The Lisbon Business Angels’ Club hosted another edition where startups where able to pitch and showcase their projects to investors. According to Sergio Miguel Gonçalves, the former project manager for the Lisbon Business Angels’ Club, “about 30% of the event attendees were investors and the event outcome was, once again, extremely positive”.
Miguel Salvado: We’re here at the 3rd anniversary of the Lisbon Lisbon Business Angels’ Club. Tell us about what happened here today.
Sergio Miguel Gonçalves: This was a special session of our club. It’s our third anniversary and we have a full house with young and not so young entrepreneurs and lots of business angels. Some of those investors started the process of making investments in these projects, so I think this was a super session and a success.
“The biggest advice for entrepreneurs is to go for the long term and just do it. It’s better to do it rather than aim for perfect.”
Sergio Miguel Gonçalves
For you, as an investor, what kind of traits do you find interesting in an entrepreneur?
The biggest advice for entrepreneurs is to go for the long term and just do it. It’s better to do it rather than aim for perfect. You should go for the long term, but in the short term, you have to be able to execute.
What kind of startups have been coming to do pitches here?
This session we had some entrepreneurs from the clothing, tech, and mobility industry. We’ve been having a diverse set of sectors, which is great. Portugal is very active in the startup scene.
Projects for the future? What kind of new ideas are these projects bringing about?
I think Portugal, with the Web Summit boost, will have a great drive for the tech industry. The fintech and wealth tech will be the future of our investments.
“The Web Summit was great, lots of inputs from investors and of new ways of doing business. I hope to go again in 2017.”
Sergio Miguel Gonçalves
We met at the Web Summit; tell us a bit about your experience there.
It was great, lots of inputs from investors and of new ways of doing business. I hope to go to the next web summit in 2017. I also hope some of the key speakers come again, because they were great giving us a glimpse of the future.
At the Web Summit, the CEO Paddy Cosgrave said there was a record in women attendees. Could you comment on that?
Even in our club, the vast majority is women. At the start of our club, we were known for being a women’s club. Not so much anymore, thought. Anyways, I think women will run the future.
If you could sum up in a sentence a good piece of advice you could share with young entrepreneurs, what would you say?
Do it, go for the long term and don’t get lost with short-term results.
“Young entrepreneurs must understand their business before seeking investment.”
Sergio Miguel Gonçalves
Do you think it could be detrimental for a company to get funded too soon?
Depends on the company and the business. Young entrepreneurs must understand their business before seeking investment. But in some cases, early or pre-seed investment is the only way for a product to reach the market.