The FACS Emprende workshop, held on August 21 at the Business School, served as a starting point for a key question among those who want to start a business: Where do I begin?
The responses from industry leaders all point in the same direction. You don't need to have everything figured out. A startup can begin with a clearly identified problem, a conversation with a potential user, and a willingness to learn, test, and iterate.
Start with a real-world problem
Mateo Laborde, assistant academic coordinator of the Bachelor's Degree in Digital Business, recommends starting by understanding a problem: observing the environment, talking to people, and identifying processes that are frustrating, slow, costly, or inefficient.
The key is to “start small.” A hypothesis and a few conversations with potential users can provide valuable insight. “Entrepreneurship is, to a large extent, a learning process,” says Laborde. The sooner an idea is tested against reality, the sooner data becomes available to help decide how to proceed.
Enrique Topolansky, executive director of ORT’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), points out that an idea may be the spark, but it’s not enough. Starting with a problem allows you to understand who you can help and what needs to be solved.
Validating an idea: test it before making assumptions
A good idea does not guarantee that a solution will work. Gonzalo Argenti, assistant academic coordinator of the Bachelor's Degree in Management and Administration, argues that the decisive step is to gather evidence.
Validation involves checking whether the problem exists, gauging interest, creating a prototype, observing how some users respond, and gathering their feedback. Then another key question arises: Is the idea viable, and would anyone be willing to pay for it?
The goal is to move from “we think this idea might work” to “we have evidence that it can work.” In other words: test before assuming.
Customer-Centric
When starting a business, two common mistakes are losing sight of the needs of potential customers and trying to take on all the tasks without seeking support from others, explained Alejandro Lebel, academic coordinator of the Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and Sales Management.
According to him, focusing on the economic aspects and scalability of an initiative without sufficiently understanding the target audience can lead to investing time and resources in the wrong product or market. For this reason, he pointed out that decisions must be based on an understanding of potential customers and the market, while also taking into account the biases that may arise from the entrepreneur’s own perspective.
The second challenge is recognizing that it is not possible to master all the areas necessary to build a business. In this regard, Lebel highlighted the value of building teams with complementary skill sets and expertise. The CIE serves as a space where entrepreneurs from different disciplines can connect and find complementary skills to develop their projects.
Technology and AI to Accelerate Experimentation
Artificial intelligence can help with market research, competitor analysis, structuring interviews, organizing information, identifying patterns, and testing different hypotheses.
In addition, there are design, analytics, automation, and programming tools, as well as no-code and low-code platforms, that make it possible to create prototypes, landing pages, or initial functional versions without the need for large teams or significant upfront investments.
For Laborde, the key change is that today “experimenting costs much less.” A student can move from a hypothesis to a real-world test, observe the market’s response, and adjust their proposal before committing significant resources.
The CIE as Part of the Journey
The CIE works across the board with students from all ORT faculties. Its support includes fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, validating ideas, seeking funding, connecting with investors, bringing projects to market, and helping them grow.
Topolansky compares it to a “gym” for entrepreneurs: a space where mentors and entrepreneurs offer guidance, but also where a supportive community forms throughout the process.