Founder of CHICISIMO at IE Business School

Entrepreneur session 4: 

Gabriel Aldamiz

An afternoon with Gabriel Aldamiz right here at IE Business School... 

 "How many of you are planning to start your own venture" was the opening speech by Gabriel Aldamiz...and wow!!!....almost all hands were raised. This was the MBA spirit at our Tech For Start up Class ! :-)   

Gabriel Aldamiz is behind a series of successful ventures and today he shared his entrepreneurial experience with us. Although he started by saying that it was his first time that he ever had to give such a long speech, once he began, he was unstoppable... in a very nice way of course! 

Full of energy and so much to tell that it was actually hard to keep up with him. His stories were very interesting and really made you think …  but before I had a chance to think it through, he was already sharing another interesting concept!

I am guessing that this might be how Gabriel Aldamiz is in business as well. He is probably one of those people who can create a business out of nothing. Starting a new venture, and ideas keep popping into his head and tempting him to pursue the next idea... maybe wished he could be more than one person and in more than one place at a time...

Chicisimo is a good example of making business out of something, which could have been seen as nothing by many. 

He spotted a behaviour that might be seen as ‘strange” and turned this into a successful platform that is not even close to have reached its full potential:

Girls who took photos of themselves wearing different fashion items and sharing these on Flickr. 

He provided the platform where these photos could be shared easily. Simple! 

        

Now, the potential for generating money from this platform is simply phenomenal. The most obvious one is that this could be turned into an ideal place for shopping. The numbers as seen above, provides a link that shows all other items tagged with the same brand. 

However, the link could in fact allow the user to purchase the product which obviously would require integration with the store and of course an updated catalogue. 

In the meantime, Chicisimo could also offer a link to the store website next to the pictures that show the particular brand and simply generate advertising money through the clicks. 

Now to increase the items posted, a simple phone application could allow the users to take pictures even in the changing room and post this into the site. 

These are of course the most obvious ones and there is scope for a lot more creative and innovative ideas which could serve this platform and increase its revenue potential. A social game as an example... 

Going back to the entrepreneur... despite the diversity in Gabriel's ventures, he shared a valuable tip with the class, which was to "stay in FOCUS while keeping a diversity". 

He mentioned the mistake that he had made in the beginning of his venture, which was to diversify too soon and into too many things such as sport, financial services, fashion etc. 

He also suggested that in the beginning of a business, having little money is not always a disadvantage but could in fact work to your advantage as it ensures focus and concentration.

There is no doubt that limited finance would ensure great focus, You truly think everything through several times, you try not to do too many things but only the most important…but there could be another side of this story. 

Sometimes, limited resources might make you desperate and could result in you taking the wrong decisions and giving into situations that end up distracting your initial focus. It could also limit your growth to the extent that no matter how great your idea is, it never reaches its real potential.

There is no ‘right’ recipe and everything truly depends on the situation, timing, preference, attitude, execution and perhaps a little bit of luck!  

However, one of the very important takeaways from this session for me, which is not going to change is the importance of bloggers and how to motivate them to write about your product. 

It is important to know your blogger's interests and as obvious as it sounds, you must read past posts to really get to know the blogger's style and likings. 

Also, when suggesting your product, find something that might relate to a recent post/article that the writer has written or perhaps some issue which is currently in debate.This increases the chance that the writer would get interested in your 'topic' and write something that could turn your business upside down... depending on what he/she writes and who the readers are... so if you want to get free PR, do your research well! 

Not all publicity is good publicity!