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EUROPE BUILDS by BORRN

EUROPE BUILDS by BORRN

Mathilda Nathan, Νίκος Ευσταθίου

Επιχειρήσεις

Europe’s startup ecosystem is no longer just an underdog story. Europe builds and it builds well. This is a podcast dedicated to diving deep into the real stories behind its startups. Each episode tackles, among others, topics like scaling challenges, funding disparities, diverse entrepreneurial culture, and the art of storytelling—through candid conversations with those who live these realities every day. Visionary founders across the continent.

επεισόδια	27
διάρκεια	13 ώρες
συχνότητα	εβδομαδιαία
επεισόδιο	πριν 6 μήνες
ηλικία	πάνω από ένα χρόνο
προσθήκη	πριν 10 μήνες

4 Ιουλ 2025

What Europe’s next generation of founders is building right now

With Chris Mantolas, Elena Papadonikolaki and Eilon GrouperWhat happens when the next generation of European entrepreneurs steps up? And how do they turn personal obsession into scalable ventures?In this special season finale, we sit down with three of Europe’s emerging founders — each building in wildly different arenas, but united by clarity of vision and ambition to reshape their...

20 Ιουν 2025

How to lead with product intuition—not just data

With Renia RigopoulouHow do you ‘Orphimize’ the music world? And why does a top product leader ban the phrase data-driven?In this episode we sit down with Renia Rigopoulou, Group Product Manager at Orfium—the Greek-born scale-up that helps labels and publishers detect, claim, and monetize music across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other UGC platforms. Renia walks us through a decade of...

13 Ιουν 2025

How to invest in outliers, not consensus

With Alex VamvakasWhat makes a founder worth betting on? Why should deep tech be the next big focus for European VCs?In this episode, we speak with Alex Vamvacas, founding partner of Evercurious VC—a new early-stage venture capital firm focused on commercializing deep scientific research across Europe. With a background that spans CERN, medical device startups, and asset management in Zurich,...

6 Ιουν 2025

How Native Teams is rethinking global work

What does it take to build a borderless company from the Balkans? And how do you design a startup culture that people actually want to stay in?In this episode of Europe Builds, we talk to Jack Thorogood, founder and CEO of Native Teams, a fast-growing fintech platform simplifying payments, employment, and compliance for global professionals. With roots in North Macedonia and a footprint...

How Headway Inc bootstrapped its way to 150 million users

With Oleks Yaroshenko How do you scale an edtech startup into a company with 150 million users worldwide, without taking outside funding? And what’s it like building it from wartime Ukraine? In this episode, we sit down with Oleks Yaroshenko, Chief of Staff at Headway Inc, the company behind one of the world’s most popular lifelong learning apps. Previously known as Headway, the company...

How Evercurious VC invests based on conviction, not trends

With George GeorgiadisHow does an engineer turn into an investor? And what does it take to back world-changing technology before it’s cool — or proven?In this episode, we talk to George Georgiadis, Founding Partner at Evercurious VC, a new deep-tech venture fund betting on scientist-founders building defensible technologies. George shares how his decade at Volkswagen’s HQ shaped his approach to...

How Hellas Direct built a tech-driven insurer amidst a crisis

How can you build something disruptive and transformative amidst one of the biggest economic downturns in recent memory? And how can fixing potholes be a brilliant move for an insurance company?This week, Alexis Pantazis, co-founder and co-CEO of Hellas Direct, joins us on EUROPE BUILDS to share how he and his team built a next-generation insurance company in Greece—during the height of the...

How Big Pi Ventures mastered the art of timing and humility in VC

What does it really take to back the right idea at the right time? And why might humility, not hype, be the most underrated trait in great investors?In this episode of Europe Builds, we sit down with Nick Kalliagopoulos, Partner at Big Pi Ventures—one of Greece’s most prominent VC funds. With a decade of experience spanning Prime Ventures in Amsterdam and the Randstad Innovation Fund, Nick...

How Michelle Parsons fuels Product-Led Growth, from Spotify to Lex

How do you reinvent a dating app into a vibrant social network for the queer community—and grow it globally without a marketing budget? Why do even the most successful product teams still sometimes forget to listen to their users?In this episode of EUROPE BUILDS, live from the Doers Summit in Athens, we sit down with Michelle Parsons, Chief Product Officer of Lex. A former product leader at...

