Spanish startups and NBA players: my starting lineup

The new NBA season is around the corner and for any given fan that translates into excitement. I have been a big fan since the Jordan vs. Magic days and, although my interest in the league at some point kind of plateaued out, the increasing addition of Spanish players to the league and my living in the US for 5 years re-sparked my passion.

It is a fact that in the last years we have enjoyed the best basketball generation in Spain ever and the fact that in season 2016-17 we will have 10 Spanish players in the NBA proves that once again. Over the years, an increasing number of Spaniard players has flown across the pond to conquer the Americas - the Gasol brothers being the main case in point - and that is something that we can also increasingly say about Spanish startups.

So, as the new season unfolds, I just thought about giving a shot at coming up with my starting lineup of Spanish startups (across different sectors) that are pushing hard at taking over the US (and global) markets. Obviously, it is hard to pick just five, as plenty of them are doing a great job, so please excuse my bias :). There we go:

1. Ricky Rubio - CARTO: Ricky is regarded as a great defender, passer and stealer, he is one of the best PG in the league. His Timberwolves seem to finally have a promising, yet still young, roster. Success may not be far away. If I had to bet on big success for a young Spanish startup, my chips would go for Carto, the Madrid and New York-based company focused on discovering and predicting key insights from location data. I love what they do and the endless possibilities their product and services offer. They have raised $31M so far and have a great team in place.

2. Pau Gasol - SCYTL: Pau is the best example of NBA success for a Spanish player to date. Little needs to be added, except for the fact that after joining the Spurs he should have another shot (GS Warriors permitting) at another ring. Along these lines, Barcelona-based electronic voting company Scytl has been around for some time (it is not a startup anymore I'd say), has an established presence in the US and there are rumors that it may file for an IPO on the Nasdaq in 2017 after having raised more than $100M in venture capital. There is so much young startups can learn from Scytl, same as young players from Pau.

3. Chacho Rodriguez - WALLAPOP: Chacho is about to start his second stint in the NBA at the 76ers after a not very successful time in Portland and a number of subsequent super fruitful seasons at Real Madrid. Philly is a team that continues to be rebuilt since Allen Iverson's departure and that enjoys the support of Philly's very passionate fans. Chacho has now the ability, experience and the minutes to shine. Following its becoming one of the recent darlings of the Spanish VC scene after attracting a huge (yet non-monetized) community of users to its classified ads marketplace, Wallapop has embarked on its US adventure by merging its US operations with Letgo. However, it will be a tough battle with entrenched players such as Craigslist and others.

4. Marc Gasol - ALIENVAULT: Marc has already enjoyed a pretty long career in the U.S. (in fact, since his high school days upon his family relocation when Pau joined Memphis), has critically helped the Grizzlies get to the next level so they compete face-to-face with the best, plus has also been able to make a personal impact in the league as one of the undisputed best centers. AlienVault was founded in 2006 by Spanish entrepreneurs and since then it has become a quasi-US company based out of Silicon Valley and a very relevant player as a platform providing security solutions for compliance and management threats. The company has raised $118M to date and may pride itself of having renowned investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Does it smell like unicorn here?

5. Willy Hernangomez - SHERPA: Willy will be starting his NBA career at my dear Knicks after a far from ideal last season at Real Madrid. A big challenge for him, as the weight of the Knicks jersey and of the Madison Square Garden is widely known.  The additions of Rose and Noah, the growth of Porzingis and the steady hand of Phil Jackson will hopefully be a good support for Willy. Although its AI-based personal assistant in Spanish has been in the works for quite some time, Sherpa has finally launched and jumped into the battlefield where it will be facing tough opponents such as Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana. Sherpa has already shown big potential after entering into a partnership with Samsung and the growing Hispanic demographic in the US is out there waiting. 2017 will be a significant milestone for the company.

Let's see how the season goes.

Kevin Durant, Tesla, Brexit ...takeaways para startups

El mes de junio ha sido rico en acontecimientos de muy diverso tipo. Y varios de ellos, muy distintos entre sí, me han dado algunas ideas para este post. A priori, pensar que podemos aplicar algunas enseñanzas del Brexit, del reciente accidente de Tesla o del flamante fichaje de Kevin Durant por los Golden State Warriors al universo startup resulta una quimera. Pero ya veréis como tiene sentido.

1. Kevin Durant...o la importancia de contagiar una mentalidad ganadora

Esta portada de Sports Illustrated que vi ayer resume perfectamente cómo se ha venido sintiendo Kevin Durant en su exitosa carrera. Y supongo que esto llegó a su máxima expresión estando 3-1 arriba contra los Warriors en la final de la conferencia oeste de la NBA de este año.

