Opinno has been assisting Spain Tech Center to find Spanish start-up recruits for its orientation program based in Silicon Valley, a global center for high technology, venture capital, and innovation.
The prestigious immersion program mentors a select amount of Spanish early-stage start-ups and entrepreneurs to look at validation on an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and advises them on their business model for early access to markets in the USA.
It was Opinno’s role to help locate the very best in technological innovation and business the Spanish sector had to offer. The first step was to oversee the public call for suitable candidates. The competition accepts only ten percent of applicants so competition is fierce.
Winners can expect an immersion course that runs over 2 days from three cities in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The potential benefits for early start-ups and entrepreneurs are huge with the array of workshops, mentoring and networking included in real-time webinars run from headquarters in the Silicon Valley and imparted by experts, there to share their know-how and insights. What’s more, it is free.
The criteria for choosing the final ten percent rests on start-ups’ MVP and its potential as both a viable technological and business bet. But after that hurdle, what comes next?.
Opinno also managed the next and perhaps most crucial stage for candidates: their arrival in San Francisco and the fortnight of direct immersion and acceleration period for their MVP to reach markets. Although the program is still in its early years, companies that have crossed the pond previously under the tutelage of the STC program have a very high success rate: over 90% are still active in USA markets.
Successful participants had the support and access to a HUB created by Opinno in San Francisco, a resource that provides them with an ecosystem of networking opportunities and the range of innovative methodologies for business acceleration for US markets.
This is an ongoing program, but already a highly effective way of supporting small to medium-sized start-ups with a viable idea. During the last four years, over 300 Spanish companies have participated in the acceleration program. More than 50 companies are active and stable today, and the program is expanding to include other markets.
