For me, as a Xoogler (former Googler) and an entrepreneur focused on connectivity, Mike Cassidy is a permanent reference.His recent project, GoogleX’s Project Loon, which aims to extend Internet to the five billion humans without it by using an army of air balloons equipped with wireless Internet, speaks loud and clear about his ambitious vision and his capacity to challenge the impossible. In my small and modest scale, when I decided to create ConnectedtoGo and its WiFi Everywhere, my mission was to live uo to the expectations of the connected traveller. And my recent decision to sell the company to Eurona Telecom and join that listed company is based on the commitment of Eurona to bring internet everywhere, using all means.

But Mike Cassidy is also unique when we talk about developing startups. He has orchestrated eight rounds of funding as an entrepreneur. Seven times out of eight, he has had term sheets signed on the same day he started fundraising. Cassidy’s philosophy might sound simple and seemingly echo much of what Silicon Valley seems to value: Figure out what the consumer wants, build a prototype and iterate quickly. But he is not merely regurgitating tired advice.

Cassidy and two co-founders put in $500 apiece to start his first company, later selling for $13 million—a handsome 9000x return. His next company sold for more than $500 million, 500 days after founding. So, when he offers unconventional strategies and advice—such as fundraise in a single day— driven entrepreneurs pay attention. Below is a brief summary of his philosophy on speed. Note that much of his experience has stemmed from the Silicon Valley-favored sectors of Internet and software, but a number of the principles also translate to other industries.

1. Rollout products at a rapid pace. The competition will not be able to keep up. This has allowed Cassidy to compete against established players in a particular market, developing a superior product. He would rather throw together a product in two weeks that is good enough to handle customer demand for several months than spend several months building a robust solution that may or may not gain traction.

2. Speed works in favor of team morale. This means that even the orientation process for new employees should be quick, with access, critical tasks and a workstation present on the first day. This sets the appropriate tone and pace.

3. Focus on PR more than marketing, leveraging rapid success. Faster customer acquisition and faster product rollouts mean much better numbers. Even better, VCs love numbers. And better numbers mean higher valuations.

4. Fundraise in one day. This sounds like a dream to most entrepreneurs, including me. For most of us fundraising takes weeks, if not months.Cassidy´s secret is to raise money immediately before your startup’s valuation goes up. His main strategy was to use the news of a significant partnership or large client signing—before it is publicly announced—to encourage VCs to agree on a term sheet immediately. One week later and the terms will be less favorable for investors, he argues. While this will likely frighten first-time entrepreneurs, this move actually gives VCs a clear mandate to decide whether an idea is worth their time. Going into these meetings, he also requested all of the decision-makers to be present. Though he did not say so directly, this advice implies that if entrepreneurs are not serious about raising money immediately, they should not bother investors in the first place.

5. Enter spaces with competitors, iterate quickly, become the best in the space. Some entrepreneurs spend all of their time trying to find an appropriately novel niche that allows them to proudly say, “There is no direct competition.” This is misguided. Cassidy went up against large corporations but consistently developed better products because his companies released new product iterations in days rather than months.

6. Sell a timetable. Explore ideas, sell them to customers and then VCs, establish an office, incorporate, hire a qualified team to build the product, then sell the product to customers (the same ones who bought the idea, if possible). Cassidy bragged that for one startup he incorporated, he bought office equipment, set up accounting and payroll, set up hardware, software and a complete office system and opened the office in less than two weeks—starting the day he fundraised.

7. Hire veteran developers. While the stereotypical Internet startup seems incomplete without a small team of sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated college grads crowded into a Soma apartment, Cassidy begs to differ. Competent developers may be able to add 20 times the value of a kid fresh-out-of-college or a coding boot camp. Twenty times the value more than compensates for the higher price, and quality and competence are essential when speed is involved.

8. Close deals with customers in 10 days or less. In Cassidy’s experience, each passing day lessens the chance of closing a deal by 10 percent. Forcing a potential customer to make a decision may seem irresponsible, but just as investors’ time are valuable, potential customers should also be respected. Time equals inertia.

Certainly these are incredibly useful advices. Unfortunately, it is easer to be inspired  and try to put them in practice when you are in the Bay Area, in New York or in Boston, where the entrepreneur ecosystem is developed, My personal experience tells me that if you just focus in Spain, you must always go the extra mle and never feel discouraged. Remember that those who resist always win.