These series of guest posts are written by the teams attending the Tetuan Valley Startup School 2010 Fall edition. This post is from the Labscope team, formed by José Ignacio Galarza, Carlos Hernando y José Antonio Leiva
Spanish people, at least as far as we know, have a deep fear of failure. In fact, to be a “fracasado” as we say, is perhaps one of the worst professional adjectives you can use. This is not just a fear or a phobia of not reaching success, it’s maybe some kind of inferiority complex that every Spanish feels deep in their bones.
However, as we grow and look around, it’s easy to be afraid of our future. We have no real economically measurable
natural resources, we haven’t big manufacturing firms exporting goods abroad and our market represents some kind of inner circle, we really like to buy and sell only to ourselves… sad but true. In the meantime, some known developing countries like Brazil have overtaken us recently without much effort and some of us are starting to think that there may not be room enough for a country like Spain in the long term. It’s time to think who we are and what we’re doing. It’s time to change it if we don’t like it.
Although not very common in our media, our R&D, science and new technologies markets are growing at a good pace. With time, the researcher figure is starting to be recognized locally, though we still have to fight for the image of our PhD in business.
Collaboration between universities and companies comes into existence, though not without some reluctance. I don’t mean just to collaborate in research projects funded by the European Union. Let’s face it, we must create value together, university should be the “think tank” and companies the “engine” to develop the ideas that arise and promise profit for both of them.
On the other hand, although it will never be enough, there are some government supported agencies like CDTI that really help technology-based companies or startups recently established in the early stages, in which initial capital is essential. As we have learnt, it’s healthy and consistent to keep always in mind the idea of “Lean Startup”. You have to make money from day one. But it’s also true that in some academic environments there is usually no equity to take the first steps in the startup, to which we have to add our strange hobby, also very Spanish, of home buying with huge mortgages.
Finally, little by little, Spanish entrepreneurs are beginning to be known. Companies like BuyVIP or Tuenti, showed in the media recently, are examples of profitable and successful startups founded by Spanish people. And there are countless examples to be considered with reasonably success but perhaps not so well known.
Tetuan Valley is an example of initiatives that marked the turning point we were all waiting for. Represents a call market. “We are here! We’ve found our startups and we’ll help others to achieve it.”. Some MBA programmes have much to learn from these guys, really.
So, if we join university environments in which actual researchers are generating powerful ideas capable of creating real value, not only for our country but for global markets; grant government agencies supporting the creation of startups and technology based companies and initiatives in the entrepreneurial management environment, like Tetuan Valley, that provide us with real examples of experienced entrepreneurs who make the effort to listen, understand our intentions and help us in our fight, why shouldn’t we try? Will we embrace again our fears? Let’s try to ignore them for a while and luckily the might even disappear forever 
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