrepreneurship is on the move, globally and in Spain too.
More and more agents or players are appearing who form part of this ecosystem, but entrepreneurs don’t have a panoramic picture of who’s who, or of how to reach the key contact they need sooner.
Since I joined AJE Madrid, I’ve been lucky enough to get to know the ecosystem as it takes shape, since we have relationships with most of the players, and I’m glad that more and more are jumping on the bandwagon, as long as they’re thinking long term. In Spain there are currently more than 3,000 organisations that support entrepreneurs in one way or another, so it’s extremely difficult to know who’s who.
This summer I received an invitation from Foundum, and as soon as I started browsing the site I was hooked: it has everything an entrepreneur could need and, most importantly, it matches what you’re looking for and what you offer with the rest of the community that’s already part of Foundum.
On top of that, technically I think it’s very well built, being more than just a database or a pure and simple social network.
Foundum is a private initiative, a project by two entrepreneurs based in Barcelona, Christopher Pommerening and Daniela Arens. I love the way its founders describe Foundum:
“Passion for entrepreneurship has inspired us to create Foundum. We believe in entrepreneurs as they have the greatest potential to drive, change and positively influence economies & societies.”
The first thing I did was invite my closest circle of entrepreneurs, investors and organisations that support entrepreneurship. A few days later Daniela Arens contacted me to ask for contacts who could be Foundum Ambassadors in Madrid, and I didn’t hesitate to volunteer.
This is another of Foundum’s advantages: it’s backed by leading entrepreneurs, investors and key people in each ecosystem. In Spain we have François Derbaix, Javier Santiso, Albert Armengol, Jesús Encinar, Iñaki Arrola, Aquilino Peña, Enrique Dubois, Seb Chartier, among others.
The first step is to sign up as an Entrepreneur, Advisor or Speaker. You can import your LinkedIn profile to make it quicker. Then describe your startup, your investor or advisor profile, your interests and what you can offer the community.
The site is very well organised, placing you in your local ecosystem, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, etc., with all the players around you. You get a bird’s-eye view of them all and can then look at each one in detail, search for investors, mentors, events for entrepreneurs or relevant information.
All the information is in English, which for me is a plus; after all, it’s the universal language of business.
If you’re an entrepreneur, investor or mentor, or you work at a company or organisation that supports entrepreneurs, I encourage you to join. Here’s my profile.
If you’d like to learn a bit more about the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain, here’s a link to a presentation of just 3 slides where I explain it in a very visual way. Felix Lopez on SlideShare.
Happy networking!
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