Going by the book is fine, but in the world of tech entrepreneurship and startups, sometimes success means throwing the textbook out the window.
And that’s exactly what our Founder here at Starttech Ventures Dimitris Tsingos will be addressing in a special seminar for students and all-comers which will be held at the FORTH, ICS on Monday, July 30 at 15:00 in conference room 211 A-STEPC. The seminar is being hosted by professor Maria Papadopouli.
Tech entrepreneurship and opportunities in Crete
Heraklion in Crete always has a special significance for Starttech. It’s where the company was actually “born” out of the first student startup in the city.
We continue to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem there in many ways, including our recent sponsorship of the highly successful Startup Weekend Heraklion, an event which proved to be a life-changing experience for some.
And so Dimitris will be addressing students to explore a wide range of related issues – all tied to how to make it in tech entrepreneurship. His talk, entitled “Non-textbook observations on start-up and scale-up tech entrepreneurship: Global trends and opportunities for the Heraklion ecosystem”, will be an interactive workshop.
“I’ll be sharing my empirical observations from a 18 years long journey in tech entrepreneurship. In particular, I’ll try to tackle the entrepreneurship’s “raison d’être”, including the point of view of a Computer Science graduate in Greece, and compare it with alternative career paths,” said Tsingos of the upcoming event.
Business model is king
A key point which is at the heart of any successful tech startup is its business model. And yes, it is more important than any product. It may seem strange, but many don’t take it as seriously as their actual product. Instead they get obsessed with perfecting a product that on paper may seem innovative, but in the end, its something awesome which nobody wants.
In the workshop, Dimitri will try to review the various business models deployed by Greek tech companies the last 30 years and to summarize the various lessons learned. Then, he will share his own perspective of the international “state-of-the-practice” in tech entrepreneurship. Along with this, he will cover the trends in its financing at all stages, from pre-seed to IPO.
Last, but not least, workshop participants will get key insights into Lean Startup methodology in action. Dmitri will briefly present how it works in action and give specific examples from Starttech’s Venture Building program, providing evidence that this might be the approach of choice for tech entrepreneurs in ecosystems like Greece and Heraklion in particular.
See you in Crete!
If you’re already on, or are thinking about, the road to tech entrepreneurship in Heraklion, Greece and beyond, then you won’t want to miss this seminar. Entrance is free, so all-comers are welcome to attend at the FORTH, ICS, Monday July 30 at 15:00 in conference room 211 A-STEPC. See you there!
Short Bio:
Dimitris Tsingos is a serial tech entrepreneur and early stage investor based in Athens, Greece. He studied Computer Science at the University of Crete and got his MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Starttech Ventures, a private early stage investor and Venture Builder with a number of success stories such as AbZorba Games, TalentLMS and Yodeck.
He has served as the President of the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs and is also involved with several other non profit organizations in the fields of entrepreneurship and early stage investments. His interests include tech entrepreneurship and early-stage investments, and in particular the effective application of the Lean Startup methodologies all the way from prototype development to scale-up.
