Friday’s session was an interesting way to finish off the course. In some ways, Rodolfo Carpintier was a hard dose of reality before heading out into the real world. We’ve heard inspiring stories and anecdotes from our speakers, full of businesses founded on less-than-fully-formed ideas and success gained on the run. We’ve been pumped up with inspiration and the confidence that we can run out and write our own success stories. Rodolfo was the powerful reminder that a business still requires fundamentals to succeed. Numbers can’t be made up, assumptions must thought through. Investors are looking for more than a strong team, they are looking for a strong team with a clear vision.
The idea of the clear visions is what I’ll take away from the talk. Focus is vital. It’s easy to get caught up with trying to do 100 different things in the course of starting a venture. There is opportunity and you feel as if you must grab at all of them. But the message was crystal clear; focus on one thing, such as building a user base, succeed there, and then try different things. Eyes on the prize, if you will. Focus is vital, and focus is something I’ll try and apply to whatever I do next.
It’s all over, hard to believe. I have a plane ticket home and no plans beyond that. No idea where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing a year from now. But whatever I’m doing, I know now, based on this class and the last 12 months of lessons, that I’ll be able to do it better than I ever would have prior to coming to Spain.
Best to all of you, and thanks for reading.
