Oriol Vinzia, founder and CEO of GymForLess, joins this year as a mentor in the mentoring program of INDESUP !. His company, a platform that allows users to access in addition to a thousand gyms throughout Spain, was born in 2014, has consolidated a staff of 15 people and a few months ago he lived as the majority shareholder of Sodexo, a large corporation with more than half million workers around the world. Recently, GymForLess also became a partner of INDESCAT, and now Oriol Vinzia will try to transmit its experience in the world of entrepreneurship and sports to the start-ups that are selected for INDESUP's mentoring program.
What can this mentoring program bring?
To someone who is promoting a project and who perhaps lacks experience, a program like INDESUP! It can be very useful when looking for financing, to receive advice at a specific time and, above all, to focus your product or service. Sometimes, when you start, the business model is not completely clear and you need a bit of guidance. I have also been wrong sometimes, I have founded three different start-ups and I am sure that I can help other entrepreneurs not to make the same mistakes.
What are the classic mistakes of entrepreneurs in the initial phases?
One very important thing is to define the team well from the beginning. It is essential to have the support of all partners and travel companions are not always well chosen. Another mistake is to think that it will be easy to monetize from the first day. This does not usually happen, it has to persist a lot. It also often happens that the entrepreneur wants to do many things, open many lines of business at once. And it is fundamental to focus: have a very clear idea of your product and how you want to sell it.
Another important aspect is financing. How do you think the start-ups have to face this question?
If you have a product or service that monetizes from the first day, you do not need to go to a round of financing. But this happens a very few times, you usually need money to invest in technology and many other things. In this case, the entrepreneur does not have to be afraid to go and look for money anywhere: to the financing rounds, to the administrations, to the business angels ... Let's be clear that it is very difficult to promote a scalable start-up without having a external financing.
What are the strengths and aspects to improve the Catalan entrepreneurial ecosystem?
In Catalonia there has always been an entrepreneurial culture. Now, in addition, we are an important technological hub, partly because Barcelona is a very attractive city to live and attracts professional bonds. We also have the success stories of start-ups such as Social Point or Privalia that have become role models for many entrepreneurs. And if we talk about the sports sector, it is clear that Catalonia is a benchmark in sports practice. As for the aspects to improve, I think we lack tools to help start-ups: more accelerators, more programs like INDESUP !, and that big companies feed the entrepreneurial fabric, as it has happened to us with Sodexo.
What does it bring you to be part of INDESCAT?
One of the main objectives of GymForLess is to encourage sports, and in this sense it seemed essential to be part of INDESCAT, an entity that also seeks this goal through the development of the sports industry. We also find very interesting this work that INDESCAT is doing to pose in contact undertaken large and small. Many times large corporations struggle to innovate, while start-ups do have this agility to promote new projects and grow rapidly.
More information to the call of the Mentoring INDESUP! program
The Grass-Twin project offers an innovative solution based on functional printing and smart monitoring for the maintenance of sports surfaces.
Grass-Twin is an industrial research project launched with the aim of addressing a common challenge in the management of sports surfaces—whether natural, hybrid, or artificial turf: the lack of advanced technological solutions for efficient and tailored maintenance.
30 June 2025
Thanks to the European I3-INSHAPE initiative, INDESCAT, the sports industry cluster, has secured direct grants for Catalan companies amounting to more than €570,000. In the first phase, €329,240 was awarded to Onalabs, Eurofitness, Sevenmila, Berrly, and Tot per l’Esport — all members of INDESCAT. In a second phase, nine interregional collaborative projects involving innovative SMEs from various EU regions — including Catalonia — received a total of €244,000 in direct funding for eight Catalan companies: Barcelona Zero Limits, Factual Consulting, Improfit, MyPlay, Neorg, North 3, Placenet, and Rockfit, four of which are cluster members. All of these projects focus on innovative solutions in the fields of sport, technology, and healthy lifestyles.
30 June 2025
In a context shaped by digital transformation, demographic shifts, and a constantly evolving sports industry, the training of future professionals requires educational models adapted to today’s realities. Escola Vitae emerges as an innovative proposal within the educational sector, offering programs focused on a direct connection with the job market and the challenges of the future.
We speak with Roger Saladich, Co-CEO of Vitae, a school specialized in the fields of sports and health, which has been offering official and in-house qualifications for over fifteen years through an immersive pedagogical approach. We explore the origins of the initiative, how they integrate technology and personal competencies into their programs, and the steps they are taking to establish themselves as a leading institution in shaping the next generation of professionals in the sector.
The opening event of INDESCAT’s 15th anniversary celebration, the sports industry cluster in Catalonia, brought together members, former and current board representatives, institutional figures, and other key players from the Catalan sports sector on June 19 at the Joan Miró Foundation.
The event featured a review of the cluster’s history, the unveiling of a commemorative illustration, the presentation of special recognitions, and an interactive session led by Emogg. The celebration concluded with a cocktail reception, offering industry professionals the chance to network and foster synergies.
Prior to the celebration, INDESCAT held its Annual General Assembly, during which members reviewed the activities and budget from the past period, and future plans and forecasts for the cluster were presented.
6 June 2025
The Best Practices in Healthy Companies Conference was successfully held this Friday, June 6th, at the Tabaris Building in Coma-ruga (El Vendrell). The event was organized by the Associació Corporativa Empresa Saludable (ACES) with the collaboration of various key local stakeholders, including the Ajuntament del Vendrell, Ranking Games, Umivale Activa, FCC Medi Ambient, and the INDESCAT cluster itself.
We spoke with Rafa Solans, project director of Fit Cloud, an innovative platform that integrates technology and sports performance for all IT management of gyms, sports clubs, facilities and training rooms.
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