Much like any country we have visited, in Greece too people tend to think that

the grass is greener on the other side

The larger web based companies are targeting social networking. Gossiping, friendship, sports and sex (dating) have

the largest share.

That is not to say that they compete with the cash cows that portals are, but the value of

these companies grows polynomial over the # of users, not linearly.

It also bears mentioning that most target the country itself, and are reluctant to expand, even though we are only a small corner of the world

VC amounts

avai

lab

ility

Another noteworthy detail is that while abroad the distribution of VC capital is even

Greece

VC amount

avai

lab

ility

Here we don’t have the kind of seed initiatives that we need to foster web development that don’t want and don’t need too much money

Investors in Greece generally prefer investments in things that are material and big. They tend to

consider smaller investments a waste of time

This leaves a lot of potential for tourism (which is sadly very profitable) and maritime industries.

But Greece has a huge investment in knowledge. We are in the top 5% globally in PhDs per capita. We just need to transform a society of PhDs to

You will also find that Greeks inherently think outside the box. Even in our OpenCoffee meetings and excluding social aspects

that are ubiquitous to all ideas, we don’t have ‘me too’ projects. No new Youtube, no new search engine and so on.

So how do we remedy the problem ?

So the idea of OpenCoffee was imported, adapted and given love, and substance.

These are monthly meetings with young entrepreneurs, marketers, alternative media…

The idea behind the meetings is that a condensation of interesting and creative people will lead to

spawning of interesting and creative ideas.

• 25 events

• 112 presentations

• BYOP

–bring your own projector

and organized with 0 cost until now

Also if near summer time you’re wondering what to do you can come at the Greek Bloggers’s

Camp. Featuring interesting international personalities and actual wifi (unlike stream 08)

=+

So we have a clear idea of what the vision is. We just need to settle on the right kind of blueprints to follow,

the right fertilization process and we should be growing. We think it’s best to throw many things

against the wall and see what sticks.

What we really know, is that the BRIC model can’t work for us. The promises don’t live up to

the existing standards of living.

What is one to do ?

• Hardcore Lobby

• More and more diverse events

– Push harder

– Bring in traditional media

• Make a seeding fund ( ¥€$ )

• Bring in international experts

• Bring in new business methodologies

So we’d like to turn to the collective. Tell us what you think we should do, to literally force growth.

And keep in mind that the recipe we come up with

can be used to spur growth in the countries in

similar condition to Greece in the Central-

Eastern Europe.