IESE Case Study: How giving first gave me first
We wrote a case study with IESE Business School, here is why
I still remember the summer of 2013 when I met Federico (one of my co-founders) during the Young Talent Program of IESE Business School. We spent most of our time discussing startup ideas. We were dreamers. We were obsessed with starting a business. We wanted to build something big. And we wanted to have a great impact.
For us, having an impact did not mean building the next photo-sharing app. We were determined to build a company that would have a positive impact in people and society. This is how we came up with the idea of NoviCap, the innovative invoice finance platform to solve the working capital problem of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in Europe.
Fast forward 5 years. We are here today, sharing our experience with an amazing group MBA students of one of the world’s top 5 Business Schools.
How did we end up lecturing at IESE business school?
In a nutshell: #givefirst
According to Techstars Code of Conduct, #givefirst means helping others whenever possible without expecting anything in return. I learned about the concept of #givefirst when we joined Barclays Techstars Accelerator in the Summer of 2014. We participated in the accelerator with the idea to jump-start NoviCap with the best possible partners. However, the experience turned out to be much more valuable that just that.
One of the most important learnings of the program was the importance of company values and specifically in this case, how powerful #givefirst was. I decided to incorporate this one as a personal value for me and it has paid back immensely.
Some of my recent #givefirst moments:
#givefirst Means speaking at the smallest student association for a session on “how to get a job in a start-up” for the sake of helping young students decide what they want to do after graduation
#givefirst Means lecturing about fintech and entrepreneurship at UPF, EADA and ESIC, for the sake of spreading the word about fintech and giving back to students and universities (UPF)
#givefirst Means going for lunch in a restaurant and sharing a list of “10 ideas to improve the customer experience” with the manager of the restaurant (credits to James Altucher for the idea)
#givefirst Means becoming a mentor for the youth/explorer program for the sake of helping other entrepreneurs build their companies
By doing all the above I found out that with NoviCap, we had a very compelling story to share. Students appreciated to learn about our challenges and how we overcame them. They liked to be challenged with complex pricing strategies. They enjoyed hearing the story of how “we almost died”. They basically liked our direct and honest approach.
The aha moment
I was having a coffee with my friend Daniel who was back then finishing the MBA. I was explaining how I enjoyed sharing the learnings of starting NoviCap with small groups of students and he suddenly stoped me an said:
“Hey Marc, why don’t you write a case study and teach that at IESE? I am sure they would be interested in learning about your experience with NoviCap”
I couldn’t agree more.
Daniel helped me organise a meeting with entrepreneurship Professor Thomas Klueter where we discussed the possibility to showcase Novicap to students at IESE Business School. Last week we discussed the NoviCap case for the first time with two sections in the IESE first MBA course on Entrepreneurship.
We are currently working on refining the case further for both MBA and executive students.
How did it go?
We were not disappointed. Sharing the story with close to 100 MBA students last Friday was a very fulfilling experience. We received overwhelming positive feedback from students who considered the class to be a real highlight.
Was this a result of #givefirst or an exercise of #givefirst? The blurring lines are probably a good sign of #givefirst becoming a way of living rather than a conscious choice.
As simple as that. I hope this inspires other people to #givefirst
I would love to learn how #givefirst has helped you achieve your dreams in the comments below
PS. Unfortunately the case remains confidential for now. We will publish the final version later this year and I will update this post with a link to the case.
About the Author
Marc Antoni Macià is the founder and COO of NoviCap — the leading online platform which allows Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to access the capital locked in their long-dated invoices.
