Month: August 2016

Startups

itnig exclusive: Talking with Olapic founder Pau Sabria after the $130 mill acquistion

Aug 15, 2016 by Itnig Startup Ecosystem 0 Comments , , , ,
Pau Sabria from Barcelona co-founded Olapic which recently was sold to Monotype.

A couple of weeks ago Olapic was acquired by Monotype for $130 million.

For those of you that don’t know Olapic, is a startup that helps brands promote themselves with user-generated photos. Even though it’s not a registered Spanish company, the founders; Pau Sabria, Jose de Cabo and Luis Sanz, are all Spanish.

We sat down for a chat with Pau, which was quite relieved after the acquisition was final.

My co-founders and I are very excited about the next chapter for Olapic. It has been an amazing six years for us. At one point early on, we had a make-it-or-break-it moment, so to have come this far is quite satisfying.

Looking back, the three founders could not have chosen a better time to launch a user-generated photos startup.

We launched before Instagram even existed, so we really did not know what was in store for us. We were looking for a way to share photos after attending to a friend’s wedding. Fast-forward six years and we have shifted the way global marketing organizations are interacting with consumers and are influencing hundred of millions of transactions.

Not done with Olapic

None of the three founders are leaving Olapic after the acquistion.

We’re all staying on board to continue to build out the Olapic platform and to affect change in the marketing industry with the use of consumer-generated imagery. We are entering a new era of more authenticity in marketing and look forward to the next few years.

The three Olapic co-founders (From right to left) — Luis Sanz, Jose de Cabo, Pau Sabria.

He explains that there has been many sleepless nights, long days, endless travel and tough choices in the last years, and expects more of the same in the years to come as well.

An entrepreneur’s work is never done!

In total Olapic has raised around $21 million in funding since launching.

Apart from working day and night with Olapic, Pau recently got engaged, and will spend a fair amount of time planning the wedding.

Keeping an eye on Spain

Olapic is based out of New York, but Pau is always keeping an eye open for Spanish startups.

It’s always interesting to see how the business environment is growing and evolving in Spain. My family is still there and all of my siblings are also entrepreneurs, it’s in our family blood, so I do like to know what’s happening.

He thinks the biggest difference between Spain and the US is the rapid pace.

Being based in New York, I can say there is an intensity and a deep drive to create new things at a rapid pace. As Spaniards with a broader worldview, being based here allowed us to expand rapidly into Europe and build a global business.

Pau is confident that Monotype will develop Olapic and help the company to expand even further in the future.

Monotype will be able to expose Olapic to creative agencies, creative directors and designers who are increasingly looking at how to include user-generated content as part of the design mix.

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(Written by Sindre Hopland)

Entrepreneurship

On commitment

Aug 14, 2016 by Bernat Farrero 0 Comments

View of the Mallorca island early in the morning, after long hours of night sailing

The other day a friend was arguing why he would never accept money from an investor to start a company. That would make him responsible and he would feel stressed by having to report to that future shareholder, specially when things go south. He was better off being “free”, doing always “what he really wants” and “not having to answer to anyone” for his actions.

Unfortunately, that is a generally spread idea that prevents even greater initiatives from developing all the time. To me that is the fear of commitment.

We humans work better collaborating together, sharing and compensating strengths and weaknesses. In order to do so, we build relationships based on trust, honesty and respect. That has always been the relationship I tried to build with my shareholders. I’ve shared with them the opportunities and also the uncertainties and the risk. Those who wanted and properly understood them, have decided to join me, compromise some money and bet for the best.

However,

  • I’ve never given up my freedom for that. It is quite the opposite, in many regards thanks to my shareholders, I can do exactly what I want and enjoy the most.
  • I never promised results, instead I made a plan and promised to fight for it with all my effort and heart, and I’m still doing so.
  • I never said I would always be working on a project, I formally signed for 24 months every time. If I keep doing the same thing it is because it keeps thrilling me, and it keeps being my greatest opportunity all things considered.
  • When things don’t go as planned, I’ve been straight and shared it with my partners, along with my new ideas and actions to undertake. It is nothing any of us didn’t know it could happen.

Thus, I keep committing all the time and love to do so. I commit with my employees, my shareholders, my clients, my suppliers, … but also with my girlfriend, my family and friends. What’s so wrong about committing? Commitments are not a burden, but the tangible consequence of our own decisions.

Beyond our words, it is our commitment and our consequent action what truly defines who we are and how we will be remembered.