Examine the keys to creating and scaling early-stage ventures from a pragmatic perspective: a startup is a business that must validate its business model and deliver real value. Discover growth management strategies based on hands-on experience, where agility does not excuse a lack of financial rigor and strategic vision.
Building a team is one of the biggest challenges—and blind spots—of a startup. Talent has a cost and requires a coherent compensation package: salary, variable pay, benefits, and, when market levels cannot be met, well-defined equity. Paying below market without compensating with real equity leads to poor hiring decisions, turnover, and burnout. “Project attractiveness” does not replace an honest economic offer or respect for the market.
In saturated markets, innovation no longer comes from new needs, but from removing friction in existing solutions. Complexity, lack of control, or slow processes create unnecessary user costs. Identifying, validating, and monetizing these frictions — with data and rigor — has become a key driver of real value creation.
The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is not an excuse to improvise. Speed does not replace upfront analysis or methodological rigour. An MVP should validate how a real market interacts with a value-creating solution, not justify failed prototypes caused by a poor understanding of the problem, the industry, or the customer.
For years, an overly simplified narrative has taken hold: entrepreneurship as synonymous with dynamism and freedom, and the corporate world as bureaucracy and conformism. The reality is less epic and far more demanding. Having an idea is not the same as being an entrepreneur; entrepreneurship begins when that idea is subjected to analysis, method, and market validation. It is not an escape from the corporate world, but a genuine intention to create more value—and the ability to capture it.
When does a startup stop being one? Beyond age or revenue, the answer lies in factors such as profitability, business model validation, internal structure, and market perception. In this post, I explore the metrics and signals that mark the transition from exploration to consolidation—and how the “startup” label can sometimes serve as a refuge from the demands of real growth.
Just like humans are born with all their vital organs, a startup begins with all its functional areas. Age and size are often the most used parameters to define it, but they don’t tell the whole story: what truly matters is the development and maturity of those areas. So, can we really call a startup a company, or not yet?
For some, chasing unicorn status has become a distraction. Some startups rush to scale without validating product-market fit, mistaking valuation for value. Quibi, Beepi, and Jawbone show what happens when hype overrides fundamentals. True success isn’t mythical—it’s meaningful. Focus on building something real, profitable, and lasting. Not every company needs to be a unicorn. But every founder should want to build something that matters.
In this video, I share my journey from marketing to music, highlighting my diverse industry experience and passion for bass guitar. I discuss the evolution of the music industry, the impact of technology like AI and streaming platforms, and the importance of personal branding for musicians. I emphasize adaptability, diversification of income, and the value of live performances.