4YFN 2024: Connecting with the entrepreneurial ecosystem

For another year, Barcelona hosted the world's largest connectivity event, the Mobile World Congress, and within it, the 4YFN, a congress dedicated to the entrepreneurial ecosystem that brings together hundreds of startups, speakers, and investors in the ideal environment to establish connections and grow. And for another year, Aticco could not miss it.

The event kicked off on February 26, and we celebrated this start in a big way with the 4YFN Welcome Party at Aticco Bogatell. We collaborated with Letslaw, Oracle NetSuite, Fin2gO and the French Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and welcomed more than 400 members of the ecosystem. Entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and mentors filled the room and transformed it into a stage for networking. 

During the party, stories of both failure and success were told, projects were pitched, plans were made, ideas arose, there was good food and good music, we toasted to new connections, and without a doubt our community grew. It was a memorable night, and it was just the beginning, then it was time to prepare to continue with the 4YFN.

The ingredients of VICIO's success

The second day of the congress was perhaps the most intense of all. Going back and forth meeting new projects and meeting members of our community, multiple talks and activities, but the highlight came at the end of the day. We closed with a flourish on the Agora Stage, where Naiara Chaler, COO of Aticco, interviewed Oriol de Pablo, CEO and Co-founder of VICIO. 

We all know VICIO, the hamburger brand that has been a hit in recent years and has a branding that distinguishes it from any other. But not everyone knows that this brand began as the venture of two young visionaries, Alex Puig and Oriol de Pablo. A foodtech startup that was born in Barcelona during the pandemic, and that today has more than 25 restaurants, 700 employees, and is focused on its international expansion, that is VICIO. But how did it get here? What has triggered this accelerated growth? What is the secret ingredient to its success?

De Pablo explained in this interview that what distinguishes VICIO is the experience that the customer has when consuming their products, an experience that is based on three main pillars: 

1. A product of the highest quality, or as Oriol prefers to say: “A burger that is to die for.” 
2. An operations plan based on technology, which today means: Software development.
3. A brand created with storytelling. The branding strategy with a narrative behind it, and a brand with a unique personality that distinguishes it from the others. 

In addition, Oriol told us about his experience as an entrepreneur, since this is not his first startup. And in this sense, "experience" is the key word, because it was the lessons and mistakes made previously that allowed him to start again and boost VICIO with a clearer, stronger strategy, and as we already know, with great results. 

Moral of the story? In the world of entrepreneurship, failure is not the end of the road, it is a stop that is sometimes necessary, and that can become the prelude to success.

The 4YFN startups

There is no doubt that the most important thing about 4YFN is the startups, and for us, the most important thing is to connect with them. On the one hand, we are especially excited to meet members of our community who are killing it with their projects. Clients who inhabit our coworking spaces, and startups that have been part of the acceleration programs promoted by AticcoLab, such as Nixi for Children (Cellnex Bridge), Omashu (DAS Innovation Lab), and BlindStairs (Cellnex Bridge). And on the other hand, it is a great opportunity to learn about new projects and continue expanding and strengthening our community.  

This year, we organized a mentoring session for startups exhibiting at the event who are interested in accessing the Spanish market with their projects with AticcoLab. Ten mentors from the AticcoLab network offered personalized advice to 19 startups from different countries.

Mentors: Karen PratsFounder of Consciously; Luisa BernadóCEO of AdSalutem Lullaai - Somiaz; José María BañosCEO & Founder of Letslaw; Gerard CompteCEO of FindThatLead; Alex CaudetManaging Partner at RaiseTheBar.tech; Jorge Blasco, Managing Partner at The Net Street; Gemma Batlle, Business Development Manager Startups at Eurecat; Guillem Crosas, Investor; Michael Kappler, Consultant; and Adrian GallardoCOO of AticcoLab.

The startups:

• Lexy
• Lizcore
• BEAM
• Monitoring Life
• ChatLicense
• Wosler
• Flamingo Biomechanical Lab
• StockFink
• Smatch IT
• UpHill
• Reddu
• Alicorn, Inc.
• ManoMotion AB
• Bike-On Technologies
• Joinrs
• Vertice
• Foxtery
• bandarlog.dev Ltd
• Breathe 

At the end of the week we were exhausted, but the exhaustion was equally proportional to the joy and satisfaction of having been part of this great event for another year, of having connected with prominent members of the ecosystem at a national and international level, of seeing our community grow and kill it. We'll be back next year, that's for sure.