Learning for Life - “Strategies and Tools for E-startups”

2010-01-31

Those who had set up an online service and tried to grow it as a business.

The seminar was conducted at ALBA facilities on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 and it was conducted by Nikos Mylonopoulos, Associate Professor of Information Systems, Associate Dean of ALBA Graduate Business School, and was addressed to a wide audience of experts and non-experts. Whether someone had good knowledge of web technologies and services or not, this seminar focused specifically on the challenges and approaches for setting up an online business, mainly from a strategic and also from a technical point of view.

The seminar was of particular value to:

  • Those who were in the process of setting up their online venture.
  • Those who considered the possibility of trying an online business opportunity, either as a primary or secondary occupation.
  • Those who had a specific idea for a web-based (or mobile) service and wondered what it would take to go live.

The seminar had the following guest speakers:

1. ALBA Alumni:

  • Vicky Dallas, “9am.gr” and “growing.gr”
  • Ilias Birdas and Haris Geronymakis, “thealbashop.gr”
  • Stefanos Souldatos, “olataepipla.gr.” “olatougamou.gr”, “olatouspitiou.gr”, “melodima.gr”

2. Guests:

  • George Saliaris-Fasseas, “driin.eu”
  • Apostolos Apostolakis, “e-shop.gr”
  • Dimitris Tsigos “vtripgroup.com” and “European Confederation of Young”

3. Companies’ Representatives:

  • Fotis Draganidis, “Microsoft Hellas” (innovation center,   startup weekend, imagine cup, etc)
  • Kostas Kallandranis and Dimitris Tritaris, “ricardo.gr”

Description and Objectives:

This one-day seminar is targeted to all those ALBA Alumni who have an interest in or simply the curiosity to explore what it takes to go live with a new Web-based business idea. Importantly, this is not a seminar in entrepreneurship in general. The goal of this seminar is to initiate the general audience in the line of thinking and the practicalities of going hands-on with the business plan and the launch. In particular, the seminar is structured around two main themes:

1. Strategies: business models, current trends, opportunities, competitive dynamics, two-sided markets, pricing, marketing strategies.

2. Implementation: assembling the right competencies / partners, tools for infrastructure, payments, design / development.The format of the seminar will combine limited lecture, discussion, demos, interaction with guest speakers and group work.

At the end of the seminar, participants should be able to:

  • Understand the nature of business opportunities available on the Web.
  • Explore the competitive and strategic dynamics involved in a particular service category.
  • Explore tools and solutions for implementing their infrastructure requirements.Seek guidance and potential partnership in an initial network of contacts.Feel motivated and a little more confident about taking the plunge!