1. Innovate through ecosystems
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders
Stanford University - Engineering School
Monday 31 January 2011
Vassilis Nikolopoulos, PhD
Founder, CEO
Chief Innovation Officer
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

2. Who am I
• Electrical engineer valedictorian (Dundee)
• Postgrad @ Imperial, LSE, Ecole polytechnique, NTUA
• Military service as Officer in Communications
• Worked as CIO and BDM in big companies
• 7 years experience in Trend analysis and Innovation
• Over 20 publications in Journals and conferences
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

3. Greece
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

4. Idea and money
- If you have a good idea…
will you make money ?
- The best idea should have the best timing
- Intelen had a good idea in the correct time
- Having all the above you should monetize !
- but we were at the wrong place…no ecosystem
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

5. Intelen
• Start up coming from the National Tech. Uni. of Athens
• Founded in 2006, legal entity from 2009
• Deals with Web 2.0 smart metering and Energy ICT
• Applications on Soft Grid (Smart Grid IT apps)
• New vision: Social Power Dynamics and Gamefication
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

6. Intelen’s funding history
• EU Research grants from Medialab @ NTUA (~30K)
• Some more funding from National Research projects (~60K)
• Rest of capital was self-funding from the founders
• Currently pitching to raise seed funding for product validation
• Some more rounds to follow OR attract industrial partner
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

7. Intelen Pitch sentences…
We convert power data into human social behaviors
We shape your demand by using social games
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

8. Intelen prizes
• National Innovation contest winner in Greece (2007)
• Red herring top-100 winner in Europe and Global (2010)
• GuideWire finalist for top-100 tech start-ups worldwide
• Three patents in Energy algorithmics and Web metering
• Proposed for Stevie awards and Eco-Innovation in EU
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

9. Silicon Valley…
• We are here to raise funding
• We are here to expand
• We are here to stay…
• We are here to share a vision
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

10. Why Silicon ?
• because there is a huge eco-system everywhere
• because Seed and Angel funding is an existing entity
• because big players are here to invest
• because incubation here begins from University
• because here you can setup a company in a few days…
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

11. Innovation in Greece
• Innovation is rather a toxic and high risk thing to do…
• NO eco-system to support any startup or new idea
• There is no Angel or Seed funding available
• Failure is a very BAD thing that can lead you to jail
• There is no proper way to evaluate new ideas or startups
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

12. Greek legal framework
• Very complicated and hard to setup a company (~2 months)
• High taxation (45%) and VAT (23%) discourages investments
• High investment risk because of a NON-stable framework
• Government is not securing investments; cares only for taxes
• Bureaucracy is everywhere and a big problem for anyone
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

13. Building an Ecosystem for startups
• Start innovating in Universities and SMEs
• Providing fast incubation for students and coaching
• Give access to high risk investment funds and angels
• Help start-up ignition while in the valley of death
• Stop looking for a job and invent one !
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

14. Some thoughts…
• Super angles and super seeds will play for VCs ?
• 95% of the successful startups haven’t used more than 10K
• Is it better to look for funding OR to look for industrial partner ?
• What is the role of Government for the innovation ?
• Who is going to evaluate and fund start-ups ?
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School

15. Thank you !
Googling: intelen
v.nikolopoulos@intelen.gr
http://gr.linkedin.com/in/vnikolop
http://twitter.com/intelen
http://www.intelen.com
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders - Stanford Engineering School