Iraklis Alexopoulos: From Bartender to CTO & Founder – Lessons in Building and Scaling Tech Products

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The MENA Startup Show

Samer Bejjani

11 episodes

22 hours ago

Where founders, investors & experts share their authentic experience building and growing MENA startups. 🔍 No fluff, no sugar-coating, just real conversations about the actual challenges faced by MENA startups and the true reasons behind their growth and success with the people building in our region. 🎬 Hosted by: Samer Bejjani — a founder, growth marketer, and angel investor with 15 years of experience in building startups. Currently bootstrapping and scaling a profitable startup studio and helping 100+ MENA startups grow at Growth Levers. 📧 For feedback: hello@themenastartupshow.com

Entrepreneurship

Business

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All content for The MENA Startup Show is the property of Samer Bejjani and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Entrepreneurship

Business

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Iraklis Alexopoulos: From Bartender to CTO & Founder – Lessons in Building and Scaling Tech Products - E4

The MENA Startup Show

1 hour 35 minutes 7 seconds

11 months ago

Iraklis Alexopoulos: From Bartender to CTO & Founder – Lessons in Building and Scaling Tech Products - E4

Iraklis Alexopoulos, a former bartender turned successful CTO and entrepreneur, shares his unconventional journey from mixing drinks to building and exiting a tech streaming platform. Iraklis reflects on the lessons learned from navigating imposter syndrome, building meaningful products, and finding fulfillment in unconventional career paths. He also introduces his latest venture, Peggy.us, an AI-powered platform that streamlines the creation of ad and social media creatives, enabling businesses to generate compelling content quickly and efficiently. Together with Samer, they explore the challenges of starting a venture in the MENA region, the importance of focusing on niche audiences, and the power of leveraging empathy and team collaboration to create impactful solutions. Key takeaways: - Startups are built on honesty, focus, and meaningful iteration. - Understanding your audience and solving specific problems leads to sustainable success. - Empathy in leadership and communication is crucial for building impactful products. - The MENA region offers immense opportunities but requires resilience and creativity. - Success often lies in breaking complex tasks into achievable milestones. Chapters: 00:00 Iraklis Alexopoulos, Entrepreneur and CTO 01:20 Early Life and Career Beginnings 02:40 From Bartending to Tech 04:15 Navigating Imposter Syndrome 07:00 The Spark for His First Startup 10:20 Improving Communication & Staying Curious 14:05 What Would You Advise for Engineers? 19:45 Tailoring Your Company to Your Life 25:30 Challenges in Scaling and Iterating 30:10 Time Management & Managing Rejection 35:55 Attacking Difficulty, Validation Methods 42:40 Team Collaboration at Balloon 46:07 Designing for User-Focused Products 49:21 Empowering Developers to Innovate 52:31 Mastering Remote Work and Communication 56:14 Lessons on Building Scalable Businesses 01:04:11 Peggy.us, Iraklis' latest business 01:09:33 Leveraging Pre-Built Tools for Efficiency 01:13:00 Exploring Peggy.us MVP 01:24:15 Advice for Entrepreneurs in the MENA Region