jon uriarte

Marketplace businesses that collect payments before paying suppliers (negative working capital) are inherently capital-efficient; the winning strategy is rapid international expansion into fragmented, underserved markets (Southern Europe, LatAm) rather than fighting incumbents in core markets, powered by a frugal culture and hiring young, versatile talent to launch countries at low cost.

Stricter regulation on peer-to-peer short-term rentals is constraining supply while travel demand grows structurally, creating a favorable environment for licensed, professional apartment hotel operators like Libere that can achieve superior yields with lower regulatory risk.

Short-term rental regulations are tightening across Europe (Barcelona, NYC, etc.), making non-compliant Airbnb operations unsustainable. This forces supply toward licensed, professional operators like Libere who hold hotel/aparthotel licenses, creating a regulatory moat and supply consolidation opportunity.

Transitioning from informal angel investing to a professional VC fund (Oyon Ventures, €300M AUM) requires hiring investment professionals and standardizing processes; the venture builder model has yielded a SaaS company (Planet) with €1M ARR, but the founder's simultaneous management of real estate, hospitality, construction, and fund ventures risks dilution of focus.

Athletic Club, a member-owned football club, is implementing corporate governance practices including long-term strategic planning, OKR-based management with monthly reviews, and a clear separation between presidential governance and CEO operations, leveraging its unique competitive advantage in local talent development (cantera) to achieve financial sustainability without external owners.

Venture capital has entered the aparthotel/short-term rental space, funding competitors who offer above-market rents to property owners (loss-leading to gain share). This creates a temporary price distortion that hurts professional operators and ultimately property owners when VC funding dries up and leases become unsustainable, leading to defaults and costly transitions.

Construction is a massive, non-displaceable market (data centers, green energy, onshoring, urban housing) where almost every project suffers from delays, cost overruns, and quality issues. Specializing in complex industrial construction (pharma, energy, chemical) with strong project management offers a defensible, high-margin niche benefiting from structural infrastructure demand.