This last week I attended the EBAN yearly event.
They host it always in different locations. This year in Thessaloniki, Greece.
I think it was a great choice despite Greece having even bigger troubles than when Angela Merkel rescued them (I guess was mostly also German banks and not Greece).
But Greece is a place with hungry talented and highly affordable tech entrepreneurs.
They speak English very well and seem to have an entrepreneurial spirit.
The founders I met were falling into this category.
While the government sounds determined and pro-tech the odds of a record debt and I suppose higher interests will of course make this harder than ever. Banks - who were bailed out - are now enjoying high interest income. Did we not see this pretty much everywhere? The folks who are the least entrepreneurial and create the least jobs profit now the most.
Not sure if this event helped the startups there too much. Venture capital and with it angel investing is hurt and that foreign angels invest now in Greece, well...
I made a few contacts and will stay in touch.
E.g. Lars Rasmussen, inventor of GoogleMaps and investor in Canva (looks like they were not screwed like the GoogleEarth folks in Berlin) is living now in Athens. He runs a venture capital fonds now.
His keynote was great. I suppose he invests in Greece as well which is a nice endorsement. Also some US companies invest: Pfizer, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and from Germany T-Systems... a smart move also as they profit from EU support and can tap into a highly motivated workforce!
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