Dimitris Tsigos presenting Virtual Trip to the ecosystem team: Sotry, Background, Positioning and Plans

2. 2000

4. Dot-com bubble
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble
The dot-com bubble (also referred to as the Internet bubble and the
Information Technology Bubble) was a speculative bubble covering
roughly 1995–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the
NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52 in intraday trading before closing at
5048.62) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw
their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the Internet sector and
related fields. While the latter part was a boom and bust cycle, the
Internet boom is sometimes meant to refer to the steady commercial
growth of the Internet with the advent of the world wide web, as
exemplified by the first release of the Mosaic web browser in 1993,
and continuing through the 1990s.

6. Τα πάντα στην Ελλάδα
έρχονται καθυστερημένα
Το ίδιο και το dotcom bubble!

7. Περιβάλλον
• Καθηγητές από Αμερική
– Μιλούσαν για το dotcom bubble, χωρίς να
ξέρουν ότι είναι bubble
• Ομάδα «Ατλαντίδα»
– Οι ανταγωνιστές!
• Pointer-Soft!
– CS256 «Εργαστήριο Τεχνολογίας
Λογισμικού»

9. It all started as a joke
• Πολύ σοβαρό όμως!
• Αποφασίσαμε να «κάνουμε εταιρεία» τον
Ιούλιο 2000
• Οι 4 καλύτεροι programmers του CSD
– akritid, hargikas,mvasilak,venturas

10. Τι θέλαμε;
• Να είμαι αφεντικό του εαυτού μου
• Να έχω μερίδιο στην υπεραξία της
εργασίας μου
• Να έχω ευέλικτο ωράριο
• Να κάνω κάτι ενδιαφέρον
• Να μην εκτελώ εντολές ενός ανίδεου

11. Critical Publics
• Email Αύγουστος 2000:
– Ψάχνουμε κόσμο που ξέρει Python, να
δουλέψει με Zope
• Απάντηση tsigos@csd.uoc.gr
– Γιατί να πληρώνετε ΙΚΑ;
– Θέλετε να κάνουμε outsourcing;

12. MoU
• Τέλη Αυγούστου υπογράψαμε το ιδρυτικό
MoU
• 5x14+1x30
• Guaranteed revenue 40,000,000 GRD by
Dec 31st 2001
• Μπριζόλες στα Κιούρκα!

14. Τι κάναμε όντως;
• Software development σε Zope
• Τεχνικές προδιαγραφές από τον Vladimir
Petrovic
• Λειτουργικές προδιαγραφές από τον
Μιχάλη Παναγιωτάκη
• A real nightmare

15. Projects
• www.mod.mil.gr
• www.hnms.gr
• www.emporiki.gr
• www.yme.gov.gr
• www.zenon.gr
• www.criticalpublics.com
• a.s.o.

16. Products???
• WebSecure™
• VoteSecure™
– http://www.springerlink.com/content/y6cfc0jn4g12k9d
c/?MUD=MP
• AuctionSecure™
• Απολύτως καμία σχέση με την
πραγματικότητα

17. Anazhthsh Sunergatwn apo th
Virtual Trip Ltd.

19. Mια εμπνευσμένη ιδέα!
• Δεν θέλουμε να γίνουμε μια εταιρεία 500
ατόμων!
• Θέλουμε να γίνουμε 10 εταιρείες 50
ατόμων!!!

20. Διαζύγια
• Δεκέμβρης 2002, Critical Publics
• Μάρτης 2003, Vtrip team
– akritid stayed as a freelancer for 6 months
– venturas stayed as a permanent freelancer for
2 years
– hargikas stayed as occasional freelancer
– mvasilak did not stay at all

21. «Φιλαράκι, αν δεν εμπιστεύεσαι
εσύ την εταιρεία σου, θέλεις να
την εμπιστευτούμε εμείς;»

22. HBR got it right!
• Ο επιχειρηματίας πριν αποφασίσει τι
πρέπει να κάνει στην επιχείρησή του,
πρέπει να αποφασίσει τι πρέπει να κάνει
στη ζωή του!
• Διαφορετικές προσδοκίες
– Option A, Option B, Option C

23. Μια νέα σελίδα
• Απρίλης 2003
– Ασπρόπυργος: Θανάσης Παραθυράς,
Βαγγέλης Μιχαλόπουλος
• Μάιος 2003
– Ασπρόπυργος: Ελένη Πάστρα
– Ηράκλειο: Μανούσος Μπουλουκάκης
(Τεχνικός Διευθυντής), Λεωνίδας Παπαδάκης,
Πασχάλης Παντελέρης, Δημήτρης Κούκης,
Γιώργος Κάππος, Λευτέρης Τριμίντζιος,
Στέλιος Γάσπαρης, Τίνα Κατελανή

24. Είχαμε budget για όλους
αυτούς;
Πρφανώς όχι.

