Maria Alegre
Passionate and determined. Came to Silicon Valley to learn about entrepreneurship and to eventually start a company. Currently working at Tapulous.
| Headline: | Entrepreneur |
| Work status: | Living The Dream |
| Website: | http://barcelonasiliconvalley.wordpress.com |
| Industries: | Computing, Education, Financial, Information Technology, Internet, Travel |
| Skills: | Business, English, Entrepreneurship, Event planning, French, Investment, Languages, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Negotiation, Public Relations, Public speaking, Recruitment, Spanish |
| Next step: | Still in Silicon Valley
Building a team to start the idea I have in mind World tour.... sometime |
| Location: | Palo Alto |
| Groups: | BASES, BASES Social E-Challenge Alumni Network, Girls In Tech (GIT), Global Entrepreneurship Week , Global Entrepreneurship Week Spain, Haas Entrepreneurs Association at Berkeley , IESE Center for Entrepreneurship (CEFIE ), Jumpstart Your Startup, Pier 2 | Marketing Re-defined, ST@B: Startup @ Berkeley, Startup 2009, hosted by Silicon Alley Insider, WebMission 09, Women 2.0 |
| Visas: | Europe and US, but the world is flat so anywhere |
| Interested in: | Advising startups, Brainstorming, Career advice, Creating a group, Finding business partners, Finding cofounders, Finding engineers, Finding experts, Finding mentors, Finding team mates, Getting press, Giving back, Growing my group, Helping friends, Helping members of my groups, Investing in projects, Joining a startup, Learning about entrepreneurship, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Participating in a competition, Partnering with other groups, Professional opportunities, Promoting my startups, Raising money, Receiving feedback, Recruiting, Recruiting for my startup, Sharing my projects, Starting a company |
| Tags: | barcelona, business, cloud computing, hiking, learning, michigan, new projects, Reading, san francisco, silicon valley, startup, team, technology, Travel |
| Schools: | Universitat Rámon Llull, University of Michigan System - Ann Arbor |
FULL BIO
I'm passionate about life. I have big goals and I'm determined to make them happen. I came to Silicon Valley to learn about entrepreneurship and to eventually start a company.
Right now I'm working at the business team of Tapulous, the company behind the number one game for iPhone and iPod Touch (Tap Tap Revenge).
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaalegre
WORK EXPERIENCE
| Employer: | Abiquo |
| Position: | VP of Business Development and USA Operations |
| Time period: | August 2008 - January 2009 |
| Description: | Open source cloud computing SaaS startup, based in Barcelona (Spain). Abiquo enables companies to build private clouds and connect them to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to scale and respond to demand peaks.
• Defined business model and strategy to move into the US market • Founded the US corporation, chose attorneys, defined tax structure • Selected/negotiated office lease. Obtained a grant from the Spanish government to pay 100% of office rent for the first 6 months • Established preliminary contacts with venture capitalists, potential clients and potential partners. • Prepared detailed competitive analysis of the cloud computing sector • Reformulated the parent company’s marketing message to effectively reach clients and investors and to resonate with the American business style. Improved website and other marketing communication materials. |
| Employer: | takePod LLC |
| Position: | Co-founder and CFO |
| Time period: | January 2008 - August 2008 |
| Description: | While studying for MBA, joined with other students from the Computer Science school to explore the creation of a new company to deliver in-store iPod advertising through a new device (hardware and software)
• Built prototype and met with potential clients to receive their feedback • Received term sheet for $150K investment but decided instead to dissolve the company |
| Employer: | Deloitte & Touche |
| Position: | Internship (part time while studying) in Corporate Finance department (M&A group) |
| Time period: | September 2007 - November 2007 |
| Description: | • Established valuation ranges comparing different methodologies such as discounted clash flow, and multiples valuations
• Identified and analyzed comparable deals • Researched acquisition candidates which fit client’s expansion strategies |
| Employer: | McKinsey & Company |
| Position: | Summer Internship (full time) |
| Time period: | May 2007 - August 2007 |
| Description: | • Turnaround project for a logistics company: created Excel/Access models to identify client’s 10 most profitable products; used Pareto model to identify the 20% of products causing 80% of warehouse incidents; built tool to measure, control and improve critical Key Process Indicators (KPIs) to help client achieve profitability; built a graphical Excel tool to train salesforce for the new company strategy.
• Restructuring of Human Resources department of a multinational bank: defined strategic principles to drive the reporting structure (setting objectives, evaluating, defining variable compensation). Defined career paths and strategies to identify, train and retain talent from inside and outside the company. |
| Employer: | BanKomunal Project - Microfinance (non-profit organization) |
| Position: | Social Entrepreneur - (Part Time and Summers) |
| Time period: | October 2004 - November 2007 |
| Description: | Project based on Grameen Bank, mixed with a credit union methodology: creation of community banks which use micro deposits from members to make micro loans to other members.
• Recruited by Ashoka Fellow to repurpose his Venezuelan micro-finance model for Spain. Spent 2 months in Venezuela learning their model, and then improved/adapted it to the European environment. With just $40K, created 23 banks in Barcelona with 400 low-income participants. These banks provided 38 loans (averaging $500) in 2007 and 400 in 2008. Our 17% ROI was substantially higher than the 11% from the original Venezuela model. • Designed software systems (used in Venezuela and Spain) for management, control and reporting. • Replicated the Spanish model in rural Senegalese communities in Senegal with limited time and resources (2 months and $4,000). Partnered with a local organization, adapted the methodology to the new environment and led the creation of the first 2 micro banks in Senegal. Within 2 months, the Senegal bank had 100 members and its first 20 loans. • 2008 to present: continuing involvement as board member and strategy advisor |
EDUCATION
| University: | University of Michigan System - Ann Arbor |
| Time period: | 2008 |
| Degree: | Entrepreneurship , MBA |
| University: | Universitat Rámon Llull |
| Time period: | 2002 - 2008 |
| Degree: | Finances, MBA |
PUBLICATIONS
INFORMATION
| Sports: | Hiking, skiing, swimming, biking, paddle, tennis and rackets in the beach |
| Hobbies: | Adventure traveling, backpacking, climbing mountains, camping in the Pyrenees, family lunch on Sundays, singing and playing the guitar, visiting European cities, dreaming |
| Awards: | GPA: 3.816, Honors Degree, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
Maria's Startups (1)
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Tapulous, Inc.
Tapulous is a Palo Alto-based company that makes iPhone applications with over 6 million users and the #1 game on the iPhone App Store for 2008.
Maria is Following (58)
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Pier 2 Marketing
At Pier 2 Marketing we believe in a 360° marketing approach, providing a full range of integrated marketing services to companies around the world. We work with our clients to expand their business, launch new products and enter new markets.
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Tapulous, Inc.
Tapulous is a Palo Alto-based company that makes iPhone applications with over 6 million users and the #1 game on the iPhone App Store for 2008.
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Miomi
Miomi is a revolutionary new way of organising and viewing the Internet on the basis of time, allowing you to travel back to the dawn of time, or forward into the distant future.
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Maria's Contacts (13)
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Burton Lee
A technology venture finance and innovation organization strategy and policy senior professional, working in Silicon Valley, WashDC and Europe. Invited speaker at VC/angel, industry, govt & academic conferences. Stanford Engineering adjunct faculty.
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Torsten Kolind
A risk-taking entrepreneur disguised as a comfortable Dane.
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