“Be the change you want to see in the world” the saying goes, and while it’s a little clichéd, it is still a very good advice.
And when it comes to entrepreneurship, it’s also an advice I try to abide by. Wanting a better entrepreneurial landscape is not enough — you’ve also got to help build it.
Which is what I have been doing as the (now ex-) president of YES for Europe, as a co-founder of HeBAN, and as an EBAN board member since 2012 — among a few other hats I get to where. In fact I’ve followed the latter organization, EBAN in some capacity or another since 2009, and even got an EBAN Award at their 2014 Dublin event.
And just this week I’ve been busy attending EBAN’s annual ‘Scale up for Europe‘ congress in Porto, Portugal, where besides general evangelizing for the entrepreneurial and VC causes, I’m also a speaker at the VC/Angel Fund panel.
Besides myself, representing Starttech Ventures, Greek participation also includes Panagiotis Ketikidis and Alexandra Choli, representing Metavallon.
The main subject of the congress is the “scale up” concept — how we can help create a supporting platform that will help startups move towards a path of sustainable growth. That’s something that’s quite close to my heart, as I have been advocating for similar approaches (as opposed to the Silicon Valley model) in Europe for years.
All in all, we’re having a few very productive and interesting days, with some very important guests, in a beautiful and welcoming city — and one with a strong entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem at that.
And yes, it’s also the region in which they make the eponymous wine.
Here’s to Europe scaling up!
Dimitris Tsingos,
CEO Starttech Ventures