How OneMoto is transforming last-mile delivery, with Adam Ridgway

How do you build a global EV company from scratch—without outside funding—and use it as a vehicle for systemic change? And why might the most meaningful entrepreneurial journey be the one that ends in giving back?On this episode of Europe Builds, live from the Doers Summit in Athens, we are joined by Adam Ridgway, founder and CEO of OneMoto Technologies, a pioneering electric vehicle scale-up...

Why two angel investors returned to Greece to seek value and impact

What brings two top investors with years of experience in global markets back to Athens? And how do they go about measuring impact and value? This episode we are joined by Ariadne Velissaropoulou and Marina Bouki, two former institutional investors who turned into angel investing and returned to Greece. We discuss investing against the current, highlight the traits that make founders stand out,...

How Adam Bonnifield brought AI to the European aviation giant Airbus

How does an operator turn his insight into successful leadership as a CEO? And how does a tech and AI expert who worked for the US administration apply his learnings into the start-up ecosystem?On this episode we are joined by Adam Bonnifield, a tech entrepreneur behind some of the most impactful projects in global mobility. Most recently. Adam served as CEO of KONUX, the first AI scale-up in...

How Skroutz become and remains Greece’s biggest online marketplace

How Skroutz become and remains Greece’s biggest online marketplace - Bite-sized insights on failure and scaling with George HadjigeorgiouHow does a founder turn his hobby into Greece’s biggest e-commerce marketplace? And why is his key insight, after 20 years of successful entrepreneurship, that we should all embrace failure more?For our premiere of Season 2 of Europe Builds, live from the...

How Hack The Box grew from a passion project to a global leader, with Harris Pylarinos

What does it take to scale a start-up from garage mode to a global superpower, with clients ranging from the US Department of Defense to Toyota?This week we are joined by Haris Pylarinos, Founder and CEO of Hack The Box. Born initially as a passion project for Harris, Hack The Box has grown to become the world’s leading cybersecurity performance center, providing millions of users with a...

How Hilary Klassen helps companies think differently about people

How can a startup help companies and corporate leaders redefine how they approach coaching and people management?This week, we are joined by Hilary Klassen, Founder and CEO of Bestselfy, a platform whose mission is to help people be their best self at work. Drawing on modern insights from coaching, psychology, and people development, the Bestselfy app helps managers coach their team via key...

How Dott joined forces with TIER to become Europe’s largest micromobility operator, with Maxim Romain

How does one build the largest micromobility fleet in Europe? And how can partnerships, mergers and acquisitions help a company soar to new heights?This week we are joined by Maxim Romain, President and Co-founder of Dott, who is on a mission to change mobility for good. With over 250,000 vehicles after joining forces with TIER, the company today directly employs over 1,900 people and operates...

How Bota Systems gives robots a sense of touch, with Klajd Lika

How do great ideas spin from academia into entrepreneurship? And how can a company revolutionize the robotics industry by giving robots a sense of touch? On our latest episode of EUROPE BUILDS, we are joined by Klajd Lika, Founder and CEO of Bota Systems, a company based in Zurich with a vision for robots to work and move safely and as natural and free as humans. As a developer and manufacturer...

How BoldVoice uses AI to empower non-native English speakers, with Anada Lakra

How can AI empower non-native English speakers to communicate with confidence? In this episode, we sit down with Anada Lakra, the Founder and CEO of BoldVoice, an innovative ed-tech app that uses AI to help non-native English speakers improve their accents, communication skills, and confidence. Anada shares how her experiences as an immigrant in the U.S. inspired BoldVoice and shaped its...

How to scale up tech teams and avoid the fear of failure, with Michael Petychakis

What does it take to build and scale successful tech teams? And how can leaders overcome the fear of failure and embrace growth in a fast-paced industry? In this episode, we are joined by Michael Petychakis, the former CTO of ORFIUM, a global leader in providing software, data, and licensing solutions to the entertainment industry, and the current CTO of Dialectica. Michael shares the...

How Intelligencia AI revolutionizes drug development with AI, with Dimitris Skaltsas

What does it take to innovate at the crossroads of technology and life sciences? This week we are joined by Dimitris Skaltsas, Co-Founder and CEO of Intelligencia AI, an innovative company applying AI and machine learning to de-risk drug development. Intelligencia AI aims to bridge the gap between innovation and risk reduction with an interdisciplinary team of software engineers, AI...