We spoke with José Carlos Huerta Romero

We spoke with José Carlos Huerta Romero, director of the startups program at Fundación Innovación Bankinter, an organization from which he promotes initiatives that support innovative entrepreneurship and accompanies startups through different stages of growth and connection with the investor ecosystem.

Throughout the conversation, he analyzes the main criteria investors use to evaluate early-stage opportunities and shares lessons learned after working with startups across a wide range of sectors. He also addresses the most common mistakes founding teams make when seeking funding, the keys to preparing an investment round, and the role platforms like ONE can play in connecting entrepreneurial talent, corporations, and investors.

You come from the world of banking and risk analysis. What specific experience led you to specialize in innovation and startups?

My interest in the entrepreneurial ecosystem stems from the combination of a financial background and a constant curiosity about technology and innovation. During my time in banking and risk analysis, I saw that traditional financing models do not always fit the reality of startups, especially in the early stages of development.

While in a credit transaction it is essential to demonstrate repayment capacity, startups often need funding precisely to develop their product, validate the market, and accelerate growth. That difference led me to go deeper into innovation investment and venture capital, where the focus is on future growth potential and the team’s ability to execute an ambitious vision.

Many entrepreneurs fail in their first presentation to a fund or investment committee. From your experience, what are the most common mistakes, and how did you learn to spot them quickly?

The most common mistake is not understanding what an investment fund is really looking for or what criteria it uses to make decisions.

Frequently, founding teams spend a lot of time explaining the technology or product features, but they fail to clearly convey aspects such as the size of the market opportunity, growth potential, or the metrics that support the project’s progress.

Understanding how venture capital works is essential to adapt the narrative. Investors primarily value elements such as team quality, market size, value proposition, and execution capability. When these aspects are unclear or not communicated consistently, it is difficult to build trust.

In addition, it is important to understand how the investment process is structured within a fund. As an opportunity progresses, conversations typically escalate to the decision-makers, who manage other people’s capital and are accountable to those who have entrusted them to generate attractive returns. This responsibility directly shapes the criteria they use to evaluate opportunities.

For this reason, venture capital funds do not seek only sound companies or interesting projects. Their goal is to identify companies capable of generating extraordinary returns within a defined time horizon. To achieve that, they need to invest in businesses with the ability to grow rapidly, access large markets, and reach leadership positions in their respective categories.

The ambition of the founding team is also a decisive factor. Investors value entrepreneurs with a clear vision for transformation, capable of building scalable organizations and fully committed to developing the project. Factors such as execution ability, resilience, and adaptability to change often carry significant weight in the evaluation.

In this context, the most effective presentations are not necessarily the most complex or sophisticated, but those that demonstrate a deep understanding of venture capital dynamics. The ability to convincingly explain why a company can become an exceptional opportunity—supporting the story with data, metrics, and an ambitious vision—often makes the difference during the fundraising process.

The team is one of the most decisive criteria in early-stage investing. What signals make you trust a founder, and which raise doubts?

The founding team’s prior experience is often one of the factors that inspires the most confidence during an investment process. Having previously participated in building and developing a company helps acquire knowledge that is hard to gain through other means, especially in areas such as customer acquisition, hiring talent, managing growth, or raising capital. This experience does not guarantee success, but it can reduce some of the uncertainty associated with execution.

The ability of entrepreneurs to articulate an ambitious, long-term vision is also particularly relevant. Venture capital funds look for companies with the potential to generate significant growth and achieve leadership positions in large markets. Therefore, they tend to value teams that aim to transform their industry, develop scalable solutions, and build enduring companies.

Conversely, one of the aspects that can raise the most doubts is the lack of full-time commitment to the project. In the early stages, the founders’ commitment is one of the main guarantees for an investor. When the initiative shares time or priorities with other professional activities, uncertainty may arise about the team’s ability to tackle the challenges involved in scaling the business.

This is especially relevant in the venture capital space. Funds invest in companies with long-term growth horizons and high scalability expectations. As a result, they usually look for teams fully aligned with the company’s development and prepared to face the challenges that come with building a high-growth venture.

Beyond professional background or past achievements, investors often pay close attention to the founding team’s level of conviction. A deep understanding of the problem being solved, a clear view of the market, and the ability to execute that vision consistently are elements that build trust and can be decisive during the investment process.

You’ve worked with very different sectors: fintech, healthtech, deeptech, social impact… How has your way of evaluating innovation changed after seeing such different realities?

Although each sector has its own dynamics, there are common elements that allow you to analyze almost any innovative project.

