Rise and Grind

An entrepreneur’s journey is a tough, long and winding trail filled with lots of potholes and obstacles. And, all too often, it’s a lonely one. With over 90% of startups failing within a few years, it is understandable why many people get discouraged. This can be especially daunting for expat-preneurs who often lack a reliable network of colleagues to lean on. Enter Startup Grind Barcelona!

Startup Grind Barcelona is at the forefront of Barcelona’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, helping thousands of entrepreneurs by creating and empowering a community of dreamers and innovators. Despite the aforementioned gloomy statistics on failure rates of young technology companies, there are very encouraging macroeconomic data that suggest more organizations sharing Startup Grind’s mission are needed. For example, while Spain’s Ministry of Economy reports in 2017 that some 55% of Spanish companies had no salaried employees and 99% of Spanish companies had less than 50 employees, Catalonia Trade and Investment reports that Barcelona had approximately 1,200 startups employing some 12,000 employees that same year.

At 2018’s Four Years From Now (4YFN) conference during the Mobile World Congress, technology life cycle guru Michael Eckhardt from the Chasm Institute explained that Barcelona continues to solidify itself as a leading European hub for technology innovation. In Atomico’s The State of European Tech, London’s leading venture capital firm ranked Barcelona just behind London, Amsterdam and Paris as the best ecosystems to produce future technology leaders. World class technology professionals and business schools collaborate with both public and private infrastructures in Catalonia. Plus, Barcelona’s great weather and competitive cost of living continue to attract international talent as well as investors who are increasingly willing to put risk capital at work with Catalan companies.

Since 2014, Startup Grind Barcelona has organized monthly events that inspire people to launch and grow their own companies while providing a place where a room full of self-starters can learn from each other, exchange tips to secure funding, discuss growth hacking techniques as well as unleash creative juices to explore synergies. Stela Zarija, a Startup Grind volunteer who works at Dow Jones, adds, “In addition to learning from a different keynote speaker each month, the audience is encouraged to take advantage of an open-mic session where one has the chance to pitch a good cause, articulate a critical need (for job seekers and employers alike), share opportunities or simply announce one’s recent arrival to the city and a desire to share a cold beer with friendly, like-minded digital nomads.”

Although these events are held in English and appeal primarily to technologists, the Startup Grind Barcelona team itself is comprised of volunteers with expertise in various sectors — both in and outside of tech — and who originate from countries around  the world. Launched and led by Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, the Barcelona chapter has hosted 56 events in four years, regularly attracting over 100 people on average per event to network with Spain’s leading influencers in technology, venture capital and business leaders. The speakers are carefully selected to provide insights and anecdotes from players who are willing to share their hard-earned insights, spark debates and challenge assumptions. The audience regularly peppers the keynote speakers with questions. Afterwards all are expected to enjoy delicious tapas from Las Muns and Estrella Damm beers while networking.

Founded in 2010 in Mountain View, California, Startup Grind, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, has chapters in over 400 cities spanning 125 countries and over one million entrepreneurs. A fundamental part of its success is directly related to Startup Grind’s corporate values: Make Friends (not contacts); Give First (don’t take); and Help Others (before yourself). While the speakers tend to provide uplifting stories and insights key to their successes, Co-Director of Startup Grind Barcelona Carlos Cruz Raztrojo understood that a key component for the organization’s popularity was the authenticity of its speakers.

On that note, Carlos, who runs an events management business and connects international internships with Barcelona-based companies, sensed a niche also existed where speakers could add value to the startup ecosystem by sharing stories of epic failures in their careers or personal lives. Accordingly, Carlos re-launched the local chapter of a Mexico-based organization called FvckUp Nights that creates a friendly and reassuring environment where people are expected to reveal their mistakes and insecurities… and then network over beers and tapas afterwards. The ability to relate to others’ vulnerabilities and screwups has proven to be quite popular, even if finding people willing to showcase failures in public can be tough.

In addition to the monthly Startup Grind events, the Barcelona chapter enjoys the distinction and privilege of being able to host an annual regional conference. Last year over 700 entrepreneurs, local and international investors and compelling speakers attended. Startup Grind Barcelona will host a Tech Conference event November 13 and 14 with another impressive line-up of speakers, panelists and tech savvy entrepreneurs. These include but are not limited to Alexis Bonte (Atomico), Vicens Marti (elrow), Dhiraj Mukherjee (Shazam), Clancy Childs (Dow Jones), Sofia Benjumea (Google Campus Madrid), Lorenz Jüngling (N26), Jaime Novoa (K Fund), Laura González (Schibsted), Orit Kopel (WikiTribune), Ryan Bubinski (Codeacademy), Xavier Redó (Marsbased), Ramón Pastor (HP 3D Multi Jet Fusion Business), Josh Felder (Rentify), Asha Jadeja (Angel investor & VC), Xavier Noria (Ruby on Rails), Miguel Valls (Alta Life Sciences), Pepe Agell (Chartboost), Montse Guàrdia (Banc Sabadell), Costanza Vannutelli (Utopicus), Josep Mitjà (Rakuten TV), Scott Mackin (Barcinno) and Sunil Bhardwaj (Globatalent).