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Luis Gelado Crespo, Co-Founder Of GeoDB- The First Big Data Sharing Ecosystem Powered By Blockchain
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Luis Gelado Crespo has 10 years of entrepreneurial experience. He has built several successful companies in the tech and real estate space. Deep financial, strategy, funding, and operations experience. Managed the incorporation of companies across Europe and Asia, built growing tech teams, and closed more than 10m$ in funding rounds. www.geodb.com / www.wavelt.com / www,joinsister.com / www.waveapplication.com
In an exclusive interview with AsiaTechDaily, Luis says:
Funding is probably the toughest part of every startup. A very small % of startups can even reach their first funding round. You should bring investors the moment you need resources to grow, and once you have proved some essential initial business assumptions.
Conversion rates with investors are always very low, so you need to meet many investors along the way. I have probably met more than 5,000 investors in all my life. And probably less than 5% ended up investing in my companies.
It is difficult to find investors, and it’s challenging to match with investors that share your same vision and are well prepared to push the company in the direction you need them to push.
Read on to know more about Luis Gelado Crespo and his journey.
Please tell me about your personal background, and What motivated you to get started with your company?
Luis Gelado Crespo: I am a serial entrepreneur with 10+ years of entrepreneurial experience. I have built several successful companies in the tech and real estate space. Deep financial, strategy, funding, and operations experience. Managed the incorporation of companies across Europe and Asia, built growing tech teams, and closed more than $10M in funding rounds. www.geodb.com / www.wavelt.com / www,joinsister.com / www.waveapplication.com
What is your current main product, and can you share any previous product pivot story to the current product?
Luis Gelado Crespo: We are currently focused on developing GeoDB, a global big data sharing ecosystem powered by blockchain technologies. The idea comes from 2017, so we have been working on the project for more than 2 years. Our experience in the big data industry comes from our previous venture, Wave Location technologies, a location tech company with more than 12m users worldwide. Thanks to this previous company, we understood how inefficient the big data industry is and that thanks to technology, there are many aspects of the market that can be improved.
How much money have you raised in total so far? When was the recent funding round?
Luis Gelado Crespo: We have closed three private funding rounds with more than $4M raised. This is our latest funding round:
How have you attracted users, and with what strategy have you grown your company from the start to now?
Luis Gelado Crespo: We have used traditional bootstrapping techniques and growth hacking strategies. We haven’t invested any money in growth or paid acquisition. We are building our community, creating fresh content, and slowly building traction and visibility. GeoCash, our first network app, has now reached more than 70,000 downloads worldwide, and we expect this growth to accelerate once we launch our main net after summer.
Which has been the best marketing software tool for the growth of your startup, and why?
Luis Gelado Crespo: We haven’t any marketing platform so far. Traditional digital strategies through our social profiles. We now have an entire community of more than 40,000 social followers we high engagement rates.
What do most startups get wrong about marketing in general?
Luis Gelado Crespo: They are spending before understanding their user funnel and finding the tipping point in their product that generates sustainable growth and value. No money should be spent until a true value proposition is found, and the UX is matched with user needs.
What were the internal decision processes in determining when to begin fundraising, and what were the logistics for this? And how many investors have you met so far, and how did you meet these investors and which channels worked best for you?
Luis Gelado Crespo: Funding is probably the toughest part of every startup. A very small % of startups can even reach their first funding round. You should bring investors the moment you need resources to grow, and once you have proved some essential initial business assumptions.
Conversion rates with investors are always very low, so you need to meet many investors along the way. I have probably met more than 5,000 investors in all my life. And probably less than 5% ended up investing in my companies.
It is difficult to find investors, and it’s challenging to match with investors that share your same vision and are well prepared to push the company in the direction you need them to push.
What are the biggest challenges and obstacles that you have faced in the process of fundraising? If you had to start over, what would you do differently?
Luis Gelado Crespo: Along the way, you learn how to approach them and to focus on what they want to learn about your company. We are now much more experienced in preparing pitches and preparing our companies for fundraising activities.
If I had learned this from the beginning fundraising would have been easier.
What are your milestones for the next round? And what are your goals for the future?
Luis Gelado Crespo: Probably onboarding some institutional investment that can bring business growth, trust, and strategic partnerships to the company.
How do you plan to expand globally?
Luis Gelado Crespo: We are already an international company with active users in more than 50 countries worldwide. The company was created with this international approach, and we do think that this is basic in this globally interconnected world in which we live.
What are the most common mistakes companies make with global expansion?
Luis Gelado Crespo: They are choosing sustainable and profitable markets. Growth has to be very connected to clear, understandable unit economics.
How do you handle this COVID-19 outbreak situation for your company’s survival in the future?
Luis Gelado Crespo: It has been tough, but as we are a tech development company, our team has not been affected by lockdowns. We have been able to work remotely, and no real issues have been identified.
What are the most common mistakes founders make when they start a company?
Luis Gelado Crespo: You are thinking that owning a company is always easier and more grateful than working for others. It would be best if you were obsessed with what you do. If you don’t have this obsession with your company, then you better not start it.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? And What advice do you have for someone who is interested in doing similar things like yours or in a similar direction?
Luis Gelado Crespo: It’s only the owner’s eye that looks after something. So if it’s not you pushing for results, milestones, and goals, no one is going to do it for you.
What are the one or two things that you would do differently to improve your life if you could go back to 10 years ago?
Luis Gelado Crespo: How and who to hire as core team members.
You can follow Luis Gelado Crespo here.
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