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.

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Post written with the help of Alex & Davina.