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20140228 public tsigos
This document summarizes the journey of Dimitris Tsigos in starting up his company Vtrip in 2000 during the dot-com bubble. Some key points: - Tsigos started Vtrip with some fellow university programmers as a joke in 2000 to have flexible hours and be their own bosses. - Early projects included websites for the government and banks in Greece. The company grew but divisions emerged and it split into two companies by 2003. - Tsigos discusses how the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Greece has developed since, and emphasizes the importance of management skills and processes for startups to avoid common reasons for failure like lacking management capacity. - A recurring theme is that startups should always be
20140228 public tsigos
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- 2. Startup. Why, How,What? Startup Courses by Public February 18th 2014 Dimitris Tsigos Founder & CEO StartTechVentures dtsigos@starttech.eu | http://twitter.com/tsigos | http://www.linkedin.com/in/tsigos
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- 7. Dot-com bubble http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble The dot-combubble (also referred to as the Internet bubble and the Information Technology Bubble) was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52 in intraday trading before closing at 5048.62) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the Internet sector and related fields. While the latter part was a boom and bust cycle, the Internet boom is sometimes meant to refer to the steady commercial growth of the Internet with the advent of the world wide web, as exemplified by the first release of the Mosaic web browser in 1993, and continuing through the 1990s.
- 9. Everything in Greece comeswith some delay dotcom bubble, too!
- 10. Academic Environment • US educatedprofessors – Talking about dotcom bubble – Without knowing it was a bubble • Atlantis Group – The competitors! • “Pointer-Soft!” – CS256 “s/w engineering lab”
- 12. It all startedas a joke • A very serious one! • We decided to “start a company” in July 2000 – “Milon tis Eridos” café, Heraklion • The best four programmers at CSD and myself – akritid, hargikas,mvasilak,venturas
- 13. Which were our objectives? •To be our own bosses • To have a stake to the value of our labor • To have flexible working hours • Do something interesting • Not taking orders by idiots
- 14. Critical Publics • EmailAugust 2000: – Looking for Python programmers to work with Zope • Reply tsigos@csd.uoc.gr – Why you guys want to pay social security? – Are you interested in outsourcing?
- 16. Projects • www.mod.mil.gr • www.hnms.gr •www.emporiki.gr • www.yme.gov.gr • www.zenon.gr • www.criticalpublics.com • a.s.o.
- 17. Products??? • WebSecure™ • VoteSecure™ –http://www.springerlink.com/content/y6cfc0jn 4g12k9dc/?MUD=MP • AuctionSecure™ • Totally unrealistic
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- 20. An inspired idea! •We don’t aim to becoming a 500persons company • We dream of starting 10 companies of 50 persons each
- 21. Divorces • December 2002,Critical Publics • March 2003, Vtrip team – akritid stayed as a freelancer for 6 months – venturas stayed as a permanent freelancer for 2 years – hargikas stayed as occasional freelancer – mvasilak did not stay at all
- 22. “Hey buddy, ifyou don’t trust your own company why should we trust it?” Attica Bank business loans officer
- 28. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurial_ecosystem “An entrepreneurial ecosystemis a group of non-competing companies, including start-ups, established companies and one or more coordination entities, which share the same vision, values, culture, strategy and business processes and decide to form an organization in order to explore economies of scale in business functions such as business development, financing, market analysis, marketing communications, IT / MIS infrastructure, human capital management, legal support, financial & accounting management” © Dimitris Tsigos | Virtual Trip, November 29th 2009
- 29. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem StartTech Ventures coLab Workspace StartTechAngels StartTech Incubator Materializing Innovation Group Services Vendors Distributors Publisher M.I. Spain M.I. Hungary M.I. Brussels Incubator Services: - Financing - Strategy - Business Development - MIS & IT Infrastructure - Financial & Account Management - Marketing Communications Antenna Offices - Business Administration - Legal Advisory - Talent Management - Facilities This journey has resulted to the first prototype implementation of the “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” concept
- 30. The new hype Suddenly,everyone is starting up
- 31. Why? • Maximize income,wealth • Catch the wave (ride the bubble?) • Create an organization larger than & independent from you • A way of living
- 32. I wanna becool.
- 33. What makes youcool?
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- 36. To be thebest on earth?
- 37. Not really. Being coolactually is to be happy.
- 38. Who’s the happiestperson on earth?
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- 41. The happiest personson earth “In the legend, Kleobis and Biton were Argives, the sons of Cydippe, a priestess of Hera. Cydippe was travelling from Argos to a festival in honor of Argive Hera. The oxen which were to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Kleobis and Biton, pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, or 8.3 km/5.1 miles). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and she prayed to Hera, asking her to give her children the best gift a god could give to a mortal. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep, and after the feast the youths lay down in the temple of Hera, slept and never woke. Herodotus, who relates the story, says that the citizens of Argos donated a pair of statues to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.” «Μηδένα προ τοσ τέλοσς μακάριζε»
- 42. Entrepreneurship is about happiness Whyso many people unhappy? Do we follow the right model?
- 43. From Pyramids to Pancakes •Josephine Green: “From command and control to a truly flat world of collaboration!”
- 44. • No wedo NOT! • “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein
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- 46. • If notinsane, then we need to follow the pancake model versus the pyramid one • In other words: – It’s NOT about domination, but it is about sustainability
- 47. Who could beKleobis and Biton in Greece, today?
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- 50. Easy Vs Doable •Is it gonna be • Absolutely easy? no! • Is it gonna be fun? •YES it certainly will!
- 51. The ultimate goal •Entrepreneurship is about being useful to another person. Something so simple that makes you happy. • It’s simple: Be useful! • …in an economically sustainable way
- 52. What? • “I wantto startup, I just don’t know what to do” • It doesn’t really matter! • Prerequisite is simply to like it
- 53. Startup Compass real problemthat many people have Find an innovative way to solve it Get a team that shares the passion to • Think of • • do it • Making sure that the proposed solution is sustainable •As simple as that!
- 54. Must-have Vs Nice-tohave Sustainabilityis built on a ground of needs, not wishes.
- 56. Creative copying “Immaturepoets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” ― T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot
- 57. How? • Here’s wherethe great misunderstanding is • The “garage s/w” model does not really work • Thin & lean is the way to go • Management should be in the startup’s DNA
- 58. Reasons to fail •Most of the failed startups lacked management skills and capacity • Founders should never underestimate the necessity for management skills & processes • Founders often hesitate to add management skills to the team
- 59. The management leap •Many startups fail to make the leap from 1M to 5M in revenues • Failure to introduce management structure • The most difficult change a company has to manage in its early years
- 60. A startup is… • …an innovative, creating, dynamic, aimin g-to-grow…
- 61. ….BUSINESS! Thus, it shouldALWAYS been run as such.
- 62. Managing a Startup •Tools • Techniques • Methodologies • As lean as possible – ….but not more
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