Η Intale created by a random event! The initial stimulus for creating the company was the accidental presence of its co-founders in a quarrel! They had no previous contact with the business or the retail industry. More specifically, it has come to see two vendors of two multinational companies crawling ahead of a very small mini-market for who will place their products in a better place. Beginning with this, Intale's creators found that the neglected branch of traditional retail is of particular importance to large supply companies.
Intale's object is to bridge the distance between small merchants, Suppliers and final consumers in the traditional retail / retail segment through an online platform based on a cloud PoS software with the help of which the shopkeeper can manage his shop.
The road to the start of the company was not - as expected of course - paved with rose petals, if one considers that they finally managed to establish the company in the year when the crisis broke out and D.N.T came to Greece. In 2010, the procedure setting up a company in Greece was quite complex and particularly time-consuming. The most important problem they faced was the "thorn" of the Greek bureaucracy. However, it is worth mentioning that the bureaucracy was finally bypassed and the whole process has improved significantly in the last year in the country.
The factors that contributed to Intale's success are summarized in two words, according to one of its founders, Fanny Koutouvelis: the innovation and the risk that one is willing to take. Also, Mr. Koutouvelis believes that success is valued in the long run and not just in the first good steps of one startup business.
The company has been funded by angel investors and a Greek Venture Capital company, which is part of the Jeremie Fund (EIF). As part of the company's support from the local startup οικsystem, Mr. Koutouvelis got important feedback from other young entrepreneurs when he talked to people who were facing the same or similar difficulties as him at that time when he was setting up the business.
Currently the company's customers are hundreds of small stores in Greece and some multinational companies. The foreign markets are its next step, with the first target being Cyprus and then two more markets in the wider region, while in the long run there is the goal of expanding to larger foreign markets.
The advice that Mr. Koutouvelis would give about the first steps of creating a web startup is that implementation and implementation is worth more than100 awesome ideas.
For those young people who are looking for their professional future and have a business idea but do not know how to implement it, one way out is to attend seminars and participate in events as well as in competitions that are likely to give them the desired funding for starting one startup business. Indicatively, the following are mentioned:
- Third Competition for Applied Research and Innovation (http://www.kainotomeis.gr/), an initiative of BSE and Eurobank
- Seminar E-learning training of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, entitled "Entrepreneurship in Practice" lasting 4 months, http://elearn.elke.uoa.gr/epixeir_praxi.php?catID=all&prID=424
- Startdom Weekend, from 5 to September 7, an event from Startdom Accelerator, a six-month startup business accelerating and hatching program, http://startdoms.com/?page_id=3137
- Startup Weekend University, an institution that promotes youth entrepreneurship and encourages the realization of innovative ideas at 18, 19 and 20 October http://athens.startupweekend.org/
- World Entrepreneurship Week: 17-23 November 2014 http://gr.unleashingideas.org/
The initiative Startups Europe is part of its action plan Digital Agenda of Europeanof the Commission and is supported by Vice President Neelie Kroes, aiming to strengthen the business environment on the web and ICT startups in Europe, contributing to innovation, growth and jobs in Europe, and promoting their web ICT entrepreneurs starting their own business, giving them the opportunity to "flourish".
