In January Eada organized entrepreneurship panel in their renovated campus in Barcelona and I was lucky enough to be invited there as a panelist representing Apiumhub.

About the event: entrepreneurship panel discussion in EADA

EADA has entrepreneurship center whose mission it is to promote, back and develop entrepreneurial mindsets, competencies, skills, and initiatives among EADA’s current participants and Alumni.

To show current participants what real entrepreneurship is, they decided to organize this entrepreneurship panel discussion with owners and C-level executives to share their struggles and success. As what we read about entrepreneurship is not always true in real life.

To be honest, it was an amazing entrepreneurship panel discussion. Also, I was very happy to be back, as I did my Masters in EADA and to see my Professors and Jordi Diaz was a real pleasure! Also, there were around 100 of EADA’s current participants and Alumni. After presenting 4 Years From Now (4YFN) and interesting data from Mobile World Capitalannual report, the panelists started to share their business stories and giving their tips. All panelists work in different industries and it was very interesting to hear all these business cases.

Entrepreneurship panel participants

Ekaterina Novoseltseva – CMO at Apiumhub
Mariano Najles – Co-founder and CEO of Las Muns
Scott Mackin – CEO and co-founder of Barcinno and Bourbon Creative
Alberto Cabezas-Castellanos – Founder and CEO of Gauss & Neumann

All panelists came to the conclusion that entrepreneurship is like a rollercoaster, there are always ups and downs and there is no secret formula to the success.

Also, all of the panelists said that choosing the right co-founder is critical to the success, as well as creating the team, doing networking, and checking continuously the finance and accounting.

Here you may find more info about it with the rest of the tips.

Now, let me share with you our story: how we grew from just having co-founders 3 years ago to a team of 40 people and working for clients like: Nestle, Fitness First, Axa, Adidas, Cornerjob, Carnovo, Typeform, Grifols, Dexeus, etc.

Apiumhub story

It was 2014 when the company was founded. Their software experts have always shared the same vision, putting agile methodologies in the center of all processes. And just like many other companies at first, we were doing everything in terms of software that clients asked us to do. However, working on many design & development projects and talking with our clients and friends in the industry, we actually realized that in order to offer the best solutions, we need to separate development from design and focus on their core services: software architecture, web development & mobile app development.

And 2017 was a notable year for Apiumhub’s team. We have gone through radical changes and even re-branded, got a new look and transformed into a tech hub, Apiumhub.

You may ask us, why Apiumhub name and why green?

Well, Apium directly represents our identity. You might not know this, but Apium comes from the word “Apium graveolens”, which is the scientific name for celery – the vegetable. Just like the software we develop, it has great benefits. It cleans your system, fixes all sorts of health issues and prevents you from various illnesses. So we thought, why not a clean & healthy software?

The color we chose is green. You might think that our choice was quite obvious, however, we focused on the meaning of the color. Green represents growth, reliability, prosperity, mental clarity, renewal & safety.

And hub? In order to avoid a common error of many business owners and try to do everything ourselves, we decided to position ourselves as software architecture and development experts and launch a spinoff – North, which is specialised in product management, user experience and design. Also, to be able to cover the whole cycle of digital product development, Apiumhub decided to collaborate with different partners, each one specialized in it’s own field: for example SEO, ASO, digital marketing, digital communication, design, IoT, blockchain, tech lawyers, etc. Apiumhub is aiming to be the central point, a hub, for the clients, where they can find the best experts to work on their digital project together. So, now, Apiumhub is more than just a software development company, it became a tech hub that reunites innovation, design & technology.

Apiumhub wants to continue growing it’s community and areas of expertise by bringing together the most passionate & advanced experts in the digital that will have an impact on the tech industry. More info you may find here.

Currently, we have 10 Barcelona-based partners:

SEOCOM – an award winning SEO agency that helps you optimise the online presence of your company.
Two Reality – VR & AR agency, which creates 3D content for unforgettable experiences.
Comunicae – is a Saas company specialized in content & press management.
Delvy – law firm with a focus on corporate law, ecommerce, data protection, fundraising strategies for companies in the TIC industry.
Sweat– a video production studio that uses animation, motion graphics, VFX and postproduction to create a heavy visual impact.
Thethings.io – IoT company that enables fast and scalable connection of things to the Internet, allowing to monitor and manage devices in real-time and get analytics reports.
PickASO – App Marketing & Mobile Growth company, covering all stages of an app marketing cycle.
Silicon Valley Barcelona – Barcelona’s entrepreneurial community, that shares key startups, tech and innovation news, tips & events.
North – digital product studio that a focus on user experience and design.
Abissi– spinoff of Abinsula, which is specialized in Cybersecurity for Connected Cars and for Connected Objects

We believe in collaboration! And we search for like-minded people in Barcelona Tech city and in Sant Cugat Empresarial. Also, our CEO is a member of EO organization and there he gets inspired by how to grow healthy.

We also introduced new initiative this year – Apiumhub University. As there is currently a problem of finding a high qualified developer for a reasonable price, a lot of startups and big enterprises were asking Apiumhub for a training opportunity. And with the objective of not just getting the talent, but growing it and scale it, we launched our own “University”. With the help of our renowned software architect Christian Ciceri and other highly qualified experts from our team, Apiumhub gives personalized training, theoretical and practical tasks based on real projects, ensuring their clients have talents that they need.

Here you may find case studies of the projects we have done so far for leading international companies and consolidated startups.

As for the entrepreneur tips, there is no magic formula for success. So, instead of giving advice about “how to do things the right way”, we decided to share our own experience and point out on those important factors that we believe are extremely important for a sustainable and profitable business. Find them here! As I said, I don’t believe that if you follow these tips you will definitely succeed, but I do believe that listening to others’ stories can be very helpful and can make you aware of certain difficulties of being an entrepreneur, and in a way, help you be more prepared.

Let’s see what 2018 will bring, but it is expected to be a great year for the tech sector of the city and for Apiumhub in particular.

Have a great year, people!

And if you are interested in entrepreneurship and tech innovation, I highly recommend you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter here.

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