Today we talk with Miguel Ángel Torres, technology mentor at La Lonja de la Innovación, about his professional career, entrepreneurship, the initiative, and Huelva’s role in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem
In this conversation we have obtained many interesting pieces of advice for all those entrepreneurs and companies interested in the logistics-port sector, technology and the FIWARE ecosystem, since all of them have their space in La Lonja.
Miguel Ángel is a professional in information technology, internet services and cybersecurity, where he has a very broad vision. His contribution as a technology mentor in La Lonja has a very practical approach to all the problems that may arise, as he tells us.
He is co-founder and CEO of a startup, and, as is logical, he has made many mistakes that have been part of his path, and that he shares with the entrepreneurs he mentors to help them avoid them, learn from them and overcome them when they appear.
The professional career of La Lonja's Technology Mentor
Miguel Ángel talks about how good the decision was to go to work in Madrid right after he finished his computer science degree, since there were many big projects and companies from which to gain a lot of experience in a short period of time.
Some time after he joined Grupo Prisa, where he matured professionally, but, without a doubt, his biggest milestone to the date is founding Wifreezone
Having had the opportunity to create a product from scratch, validate it in the market, create a team with good professionals and share the illusion to bring a project to fruition, is what gives him more satisfaction and where his commitment and involvement in La Lonja’s initiative comes from. In addition, having developed a company from Huelva, generating employment in the city and retaining talent, is a double satisfaction
He tells us that entrepreneurship is hard, but that the reward is enormous and compensates for it.
The path of entrepreneurship for Miguel Ángel Torres
His experience wasn’t that of the born entrepreneur, who is very clear and knows what his goal in life is, but he did it out of necessity. When he left Madrid to return to Huelva, where he was born, he started a computer security consulting company and started working in what his speciality was. But, at the same time, he was “playing” to set up an app for restaurants, and with this project they were selected in an accelerator in Valencia. That was for him like seeing a whole new world, and he began to attend investors' forums, being curious about all kinds of technology, business models, etc.
After 8 years of that experience, he now only sees opportunities everywhere, with the only limitation of time. Because of this, he enjoys helping other entrepreneurs, giving them advice and sharing experiences.
Huelva, innovation and entrepreneurship
It is necessary to make Huelva’s people see that they live in a wonderful place and from where entrepreneurship is possible as in any other place, besides there is a lot of talent and potential.
It is very important to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, where participants can see each other’s faces, get to know what people are doing, and where support links between each other are made in order to grow their companies.
Undoubtedly, outreach work is very important. It is essential to know how to reach young people, to awaken their interest in creating their own projects, to make them see everything that can be done and how far they can go. Make them dream… and accompany them so they can fly.
The ideal entrepreneur
Miguel Ángel tells us that for him the most important thing in an entrepreneur is to be brave, because they will face many challenges. “They have to be tenacious and insistent, because they will fall many times and they have to keep trying. They must know how to surround themselves with a team that complements them, because they can’t do everything alone. And, above all, they must know how to spread their enthusiasm to others, the clients, colleagues, investors… to everyone!”
We could not agree more!
The advice our mentor would give them is to dream, to believe in themselves, to let themselves be advised and to be very alert, because the opportunities are very close, but sometimes they are not clearly seen. And above all to fail as soon as possible and at the lowest cost, because they are going to make mistakes, a lot of them, but depending on how much the test has cost, they will have more or less opportunities.
La Lonja’s startups accelerator program
La Lonja is totally open to startups involved in their project, who want it to succeed. The initiative has everything needed to support startups validate their product, business model, find funding, etc.
Miguel Ángel tells us, “my startup participated in El Cubo, an initiative of Telefónica and the Junta de Andalucía, and it was better than doing a master's degree. With all the advice of the mentors, the commercial contacts they offered me, access to investors… it was a great opportunity, which was well taken advantage of”
What is Miguel Ángel like?
As he likes to say, Miguel Ángel is more of Huelva than a “choco”, he loves Huelva. As it happens to many people, until he left his city, in his case to Madrid, he didn’t realize how much he liked the sea, the marshes and its gastronomy.
He loves sports, mainly skateboarding, and at 45 years old (which are the new twenties ;)) he continues skateboarding with the same enthusiasm as when he started. He also likes surfing, fishing, live music, and above all enjoying the outdoors with his family and friends.
He is one of those who says that life is two days and one of them has already passed 😉
We remain forever with this last reflection of Miguel Ángel, a pleasure to have known him a little more!
If you also want to meet our technology mentor at La Lonja and access the initiative’s services, contact us! We look forward to hearing from you. Write to us at info@lalonja.tech.