EUROPE BUILDS by BORRN

What does it take to build a borderless company from the Balkans? And how do you design a startup culture that people actually want to stay in?In this episode of Europe Builds, we talk to Jack Thorogood, founder and CEO of Native Teams, a fast-growing fintech platform simplifying payments, employment, and compliance for global professionals. With roots in North Macedonia and a footprint spanning 85+ countries, Native Teams is tackling remote work infrastructure with a bold cultural ethos and an employee-first mindset.We explore how a personal problem became a scalable business idea, why building for the overlooked is a winning strategy, and what it means to create company culture with real intention. Jack also shares his playbook for hiring across borders, why remote culture needs more than Slack and Zoom, and how to build a business where no one wants to leave.

In this engaging discussion, Oleks Yaroshenko, Chief of Staff at Headway Inc., shares how the company scaled to 150 million users without external funding, notably during turbulent times in Ukraine. He reveals the power of A/B testing in refining user experiences and discusses innovative strategies for user engagement and retention. Yaroshenko also highlights the resilience of the Ukrainian startup scene and debunks myths surrounding bootstrapped growth, emphasizing that success doesn't require sacrificing strong leadership.

With George GeorgiadisHow does an engineer turn into an investor? And what does it take to back world-changing technology before it’s cool — or proven?In this episode, we talk to George Georgiadis, Founding Partner at Evercurious VC, a new deep-tech venture fund betting on scientist-founders building defensible technologies. George shares how his decade at Volkswagen’s HQ shaped his approach to investing, why Europe keeps inventing breakthrough tech but failing to commercialize it, and why Evercurious prefers conviction over hype when picking early-stage bets. We also explore how VCs can help technical founders become leaders — and what makes a startup worth waiting six years for.

How can you build something disruptive and transformative amidst one of the biggest economic downturns in recent memory? And how can fixing potholes be a brilliant move for an insurance company?This week, Alexis Pantazis, co-founder and co-CEO of Hellas Direct, joins us on EUROPE BUILDS to share how he and his team built a next-generation insurance company in Greece—during the height of the Eurozone crisis. A former Goldman Sachs executive, Alexis explains why Greece was the perfect “blind spot market” for disruption, how Hellas Direct scaled to multiple countries, and why authenticity, vulnerability, and persistence are core to their leadership model. We also talk about the power of timing, the myth of the solo visionary, and how to build lasting trust in a notoriously unsexy industry.

What does it really take to back the right idea at the right time? And why might humility, not hype, be the most underrated trait in great investors?In this episode of Europe Builds, we sit down with Nick Kalliagopoulos, Partner at Big Pi Ventures—one of Greece’s most prominent VC funds. With a decade of experience spanning Prime Ventures in Amsterdam and the Randstad Innovation Fund, Nick brings a rare blend of insight from both deep tech and the future-of-work sectors. We discuss how to evaluate truly transformational technology, what traits set apart the founders worth backing, and why ego can be a liability on both sides of the investment table. Nick also shares lessons in timing, discipline, and the quiet power of long-term conviction.For anyone building or betting on the next frontier, this episode is full of insight.

How do you reinvent a dating app into a vibrant social network for the queer community—and grow it globally without a marketing budget? Why do even the most successful product teams still sometimes forget to listen to their users?In this episode of EUROPE BUILDS, live from the Doers Summit in Athens, we sit down with Michelle Parsons, Chief Product Officer of Lex. A former product leader at Netflix, Spotify, Kayak, and Hinge, Michelle shares hard-earned lessons from scaling some of the world’s most beloved platforms. We discuss Lex’s pivot from dating to community, how to nurture word-of-mouth growth, how to adapt products to new cultures, and why customer obsession and fast experimentation are key to sustainable innovation. Michelle also opens up about designing with safety and privacy for marginalized users—and how a science teacher from Texas ended up shaping the future of consumer tech.If you want to build better, listen deeper, and lead with impact—this one’s for you.

How do you build a global EV company from scratch—without outside funding—and use it as a vehicle for systemic change? And why might the most meaningful entrepreneurial journey be the one that ends in giving back?On this episode of Europe Builds, live from the Doers Summit in Athens, we are joined by Adam Ridgway, founder and CEO of OneMoto Technologies, a pioneering electric vehicle scale-up transforming last-mile delivery across 13 countries and counting. Adam shares how he’s building a capital-efficient, impact-first company by rethinking scale, outsourcing smartly, and staying obsessively mission-driven. We dig into the three pillars of OneMoto’s impact model—environmental sustainability, operational profitability, and rider welfare—and explore how these shape their B2B-first strategy in emerging and underrepresented markets.Adam also opens up about his ultimate ambition: a philanthropic “capstone” project to empower homeless individuals with EVs and dignity, and how a TV documentary he saw at age 16 became a lifelong source of purpose. We discuss why the delivery gig economy offers untapped potential for social reintegration, how to deal with betrayal in business, and what it really means to build a legacy with heart.Check our Adam’s discussion on sustainable e-mobility in MENA: https://enterprise.news/climate/en/news/story/292baafb-cc03-4ea4-a7e1-1e0badb31708/one-moto%25e2%2580%2599s-ceo-adam-ridgway-talks-sustainable-e-mobility-in-mena

What brings two top investors with years of experience in global markets back to Athens? And how do they go about measuring impact and value? This episode we are joined by Ariadne Velissaropoulou and Marina Bouki, two former institutional investors who turned into angel investing and returned to Greece. We discuss investing against the current, highlight the traits that make founders stand out, like fearless optimism and a can-do attitude, and how angel investors can help guide founders through their first entrepreneurial steps. We also discuss the value of coachability for founders, which ideas have caught Ariadne and Marina’s interests, from Athens to the Faroe Islands, and how to measure impact in investing and bring value among the noise.Find out more about Blossom ventures, the Greek Female Angel Investors Club, here: blossom-ventures.com/

How does an operator turn his insight into successful leadership as a CEO? And how does a tech and AI expert who worked for the US administration apply his learnings into the start-up ecosystem?On this episode we are joined by Adam Bonnifield, a tech entrepreneur behind some of the most impactful projects in global mobility. Most recently. Adam served as CEO of KONUX, the first AI scale-up in rail and was also Head of AI at Airbus, the world’s largest aerospace company, driving innovations in autonomous flight, advanced manufacturing, predictive maintenance and sustainability. Previously, Adam led data and technology projects for the Obama White House, and founded two startups dedicated to democratising AI and Big Data.We discuss how to train teams and scale up capabilities, how deep tech companies can get over their struggles with R&D, how a CEO can help a company continue to innovate depending on its stage, and how experience in the public sector can actually turn into wisdom about scaling operations and bureaucracies. We also dissect how today is simultaneously the best and also hardest time to create a company in the AI space, and why Adam is bullish about Europe’s future in the field despite the challenges.

George Hadjigeorgiou, co-founder and CEO of Skroutz, shares his journey from hobbyist to leader of Greece's largest online marketplace. He emphasizes the importance of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success. The conversation dives into the challenges of scaling a startup while preserving its culture and values. Hadjigeorgiou also discusses the dynamics of co-founding a business, the role of private equity in Greek tech, and offers valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs. His insights highlight the evolving landscape of innovation in Greece.