Grupo Guayacán: Before the Money, 100 Conversations

Before a founder in Puerto Rico spends seven weeks polishing a pitch, Grupo Guayacán offers a more awkward assignment: speak to 100 people you do not know. Ask questions. Listen. Return with evidence. Friends are agreeable company; they are less reliable as a market. The discipline belongs to I-Corps PR, the nonprofit’s customer-discovery program, and it explains something about the institution behind it. Guayacán puts considerable effort into making entrepreneurs examine the assumptions that enthusiasm tends to wave through.

A missing connection, before a missing customer

The original problem was larger than one founder’s assumptions. A 1994 study commissioned by Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank identified a gap in the local private capital market. Enrique “Ricky” Adsuar González wanted mechanisms that could connect money with local enterprise. In 1996 he founded Grupo Guayacán and launched its first fund of funds.

That vehicle invested in private equity funds, giving local investors exposure to the asset class. Adsuar died only months after founding the organization. The institution continued, carrying the name of a tree native to southern Puerto Rico. It was an unusually patient choice of mascot for an enterprise concerned with growth.

The money has a second job

Guayacán’s financial architecture gave the educational project a way to pay its bills. In a 2015 interview, its leaders described a one-percent fund-management fee, split equally with investment adviser Abbott Capital. Guayacán reinvested its income in business development. The mechanism is the telling detail: managing capital could help finance the preparation of entrepreneurs.

That historical arrangement sits alongside today’s donations, partnerships and program fees. An endowment launched in 2016 has received more than $7 million in donations, according to Guayacán. The organization also reports more than $350 million in local capital invested in private equity funds across its history. That figure measures investment activity; it is separate from money spent teaching founders.

The current website reports more than 1,400 companies supported and 3,500 entrepreneurs educated. These are Guayacán’s cumulative reach figures. They describe the scale of participation, without establishing how much of any graduate’s subsequent success the programs caused. A useful institution need not turn every number into a victory parade.

Seven weeks to earn an opinion

I-Corps PR arrived in 2015 through a partnership with Georgia Tech, supported by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Teams use customer discovery and the Business Model Canvas to examine whether an idea has a business behind it. The interviews must involve people they do not personally know. Surveys do not satisfy the requirement.

The schedule combines English-language workshops, mentoring and fieldwork. Teams of two or three must make room for weekend sessions and interviews between them. There are no cash prizes. The intended result is clarity: proceed, pivot or stop before committing more resources. An assumption that fails here can save expensive trouble later.

“Hablamos con 105 personas y confirmamos que Cuela sí iba a funcionar.”

Enio Suásnavar, Cuela cofounder
“We spoke with 105 people and confirmed that Cuela would work.” Translation.

Cuela’s example shows evidence confirming a concept. An earlier EnterPRize participant describes a different adjustment. Agropek owner Cindy Cruz said the team arrived with a sweeping agricultural ambition, then learned to define its market and set clearer goals. In 2020, Agropek received $30,000 in seed capital across its placement and sector award. The useful change was specific: a narrower market and a more concrete business identity.

A different classroom when you already sell

Once a venture has traction, Guayacán’s questions change. EnterPRize combines six months of workshops and mentoring with a business competition. It welcomes multiple industries and expects a product or service in the market, a paying customer or active pilot, and a founder committed full-time. Everyone admitted gets the curriculum and network; prizes are selective.

In 2025, its twentieth-anniversary edition graduated 25 ventures and awarded more than $400,000 in seed capital and in-kind prizes. Lau Pottery Studio took first place. The company is a useful reminder that entrepreneurial development includes businesses making objects people can hold, alongside software and research ventures.

Application is free, but EnterPRize’s FAQ specifies a reservation payment after admission. Selected Scale Up Bootcamp companies attend free through Popular’s partnership. GVA charges for its base and additional modules. Across these educational programs, Guayacán says it takes no equity. Time remains a substantial contribution from participants.

Growth changes the assignment

Scale Up Bootcamp, launched with Popular in 2022, bridges young businesses and established companies. It targets firms operating for more than two years, with annual sales of at least $500,000 and a concrete expansion goal. Teams work on finance, talent, sales and marketing. The strongest growth plan receives a $50,000 seed award.

GVA serves management teams of at least three at companies with $1 million or more in annual sales, typically with a decade of operating history. Its modular format includes a three-year growth strategy and specialized work for family businesses and nonprofits. Guayacán reports 675 executives from 202 companies participating since 2010. Those businesses collectively affect more than 12,000 jobs; the figure is an employer footprint, not jobs created by the course.

This breadth gives Guayacán a distinct place beside programs such as Parallel18, whose P18 offer targets young, innovative ventures scaling internationally and includes investment through a SAFE. Guayacán can accompany a local business into later management problems: succession, acquisition, export and reinvention.

Borrow the habit, then do the work

The copyable practice is simple: write down a customer assumption, interview people who can contradict it, and revise the plan when their answers demand it. The conditions matter. I-Corps requires English and a team; later programs require traction, revenue or managers ready to participate. Education cannot substitute for customers, working capital or a team willing to change its decisions.

For its thirtieth anniversary, Guayacán has published a bilingual children’s book, Enrique y el guayacán, priced at $24.95 plus shipping and supporting the endowment. A story about a child creating a market joins the institution’s adult curriculum. The ambition starts young. Eventually, somebody still has to ask the customers.