Stergos Zamagias is an entrepreneur. He’s 19 years old. This may not read like an original Hollywood script anymore, but if his age doesn’t steal your eyes away from Twitter, maybe his location will. He lives on the Greek Island of Kos, birthplace of medicine’s father Hippocrates. Currently in beta phase, his startup Devvox hopes to provide the cure for voices struggling to be heard. He needs investors, people, before he can offer Mediterranean internships.
Zamagias envisions Devvox as an online community that gives people everywhere the voice and attention they deserve. He insists he’s not out to compete with anyone. Is Facebook nervous yet? Killerstartups met up with Zamagias recently. Maybe you’re another entrepreneur in a different unlikely corner of the world, ready to share some Aegean inspiration.
How long have you been involved with the internet? What were your first steps?
I have been an internet user for about 9 years. I remember I bought a card which allowed you to get “free” internet via telephone and the first website I went into was Google, to search some stuff for a school project… later on I got a lesson when the bill for some minutes went up to a thousand dollars.
What time do you usually start work each day?
Usually I wake up at 8 AM and start working at 10 AM, but on weekends I tend to get up at 10 AM.
Do you have an office or work at home?
I currently work at home, but who doesn’t like a more open space such as an office?
What’s the very first thing you do at work everyday?
First off, I check my emails… then I check out news on Twitter. Lastly, I check my local sports news. After that I’m ready to start with my work.
How’d you come up with the name for your company?
When I first started Devvox, I didn’t mean for it to be this startup, but something that has to do with developers… if we break down the name we can see that it has two parts–Dev (Developer) and vox (voice). So, as you can see, it means developer’s voice… then I thought that most of the domains that I came up with were all taken, so, instead of struggling to find a domain that could take hours to come up with… I used the one I already had.
How many people did you start the company with and how many people work for you now?
I started Devvox alone and did all the development work myself. Of course, I have some friends giving me feedback–suggesting stuff to help improve the site, but, other than that, it’s me who does all the dirty work. This might seem odd, but there aren’t many of my kind were I live, so its really hard to find people really into this.
When do your best ideas come to you? In bed in the morning? During dinner? After working for 16 hours? On your third beer?
Well, that depends on the occasion, really. Sometimes I get an idea when the environment that I’m [in] is really quiet, and other times I may get an idea by simply browsing the internet…
We want to know about where you spend your day!
I spend most of my day working on Devvox. Other times I may head down to the beach, which is 50 meters from my house (that’s awesome), and hangout with some friends… other times we simply go to café bars.
Favorite movie? Band? Vacation Spot?
There are so many good choices here, and I really can’t select a particular movie or band… but I like most the sci-fi, adventure and action movies. A really cool place for vacation (at least for me) is Spain, Barcelona. We went there for a 5-day trip last year of high school and it was awesome… what else is there to ask for when you see your dream team’s stadium (Barcelona FC) and visit their culture? Also, islands in Greece are super for vacation, since you are always next to the sea and the climate is fantastic.
A lot of people have big ideas. What gave you the confidence to actually put your life on hold and realize yours?
My startup idea came when I and others wanted to share something regarding an issue about my football club team on a fan blog. I saw that the comments were getting minimal attention due to the high volume of comments there was on that subject as well as other ones. I realized that there isn’t a tool to help people get the attention they deserve for what they share. I thought I could build it and solve that problem.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs struggling to get their business off the ground?
If you have something cool and want others to use it, then get it online and get as much feedback as possible.
How’d you fund this venture?
Right now it’s self funded, but future help would come in handy to boost the development.
iOS or Android?
iOS. I am 3 on 3 at the moment with iOS, so I think I will stick with it since I really like its design as well as its fast responses. I also used some android devices, which I find really interesting, but at the moment I think I’m fine with iOS.
Anything Else We Should Know About Devvox?
We are currently in beta phase and we are using invitational only registration as we move towards the day we will launch.
We would also like to give you a special link for your first 2000 readers so they can signup instant without waiting for approval. The link is #
Contact Devvox
You can follow Stergos and Devvox (or hound him for an island tour) on Twitter at stergosz, or devvox.
