Listiki Blog

Server delays push the Private Beta back a few days

As unfortunate as this may sound, we tend to look at things optimistically.

Beta invites, coming next week

The next time you see the following email, it might be in your inbox!

Psst...

Hello. We are awfully close to launching. Here's a few sneak peeks.

2010 = busy

Well, we are 21 days into 2010 and we thought it was well about time for some updates. Anybody reading this blog may have been wondering where we've been hiding, well we are all here and Listiki is going strong.

It has been a busy start and although we were planning to have a private beta launch at the end of this month, it has been postponed, but for good reasons. We have actually come up with a better way for Listiki to work and this will change the initial way that lists and information is organized.

Using "Prototype A" and really getting a feel for it allowed us to question and give Listiki some useful feedback which led to the new concept. So, it was after much discussion along the lines of  "what we could do is..." and "how about if..." and "it would be so cool if we could..." which led to this break through idea which was discussed and drawn up over coffee.

This new idea has since been been discussed with our partners at the Openfund, the flowcharts have been sketched up and the spec has been written and now they lie in the hands of our trusty developer who so far has been doing a great job - thanks Aleksey!

We are confident that these changes will totally engage Listiki users. Which reminds me, if you haven't yet signed up for the beta you really should do so now.

In other news, earlier this month we were pleased to see that TechCrunch Europe posted an article regarding the four first start-ups to be selected by the Openfund. The four startups that were mentioned were YouScan, Crawdout, Fashinating and our very own Listiki.

The beginning of our year was immediately brightened when Dimitris Kalavros Gousiou for TechCrunch Europe said, "Listiki, Openfund’s third choice is perhaps the most promising of the four winners..." We're humbled especially considering the great businesses being built alongside ours. You can read that article here if you haven't already.

Early doodles of the Listiki logo

All in a weeks work

It has been an absolute joy to work on Listiki this past week. No, really. Meetings through Skype with Constantinos, Alex and the guys at the Openfund discussing where we are and what has to be done. It's exciting stuff. This week we came up with a bunch of drafts to explain the intricacies of the technology. Algorithms were tweaked and named.

Discussing technical specs, having fun with the new interface, which looks very slick indeed. A big step from the already existing layout. The new designs are looking pretty awesome. Playing around with colours and design, ohh-ing and ahh-ing as we discover changes here and there that look better and better. We keep changing our minds about the key colours. I think we are pretty certain what we are going to go with for the beta, but it is still early days.

We got the Listiki blog up and running so we keep everyone in the loop as there's still plenty to do. We'll be posting quick bursts to update you on what we're up to. Stay tuned.

So, here's the story...

So, this is all very exciting but first a little back-story.

Listiki, as an idea, has been on our minds for quite a while now. Back in 2005 when Alex and I were on the verge of launching the soon to be Webby Nominated UX Magazine we couldn't resist but discuss ideas and more ideas for future projects we may undertake together. At the time, the magazine was our primary focus. Launching, dealing with the traffic, writing meant we had to store our great plans for later. Much later as it turns out.

And here we are, four years later and ready to hop back into the hot-seat of launching a new product. A couple of major things changed to allow for this to happen. First, we have partnered with some great people to make UX Magazine what it deserves to be, freeing up precious time and second, we have managed to convince Davina to join us. Without her making this whole thing work we could never have gotten even this far.

What really kicked things into gear was stumbling on The Openfund in late September. The Openfund, a Greek seed investor (right next door basically) but they had deadline for submissions which would mean we would have to work overtime to get everything in place. Constraints like these are a great motivator and really forced us to focus our efforts into preparing a really strong pitch for the idea.

On November 7th, the presentation took place and although Alex and Davina could only join in remotely, it was a success. We made it to the following stage called Start-Up day, where we and a few more select teams (7) were invited to pitch in front of The Openfund's investors, reporters and of course the board.

On November 21st at the Microsoft Innovation Center in downtown Athens, ready for the presentation. Anxious of presenting in front of a group (public speaking is ranked as the #1 fear apparently) but excited overall.

We were one of the last two candidates and had sat through some great pitches. The audience was very much clued-up and the Q&A often saw some strong critique and pertinent questions which is to be expected but always a bit terrifying. When our turn came up we did our thing and answered as best we could the questions raised. We had done our best, and a drink was in order.

On the same day we received news that we, as well as 3 other contenders had made it through. More drinks.

What had started four years earlier as a simple idea, has now matured into reality. The hard work starts now but our passion for the project should make it all easier.

Stay tuned for regular updates regarding the project and its progress.

--

Post written with the help of Alex & Davina.

Openfund gives Listiki a thumbs up

As we have been discussing projects, Listiki sprung to mind and action when we came about the Openfund. They offer seed funding to start-ups to whom they believe may have that certain "something". We were excited to hear that Listiki had been invited to present at the Openfund event which took place on November 21, 2009. The previous months had paid off and we were ready to present it. Nerves, last minute changes, rehearsing and a few hours of brainstorming took up most of the team's first day in Athens.

The next morning, Constantinos picked up Alex and I from our hotel, just minutes from the Microsoft Innovation Center where this was all to take place. We sat through the start-ups before us and listened to some really exceptional ideas, all the while, thinking about our turn and what the investors would throw our way during the Q&A. All went well for Listiki and we were ecstatic to find that we were one of the four start-ups selected.

The 3 other start-ups are all great. We'll be following their progress - they are Fashinating, crawdout and YouScan. Good luck guys.

Welcome to the Listiki Blog!

As every self respecting startup, Listiki now also has its own blog.

Our plan is to keep you up-to-date with the project's status, and provide as much information on our progress and whereabouts...

Make sure you subscribe to the blog's feed, and follow us on Twitter. Just click on the links to the right. We've also created a Facebook Fan page...

We'll be posting a lot in the next few days, as a follow up on what has happened in the previous months, and how Listiki has gotten to this point in time. So, keep in touch!