If you told me a few years ago that I’d go from scaling venture-backed startups across continents to helping people book safaris in Africa, I might have raised an eyebrow, and then probably asked for the pitch deck.
My career hasn’t followed a clean, thematic path. It’s jumped from foodtech to proptech and now into travel, but what always connected the dots for me was the stage of each business, not the sector. I’ve always gravitated towards the thrill of building something from scratch, solving messy problems alongside smart people, and creating structure out of chaos.
But let me take a step back.
Where it all began: Rocket Internet and the Startup Lab mentality
From the time I was an undergrad, I was captivated by startup stories. You know the kind: tech giants born in garages, scaled through grit and good timing.
I was intrigued to learn hands-on how to get from zero to one and then to 100, and wanted to build things that mattered: tools and products that solved real problems, even if they started small.
I began my career at Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based global venture builder known for launching and scaling startups at lightning speed. It was an intense bootcamp in venture development – part global deployment unit, part experiment factory. I worked across different markets and verticals, learning how to launch quickly, iterate fast, and keep moving with an intense focus on problem-solving, even when the playbook didn’t yet exist.
The majority of my time at Rocket was spent at HelloFresh, where I worked on growth and operations projects during the early scale-up days. It was a whirlwind of supply chain puzzles, market expansions, and navigating the challenges that arise when demand outpaces infrastructure. What I took from HelloFresh, besides the art of efficiency, was how critical it is to focus on execution over perfection. Getting the job done was always more important than making it look good on paper.
Later, to reconnect with the growing tech scene in Greece – a place I’m from but hadn’t yet worked in professionally – I joined Blueground, one of the fastest-growing startups from Athens at the time. I wanted to experience firsthand what it meant to scale a startup born in Athens to markets like New York, Paris, and London.
These roles gave me more than a fast-paced career. They gave me frameworks – and, most importantly, the confidence to one day build something of my own.
When the journey led to Kenya
After the pandemic, I craved movement. I took my laptop to work remotely on the Kenyan coast for a couple of weeks, not knowing it would become a turning point.
I was impressed by the adoption of tech products in local daily life. M-Pesa, a local mobile payments solution that doesn’t require a smartphone, was deeply integrated into daily life, Uber was the default mode of transport, and Jumia delivery bikes were everywhere. This scene instantly reminded me of my days at Rocket Internet, but with a distinctly local rhythm.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something exciting was brewing here. When I returned home, I began pulling every string I had to figure out how I could come back and explore whether I could build in Kenya, not just admire it.
A former Rocket colleague pointed me to Antler, the early-stage VC and founder program that was running a cohort in Nairobi that same summer. I applied and soon found myself flying back, this time to feed this curiosity.
The startup idea that found me
During the Antler program, a fellow cohort member talked about how she was struggling to book a safari for her family. Despite the global explosion of travel tech, planning a safari in Africa still felt like navigating a maze: multiple destinations, dozens of vendors, comparing quotes, making offline payments, and facing logistical hurdles that most travelers weren’t equipped to handle.
It hit close to home. I remembered how complex it was to plan my own first safari, and how fragmented the experience was, even for someone who had lived on five continents and worked in operations for a living. She suggested we look into the problem, and given my passion for travel, I had no reason to say no.
The more we looked into it, the more we learned: the problem was obvious, the market was definitely large enough, and the opportunity to utilize technology – especially in the age of AI – to bridge this gap felt too good to pass up.
That’s how Tukio started: not as a disruption strategy, but as a solution to a clear, painful problem.
Leaving the safety net of VC-backed structures
Even though I was accustomed to building within high-growth, largely unstructured, and uncertain environments, transitioning from a well-funded environment to bootstrapping your own idea is a different kind of game.
At large, venture-backed scale-ups, there were resources – even if things were often messy. At Tukio, I have to be the resource. There are no growth teams or legal departments to call. Just us, our users, our trusted partners, and a lot of spreadsheets.
The hardest part? Keeping the motivation high on slow days. The early wins come in inches, not milestones, and there are days when you just have to show up and trust the process. And yet, those days matter most.
Trusting the process, even when there’s no immediate reward, has been one of the biggest mindset shifts for me.
Antler also played a key role in the early days – offering both structure and reality checks. Our MVP went through iterations, but the core problem remained unchanged: making the booking of African adventure travel easy, accessible, and trustworthy. Today, the product looks vastly different than when we started, but the mission still pulses through every iteration.
Having that foundation and knowing what great looks like helps. I know what kind of team culture I want to build. I have carried over some core principles: lean over bloated, team over ego, and always get things done before they’re perfect. Finally, even if it sounds clichéd and is not always easy to do, always have fun; after all, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Building locally with a global mindset
Having operated across five continents, I have learned one key truth: your playbook must be flexible, or it will break.
Entering new markets isn’t just about localization, it’s about humility.
In some places, the regulatory red tape will strangle your speed. In others, moving fast without cultural understanding will kill your trust. That’s why, whenever I enter a new market, I always start with the people.
Understanding where they are coming from and what their daily struggles are goes a long way when you want to build with them – whether this is an internal local team or in the case of Tukio, our trusted supply partners who are the backbone of our business.
With Tukio, we’re staying laser-focused on product-market fit in Africa before scaling outward. The continent is not just a “market expansion“, it’s where the need is highest, the opportunity is real, and the infrastructure is ready for leapfrogging.
My thoughts on the CEE startup ecosystem
As someone from Greece who has spent most of my career building in global startup hubs, I’ve always believed the CEE and Southern European regions have incredible untapped potential. What’s often missing isn’t talent – it’s exposure.
The more we can connect young operators to global ideas, tools, and mindsets, the faster we accelerate innovation at home.
Greece’s ecosystem, like many in the region, has started to flourish thanks to success stories from returning expats, local VC momentum, and a growing culture of knowledge-sharing. But to really reach escape velocity, we need to keep encouraging experienced talent to become founders – and make sure they have the support systems, capital, and community to go the distance.
Redefining adventure, personally and professionally
For me, adventure travel isn’t about bucket lists or Instagrammable moments. It’s about discovery: of the world, of others, and often, of yourself. It’s about connecting with nature, cultures, and communities in ways that transform you. And that’s what I hope Tukio brings to the table: a platform that not only simplifies safari travel but also honors the magic of the experience.
Finally, if I Could Talk to My Younger Self… I’d say: it’s okay not to have the full map, sometimes trusting your compass has to be enough. People will matter more than any product, and often, you’ll find your “why” only after you’ve started moving.
From the venture labs of Berlin to the dusty roads of the Mara, the journey wasn’t planned, but it is somehow making sense.