Su marcha a los Warriors anunciada ayer se puede interpretar de dos formas. Como la decisión fácil de irse a un equipo que le da probablemente más posibilidades que ningún otro de ganar el anillo el año próximo, abandonando el proyecto de los Thunder, bastante sólido pero no tanto. O bien como una decisión en la que está dispuesto a renunciar en cierta medida a su condición de mega estrella en Oklahoma en aras de un bien mayor: ganar el anillo.

En el plan de convencer a Durant se ha volcado toda la organización de los Warriors, desde Steph Curry hasta los dueños y director deportivo. Todo el mundo ha empujado en la misma dirección, como una sola fuerza. 

Y es ese querer alcanzar un sueño (exit) dándolo todo, ese aglutinar y alinear los intereses comunes para que todos los "estamentos" (empleados, management, accionistas) de la startup renuncien en parte y de forma razonable a su interés propio en aras de un objetivo superior lo que constituye la fuerza motriz, el viento de cola para un proyecto emprendedor. Y no es que sea recomendable, es que para mí es condición sine qua non.

2. El accidente mortal de un Tesla... o la importancia del día a día

Si hay una empresa (y un líder) que en los últimos tiempos ha despertado admiración - la cual profeso personalmente - esa es Tesla (y ese es Elon Musk). Tras la presentación el pasado mes de marzo de su más reciente modelo, el Model 3, Tesla consiguió 400.000 pedidos (valorados en unos $14.000 millones) en una semana. Si a eso unimos las continuas noticias sobre su mega fábrica de baterías en Las Vegas, rumores de adquisiciones corporativas, los éxitos de SpaceX (que ayudan sin duda, siquiera por asociación con Musk)... Días de vino y rosas, vaya. Y de repente, cuando todo iba rodado, llega el primer accidente mortal de un Tesla con piloto automático. Imposible estar a salvo del día a día.


Para una startup en proceso de crecimiento y eventual consolidación el día a día es fundamental. El mercado pronto olvida un gran partnership entablado con una gran empresa, o una potente ronda de financiación suscrita por inversores con pedigree, o el lanzamiento de un nuevo esperanzador producto. Los cambios en las dinámicas del mercado, la presión de los competidores, los intereses de los distintos stakeholders alrededor de la empresa. Cualquier circunstancia puede hacer en cualquier momento que se tuerza un camino que poco antes de preveía recto y despejado. 

3. Brexit...o la importancia del liderazgo

Semanas antes de que se celebrase el referendum en Reino Unido, un buen amigo que vive y trabaja en Londres ya apuntaba que era éste un lío en el que el otrora flamante primer ministro Cameron se había metido solito. Exceso de confianza? Asunciones erróneas? Desconexión con la realidad? Probablemente una mezcla de todo derivada de éxitos pasados (i.e. las últimas elecciones que ganó holgadamente). 

Más allá de las consecuencias "macro" para el ecosistema emprendedor europeo del Brexit, que bien resumía Gary Stewart (Director de Wayra UK & Telefonica Open Future en Reino Unido), a mí me parece que Mr. Cameron y su gente de confianza midieron horriblemente. Y esto es algo que puede suceder, y de hecho sucede a menudo en las startups. 

No seré yo quien descubra que la importancia de los equipos es capital en las startups. Un equipo puede hacer muy bueno a unos líderes mediocres. Y unos líderes mediocres pueden hacer malo a un buen equipo. Y un buen equipo y unos buenos líderes muy probablemente se harán mutuamente muy buenos. Pero para que esta ecuación funcione debe fluir la comunicación, deben conocerse las inquietudes, temores y aspiraciones de cada lado, deben todos ser capaces de ponerse en los zapatos del otro, deben todos comprender y empatizar con los intereses del otro. No valen las asunciones ni los puntos de vista unilaterales. Porque un día te despiertas y ha ganado el Brexit.


Food for thought. Hasta la próxima.

BBVA a explotar su patrocinio de la NBA

Alla por el mes de septiembre de 2010 BBVA anuncio a bombo y platillo su alianza como banco oficial de la NBA, por la nada desdenable suma de $75 millones por un periodo de 4 anhos.

Cifras las anteriores poco sorprendentes para las maquinas de hacer dinero que son las ligas profesionales americanas y para un experto como David Stern, comisionado de la NBA, acostumbrado a estirar al maximo los dolares para la liga. Tampoco se puede decir que la mareante cifra sea algo insolito en caso de BBVA, que ya es el patrocinador oficial de La Liga.

