BBVA API Market
After meeting Andrés Manso, the founder of Incubio, Diego Torres decided to launch himself into the adventure of Quizlyse. It is a startup that aimed to generate engagement and monetize users for companies through questions that are generated automatically every day.
For Diego, technology offers the power to create and mold the future. He believes that big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and innovation are the keys to the fourth revolution. In this interview, he tells us more about his vision and his expectations for the future.
1. Why did you choose the world of startups?
Rather than startups, what has always attracted my attention has been the Internet. I remember back in 1995 when we got Internet at home for the first time, I used Altavista, Yahoo!, then Google became the rate… and it’s still the rage. As a user I’ve come across some fantastic products that became multi-million startups. Anyone working from home with a computer and an Internet connection can create a startup that changes the world… It’s an incredible opportunity.
2. What aspects are important when it comes to being an entrepreneur?
Perseverance, social intelligence, communication, a clear product vision, and great deal of ambition are all important, but the most important of all is the founding team.
3. How did the idea of Quizlyse come about?
By playing! For many years my friends have loved board games. We play Carcassonne, Lobo, Catan and Trivial Pursuit. One guy in the group is crazy about Trivial Pursuit and even ended up knowing the questions by heart. Playing with him ended up being very boring because he always won. That’s when I thought about improving the dynamics by questions about current affairs, so that every day you could have new questions and thus generate greater engagement. This was the essence of the driving force behind Quizlyse: to transform the digital content of questions and answers in real time. In fact, we created an explanatory video about Quizlyse.
4. What new projects are you involved in?
I have two major projects in hand now, in addition to consulting and training for productivity, growth hacking, lean startup and entrepreneurship.
First, we are only a few days from the launch of Leadkedin.com, which will be available in August. It consists of a plugin that automates messaging via LinkedIn, depending on the searches you carry out. Imagine being able to send a commercial pitch to 200-300 people via LinkedIn messages in less than a minute, while by hand it would take hours. What’s more, the conversion ratio is over 20x that of mailing. This project can make a company’s B2B sales skyrocket.
Apart from this, we have Startup Studio NextUnicorns.com, which consists of launching projects based on Blockchain and artificial intelligence. Both are technologies that will revolutionize the world over the next 30 years. The project is international in nature. We are concluding agreements with accelerators, universities and organizations from around the world.
5. Is there any sector in particular in which you would like to be an entrepreneur, and why?
Two, specifically: Blockchain and artificial intelligence. I know that they are technologies and not sectors, but they are going to revolutionize all the sectors. In Next Unicorns we will analyze what projects to develop with a great impact in a particular sector. You can be sure that the financial sector will be one of them, as well as services, electronic trade and others that still have to be defined.
6. How do you see the outlook for Spanish entrepreneurship?
Great! We have all the ingredients to be a model at global level. I think that there are some very good exits such as Privalia and Social Point, with great entrepreneurs who we can all look to.
We may lack investment at the initial phases, when projects still don’t have the revenues. I also believe that we have to change our mentality, be more ambitious, have the will to take the world by storm, and above all more culture of effort, because the results come, but it takes many hours of work.
7. Is there anyone who inspires you?
Elon Musk. I’m not saying anything new here, but I love the image he has managed to convey. I feel closely identified with the mentality of creating projects that really change the world. I become motivated when I read that Elon wants to save humanity by taking them to Mars. This is the type of mission that the Next Unicorns project is about.
8. What would you say has been the most important lesson or milestone in your adventure as an entrepreneur?
I think that I can’t say I have achieved a major milestone yet. It’s true that with Quizlyse we raised public capital, from investment funds, and we’ve managed to sell our product to media like Marca, El País and El Mundo Deportivo. But to tell the truth, I think I’m still beginning and I’ve a lot to learn and to do.
As to things learned, they’ve been many and varied. For example, being able to lead my project for nearly 5 years. I’m very grateful to the people who have helped me along the way.
9. What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur?
I’d say be brave, listen, learn, look for a good mentor or mentors, depending on your needs. I would advise you not to stop until you achieve what you want, that you listen more to the nos because there is a message to be learned from the nos. Finally, don’t be afraid of failure and use common sense.
10. Do you know the world of APIs? Have you used one in a startup?
We’ve used many so far and still use them. In fact, we’ve developed one of our own. We even plan to open it to third parties. I believe that APIs have helped products to grow much faster. Today they are essential.
Are you interested in financial APIs? Discover all the APIs we can offer you at BBVA
Businesses, from self-employed to SMEs and large companies, need financing solutions that suit their needs. Leasing is a method that can optimize the use of resources and which combines business liquidity (or lack of) with the use of assets. What is leasing and how does it work? Leasing is a financing method by which a […]
An API is a very useful mechanism that connects two pieces of software equipment to exchange messages or data in a standard format such as XML or JSON. Thus, it becomes an instrument that can be used to search for revenue, open the doors to talent or innovate and automate processes.
The Embedded Finance (EF) and Bank-as-a-Service (BaaS) ecosystem is expanding at lightning speed and is in the process of defining of the roles of the new stakeholders entering the ecosystem, who are looking to fill niches or create new services. How will the Embedded Finance and Bank-as-a-Service sector evolve? José Luis Navarro Llorens is Head […]
