What is needed to undertake?

Catalonia is a country of small and medium-sized enterprises, but also of entrepreneurship and its own ideas. According to Acció figures, every year there are around 2,500 start-ups in the country; two thousand newly created ideas and hundreds that have already achieved success. All thanks to the stubbornness of a few young people who one day decided they wanted to change the world. Entrepreneurship is nothing more than the need, desire, and resources to create something new. However, the reasons why we undertake are different for each person. Gonzalo Noy, co-founder and CEO of Dogfy; Mireia Roca, co-founder and co-CEO of Domma; and Gerard Garcia, founder and CEO of Deale converse and reflect on what pushed them to undertake at the III Congress of Young Entrepreneurs of Pimec.

DOMMA is a femtech (founded in 2021 by Cristina Martínez and Mireia Roca) that accompanies women during menopause with research, treatment, and support. Dogfy Diet is a company that sells fresh food cooked at low temperature for dogs by subscription, with portions adjusted to each animal. Deale is a digital platform for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that connects SMEs with investors and facilitates the buying and selling of companies.

"I wanted to be free to invest my time in what I wanted," explains Noy. Dogfy was not the first company he set up; in fact, he came from a watch business and also from sunglasses. For the entrepreneur, companies are ideas that end up being developed to, finally, sell them. They are a transaction, a way of making money through one's own talent. "I never wanted to be an employee," adds the founder. His vision is not strange; in fact, in many cases, start-ups reach a point of growth where they are absorbed by larger companies. It may be the least romantic vision of entrepreneurship, but the reality is that it works, and Noy is proof of this, with a company that invoices around 100 million euros and employs 600 people. "I think we fall too much in love with businesses," reflects the entrepreneur.

Precisely from love and passion for work arises DOMMA, the company of Roca and Cristina Martínez. The co-founder admits that the company is created with feeling, especially due to the fact that the idea comes from Martínez's personal experience with perimenopause. DOMMA seeks to be a space for active listening for women in this stage of maturity in their lives. Apart from dissemination, there is a lot of scientific research to achieve the best results. Roca assures that they undertook because they "had the bug to explore" this idea, but also recalls that DOMMA exists thanks to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, that is, "from one start-up comes another start-up," in the words of the founder. The reality is that the Co-CEOs of the company met in the co-founding team of Incapto, another successful start-up in the country.

Seeking to make money, taking advantage of the entrepreneurial ecosystem or, ultimately, inventing a model that does not exist. Deale was born with the aim of making life easier for companies and solving a conflict that still burdens the country's business ecosystem today: generational succession. Garcia confirms that he took the plunge after saving money in the United States and seeing a clear gap in the Spanish market: "If I had thought about it more, I wouldn't have done it," jokes the entrepreneur. He decided to set up the company because he considered that he had a unique vision, something to contribute to the business ecosystem and the age to do it. However, he also highlights that it was thanks to the money of many shareholders that he managed to achieve success: "We have become a hundred in Deale's shareholding."

Gonzalo Noy (Dogfy): "You have to go look for money when you still have money"

While it is true that the three entrepreneurs have very diverse apparent reasons for the creation of their companies, there are some points they share. For all three, money is a very important part of the project. Moreover, only Garcia specifies that he started the company with 50,000 euros he had saved. Roca also emphasizes that thanks to the participation of her partners in other companies, they managed to launch DOMMA. Thus, all confirm the importance of capital to set up companies. Noy, moreover, mentions that "you have to go look for money when you still have money." In this way, the three entrepreneurs recognize that it is necessary to have a good cushion and a solid proposal to attract enough capital. However, Roca also clarifies that "if you have a good idea, the money will come."

Talent, talent and talent

Beyond capital, talent is another of the pillars shared by the three entrepreneurs. Noy attributes a large part of his successes to the ability to find the right people: "You always have to have people much smarter than you." Both Roca and Garcia agree on the importance of having great professionals behind the companies. Talent thus becomes an essential piece for growing an idea and consolidating a business. This vindication of young talent was also present in the closing speech by the president of Pimec Joves, Gemma Roy, who demanded more prominence for young entrepreneurs in the transformation of the Catalan productive fabric. "We are not just the future. We are the present." For Roy, generational succession is not only about giving continuity to a business, but also about innovating, creating employment and transforming the legacy received: "Taking over is not simply continuing a business, but assuming the responsibility of a legacy and having the courage to transform it."