La Nación: kill the idea so the business can be born

By Sofia Terrile 

First principle to start a successful business : kill the idea. "The product or service we think is the least important. The only important thing is to understand the others and see how I can give them the value they deserve," began Francisco Santolo, CEO and founder of the company builder and accelerator Scalabl.

Second principle: think about business models, not companies. And to think about those business models, Santolo invited his audience from theYoung Entrepreneurs Alliance (an alliance of young entrepreneurs that meets in Argentina in the framework of the G20) to think about how to do business without financial and economic risk and without investment.

To do a business without investment, he said, in an audience at the EY consulting firm, you need to have a vision. "If there is a person with a strong vision, he becomes powerful. Having a vision allows you to share it and exchange it for resources. You have to make people believe you and they will follow you," he began.

There is only one way to avoid financial risk: by avoiding fixed costs, such as rent and employees. At this point, Santolo spoke of a trend called "nikefication", because of the model of production and resource outsourcing that Nike adopted before the rest of the companies.

Finally, financial risk is avoided without investment. "The key is to look for a small niche with exponential growth potential that leaves high economic margins," he said.

Disruptive innovation is what traps future customers, he said, and that is where startups have the opportunity to participate. "They take time and are not interesting to big companies, because they don't interest their current customers. The business has gone global and we can build our business anywhere," he said.

Finally, he left a piece of advice for entrepreneurs: be vulnerable and humble. He explained that when people understand that they are not perfect, they can appreciate themselves, and so others appreciate them.

"Vulnerability is the beginning of everything," read the screen that accompanied him as he talked about the topic. "When you do not accept your vulnerabilities and when you do not have the humility to lead, then you are likely to fail," he closed.