Drawing on its authors’ firsthand experience and expertise in the field, a new book takes an in-depth look at Greece’s startup ecosystem and offers practical advice and useful insights for anyone working in or with startups in Greece.
Litsa Panayotopoulos presents Startups: From A to Exit
Long renowned for its ancient treasures, health-boosting cuisine and iconic vacation destinations, in recent years Greece has also made a name for itself as an innovation thanks to its flourishing startup ecosystem. Today, an increasingly sophisticated support framework and a growing number of incubators and accelerators are empowering young innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs, while at the same time, the country is attracting more and more investors and talent from around the world. On every front, possibilities and opportunities are growing exponentially. The question now is, how does one go about seizing them?
Tomorrow’s jobs are determined by today’s startups
Startup cognoscenti Michael Dritsas, CEO of Elevate Greece, and Kaloian Kirilov, M&A advisor and founder of two edtech startups, set out to create the ultimate guide to Greece’s startup ecosystem. Its title? Startups: From A to Exit – Practical Advice on the Road to Success.1 The book, which is written and Greek and published by I. Sideris Publications, was formally launched at a special event that took place on February 20, 2023, at the Constantinos Michalos Center for Entrepreneurship at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (ACCI) Athens Startup Business Incubator (Th.E.A.).
Hailed as an invaluable reference tool for anyone interested in the Greek startup ecosystem, from young aspiring innovators to seasoned investors, the book brings together a wealth of practical advice and useful insights. Using the most recent Elevate Greece data, Startups: From A to Exit examines the ecosystem’s ins and outs and presents ideas and tips to cover the breadth and depth of the startup entrepreneurship experience, touching on topics such as how to identify the right idea, navigating the first steps to launching a company, business models and finances, attracting clients, marketing and sales, social entrepreneurship, company culture, marketplaces, partnering with other companies, working with advisory boards, securing funding and scaling up, and exiting.
Highly reviewed and very well received, Startups: From A to Exit features forewords by Dr. Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, and Dr. Haris Lambropoulos, President of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments. It closes with an afterword by Litsa Panayotopoulos, co-founder and president of EVIA Intelligent Performance Ltd. and Chair of the Innovation, Education and Entrepreneurship (EIE) Committee of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, who notes that the book “marks the authors’ significant contribution to the growth potential of startups and, through its pages, bridges its past, present and future of startup entrepreneurship. A future built around extroversion, gender and age inclusiveness, and breadth of scope. A potential, in an internationally competitive environment, that must be defined by vision, goals, determination, commitment and sound knowledge. An outlook that is grounded on the phrase: ‘Tomorrow’s jobs are determined by today’s startups.’”
1 In the original Greek, the title is Startups: Από το Α στο Exit: Πρακτικές συμβουλές στον δρόμο για την επιτυχία.
