(Pablo, who got interviewed is on the left, Anne-Lous van den Ende (CMO) in the middle and Adrián Calvo (CTO) is on the right)

Pablo is Cofounder and COO of Icofunding and Coin Governance System. He formerly worked as VP at Highbridge Capital Management, as a Director at Corpfin Capital and as Analyst at Lehman Brothers. We interview him to know he feels about being South Summit finalist.

What does South Summit mean for you? What do you expect from this event?

 Being selected as finalist for the South Summit means that we have an opportunity to present our project at the best entrepreneurship event in Southern Europe. We expect to meet a lot of people, including developers and investors, who are interested in new opportunities offered by technology.

 Why did you decide to participate in the competition?

 As said before, it's the biggest entrepreneurship event in the South of Europe, and our company is based in Madrid, so we definitely had to try to be here.

 We have participated in a few blockchain specific events this year, for example, we were finalists at the Blockshow competition this May in Berlin. At blockchain events people understand our product more easily, so South Summit is for us a great challenge to be able to present the Coin Governance System to a larger public at a more mainstream event such as South Summit.

 Why did you decide to start your business and how did you come up with the idea?

 We were watching the ICO market even before it started booming, and while we saw its incredible potential, we also saw many bad practices taking place, that would surely lead to project failures and scams (as has actually happened). 

 We realised that the only way to bring effective and efficient control to blockchain projects is through what we call on-chain governance, ie. using that same same blockchain technology. So we started working on the Coin Governance System.

Why your company is useful for the user?

 The CGS provides investors a fast and efficient way to recover their funds in case the ICO project is not executing as expected, or is an outright failure. Our product practically eliminates scams from the ecosystem.

 It is a sort of technological insurance for ICO investors. At the same time, ICOs that implement CGS, become more attractive for investors, which is beneficial to them.

How did you feel when you knew you were finalist?

We were extremely happy and excited :)

What do you think it will happen in the future of startups?

 We see a trend for startup projects launching bigger and more aggressively. They are starting with large teams, raising a lot of funding at very high valuations and setting very high expectations from their launch. We expect this trend to continue.

What advice would you give to those who want to participate in South Summit?

 I would tell them to go for it!

 For me, the most important thing is to explain your company's mission, why you exist and what problem you want to solve for your users, and how your product/service works to achieve this in the most effective way. 

What does being an entrepreneur mean for you?

Entrepreneurship is a different way of life. It's exciting because you feel in control of your future, and you are building something that will be very useful for many people. In our case, taking active part in the blockchain revolution is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  

 But it is also scary because you feel responsibility and there are many unknowns. Being an entrepreneur takes you out of your comfort zone in many senses. You find yourself dealing with all sorts of problems that you have not been trained for, and having to face them with very limited resources.

What´s your dream in life?

 I dream of a future where blockchain technology has helped democratised finance. 

 I dream of a future where many more people have been empowered through education and a more transparent financial system. A financial system where everybody has access to wealth creation and saving, and the risk of seeing your life savings wiped out by inflation seems like a distant past.

 I hope to see entrepreneurs being able to share their ideas with like-minded people across the world, and who can decide to join help them build and fund their project through ICOs. And I see Coin Governance System as a key tool to make ICOs safer.