Why not start with an autobiographical reflection to explain what´s behind
Sofis Capital ?
The Founder
Let me introduce myself as the son of an emigrant. Hardly having started school,, my parents emigrated from Spain to The Netherlands (we go from Ay! to Au!, was my first Spanish to Dutch translation). For all the good and bad things, it was difficult to project oneself in such a drastically different situation, so I suppose I came to the conclusion that I needed to create my own way (not very consciously for sure!)
The Netherlands is often associated with a grey, rainy and cold country, which is partly so, but it is also a country where people speak several languages, understand that to move forward you have to collaborate and in which “to act normal is already strange enough” (no non-sense attitude). A good broth to soak and grow. An excellent start to become analytical, learn to synthesize, but also to get to know different cultures.
From a very young age I thought of becoming a cook (or a masterchef :-)), an astronaut or doing something with “microelectronics” (I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it sounded like magic to me). With my plans to conquer the world, I ruled out becoming a cook, as in Hollywood movies they didn’t appear often as millionaires. The astronaut thing was a bit too much in the air, and micro-electronics became computer science when I decided that the magic was in the software and not in the hardware (with all due respect to electronic engineers!).
And that’s how I signed up for university to “do my time” so that I could move on to real life: work and financial independence :-). At the university I combined computer science with the study of networks (making it easier for people to communicate seemed like performing miracles). I also did business courses, including “creating your own company”, and adding more social subjects such as anthropology, psychology, philosophy, written expression… Something I think would have been difficult in other universities (“Universiteit Twente”, “the entrepreneurial university”, for interested parents who have Erasmus-aged children…). At that time, I did plan to start my own company, but I was conscious that I had no idea what “having my own company” really meant. So when I was finishing my studies, I looked for a technology company to start my journey: AT&T (APT, then AT&T-NS, then Lucent ; different names, but same company), with European headquarters in The Netherlands back then. And so I started my voyage into the business world.
I remember that in my first year I got extremely bored. The team I joined was young, active: so far so good. But my boss set me up to read and re-read documentation, without giving me anything to apply it to. And that just right after a college career… Just as I was starting to look for another job, I heard they needed someone to lead a project on electromagnetic compatibility, physical security and other topics I had no clue about. And as the saying goes “the one who doesn’t play doesn’t win, ” I signed up. It was great!! I traveled to the US a few times (another continent! Renting an American car! How do I shift gears in this car ???) interacted with many people, learning and contributing, and working with clear goals: finally!
Over the next 7 years I worked within the same company in business development, product management, commercial support, strategic analysis and even got into financial matters developing investment evaluation models: all useful components for my future entrepreneur backpack. And that’s where my opportunity came: the market was looking for consultants to design solutions in telecommunications. I talked to my boss, and keeping a good relationship I set up my first company: Alinea Telecom.
Back then salaries in the telecommunications industry were high, and for consultants, being honest, extremely high. How could I complain though? However, something was missing:
- As a consultant it’s hard to create “your group” in the company
- It doesn’t scale: to be able to create things and generate “big” money, you have to do it as a group.
Two very different aspects, but both underline the value of networking. This rationale led me to grow the company (along with my great friend Carlos), so we started developing applications for the telecommunications sector. At last my own real company! Sweet moments… and sour,. But oh how much I learned! Still, the company was growing. And then came .com bubble, that brought many of us down (it affected the whole sector negatively). I fired myself and started working for HP. After 5 years, and again having learned a lot, it was clear to me that I had to be, and remain, my own boss.
Again I felt that finally I was ready (the same enlightenment I had 10 years before). It’s funny how every 10 years I look back and laugh at myself (very healthy!). I learned in those years that good almost always beats perfect, when to work like hell and when to take time to think, differentiate between how things look and what things are, and a great etc. I also gained some great experiences and learned valuable lessons doing business in Asia and Latin America.
So we created a new company AlineaSol, suffered and grew, merged and sold a majority stake (why? That´s a completely different story!) I’m still an investor, but it’s not my company anymore…
And so we get to this new stage. In 2020 in the middle of the Corona Virus (Covid 19) crisis: we are starting Sofis Capital, an investment firm. But I prefer to see it as a meeting point for people with drive, who want to conquer the world, who are looking for partners who respect their entrepreneurial spirit and could help them grow. People who can imagine that you can accelerate growth and that to grow many times you need money.
Hello everyone and delighted to meet you.
In my next blog I will explain the kind of companies we are analyzing pro-actively.