Author: Eva Vecino Rodriguez, founder of Mi Mochila Digital

We are used to hearing about financing, elevator pitches, business angels, marketing, product development and team creation in reference to startups. On this occasion I would like to highlight the role played by the parents of entrepreneurs. The ones who have been there from the beginning, nurturing the awakening of our entrepreneurial vocation and who have supported us when as adults we have embarked on the craziness of starting a new project.

Even though things didn’t seem very clear to them in the beginning and possibly they even tried to dissuade us. Once we proved our determination, their support has been unconditional at all levels: pushing us to persevere (no matter how many negative responses we got from ENISA), worrying about our diet (it appears we entrepreneurs eat badly!), or being alert to any information or news that could be of use to our projects. Even acting as spokespersons for media and radio programs, like Carmen, one of the “mothers” of the our team, who recently took part in a Radio Nacional de España broadcast to vindicate more support for entrepreneurship (tremble de  Guindos!).

In a country where independent workers (30%) and entrepreneurs (35%) point to a lack of funding as the main obstacle to starting a business and where only 18% of them obtain funding from banks. The Cajas de Ahorro who recently approved the Ley de Apoyo a Emprendedores offers no solution to this persistent problem. As a result, our families have actually become  informal investors that have allowed us to start our businesses.

At the end of the day, many of our families have been the ones to instill the culture of entrepreneurship in us, being entrepreneurs themselves and serving as daily examples during our childhood. This was the case for José María, who was inspired by his grandfather: “My family runs a business of Iberian pig breeding in the north of Huelva and I have been involved in its management since I was a child.  As a kid and as a youngster I devoted a big part of my time to the farm, where I could set up small projects involving improving operations or selling new products”.

Manu, son of an entrepreneur, has also experienced first hand what it means to start a new business. The effort, the medium and long term forecasting, short run implementations, the focus on the customer (commercially and ethically), working 24/7 and all the other  sacrifices you make for your own business.

Moreover, we have been brought up with key principles such as “you have to walk the talk” or “doing it yourself is the best way to learn to do things”, and we have been encouraged to show initiative, to persist in our ideas and to be responsible for our commitments. This has inspired Eva, for example, to start her school’s newspaper at 10 years old, along with nine other schoolmates.

Then and now, our families have always been present, 43% of entrepreneurs interviewed by the Observatorio del Clima Emprendedor in 2012 reported that they considered their families to be the main asset in the success of their startups.