GPASEABOTS is a company specializing in marine exploration and conservation established by the technological group GPAINNOVA, named as one of the Catalonia Exponential Leaders this year. The announcement of this award, which recognizes the 10 most disruptive organizations in Catalonia according to the Government of Catalonia, took place last July at CosmoCaixa, in Barcelona, and brought together professionals from various fields with a common denominator: their passion for innovation. Two of them were Pau Guasch, CEO of GPASEABOTS and co-founder of GPAINNOVA, and Corina Almagro, disruptive innovation consultant and exponential transformation coach, who had the opportunity to discuss the challenges faced by those companies that aspire to lead technological change.
Corina Almagro: Exponential growth comes from identifying the sources of abundance in any industry. The key is to think of the field in which you want to grow and how you see your growth: whether it is linear or exponential. If linear, you should think about how to make it exponential. If you get 10 times more business than I have now, how are you going to manage it? If you grow too much, maybe the GPAINNOVA group will no longer be able to help GPASEABOTS.
Pau Guasch: Aleix Valls [CEO and founder of Liquid Lab Ventures] talked about it in his speech today: even being a start-up, with an agile methodology, you are forced to consolidate processes which are common in a large company. Our growth will depend on market validation.
C. A.: Exponentiality is that. It is about analyzing how I can create a business in a way that, if an external disruption arises, I can manage.
P. G.: The model we are trying to validate is mission-on-demand [on-demand offshore exploration operations]. We have resources that can meet the needs of this market. If the market grows, we will deal it.
C. A.: Tesla is a notable example of it. I am not talking about their corporate culture, since some aspects should be improved, but about how they scale out its business model. It is interesting to see how, when they ran out of microchips, the entire workforce got a message from the company and, as a result, everyone started buying these components. Actions such as this create a culture of collaboration, which has made Tesla the only company that produced more cars during the pandemic.
P. G.: What you explain reminds me of our experience with RESPIRA [an emergency respirator developed by GPAINNOVA during the pandemic]. There were many related projects, some of them linked to 3D manufacturing, but we decided to use industrial components.
C. A.: We have to deal with disruption. The coronavirus has taught us what disruption and exponentiality are. I have been talking about this topic since 2015.
P. G.: Is calculating exponentiality easier in the industrial sector?
C. A.: Yes, it is easier. With Black and Decker, we did a project to exponentialize and change its model. Currently, large companies are working on its core, which is flexibility and adaptability, in case an external disruption comes along, and on the edge, that is, on how to generate exponential business models. All the new business models, as Aleix [Valls] said, are looking for a repeatable and scalable business. I return to the case of Tesla mentioned earlier: they do not use budgets because these limit [production] times, but they work with software. Every car they bring out has a digital model or digital win. Each one of them is different and let Tesla’s staff know where it is at any given moment and when it is going to break down, what we call ‘predicting’. It is a different way of creating. Although the human side of Tesla is questionable, they are a benchmark in exponentiality and disruption.
P. G.: Is there any other aspect to be considered when we talk about disruption?
C. A.: We need to focus on the resolutions. In today's session, when someone talked about them, people applauded. It is a key factor; it is what connects with the community and crowd of the company. In Silicon Valley, people not only introduce themselves by saying where they work, but also what they work for. I was surprised that, at the last Mobile World Congress, the participating companies didn't know what their purpose was. They talked about the problem, but not the purpose. Those are the glasses we have to wear.
P. G.: I fully agree.
C. A.: GPAINNOVA is in the top-10 in Catalonia, and you have to make the most of it. You are like an uncut diamond. You cannot just focus on the customer and agility; you have to go further.
For further information:
GPASEABOTS
C/ Maracaibo, 1, sheds 2-6. 08030 Barcelona Phone: (+34) 931 256 536 info@gpaseabots.com