2020 has undoubtedly been a different and difficult year. We have learnt to live (and live together) in a “different” way and many of the principles guiding our lives have radically changed. We do not know yet what the “new normality” will bring us soon.
Fellow Funders is a young company that has been significantly growing maintaining its excitement and commitment with the Spanish entrepreneurial environment. The main goal is to develop an alternative investment together. Within this maremagnum of feelings, at Fellow funders we would like to continue keeping the traditions and to share our own letter to the Entrepreneur Wise Men with you today. This letter is not too long, we did not have enough space to write all our ideas. We wanted to show our best wishes and hopes:
“Dear Entrepreneur, Wise Men:
This year has been challenging to Spanish society. We had many heartaches, bittersweet feelings and much uncertainty. However, all of us who are immersed in the entrepreneurial world have been very kind and we got to do our bit to make startups, “nanoSMEs” and SMEs environment sustainably grow. Entrepreneurs have undertaken, the investors have invested, and the public administrations have supported. However, we would like to have your support for the upcoming year and to get some gifts from you:
- A bigger support from the public administrations. We don’t want only non-refundable subsidies, guarantees in financial operations or loans on preferential conditions, but a stable regulatory framework and an explicit commitment with innovation (a necessary and essential motor in the change of the growing global productive model). Some initiatives for Fintech like Sandbox or the publication of the long-awaited Startup Law may be the first steps.
- A consistent tax treatment that is like the rest of the countries. This does not mean avoiding paying taxes or make tax engineering. Instead, what we need is to be able to compete on an equal footing with other countries whose legislation radically supports the development of the startup ecosystem. Great Britain or Israel can be examples to follow.
- The support of the investors. In this current situation, portfolio diversification is more important than ever, as liquidity levels in the markets have reached unprecedented levels and assets with lower levels of risk produce a virtually negligible return. We do need the investment portfolio managers and the individual investors to consider the alternative financing in startup essential. They should consider that, the higher risk we have, the higher the expected profitability should be. In this sense, it is important that the companies make a correct valuation and that the aim of the financing rounds are the development and the internationalization, and not the mere company’s structure maintenance.
- The support and consideration of the rest of the companies. When a startup develops a new and disruptive business model, there is always some company or entrepreneur that sees a threat to its traditional business model. However, what you should consider is that the threat does not come from the startup itself, but from the existence of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in your own company. We should never forget that the customer is the final recipient of the good or service we produce, and the purchase is the only method that gives validity to the business model we are developing. Examples such as the sectorial entrepreneurship hubs supported by some corporations go in this direction of collaboration for the development of the market.
Thank you very much for your attention! We hope that you will be able to bring us at least most of the gifts we have asked for (if not all). We promise to use them properly and that we will continue to be good. Happy New Year 2021!”.
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