Let’s go! – by Stefanos Vasdekis A blog about entrepreneurship, the web2.0 world, and life.

10Nov/06Off

Why we work in Stealth Mode this time

[update: site sold too early...]

Many people believe that startups in stealth mode suck or that stealth mode is a big mistake, but I like the experience so far... The last weeks I'm working with John on our first project we keep secret. And there are many reasons that we decided to keep it secret.

No, we do NOT try to protect our idea as if nobody else has ever thought of it. We're confident we could beat in execution any other team with the same idea :)

And no, we don't try to be perfect at launch; we're old enough to know it's not possible.

The reasons are simple. We just try to work quietly and be 100% concentrated on developing the site. We don't need to advertise at this stage. And we're changing things every day, if we were in beta mode, we would have to spend half our day explaining to our first members what has changed and why. By the way, it's not clear yet what exactly our final messaging will be, and this is the only thing we wouldn't like to change soon after it's decided.

So far I see stealth mode as a huge timesaver. We're talking less and we're working more! I hope we don't like this mode so much that we never escape from it...

[update: site sold too early...]

Filed under: Business, Web 2.0 No Comments
28Oct/06Off

I lose money when I’m too busy

I've just paid for an air ticket 55% more because I didn't book it when I first saw it a few days ago. Why? Well, a phone rung and I left the reservation process to deal with an issue that seemed more urgent. Then something else happened that required my attention and so on... I've just also paid 130% more for my focus lenses as I run out of them and had to buy them from a local store instead of ordering them online from UK. Small examples that don't make a big difference at the end of the month.

But let's make an analogy. What if I can't work out a business deal or a strategy, because I'm too busy with day-to-day operations? I know it happens when I ask myself or John, my business partner, "how can we have not think of this before?” And this time the difference at the bottom line can be huge. I know of possible theoretic solutions for this common problem of entrepreneurs, but theories do not always work in the field, at least for me. So I prefer to look for real examples of entrepreneurs who manage to be as relaxed as it takes to make the right moves at the right times.

Filed under: Business No Comments
4Oct/06Off

Struggling to start-up an EU company?

Here is a chance to win a trip to Brussels and tell the Commission your experience when starting your company. EU Commission knows that something is wrong and is looking to listen to presentations based on actual experiences. That's why a workshop on "Business Start-up procedures" in Brussels on the 13th November 2006 is organized.

It's over 5 years since I started my first EU limited company in Greece. At the time, both me and my business partner we were university students and our legal advisor told us that the process to set up the company would take nearly a month and would cost around 3000 EUR (plus 18000 EUR required for capital). Luckily, university professors were on strike that period, so we decided to handle the red tape ourselves, as we badly wanted to get started asap. We finished everything in 7 days, running from one government office to another from early morning to closing time...

This is my last experience struggling to start a business, as for the next one a legal advisor did the work. So I don't think I can send a presentation to the Commission as my experience is out-of-date. They should definitely do something to simplify the process and lower the cost. They're supposed to be smart people, so I guess they can understand the importance of helping an entrepreneur at his first steps...

Filed under: Business No Comments