Carlos Blanco’s Los errores de los emprendedores (“The Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make”) joins the long list of books of help and inspiration for those of us crazy enough to set up our own company.
The author is one of the best-known figures in the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem, and one of the most seasoned, as he has been in internet businesses since before the dot-com bubble, back in 1996.
He is a mentor at SeedRocket, without doubt the best start-up accelerator in Spain. Here is his full BIO
Thanks to this long career, Carlos tells you about a great many experiences of success and failure, minor and major mistakes that he has suffered first-hand or witnessed among his friends and acquaintances.
I’ve been lucky enough to know Carlos for about 8 years, ever since I became a devoted regular at his event “First Tuesday”, where every month he invites one or more entrepreneurs to tell their story in depth so we can learn from them.
That’s where I discovered the direct, even slightly cheeky, style Carlos likes to use in his interviews to get every last detail out of the start-ups he interviews. From how much they sold their company for, how they got on with this or that partner and how they went about attracting users, to their expansion plans.
Carlos has invested in a good number of companies, so he has seen hundreds of business plans and heard hundreds of pitches, and in his book he breaks down the typical mistakes, above all when you are looking for investment from business angels.
Many entrepreneurs go looking for capital without having a good user base or having tested or proven their business model, so here you can find out how an investor thinks and when is the right moment to approach them.
As I mentioned, Carlos has a very direct style, so he gives you first-hand advice with no beating about the bush so that you don’t make the same mistakes. It’s aimed mainly at tech start-ups, which is the world he has moved in.
What will you learn from his book?
- Setting up your company, the shareholders’ agreement, finding a good lawyer. Your company’s mission, vision and values.
- The entrepreneur’s profile, types of entrepreneurs, the formula for success. The power of networking and your digital reputation. Get a coach in your life.
- Your start-up’s finances and KPIs
- The product, development, usability and other key aspects of its success.
- Markets, competition, expansion and internationalisation. Marketing (something many start-ups leave until the end, when they no longer have any budget because they’ve invested everything in the product).
- Managing your company and the team. Executing your business.
- Main recommendations.
- A list of the main investors in Spain.
Carlos currently runs Grupo ITNet, is the founder of Akamon, one of the leading companies in the online games sector, and set up the accelerator Conector together with Xavier Verdaguer, Risto Mejide, Marc Vidal and Axel Serena, among others, and it has a powerful group of top-level mentors.
For years he has been writing on his blog everything you could want to know, and more, about the start-up world, acquisitions and sales, funding rounds and the main investors on the Spanish scene. I recommend you follow him, on Twitter too: he is one of the best-informed sources in the sector.
So you know: if you want to know all the mistakes you are going to face when you launch your own start-up, and be able to avoid many of them, give this basic handbook a good read. It’s enjoyable, direct and simple, and it will save you more than one headache. Here you can take a look at the book before buying it.
Good luck, brave one!
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