Author Archives: christos kyliakoudis

Ενότητα

Κάπου κάποτε όλα ήταν ένα.
Ένα απόλυτο ένα και τίποτα τίποτα άλλο.
Δεν υπήρχε τίποτα άλλο πάρα μόνο αυτό.
Η απόλυτη αγάπη, Η απόλυτη ……
Δεν είχε να παίξει με κανέναν, ήταν το απόλυτο αυτό.
Πέρασαν χρόνια, πέρασαν αιώνες, πέρασαν δισεκατομμύρια αιώνες.
Δεν είχε να παίξει με κανέναν. Τι βαρεμάρα, μπορείς να το πεις και κόλαση.

Και μετά ήρθε η απόλυτη ιδέα.
Η απόλυτη έκρηξη.
Η απόλυτη δημιουργία.
Το απόλυτο κατασκεύασμα.
Το ένα έγινε δύο.
Το αυτό που είναι χωρίστηκε σε 2 μέρη.
Το άσπρο μαύρο.
Το πάνω κάτω.
Το μέσα έξω.
Το θηλυκό αρσενικό.
Το εκεί εδώ.
Το πέρα δώθε.
Το εσύ εγώ.
Το τώρα μετα.

Όμως πάντα στην πρωταρχική μας μνήμη έχουμε την ενότητα.
Ξέρουμε ότι είμαστε ένα.
Η κυτταρική μνήμη μας καλεί.
Η συναισθηματική μνήμη μας τραγουδάει.
Η φύση μας προσκαλεί.
Το Σύμπαν ουρλιάζει.
Τα υποατομικά σωματίδια ψιθυρίζουν.
Οι πλανήτες μας αγκαλιάζουν.
Το αόρατο χέρι μας δείχνει.
Νιώθεις ότι όλα είναι αυτό.
Ξέρεις ότι όλα είσαι εσύ και οι εσύ οι άλλοι.
Θυμάσαι ότι οι άλλοι είσαι εσύ.
Εσύ και αυτό που κοιτάς,
αυτό που παρατηρείς δεν είναι
μόνο δύο, τρία, τέσσερα αλλά και 1.
Και τότε ο χορός ξαναρχίζει.
Η σκηνή συνεχίζεται.
Αλλά η κουρτίνα έχει τραβηχτεί.
Ώρα για το επόμενο θεατρικό.
Be, then not be. Then be again and again and again….

My TedxAthens 2013 experience

 

 

Yannis Behrakis TedxAthens

Yannis Behrakis TedxAthens

Wisdom is not what we think, life is not what we think, Life and Wisdom is not what we write, LIfe and Wisdom is not what we say or do. Life is what we feel, Life is what we experience with our full mind, our full body, our full spirit.

We can say this using any terminology. The psychologists use the terms superego, subconsciousness, unconsciousness. The scientists use the terms energy, matter, dark matter/dark energy.We can use any words. Words are only a signpost, not the actual destination, not the actual life. Words are the menu in the restaurant, not the actual food. Words are only a representation, a concept, not the actual experience, not the actual life.Whatever your words, life is what you experience as a whole, as one, as connected with everybody and everything. When all becomes one entity and billion separate entities simultaneously. When you feel what all others feel and experience.

This is what I experienced in TedxAthens 2013. I had so much fun. I had a truly extraordinary experience. I laughed,I explored, I was inspired,I cried,I danced,I felt so much,I listened to marvellous sounds,voices,songs,fairy tales,speeches.

A thank you from my heart to all the people who contributed to TedxAthens 2013. Thank you to Kalavros and his team for all the dedication, all the work, all the talent, all the effort, they put into this. They are true authentic to what they do. Every year, they do not only talk about their main concept, they become their concept. This year their main concept was the “uncharted waters”. They actually sailed into uncharted waters instead of just discussing about it in theory. The main concept of 2012 was “ The ones who do”. Tedxathens 2012 was among the ones who do. They did the Grid/ TEdxSallon etc. They grow and become wiser as they go along. They actually re-create themselves every year.

