The president of Instituto TIM, Manoel Horacio, opened the second day of the Workshop II of Academic Working Capital, on July 19th. He shared with the students a bit of his professional path, since when he started working at the age of 11 as a parcel delivery man in a warehouse until now, as president of Instituto TIM and board member of companies. “My father was a gardener all his life and my mother was a maid. I worked hard, just as you do now, in order to reach the presidency of a company”, he said. Manoel Horacio spoke about attitudes that every entrepreneur must have, such as persistence, creativity, ethics, focus and commitment to the project and the group. “It has to start small and think big,” he recommended.
Learn how was the first day of the AWC Workshop II
The day was devoted to activities related to the business operation. The second lecture in the auditorium of the Electrical Engineering building in the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP) was led by two directors of the Foundation for the Technological Development of Engineering (FDTE). Antonio Carlos Fonseca, Administrative and Financial Director, explained three ways of hiring collaborators in Brazil – CLT, autonomous and legal person – and the points of attention when calculating the costs to open a company, reinforcing the importance of having an accountant. The Business Development Director, Enio Blay, pointed out the differences and benefits between coworking, incubator and accelerator environments.
Following, Silvia Takei, partner and director of Operations at startup DEV Tecnologia, told the story of the company and the challenges faced over the years. From the creation of a technological equipment for research in psychology at USP to the development of products and solutions in the Internet of Things area for big companies, the four partners of DEV Tecnologia went through several common situations for those who are beginning to undertake: the bureaucracy to register the company, the search for partners to expand sales, making decisions regarding the expansion of business, among others. “In a startup, the planning process is different. At least at the beginning, the uncertainty is very large. You make a three-year-planning and, next month, it doesn’t worth anything.”
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In the last lecture of the day, the partner and director of Antera Resources Management, Andre Massa, explained the different financing options, noting that not every business model needs the support of an investment fund. “Raise funds is the last strategy,” he said. “It is a step ahead. Before that, you have other options.” Andre detailed the types of entrepreneurship and the steps required to develop an innovative and scalable business. “We have to stop having PowerPoint entrepreneurs to have entrepreneurs who generate business. And for those, it has a lot of people who want to invest money.”
The AWC content coordinator, Diogo Dutra, talked with the participants about key points for the startup operation: documentation processes, organizational structure and systematic planning. The groups participated in an internal trade where its components took turns both to present their project and to meet the other AWC projects, exchanging feedback. They also met to discuss how they will structure the growth of their business, what will be needed to operate the key features of the company and to map the short-term costs in three, six and nine months.
