Entrepreneurs on-board or BizMatching by Vueling

Vueling takes pride in being an entrepreneurial company and it certainly has a legitimate claim to this pretence. Started by airline serial entrepreneurs by Lázaro Ros and Carlos Muñoz, who would later move on to found regional low cost carrier Volotea, Vueling's beginnings as an independent carrier with just two aircraft and a youthful brand were not unlike those of many a Silicon Valley startup. Vueling has also gone through many of the steps that successful start ups have been through, including an IPO and a later sale to a major industry player.

Maybe to pay homage to this entrepreneurial heritage Vueling has launched the first "BizMatching by Vueling" flight, that will take place this Friday and Saturday (17th-18th October). The idea is that 54 Spanish and 54 Italian entrepreneurs will be flying together between Barcelona and Milan and the other way around. Divided in groups of 6 these entrepreneurs will have to work on a business idea.

The journey between Barcelona and Milan is not particularly long, so the participants will need to make the most out of the 45 minutes allocated to the activity. BizMatching by Vueling, that includes also a programme of networking activities on land and will see the three winning teams getting 30 return flights each, on Vueling, of course. That is 5 return flights each of the team members, quite a useful prize considering how many startups have teams that are either multinational or scattered around different cities.

For the record, although different in nature, this Vuelign initiative reminded me of Turkish Airlines' "Invest On Board campaign", that we reported on this blog, where 11 startups had the chance to pitch their projects, through the in-flight entertainment system, to prospective investors flying on business class.