Innovation and collaboration can change the world
In an ever-evolving entrepreneurial world, it is always important to find new ways to take your business to the next level. Keep on reading this interview with Diogo Teixeira, CEO of Beta-i, to learn how collaboration between startups and larger companies can pave the way for innovation and mutual growth.
What role collaboration plays in making innovation more effective, especially in a scenario of constant change?
We live in a global world, where value chains are increasingly linked. With this economic and technological scenario we live nowadays, in order to grow, both as companies and as citizens, we can’t be on an island, we have to be aware of what’s going on around us and get involved in the ecosystem.
In this way, it makes perfect sense to me to say that innovation is progressively ceasing to be a tool for some, and is becoming transversal to all. Let me share two examples of the importance of collaboration. On one hand, 5G is emerging as a technology, but it needs the collaboration and combined efforts of several companies in order to be applied in various sectors. On the other are the COVID-19 vaccines, where we could see a clear cooperation between laboratories, governments and companies that helped make everything real — only in this way it was possible to reach a solution so quickly. Collaboration and innovation are definitely the best medicine for the success of companies and the lives of citizens.
What is the added value for the ecosystem of collaboration between startups, large companies and government institutions? And how does Beta-i promote it?
Collaboration between startups, large companies, and government institutions creates a dynamic ecosystem where diverse entities work together towards a common goal, but allowing each one to have and achieve its own objectives. This collaboration not only accelerates innovation but also fosters an environment where every person involved can leverage their strengths to achieve greater impact.
Beta-i was the first player in the entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem in Portugal when it emerged back in 2009. It has been a story of pioneering and overcoming the impossible toward the generation of impact and growth in projects, companies, cities and countries. Today, it sees itself as an innovation consultancy whose core principle is collaboration.
As I mentioned before, in this fast and ever-evolving world, it is collaboration that makes it possible to innovate faster and with less risk. In this way, I — and we — believe that not innovating is a luxury that organizations nowadays cannot afford.
What are the biggest challenges currently the startups are facing — and Beta-i in particular? And what about the opportunities?
Startups face many challenges, but there are three that are very clear.
First of all, the financing and capacity for growth. Although Portugal is doing an interesting work in the venture capital ecosystem, with new funds and VCs emerging, there is still a long way to go. We need to increase the financing options for these companies so that they are well capitalized. In addition to this investment challenge, there are also difficulties in the transition from start-ups to scale-ups. In this way, there is a clear need to create a more robust ecosystem in these matters, so that new businesses can be born and thrive in our country.
Also, it’s impossible to list today’s biggest challenges without highlighting what I like to call: the culture of error. At some point in our lives, whether personal or professional, we have all made mistakes. It’s normal and it should be seen naturally. In Portugal, it seems that those who take risks and fail can no longer exist, this weight seems to be defined, stigmatized. This, of course, means that companies are still too afraid to take risks, because if something doesn’t go according to plan, they end up being socially penalized, instead of having the support to reinvent themselves and be seen as an example. In other words, I think that improving our ecosystem and our companies has much more to do with thinking than with technical issues.
More positively, the opportunities for startups are directly related to emerging trends. Startups that, supported by their own technology, whether AI or otherwise, belong to sectors involved in the energy transition, help companies measure their carbon footprint, offset it or reduce it have great opportunities.
As someone who works closely with different companies, what would be your main advice to all entrepreneurs?
Believe. Believe in yourselves and don’t be afraid of anything. If we don’t put any limits on our capacity to dream, we will certainly have better ideas and more motivation to make them real.
Sometimes we feel humiliated because we make basic mistakes, we start getting afraid of being criticized and sometimes we end up being. I truly think it’s interesting that every entrepreneur who has ever launched something either feels this way or has felt it at some point. It’s not an individual feeling, it’s something we’ve all been through, but we can’t let this stop us. Why? Because there is the other side of the coin: the side of making things happen, of changing society, of seeing people who believe in our idea, who add a point to it and who make us go further than we ever thought possible. It’s those who believe and are not afraid to build projects that are truly capable of transforming companies and changing people’s lives.
