The FACE of experience with Marro & Levy

Any startup that wants to survive its first months ought to have a financing plan, something that Pierre Marro, Project Officer of the European Commission, explains clearly. His advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs is to be as prepared as possible and to believe in their own possibilities.

Marro also reminds us that the European Commission has a series of programs to help entrepreneurs, programs for example which Sidney Levy, co-founded of ‘Wiffinity’, has benefited from. For this entrepreneur it’s essential to attend as many events and join as many networks as possible, as this is fundamental to promoting a startup. What’s more, Levy ensures us that financial guidance is just as important as the guidance for many other aspects of entrepreneurship.

Discussion

Pierre Marro talks about how young entrepreneurs lack knowledge of the financial world and Sidney Levy says its essential to be part of as many events and networks as possible:

QUESTION

What has been the most difficult aspect of maneuvering the financial world as a startup? And in your experience, what are the advantages of attending startup and networking events?

Julie Mannu

The financial part is always the most feared, but in my case is to find the right person which took me a long time. At first I was looking around me, but then I understood that if I moved in other events of entrepreneurship I would have more contacts and could possibly find future partners. And, it’s what I’m doing.

09/06/2016 0 0 1

Nakul Wali

good to know the importance of investment in startups.

07/06/2016 3 0 0

Ruairi McNicholas

Figuring out where to start is a big challenge – taking a loan, looking for investment, putting your own money in, crowdfunding, ect. Getting a mentor with a knowledge of the financial world is a great place to start. Crowdfunding is often a viable option – my own start-up raised its first round of funding on IndieGoGo so hit me up if you’ve questions on it! Networking events are great for a number of reasons. You can meet other entrepreneurs and hear about their challenges and successes, and can also meet people involved in various start-up support networks/organisations. You could meet customers too!

30/05/2016 4 0 3

Angela Cook

Thank u Ruari! You provided a big amount of valuable info for prospective and indecisive entrepreneurs like me. It seems that u were very confident from the beggining and that’s smth I envy 😛 What was your main fear when u started? If you have any!

01/06/2016 0 0 0

Ana Martínez

Some people even meet their cofounder! 😀

01/06/2016 1 0 1

Christian Atz

I made the mistake of initially putting to much effort on joining startup events during a time the product was not ready yet. It´s important to network, but a lot more easy and effective once you can show a working prototype or especially first revenue.

04/02/2016 8 0 2

Angela Cook

For young professionals and newborn startups the challenge is finding and approaching investors, but it’s even more difficult to get the initial funds to obtain the pilot product or demo that you will show investors to get their support/initial investment. Networking events, entrepreneurs’ meetups and coworking spaces are great places to meet interesting stakeholders for you, your team and your startup.

11/12/2015 7 0 0

Julie Mannu

I believe that entrepreneurship support centres are points of meetings and thanks to them we can have access to many events in the world of ICT entrepreneurship. So try to join an incubator!

11/12/2015 5 0 1

Cole Byrn

It’s difficult realizing that even though you’ve raised funds once, it doesn’t necessarily mean the company is worth more money or that there’s enough cash to get to the next milestone

11/12/2015 5 0 0

blancarabena Rabena

was at the Face event at campus party, and Jose Ildefonso said that money should not be your main focus, that you have o have resources and make sure that once you get the money you know what to do with it, and ofcourse it will help get you to your next milestone

01/06/2016 1 0 0

Michelle Marcoux

Startup events and networking gatherings are great places to meet mentors, make friends and most of all learn. Sure, we can search online, read all the blogs, watch all the videos on YouTube, but it’s not the same as coming together with others to share knowledge about the same things you’re passionate about. We must be careful, though, solely attending events isn’t enough. It’s important to know which events and meetups will most benefit you and your startup and seek those out.

10/12/2015 6 0 2

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