Four tips for ICT entrepreneurs
In april 2012, Juan Bossicard became the manager of the ICT Business Unit, part of the Innovation Department of the Brussels Enterprise Agency.
From the start of his professional life, Juan has been involved with young companies and entrepreneurship. It all started with his experience at Microsoft where he was in charge of European Programs around ICT Skills training and later involved with the Microsoft BizSpark Program, a program aimed at helping ICT entrepreneurs. Finally, before joining the Brussels Enterprise Agency, he was Senior Associate at APCO Worldwide, a Communication and PR Agency.
At BEA, Juan helps ICT companies flourish in the Brussels region, helping future entrepreneurs navigate through what the region has to offer and coaching high potential companies into growth. He and his team are also involved in animating the Cluster SoftwareInBrussels, gathering more than 100 companies involved in ICT in the Brussels region.
Juan's tips for Brussels entrepreneurs :
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Know your customers: This is the number one advice we give to young starters… Too many people develop their project without validating the costumer pain and extracting scenarios. Involving your costumers at all stages of your development will ensure you a success in the long run and save you from lots of pain.
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Get a POC quick: Demonstrate how your concept will play out in the real world: look at market demand, feasibility of the project, projected cost and any other factor that will impact your project. Once done, analyse this information and establish if your project makes sense.
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Define a clear value proposition: Sounds like a basic advice? Well, many of the entrepreneurs we meet forget that, at the end of the day, it’s all about monetizing your idea… So if you value proposition isn’t clear, who will pay for your product/service?
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Think outside of Belgium: Your market is the world! If your product doesn’t scale, why bother? Not having local/national competitors doesn’t mean that you have no competitors… Just because it’s hard to penetrate the local market, it doesn’t mean there is no market for your product.