One of the first is the quality of the founding team: its experience, its understanding of the problem it aims to solve, and whether its capabilities match what is needed to execute the project. The complementarity of profiles and the team’s ability to cover the different areas required for the company’s growth are also typically assessed.

Another fundamental aspect is market analysis. Investors evaluate the size of the opportunity, competitive dynamics, and existing growth potential. In general, they look for projects that can be developed in markets large enough to justify the risk associated with an early-stage investment.

Traction is also a relevant element in the evaluation, although its interpretation can vary depending on the company’s stage. In more advanced projects, it is typically analyzed through indicators such as revenue or customer growth. However, at earlier stages, other forms of validation can also be meaningful, such as running pilots, acquiring potential users, retention rates, obtaining certifications or licenses, regulatory validation, or the level of technological maturity achieved. These signals help assess whether there is real market interest and whether the project is reducing uncertainty around its business model.

Innovation is also part of the analysis, although it is not limited exclusively to the technological component. Experience shows that a startup’s success depends as much on its ability to develop novel solutions as on its ability to address a real market need. For this reason, investors often pay attention to the value proposition, the degree of differentiation from existing alternatives, and the team’s ability to turn that competitive advantage into a scalable and sustainable business model.

Finally, assessing an investment opportunity combines factors related to the team, the market, the validation achieved, and execution capability. The goal is not only to identify a good idea, but to determine whether the necessary conditions exist to build a company capable of sustained growth and long-term value creation.

Funds analyze viability, risk, and scaling potential with a very specific logic. What should startups understand about how investors think before sitting down for a meeting?

To understand what venture capital funds look for, it helps to understand how their investment model works. These entities manage capital provided by third parties with the goal of generating attractive returns over a defined time horizon. This responsibility directly shapes the criteria they use to assess investment opportunities.

As a result, funds typically look for companies with the potential to generate very high returns. This means identifying projects capable of rapid growth, accessing very large markets, and reaching leadership positions in their respective sectors. In this context, it is not enough to build a good solution; you must show that there is a path to building a company that can scale and create significant impact.

A startup evaluation goes far beyond the product or technology. Investors analyze aspects such as the magnitude of the market opportunity, the level of existing competition, the growth capacity of the business model, and the fit between the proposed solution and customers’ real needs.

The founding team is another key element of the analysis. Its experience, understanding of the problem it seeks to solve, complementary profiles, and execution capability often carry decisive weight in the investment decision. Especially at early stages, where uncertainty is still high, confidence in the team can be as important as the value proposition itself.

Market validation also becomes increasingly important. Depending on the company’s stage, it may be reflected in revenue, users, pilots, commercial agreements, growth rates, or other relevant indicators. This evidence reduces uncertainty and helps demonstrate that there is real demand for the proposed solution.

Finally, funds tend to place special value on the founding team’s ambition and commitment. Full-time dedication to the project, the ability to attract talent, and a long-term vision are factors that help build trust. 

In general, the opportunities that generate the most interest are those that combine an attractive market, a differentiated value proposition, evidence of validation, and a team capable of executing an ambitious vision. Understanding this logic makes it easier to adapt your narrative to potential investors and focus the conversation on the aspects that are typically most relevant during a fundraising process.

Preparing an investment round can feel overwhelming. What first practical steps would you recommend to an entrepreneur who wants to start preparing and doesn’t know where to begin?

The first step is to understand what type of investor truly fits the project and what their expectations are. Not all sources of funding address the same needs or pursue the same objectives.

From there, it is essential to build a clear narrative that explains the problem being solved, the market opportunity, the value proposition, the milestones achieved, and the growth plan. That narrative must be supported by data and reflect a coherent strategy.

It is also advisable to prepare all relevant financial and operational information in advance, since investment processes require a high level of analysis and validation.

From your experience, how can the ONE Platform help startups that are seeking visibility, connections with funds, scaling programs, and real opportunities within the ecosystem?

The ONE Platform can play an important role as a meeting point for the different players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

On the one hand, it facilitates connections between startups and corporations, fostering commercial and collaboration opportunities. This ability to accelerate market access is especially valuable for growing projects.

On the other hand, it can help improve connections between startups and investors, enabling opportunities to be identified more efficiently based on sector, stage of development, or each project’s specific needs.

In addition, the distribution of content, resources, and specialized programs helps strengthen founding teams’ capabilities and reduce some of the barriers they often face during the earliest growth stages. In this sense, platforms like ONE can help make the entrepreneurial ecosystem more visible, accessible, and connected overall.