Veneno is more than a brand and a concept: it is the dream of Alejandra Merit, a young marketing manager who two years ago decided to quit her job to focus on a personal project as an entrepreneur. ‘Helping people to awaken their creative side, their poison’, is how Alejandra defines it. The first stone of the project is Veneno House, a space with a kitchen and a daily cultural programme that will open in the coming weeks in Valencia. But to get there it has been necessary to transform an industrial warehouse in ruins into a very particular cultural and gastronomic space. And also to face all the difficulties of entrepreneurship, including funding, in a year-long process. An obstacle that he overcame with the help of Kaizen Consulting, as he explains in this interview.
– When did financing become a problem?
– I found the premises a year ago, we designed what we wanted to turn an empty warehouse into Veneno House. We planned the work and started the refurbishment months ago. Financing was just another piece of the whole process until it became a big problem. Because we were doing financial tetris until DANA arrived. At that point we had to stop. There were suppliers affected by the flood and as soon as the work has to be delayed, the plan no longer works. The whole process is like a chain and at that moment it failed. The plan was to open in November and start invoicing. That’s when I had to decide to sell part of the project and I decided to ask for specialised help.
– Why did you turn to Kaizen Consulting?
– A good friend of mine recommended Kaizen Consulting because he had gone through a similar problem with his business project and they had provided him with solutions. Because what I needed was to get the maximum funding for Veneno while selling as little of the company as possible. And thanks to them I have been able to achieve it, they have helped me a lot: I have obtained the credit I need to carry out the work and start up Veneno House, selling only 30% and keeping control of my project.
– What has the process been like?
– It has been very simple and smooth, it has gone very well. The Kaizen Consulting team took care of everything: I just had to go and explain my business idea to the funders. They advised me and managed the whole process up to the signing. It was quick and I felt accompanied at all times.
– Business dreams also need financing. Has this been part of your learning process as an entrepreneur?
– Of course it has. I have many dreams and Veneno House is just the beginning. Entrepreneurship is hard in many ways because what I am is an expert in marketing. It’s the subject I mastered and the basis of my idea, but then you need expert people to manage a lot of issues, including financing. You run into unexpected problems and that’s when you realise that you can’t rely on your instinct to solve many of them. You need 100% help from people who are experts in what you are not, such as Kaizen Consulting in financing.
– You have been detailing the process on social networks, where you have found a lot of support to get your project off the ground.
– Social networks are undervalued. We already have almost 100,000 followers between Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube. There we have found the support of brands and professionals who believe in Veneno Concept. We will continue to focus there because that’s where we explain what we do and what we want to do. Veneno House is going to be the lever to do many more things, to awaken the venom that is the creative side of people. We will do something different every day in Valencia: detox Mondays without mobiles, live art, creative cuisine, open cultural programming…
– The presentation to the neighbours of the ship has already been different.
– Yes, we invited them to a party so that they could get to know us and what Veneno is all about. We were delighted to meet the neighbours and the businesses we have around us. All the people who work in the gastronomic sector recommend you to take care of the neighbourhood. I think it’s important to know each other, not to disturb and to listen to others. I don’t know how others do it, but we would never consider doing it any other way.
– You say it’s just the beginning. What is the future of Veneno?
– The most important thing this year and next year is to make the brand tremendously strong and successful. The dream would be for Veneno to grow and to be able to set up something like Burning Man: Burning Man, a festival that mixes art, culture and music where the rules of the game are completely changed.