You might say that it is an idealized image of the event. You are right. I personally didn’t learn anything new, didn’t see a truly mind-blowing speech ( however I saw extraordinary performances) . I have become extremely picky as far as speeches are concerned over the years. It may be very tiring to be in the same building for 15 hours. Some speakers were not so much prepared. One speaker thought that he was giving a lecture. Some might say that the ticket of 65 euros was high. Some others might say that enough is enough on talking about “Doers”. There are also issues in some areas of the organization. However these are just details and cannot spoil a bit the big picture.” IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE”.

Have you ever been confronted with a scene of such a spectacular beauty that you were astonished? The view of a mountain, or of a verdant valley, or of a rock formation or of a rainbow over the ocean. Have you ever experienced that feeling? The feeling of peace,of joy. You didn’t think, “if the boulder were hundred feet to the left it would be so much prettier” or “That tree is crooked. I need to do something about it “ or “How nice it would be if the rainbow wasn’t partially obscured by the clouds”. Oh no! Not really. You accepted the boulder exactly where it was and that the partially visible rainbow was still magnificent and that the tree was perfect in its crookedness. In fact, there was a rare beauty inherent in this very crookedness that you readily appreciated. Our life is equally wonderful not because of its perfection but because of its imperfection.
The same applies for every life, for every form of art, for every form of craftsmanship. The same applies for TedxAthens. Having some issues cannot change a bit what we experienced. This is what counts. This is the most important. After Knowing, comes experiencing. “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
I was blessed to be there. Thank you very much.

Thales the first Greek Philosopher was also Entrepreneur

thales

We are in 500 bc in Miletus which is an ancient city in the western coast of Anatolia . A man called Thales is a philosopher. Philosophy at these days is a very new area of knowledge. Every new knowledge area of these days has to be very practical. The practical impact of this new knowledge in the city-state was the main concern.

He was often walking in the city looking at the stars, at the planets and observing the sky in general because he was a mathematician interested in geometry and the movement of the stars and the planets.This habit sometimes had an undesirable result. He would often fall into potholes. These incidents became the anecdotes of his town and fellow citizens were thinking that philosophy was only good for reflection, thinking, contemplation and had no practical outcome.

Thales wanted to show to his fellow citizens that philosophy can change the way somebody lives. Philosophy is the way we choose to live our everyday life, philosophy is another level of consciousness. A consciousness that can help us live happier in the society. It was easy for Thales to find a practical solution to the problem.

Thales was a good meteorologist and was able to forecast the weather.  Taking advantage of this skill, he managed to gain some considerable profit. He invested in olive presses at low-cost when olive presses were out of season . However this was part of his plan, he forecast excellent weather and better than expected production. When the time came and the peasants needed to use the olive presses, they paid much more that Thales had paid for them, due to increased demand. His intention was to show to others that philosophy was as useful as any other skill and a good profit was the best way to have people’s attention.
Aristotle explains that Thales purpose by doing this was not to get rich but to prove to his fellow citizens that philosophy could be useful, contrary to what they believed. Thales proved that it was easy for philosophers to get rich if they chose so but this was not the point.

What can we learn from Thales?
As an entrepreneur I find this story very inspiring. I consider Thales to have a very creative and flexible mind. Not only he was a philosopher but also a brilliant mathematician, astronomer and generally a man who proved that circumstances don’t matter. The only thing that matters is state of being. This is the essence of philosophy for me. Life is meaningless, this means that every situation, every material, every second does not have any meaning, we provide it’s meaning. We used to borrow the meaning from our culture, society, family, friends, education etc. This is not our own life, this is not our own meaning of life, this is not our own way of life. So philosophy teach us to create our own meaning, our own way of looking life, our own way of experiencing and finally to become just ourselves and one with the rest of the universe. So Thales is a big inspiration because he was the example of man who has one foot in the sky but the other on earth and this is a practical example for everyone.

