“It is a project with such quality and specialists without comparison in my 30 years of experience in Cádiz.”
His more than thirty years of experience guarantee him, although there are aspects that cannot be well reflected in the length of an interview. Passionate about the user/customer experience and restaurants, he had his first venture with a creperie. He published his first web page before Google was born and since then he hasn't stopped his technological adventure.
Pierre Huby considers himself a serial entrepreneur. He has been a project manager in a multinational consulting firm, has worked in gastronomic marketing and has created a voice and language processing technology startup (accelerated in Open Future).
He considers that he has learned a lot along the way and believes that as an Incubazul mentor he can help, mainly, in matters related to the business model, segmentation, value proposition, channels and sales. He also to ask himself the right questions and to know how to answer them. And always taking as a reference his favorite book “Zero to one”.
What are your areas of specialization?n?
I can summarize them in business models, Go to market, digitization and metrics (product and business).
I have worked in companies of all sizes, in all phases, from the initial idea to developing clients, and I have come to work in a multinational. My experience covers the "Zero to One" in almost all facets, I have worked a lot on product, a lot on marketing and a lot on management. Therefore I have training as CPO (production director), CMO (marketing director) and CEO (executive director).
And my specialty is digitization, understood not in the sense of buying tools but of analyzing processes and seeing where it can be automated.
What experience do you have with entrepreneurship? And with the blue economy?
I am a serial entrepreneur, who started in restoration and since then, we are talking about 1996, I have continued in tech with a CPO and CEO profile. I had had little contact with the Blue Economy until now, although I had a broader knowledge of this sector through training at the University of Cádiz.
My first business adventure was when I was 23 years old, with a creperie. It was an important adventure, with 14-hour days, and it gave me the opportunity to understand what production, purchasing, marketing and management mean. I started it without knowing anything, I wish I had mentors. I learned based on "slaps".
Then I discovered the internet, in 1995, and I realized that it was changing the world. I started chatting with engineering professors at Berkeley, and I've been hooked ever since, and the part that interests me the most is how we interact with machines.
My common thread in technology is the user experience and my passion is cooking. I've had back and forth between gastronomy and technology. And my engine has been curiosity.
What are the main challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the sustainable economy in general and in the blue economy, in particular?
They all tend to focus on the same thing, access to investment for projects, whose scalability is mainly in process improvement. The search for investment is a challenge, especially when there is a lack of an ecosystem that attracts investors from other points.
It is the most important role that the Incubazul adventure can have. The creation of an Innovation Hub (entrepreneurs, incubator with their mentors and the University). Let investors know there is backing. talent and structure to develop it.
You have to sell the idea and transform it into a financial product and you have to prepare those incubated for that, which is a complex psychological leap.
What does it mean to be a mentor at Incubazul?
You have to ask the right questions at the right time. I don't think a mentor has to give answers, but he does have to ask the right questions. I don't think it's the mentor's job to give the answers, but to put them on track.
Being a mentor at Incubazul is a great responsibility to support startups. It is also a unique opportunity to generate value in the territory itself, in terms of establishing population and talent.
What do you think you can contribute to incubated companies?
I can add experiences, many, knowledge and large doses of realism.
So far I have intervened with two incubated companies, one in which I have focused on the need to focus and define the business hypothesis of the three possible growth drivers.
In another company I saw the importance of solving administrative issues first. In both cases under the premise that mentoring must be horizontal.
With regard to new companies, there is a large volume, some with strong technological weight. We are reaching the second batch with good results in terms of volume and we are beginning to have projects with the intention of being more than self-employment.
How do you accompany startups during the acceleration process?
It is not our role, in my opinion, to assign tasks to the incubated. But yes, put checkpoints, encourage reflection. We influence a lot but we don't make decisions.
We must act with the greatest possible sincerity, trying to be a support always available for consultation.
Would you encourage other entrepreneurs to join Incubazul? Why?
Incubazul is an opportunity without comparison in my 30 years of experience in Cádiz. So specialized and with people of such quality. There are professionals with many boards. There are very varied and experienced people in the team of mentors, and in the management team, with the Telefónica methodology, and the contribution of Navantia, as a "tank" of knowledge and business opportunities, with the ability to generate synergies.
In short, I recommend the project without a doubt. I know Telefónica's methodology for having been mentioned in El Cubo and it is my best professional experience in terms of acceleration and support. Incubazul's team of mentors covers all areas well.
Do you want to tell us something else?
One recommendation: aim to read 40 books a year.
A CEO who doesn't read, who doesn't bother to absorb the enormous amount of knowledge to run a company, gets nowhere. You have to make a constant acquisition of knowledge. Setting up a company is a road that never ends.
If you want to present your Blue Economy project and become part of Incubazul you can do it here.
This High Technology Incubator project for the promotion and encouragement of innovation and technology transfer to micro-SMEs in the Blue Economy sector In Andalucia “[BlueEcoIncuba x Lo
