How Startup Greece reached almost 500 founders in more than 17 countries in just 8 weeks

About Startup Greece.org

Startup Greece initiative promotes the entrepreneurial spirit in greek regions and greek diaspora. The organisation runs events focusing on entrepreneurship, developing an idea, startups and innovation aiming to support the growth of Greece.

The challenge

With more than 100 speakers, 70 supporters, 60 volunteers and more than 100 startups already supported by Startup Greece they aimed for something bigger to help bring every Greek tech founder around the globe close together. The true challenge was how they could unify early-stage tech startup founders with key stakeholders from the global tech startup ecosystem to bring in the spotlight new ideas and connect the Greek diaspora in all 5 continents.

The solution

Going virtually seemed the only solution. But where could they find a one-stop shop to combine talks, online group sessions, 1-on-1 sessions, educational content and a forum-like community to open it up to the world? This is where Founderhood came into the picture. Together with the Founderhood team, Startup Greece organized a 8-week online virtual program exclusively for Greek founders globally. Through the program the participants were able to meet top Greek founders, investors and experts to connect with, exchange feedback and explore new business opportunities while at the same time startups could get access to educational material, resources and perks provided by the program’s partners.

The results

After a month full of brainstorming, the planning for the program started and on the 2nd of March Greek Startup Universe launched with more than 35 partners, 14 companies offering free or discounted access to their tools and services, business development opportunities for 299 teams in 14 countries, 46 experts sharing insights and market knowledge in 5 different categories and some of the most well known Greek founders and investors answering the participants questions in 8 live Q&A group sessions. With more than 430 founders from 28 different countries and 24% of them being female founders, mission was accomplished. Teams from different maturity levels, from idea stage to Series A startups engaged with one another, shared their experiences, got access to valuable resources, insights and network in less than 2 months with the 32 finalist teams being introduced to Greek Angel Investors from the global scene. The most impressive thing? Through just one virtual program, Startup Greece managed to increase their supported teams portfolio almost 300%.