Idealista CEO & Founder Jesus Encinar

Straight talk from a guy who knows where he is going....and has learned from where he's been.

Idealista, one of Spains largest and most well known real estate search engines has become a major player in Spain's online marketplace. Founder Jesus Encinar spoke at session 5 of Enrique Dans compelling "High Tech Startups" class and provided valuable insights pertaining to setting up and launching a new startup online.

1) How did Idealista build their initial database - inventory build

a) Went through the newspaper and called 25000 prospective sellers offering them a free listing on idealista.

b) Used initial 25K ads to create a highly niche solution to search for real estate only in Madrid. Their idea was to offer a high quality search experience. Restricting initial development to the Madrid market and then expanding slowly city by city allowed them to grow at a rate that allowed them to maintain a high quality experience.

2) So now that the initial inventory was built how did they continue to build traffic from both buyers and suppliers?

a) The company invested in a unique advertising campaign in newspapers, making clear that using Idealista was better than traditional classifieds and poking fun at this antiquated real estate selection process.

3) Designing a website is like building a road sign, you only get a users partial attention, so make sure they GET THE MESSAGE! An image from Jesus' recent trip to India shows that having too much information and mixed messaging severely curtails effective messaging on your site.

Apologies for the poor pic quality...I need to buy an ipad2!!!!

Chicisimo: Wife inspired / Women approved!!!

Gabriel Aldemiz has beens searching for the right idea to start up a company for many years. Chicisimo isnt his first entrepreneurial endeavor (in fact its his third) but its certainly the one with the most sizzle.

Here is a professional who understands the old adage - if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! He's building a new way for us to connect with the latest in fashionable trends, online. Today during Enrique Dan's "High Tech StartUp" course, we hear from Gabriel about how he became inspired to build this business and what it took to launch this fast, up and comer in Spain's online technology market...

Lets find out what Mr. Aldemiz had to say! Read on to learn more.

1) Initial start ups focused on music, blogging and everything in between. He cut his teeth in Silicone Valley, working with top startups and raising money from well known VC's like Sequoia Capital.

2) His wife makes him aware of a new trend...young women who take pictures of what they are wearing and post them online to share with friends. Opportunity spotted, Gabriel jumped into high gear and began to analyze this bizarre but interesting new trend. He found a large audience of people going online to see how these young women were dressing and decided that this was the perfect place for an internet entrepreneur like him to jump in and build a business around this online fashion phenomenon....and Chicisimo was born!

Tips and tricks from one of the lords of global capital raising....

Jorge Mata - Serial Fund Raiser and Entrepreneur

Mr. Mata provided a practical and realistic review of the curren

t money raising eco system, defining specific requirements for successfully funding ventures and detailing the pitfalls of getting into bed with new partners. The following is a brief review of this professionals key points made during the second installment of Enrique Dans IE Tech Start Up class:

-Give away 30% of the company in angel round

-Try to control at least 60% of the company

-Valuation has to double or triple but pre-money valuation has to be on target to get the founder a strong a worthwhile exit

-Don't invest your own money

-Investable companies: Scalable / strong management team / real commitment / disruptive / process driven is more exciting than another platform....updating 19th century processes for the 21st century

-"Grow them, make them big...and then do something else."

-"Money is green everywhere, I don't believe in the smarts of investors...its all pretty much the same."

-The recent world economic crises has led investors to think again about the benefits of investing in the unregulated world of technology startups....they like what the see! Expect an uptick in tech startup investment from angels...(ok I paraphrased:)

-"I like my lunch with wine...and I don't want a sandwich...I want at least two plates." Yes...by far my favorite quote of the day.

-"The web is a lot of know how and a lot tools. But they are mot connected."

-Selling a company is like opening a watermelon....if you open to early its tastless, too late and its worth nothing as well.

-Its little to do with the technology, its how well you solve the problem.

....Thats all folks ;)