minimoko @ STARTup Live Athens #1

In November STARTup Live will take place for the first time in Athens! This is an opportunity not just to work with others but also give hope to boosting the Greek ecosystem.

As stated on their site "In short, people from different backgrounds come together to present ideas, listen to new thoughts, work their asses off and get to know each other. This is steroids for your idea. Pitch, form your team, work, get feedback from startups, experts and mentors, present what you have achieved in front of about 150 people including experts from all over Europe. The process is accompanied by coaches, business angels, start-up entrepreneurs and all other participants. You get to know all these people in an informal way, usually standing there with a beer in hand hooking up with your future investors or mentors."

The team behind the event has asked us to join them to mentor the teams so that they produce projects that matter, help them simplify and give them inspiration.

Tickets are just €15 and include food and drinks so if you are in Athens or can travel to Athens during these days, head over to the booking page and get your tickets.

See you there!

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

What You Can Do in 48 Hours

(download)

Click here to download:

what-you-can-do-in-48-hours-mnGErAjEBasqJFnodhyD.zip (7.93 MB)

What I found to be crucial in the teams while mentoring them, was the diversity of the group and focus. Gather around you the right group of people, focus on one thing and you can get more done in 48 hours than other achieve in a month.

If all these teams could come up with great ideas and prototypes in just this time, what's stopping you from starting? Find what you want to do, get a team and start working.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Greenwich, United Kingdom

This Startup Weekend in London #swlondon

As mentioned before, I will be part of the mentoring group. Teams will have the chance on Saturday to work with me to not only come up with a great idea but also make sure that they create a brand that resonates and stands out.

There are still some tickets left, so if you haven't bought one you can still do from the Tickets page.

See you there!

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

More Places at Startup Weekend London! #swlondon

The event was sold out for a couple of weeks and this change means that more people will be able to join us next weekend for 3 days of inspiration and business building.

As mentioned in our previous post, I will be mentoring teams during the weekend to make sure that they build strong brands that stand out.

If you haven't got a ticket yet, you can get it here. The offer that we had posted a few weeks ago still stands.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

minimoko @ Startup Weekend London + An Offer!

As taken from their site "Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skillsets - primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people - to build applications and develop a commercial case around them."

We are helping the team behind Startup Weekend to attract more amazing people (especially designers) and we will also be mentoring the teams on branding during the weekend! If you join us you will get the chance to meet amazing people, start a new project and get a chance to work with us.

Now comes the offer, the readers of our blog get a 20% discount to the event by using the discount code DESIGN20. First go to the tickets page, then click on Enter Discount Code, apply the discount and you will get a ticket for a mere £79.20. The ticket covers your entry to the event and includes 3 dinners, 2 lunches, 2 breakfasts and all the caffeine you'll need!

See you all in September!

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Start Lean

Starting a company is tough. Ask any business owner and they will tell you stories about the mistakes they did during their first years and usually how they ended up spending funds on things they didn't need.

The best thing to do when you are starting up is to be lean. With this I mean being very careful about where you spend your funds and resources. Even if you have a big investment or savings, making the wrong moves can lead you to the point of no return, exhausting your resources.

As a new company owner you need to spend on the things that are truly important. This will give you the opportunity to try things out and find what works. When you first start you are building a prototype, so you need to sustain your resources to be able to do the iterations.

There are some things though that you need to treat as investments and spend what is needed on them to get the right result from the start. One of these things is branding. Since your brand is what will set you apart from the competition, you need to invest on it from day one. It can help you attract funding and more importantly customers who will buy your products and/or services.

Another thing that is crucial from the beginning is finding the right accountants who will help you set up everything and do some of the bean counting for you.

Starting a company is a bold move and not everyone survives. If you make the right choices and invest on the right things, you increase the probability of success.

Posted by Helen Amygdalaki // Lelou