25. 2003
• Emporiki Bank
• Super Markets ΑΡΙΑΔΝΗ
• ΕΜΥ
• Sbokos Hotels Group
• Νοέμβριος 2003: Ίδρυση Επίγνωσις!

26. 2004
• Γραφείο στην Αθήνα, Κοδριγκτώνος
• Υλοποίηση iTrust, INNO-UTILITIES
• Έναρξη υλοποίησης SOLO Gateway
(Virtual Trip Multi Server: VTMS)
• Έναρξη υλοποίησης Insurance Manager
• Ολυμπιακό Έργο ΕΜΥ

29. 2005
• Μεγάλες στιγμές Ι
• Εξαγορά 70% της Infomap AE
– Έργα δημοσίου
– GIS
• Σημαντικός αριθμός έργων ΓΓΕΤ
• PLASTIC & NoAH / FP6
• Mobile Vision!
• Κατερίνα Καστρίτη!
• Πρώτες πωλήσεις Insurance Manager
• Aggressive Marketing
– Caravel Events, Comdex

31. 2006
• Μεγάλες στιγμές!
• Έργο Διαβατηρίων
– «Ολοκληρωμένο Πληροφοριακό Σύστημα Διαχείρισης Έκδοσης
Ασφαλών Εγγράφων»
• Conn-X View, OTE
• Γιώργος Δραμιτινός, Φώτης Λιοτόπουλος, Rajan Barara
• Συνεχίζουμε επιθετικό marketing
• Κατεχάκη!
• Γραφείο Θεσσαλονίκη
• Ίδρυση NGLS
• eFront gets SCORM certification

32. 2007
• The Virtual Trip Group!
• Το eFront γίνεται open-source
• Παίρνουμε πολλά έργα δημοσίου
• Πληροφοριακά συστήματα
• Business Processes
• Εσωτερικό Λογιστήριο
• Εντατικότατο Marketing
• Ίδρυση IT Center, TS Consulting

34. 2008
• Το SOLO Gateway βγαίνει στην αγορά
• Συμμετοχή στη CeBIT!
• Ίδρυση MVNS SA
– Mobile Social
• Ακόμα πιο εντατικό marketing
• Το eFront κάνει τις πρώτες εξαγωγές

36. 2009
• Η κρίση έρχεται απειλητικά
• Ολοκλήρωση νέου κύκλου
χρηματοδότησης
• Ίδρυση Virtual Trip Spain – Andrew
Hughes
• To eFront 7-πλασιάζει τις εξαγωγές του
• 100 εγκαταστάσεις Insurance Manager

37. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurial_ecosystem
“An entrepreneurial ecosystem is a group of non-competing
companies, including start-ups, established companies and one or
more coordination entities, which share the same vision, values,
culture, strategy and business processes and decide to form an
organization in order to explore economies of scale in business
functions such as business development, financing, market analysis,
marketing communications, IT / MIS infrastructure, human capital
management, legal support, financial & accounting management”
© Dimitris Tsigos | Virtual Trip, November 29th 2009

38. Σήμερα;

39. Virtual Trip
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Next Generation Angel
Investments Fund and Startup
Accelerator

40. Innovation
• One of the most heavily overloaded terms
of our era
• Everybody is talking about innovation, few
really understand it, even fewer do
materialize it
• No, it’s not about the next Nobel Prize
– Neither it’s about nicely set-up spreadsheets
resulting to amazing EBITDA…

41. What is the value of an idea?

42. Zero.
An idea turns valuable after – or,
in the process of – materializing it.

43. Have people run out of ideas?
• Absolutely, not.
• People just do not try to turn their ideas to
sustainable business activities.
• Plethora of reasons:
– Lack of entrepreneurial culture in the society
– Barriers by the legal system
– Access to capital
– Access to market

44. If you have to choose?

45. You do need both
• A startup needs Customers much more
than it needs Capital
• However, securing financing in the very
early stage is an “if and only if” condition

46. What else does a startup
actually need?
• Management & Strategy Consulting
• Mentoring / Coaching Services
• Legal advisory
• Marketing communications
• Administrative Services
• Infrastructure
– Focus to MIS / IT

47. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurial_ecosystem
“An entrepreneurial ecosystem is a group of non-competing companies,
including start-ups, established companies and one or more
coordination entities, which share the same vision, values, culture,
strategy and business processes and decide to form an organization in
order to explore economies of scale in business functions such as
business development, financing, market analysis, marketing
communications, IT / MIS infrastructure, human capital management,
legal support, financial & accounting management”
© Dimitris Tsigos | Virtual Trip, November 29th 2009

48. Ecosystem Services
• Strategy – Advisory Services
• Financing – Access to Capital
• Business Development – Access to Markets
• Talent Management
• Financials & Accounting Management
• MIS & IT Infrastructure
• Marketing Communications
• Legal Advisory
• Business Administration
• Offices / facilities

49. Background
Tα είπαμε όλα
αυτά!

50. Our Vision
• “The Virtual Trip Entrepreneurial Ecosystem aims to be
recognized as a leading international start-ups incubator in
the ICT sector.”
• Materializing Innovation
• “Our start-ups create value through high technology for
their Customers and their socioeconomic environment”

51. Ecosystem Figures
• Personnel: 5 → 45
• Revenues: 100K€ → 10.5M€
• International presence
– Antenna office in Madrid, Spain since January 2009
– Subsidiary in Ohio, US since September 2009
– Antenna offices in SF, London, Budapest, Brussels in 2012
• Broad spectrum of markets, products & services
– Products: SOLO Gateway, eFront e-Learning, mVision,
Insurance Manager, Diagramma, OpenVote, S4Trips, Verita
– Services: S/W Engineering, Systems Consulting, GIS, e-
Learning, Mobile applications
– Markets: Mobile and Fixed-line Operators , Small & medium
businesses, Infotainment, Advertising, Education & Training, e-
Government

52. The Virtual Trip Group
• Incubation Services
– Entrepreneurial Ecosystem SA, www.entrepreneurialecosystem.eu
• Services
– Virtual Trip Ltd, www.vtrip.net
– Infomap SA, www.infomap.gr
– Next Generation Learning Services SA, www.ngls.com.gr
• Vendors
– Epignosis Ltd, www.efrontlearning.net
– MVNS SA, www.mvns.mobi
– AbZorba Games, www.abzorbagames.com
– SOLO Gateway SA, www.sologateway.com
– Insurance Manager SA, www.insurancemanager.gr
– Diagramma Ltd, www.diagramma.in
– S4Trips Ltd, www.s4trips.com
– Verita Ltd, www.veritadv.com
• Distributors
– Actech LLC, www.actechco.com
– IT Center Ltd, www.itcenter.gr
• Antenna offices
– Virtual Trip San Francisco, London, Brussels, Budapest

53. Management Team
• Executive
– Dimitris Tsigos, Group Founder & Chief Executive Officer
• www.linkedin.com/in/tsigos
– Thanassis Parathyas, Director Virtual Trip
– Thanassis Papagelis, Director eFront e-Learning
– Manos Moschous, Director AbZorba Games
– Vangelis Mihalopoulos, Director SOLO Gateway
– Giorgos Kripotos, Director Insurance Manager
– Katerina Kastriti, HR Director
• Non – Executive
– Prof. Christos N. Nikolaou, Non-Executive President
• Greek National Education Council, Rector of the University of Crete
• www.linkedin.com/in/christosnikolaou

54. The Ecosystem Strategy
• 2000 – 2010
– Investing in Internet Technologies start-ups
• 2010 – 2020
– Investing in Cloud Computing and Software-as-
a-Service start-ups

55. How has Virtual Trip been
financed?
• We tried for the famous 3Fs
– Unfortunately, we were limited to friends & family ☺
• Great support by the banking system
– Not because of our innovation or extroversion, but because of
the revenue materialized out of the integration projects and the
collaterals that were offered
• Many services projects in Greece, both private and
public sector
• 30+ R&D grants by the European Commission and the
GSRT
• Not, it has not been efficient. It has worked, however.

56. The next step?
• Looking for an IPO opportunity and /or a
strategic investor for Virtual Trip Holdings
• Looking for receiving VC funding for mature
spin-outs, like eFront, SOLO Gateway and
AbZorba Games
• Keep investing to existing ecosystem members
and actively looking for investment opportunities
in high-tech startups
• Focus to creating even better “access to market”
channels and improving quality of offered
ecosystem services

57. Thank you ☺