Parece que ahora es el momento de sacarle jugo al patrocinio y para ello BBVA ha preparado una campanha publicitaria importante - denominada "Team Works" - en colaboracion con la NBA, que ojala resulte tan espectacular como algunas de la liga tipo "where amazing happens".

EE.UU es un mercado clave para BBVA, sobre todo en la zona oeste y suroeste del pais, caracterizado por gran presencia hispana. La minoria hispana se ha convertido en la mayoritaria en EE.UU y se caracteriza por su mayor poder adquisitivo que otras minorias. Es un "demographic" con mucho potencial y de ahi que el intento de BBVA de ganar notoriedad parezca tener sentido.

Dicho esto, el hecho de ir adelante con una campanha tan potente, a nivel nacional, y en un deporte que la poblacion hispana que vive en EE.UU no sigue tan masivamente como el futbol, por ejemplo, me sugiere que pueda haber algun movimiento corporativo por parte de BBVA para ganar presencia en el pais, no solo entre la comunidad latina en todo EE.UU sino a todos los niveles. El tiempo dira...

Bankers and the World Cup

The World Cup semifinals are already here: Uruguay-Holland and Germany-Spain. If a month ago, at the time the tournament was kicking off, the three European squads were in the shortlists of favorites of many soccer fans and very few people, if any, had Uruguay in their heads. After the group-stage of the World Cup many voices claimed that the Latin American soccer was on top of the European one but after a couple of rounds it seems quite obvious that Europe has excelled.

But leaving fans aside, it was quite interesting to see that bankers themselves also made their predictions about who would be winning the Cup.

For instance, JP Morgan pulled together a model based on four metrics: (1) "valuation" ("market valuations of the teams and FIFA rankings), (2) "market & analyst sentiment" (result expectations and recent team shape), (3) "company fundamentals (consistency in market sentiment and JPM's success ratio), and (4) "price trend" (trend in probability to win and trend in FIFA ranking.

Based on the model, Brazil was the strongest team in the World followed by Spain, England and Holland. Germany and Uruguay trailed on the 12th and 18th spots of the rankings. In other words, we could say that JP Morgan's model accurately predicted two (Spain and Holland) of the four semi-finalists.

Goldman Sachs has issued a
World Cup report since France
1998 and it has been arguably
taken into consideration from
time to time in some countries
(such as the irritation in Brazil
 in 2002 following Goldman's
failure to include Brazil - the actual
winner - among the favorites). 
The model used by GS combines
FIFA rankings and odds from
a number of bookmakers, and
the teams are also penalized
according to how tough their
schedule is on average.

According to their probability
model, Brazil, Spain, Germany
and England - in this order - would
come out as favorites. Thus,
Goldman Sachs has two teams
right (Spain and Germany).




Finally, UBS has also produced a thorough report about the World Cup and about South Africa in general. According to UBS, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Holland were the countries more likely to win the Cup. That translates into UBS guessing right two (Germany and Holland) of the four semi-finalists.

All in all, this means a technical tie among the three investment banks, with each of them guessing two of the four semi-finalists, though the three of them provide different estimates. What it is obvious is that none of them got the right answer for their most likely winner, Brazil. Spain comes second in JPM's and GS' reports. Hope they are right!!

The essence of basketball

Yesterday the Lakers beat the Suns in the 6th game of the NBA's Western Conference Finals. Since the Celtics smashed the Magic in their series, that means that the "final of the finals" is back for the second time in three years.

I have not been very tuned to the NBA this season, mainly because the time difference does not play in my favor (the best way to follow it is by watching games rather than by reading articles and watching the highlights). But now is the time to get back to business.

From a business perspective I am sure that Mr. Stern and the rest of the NBA's management will have a spark in their eyes. No better scenario than a Lakers-Celtics final to gain momentum and to keep on milking the NBA brand around the world (in particular following Lebron's defeat).

I've always been a Laker fan, as far as I can remember. I did love Magic Johnson and that turned me into a Laker fan forever. Needless to say, when Pau Gasol signed for the Lakers such a feeling was re-boosted. On the contrary - and maybe precisely because I am a Laker - I do not like the Celtics at all. Never have and characters such as KG and Paul Pierce are not the kind of guys who will make me think differently.

Let's see how all this plays out. A couple of years ago the Celtics were way stronger and deserved to win. Let's see if Kobe, Pau, Lamar, Ron and the rest of the crew kick ass out there in the coming weeks.