Taking a Break

I understand that a lot of you know already but through this blog post I wanted to reach to the wider network of partners, colleagues and friends I’ve met and worked with during these three years I did my first step in the media industry, covering the greek ecosystems of startups, entrepreneurship and venture capital for EMEAgr/Startupper.gr.

If you follow me on social media (I’m active mostly on Facebook, using it as a mix of LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram) or if you were looking for posts under my name you most probably have noticed that I have stopped reporting since early May.

I felt the 'obligation' to let you know, because I really believe that the work I personally and EMEAgr/Startupper.gr as a team did since August 2012, had entitled us with a pivotal role - borrowing from the Communications Theory, I like to call that 'gatekeepers' - in supporting and promoting the local startup ecosystem. Since the interest for the local scene remains, I thought it’s only fair for you to know that you won’t be reading from me for a while.

There are various reasons for which I decided to step down from EMEAgr/Startupper and take a short break from reporting but the main one is that I was working too much to have the time I needed to explore new paths. I’ve turned 25 already and it feels such a crucial point to start making next steps when you’re closer to 30s than 20s.

This break doesn’t mean I’m going to stop following startups. You’ve already seen me in community events the previous days and I’m still posting under #GRstartupscene. I’ve just been taking a break from the everyday work. My plan is to continue covering startups and hopefully I will have more to share in the next weeks.

As far as Startupper is concerned, I understand that John and the team will not be giving up startups coverage any time soon and they are still focused on maintaining Startupper as the leading source of information about startups in Greece.

It’s funny how almost everyone of you are asking if I’m going to start up while I’m taking this break. Well, I wish it was that easy; it’s one thing talking about startups and another one doing it yourself. But I’m surrounded by all these creative and business-oriented people that I’m considering a few more personal projects. You will be hearing on that later on, through this blog and social media.

At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the people that offered assistance and support when I told them I left Startupper. It’s so much appreciated.

It feels quite ironic that I’m beginning the blog with an end-of-an-era kind of thing. Setting up this blog is something I wanted to do a long time now and hopefully will help me share with you views and analyses on issues I’m concerned about.

The summer is already here and whether you’re taking vacations early or later, I hope you’ll enjoy it (:

* A first version of this post was written during #CruiseINN, hence the picture of a dark me working at the disco of a cruise ship anchored off Santorini