What are digitally native companies?
They are companies that are born directly in the digital environment, usually supported by the cloud from day one and with private funding in their early stages. They do not have to ‘transform’ because technology is already their starting point. In that sense, rather than just one area, technology becomes their DNA and the natural way they conceive of business.
What are their main characteristics?
I think digitally native companies combine several dimensions at once:
- Innovation as DNA, not as an add-on.
- A data culture, where strategic decisions are supported by advanced analytics.
- Scalability, with models designed to grow very quickly.
- Flatter, more collaborative structures, which give them agility.
- Customer focus, with personalised digital experiences.
- A digital-first culture, which normalises remote working, flexibility and distributed teams.
Overall, what they convey is a lighter, more agile business model that is adapted to today’s world.
How do they differ from traditional companies?
The difference lies in their heritage. A traditional company often carries obsolete processes and technologies and has to undergo a cultural and technological transformation to catch up. A digital native is born with that mindset and those tools already integrated. It’s like learning a language as a child versus learning it as an adult: the fluency is different, and that sets the pace for everything they do.
What are the benefits?
What really sets a digital native apart is its ability to scale and innovate at the same time, something that is very difficult to replicate. Let’s break it down into three clear benefits:
- Scalability: they grow very quickly because their model is based on the cloud and digital platforms.
- Disruption: with no legacy, they can question and redesign the rules of the sector.
- Customer connection: their focus is on offering close and personalised digital experiences.
More than isolated advantages, what stands out is how these three factors reinforce each other.
What challenges do they face?
Their challenges are, in a way, a reflection of their benefits:
- Sustainable financing, as many depend on investment rounds and have to balance growth with profitability; and scaling without losing culture.
- Access to and retention of talent, because without the right team, innovation slows down.
- Cybersecurity and regulation, which are inevitable in companies that operate 100% digitally and on a global scale, where, in many cases, regulation lags behind innovation.
The paradox is that what makes them strong is also what puts the most pressure on them.
What types of digitally native companies exist?
Today, almost any sector can give rise to a digitally native company if technology is at the heart of the model. Even very physical industries such as banking and retail have generated fintechs and e-commerce companies that are born with digital DNA.
If we organise them into categories, we can talk about:
- Pure digital model companies, such as platforms (marketplaces, mobility apps) or SaaS.
- Companies that apply technology to a specific sector, which has given rise to fintechs, edtechs, healthtechs, etc.
The exciting thing about the moment is that the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred and many companies are mixing both models.
In which business sectors are these types of organisations most common?
If we look at it from the perspective of the importance of technology in their business model, there are three sectors that stand out in particular:
- Financial services (fintechs).
- Retail and e–commerce.
- Media and digital entertainment.
This is no coincidence: these are the sectors where customers demand immediacy and personalisation.
What examples could you give us of a leading digital native company?
Internationally, there are clear leaders: Amazon in e-commerce, Netflix in entertainment, Airbnb in tourism and Spotify in music. It is interesting to note that none of these companies started out as owners of what they sell – Amazon did not own the books, Netflix did not own the films, Airbnb did not own the properties and Spotify did not own the music.
In Spain, we also have some very solid examples: Glovo in delivery, Cabify in urban mobility, Civitatis in experiential tourism, Clikalia in proptech, and Idoven in healthtech…
What do you like most about working with digitally native companies?
What appeals to me most is that they force me to always be on the cutting edge of innovation. Working with them means constantly learning, because they are experimenting, testing and scaling models that will often become success stories and market standards.
I am also very motivated by their potential in Spain. We have an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is generating more and more digital natives capable of competing abroad: from very young start-ups to scale-ups that are already international benchmarks. Being close to this process, accompanying it and seeing it grow is very enriching, both professionally and personally.
