Constanza Cifuentes and Cristina Acuña were leaving a meeting at a clean point when, walking through the premises, they found a piece of plumavit. They explained to them that this material was a problem for everyone: no one received it and they did not know what to do with it. If they could find a solution, they were told, it would be wonderful.
Constanza tells it like a scene from a movie, but it was there, she says, where it all began: they kept the idea, they started searching for literature, doing experiments on their own, and they took the first step. This is how Ideatec was founded.
She defines herself as an active and sensitive woman, with simple tastes: nature, enjoying everyday life and, for almost two years, her son. She was always one of those who offered herself: at school she was in the student center and on the course board. But leading a company was never in his plans, he acknowledges. He still sometimes deals with imposter syndrome, he says.
A chemistry between waste
He studied chemistry almost by accident: he wanted pharmacy and was two points short of entering. He suffered at that time, but today he says that being left out and entering Chemistry was the best thing that could have happened to him.
Since the monotony of the laboratory was not for her, she finished her career by sending resumes everywhere and accepting the first job that came her way: one in sales. He liked it.
He worked in companies related to mining, traveling every two or three weeks between Santiago and the second region, and there he saw something that he could not stop thinking about: mountains of waste without any treatment, which due to his chemical knowledge could be raw material.
With Cristina, his partner, they met in a laboratory at the University of Chile: one was doing her doctoral thesis, the other her undergraduate thesis.
Years later, together with other colleagues, they founded the Chilean College of Chemists, a year and a half of work that showed them that they were a great team.
One day, while talking, they realized that they were both joining pieces of the same problem. The rest, he says, happened very quickly and today he sees it as a haze, until suddenly they had a company and they were giving it everything.
- How did you come to focus on waste?
“Because we saw raw materials in the waste that were not being used and that through chemistry we knew we could give it new life.””
“I feel that Ideatec has a life of its own, and it has been dragging me into this world of sustainability. I did not start with a sustainable spirit; as the company grew, it took me there.”
This is as far as we come
Selling on Ideatec was harder than I thought. I came from working for well-known brands, where the doors opened by themselves; Now they offered an unknown product, created by them, in 2016 and 2017, when sustainability was much less fashionable.
They went from door to door. Customers demanded higher quality than traditional products, and at a lower price. And they always asked the same thing: try it first.
So, they went themselves at night to paint, apply and monitor performance, until the clients said: it works.
- What has been the most difficult moment you have experienced as an entrepreneur?
“In 2016, we had both quit work to dedicate 100% of our time to it. We applied for competitive funds and nothing came of it; our savings were becoming less and less…
…We had a very tough conversation: if we didn’t win something in two months, that was it.”
The following month they had a very good project that allowed them to continue.
There were other blows. They once sent them a false purchase order in the name of a client that was already theirs; They delivered a lot of product before discovering the scam, in the midst of the social outbreak and being a very small company.
Constanza acknowledges that they strengthened their procedures with the entire team, and today, she says, attempts of the same type continue to arrive, but they already know how to react.
Then came the pandemic. But except in 2016, he says, they never considered closing: when a problem appears, the question is always how to get out of it.
“We looked for 10,000 ways to do it, and we did it.”
like another son
For Constanza, the border between her life and the company was never very defined. She worked until the last moment before giving birth, and remembers asking about sales with her two- or three-month-old baby sleeping on her.
Trust in her team, she says, allows her to have peace of mind when she needs to prioritize her son.
- How do you balance being a leader and being a mom?
“It’s difficult to talk about me without talking about Ideatec, because it’s very much in my DNA. At first, on my first vacation, I thought: I have to disconnect, and that caused me tremendous anxiety. Now it’s the opposite: knowing that I’m going to always be connected gives me peace of mind, because it’s something that I want, that I enjoy. It’s like another child: you’re never going to disconnect. In addition, we have an incredible team in which I completely trust.”
He looks forward with enthusiasm: he assures that they will continue to grow, that they have interesting projects and that “something big is coming.”
He thinks that the fundamental change in the country will depend on public policies: the State, the largest buyer, should set an example, for example by using recycled products in the annual maintenance of all its establishments and institutions.
For university students who are wondering what to do with their career, she recommends looking for alternatives, going to talks, asking questions and writing on LinkedIn to whoever is interested: the worst that can happen is that they don’t respond.
- What advice would you give to Constanza who was just starting out?
“Don’t look for disconnection: the more you look for it, the worse. What you are doing is such a beautiful creation, so part of you, that there is no reason to disconnect. You have to enjoy it. And enjoy the achievements more: we set goals, we achieve them and continue with another one.”
“When we achieve something that was difficult for us, let’s take a break and celebrate it, but with everything”
If she could change one thing, Constanza says it would be to take some things a little slower, especially in the early years. I would leave the rest as is.
After all, it is the path they decided to take at Ideatec, and it is the one that led a chemical company to discover that, among the waste that no one wanted to receive, there was a company waiting.
Startup.Connect is a program of the Universidad del Desarrollo in conjunction with País Digital that connects startups with large companies through a specialized scouting system. Throughout its editions, it has facilitated more than 250 1-on-1 meetings for more than 90 startups, achieving 92% effectiveness in its matches.
More information at https://startupconnect.udd.cl/