“Greek startups are Everywhere”

sailboat

My experience of Open coffee LI .

I attended the Open coffee LI and it was a great moment for the greek startup community.It was a surreal experience. Three fund managers  were trying to explain their vision and pitched to convince startupers that they not only had the money but also smart money. One moment was weird, when someone from the audience asked a simple question. The fund manager perceived this question as aggressive and took a defensive stance and presented his past career in order to clear any doubts. We all know that Fund managers are the ones who ask most of the questions but this event was different.

What is changing slow but steady ?

Until now a lot of Greek Startups were seeking for funding in other countries. It was a huge waste of their productivity to spend months and a lot of money in other countries and in another ecosystems. They have invest their energy in other unknown ecosystems with small possibilities of funding.

Our challenges

That means that these funds are a panacea?
Not at all. It only means that it would allow more startups to think Greece as an alternative for funding. Nothing else.
It is just a little more money for the startup companies. It is well-known that just a bit more money does not solve any real problems. We are an ecosystem with very little power in global public relations, tiny to incubate really big and innovative ideas, with very small experience in business development, fragmentation, divided into many camps, with lack of entrepreneurial mentality, with social perception issues towards entrepreneurship etc. To summarise  we are just an infant ecosystem learning to crawl in comparison with other ecosystems which are in their peak productivity and creativity age.

All these and many more will not be vanished by having more money spent. All the money in the world could not solve these infant issues. It takes time and actually sometimes more money than necessary is an obstacle in the development of entrepreneurial mentality like our agricultural subsidies destroyed agriculture in Greece.

 I assume that in the first open coffee when Tziralis said ” Greek start ups are here ” there were just a few startups in Greece. Greek and startups couldn’t go together, could not dance together. There were probably fewer that the fingers of our right hand. Startups were just an idea in the heads of brave people who wanted to embark on the entrepreneurship journey. After many years the ecosystem has involved. Our Perception has changed, lot of failures , some success but what is more important our volition, our will, our decision that we will make greek startups a global product.

Our volition, our will, our determination that we are not in any way inferior to anyone in the world. We may not have the same ecosystem but we have our intelligence, our determination, our creativity, our strength and we are going to do what is necessary to achieve success in this arena. Our decision, our realisation that although we live and breathe in Greece our target is the global market. Our city, our place, our predicaments in this troubled country will  no longer define our destiny.Our city, our place, our predicaments in this troubled country will no longer  limit our ambitions. Our ambition is to create world-class products and services for making our life better and our world a better place to live.

When just one person comes to this realisation, then it is a start, but when a vibrant community has realised this then a critical mass is created. A critical mass for Great teams, great products, successful business. This is the critical mass for bringing the greek startups in a different level. That’s why George next time you must change our definition/slogan ” Greek startups are everywhere”. “Greek startups are here” is already a reality, “Greek startups are everywhere” is the target.

Greek Startups are in the mobiles, Greek Startups own marketplaces for creative people, Greek Startups build great databases utilities, Greek Startups define the next keyboard experience, Greek Startups change the way we share food, Greek Startups change the way we hail a taxi. Our limitations are no longer the limits of our ecosystem but the limits of our imagination.

Ancient Greek spirit is everywhere Ancient Greek philosophy  is everywhere . Ancient Greeks have contributed a lot to our civilization. Ancient Greeks have contributed in  language, Theatre, Philosophy, mathematics, science, communication, astronomy, the Olympic games, architecture, democracy etc. Ancient Greece is everywhere. Ancient Greeks were having long journeys to set up  new colonies. The reason was shortage of land and the need to Open up new trade routes and create a better life for everyone.

I have the feeling that we are not very different. We are building here something global and starting new colonies.

That’s why I am very happy to be in this place, this specific time and I am sure that the future of this community will be brilliant.

Christos Kyliakoudis