What are the three golden rules that startups must follow to get financing?

The startups Argentine companies face the same dilemma as any company that is just starting out: How to get the financing needed to grow?

Some of those companies still in development made it to the Santa Fe Business Forum with the intention of finding an answer to that question. And one more thing: finding an investment fund willing to listen to new proposals and risk capital in their ventures.

This topic was addressed in the Investment Forum which deliberated next to the banks of the Paraná River, in the halls of the Rosario River Station.

The person in charge of offering some guidance to an audience full of small entrepreneurs with varied experience was the businessman from Rosario Bernardo Milesy, founder of the Glocal VC fund, who left “three golden tips” for those who are starting out on the adventure of getting money for their projects.

Advice from a venture capital expert

“The first piece of advice, which may seem obvious but my experience shows that it is not, is Study the characteristics and profile of the fund carefully “The one who approaches you for financing. You have to be sure that this fund invests in the sector that you are developing. Otherwise it will be a waste of time and effort,” said Milesy.

“The second is Don’t believe that they have a unique, brilliant and unrepeatable solution to offer to its users. The reality is that there are many similar, almost identical solutions. That is why it is necessary to be very clear when explaining what your proposal consists of and, above all, what makes it different from the rest,” he added.

“Thirdly, they must know that seeking and obtaining financing is a long road, which cannot be resolved in a single round. Therefore, You have to have a very clear map of where you want to move forward.. How each step of the process will be and something fundamental: knowing what they are going to use each financing they receive for. They have to explain clearly what they want the money for based on the project. This is something that investors take into account,” he concluded.

The Glocal VC fund specialized in the agtech vertical, that is, the universe of technological solutions for the agricultural business. “Being from Rosario, where the agricultural sector is so developed, it occurred to me to link traditional exploitation with technology,” explained Milesy.

“The essence of our fund is that we provide smart capital, and that means that it is not just about money, but we also help define the business model and make it highly scalable,” he explained.

What does a startup need to be attractive?

“The project has to have the possibility of growing quickly in a short time. This is what differentiates an agtech from a traditional agricultural business. And that is why our activity is called venture capital, since we aim to achieve exponential growth as quickly as possible,” added Milesy.

“But there is something else. That rapid growth It has to have a positive impact on the economy, the community and the environment.. Our fund is a Certified B Company. It is very important for us. The goal of achieving an economic return has to be accompanied by achieving the greatest possible contribution. All the investments we make have to have an economic, social and environmental impact. If it doesn’t have that, we don’t invest,” he clarified.

Regarding the characteristics that differentiate Argentine entrepreneurs from others in the region, Milesy commented: “Argentines They are accustomed to changing faster under pressure from the economic and social contextbecause they face a constant change in the rules of the game. Argentines accept this instability as something natural. That does not mean that entrepreneurs of other nationalities do not know how to implement changes, but they do not have it incorporated as something natural,” he concluded.

Another characteristic that differentiates the Argentine entrepreneur is, according to Milesy, that “from the first moment They are thinking about how to get out of the Argentine marketor, expand to other countries.”

And he explains it this way: “The entrepreneur knows that local turnover is not enough to sustain a project, due to a market scale in many cases. That is why, from the beginning, they are thinking how to conquer new markets. This is something that does not happen as much in Brazil or Mexico, which are large markets and entrepreneurs are not in such a hurry to go out and export their services.”

However, the businessman clarified that the urgency to get out is not always a good advisor: “You have to get out, but it has to be at the right time with the right resources. There is no point in acting heroically without thinking about what is at stake. If it is not a prepared decision, money, time and energy are lost, all of that is wasted value.”