The earlier the startup, the fewer numbers there are to trust. So what makes an investor say yes? Yiannis Eftychiou shares what he looks for in founders, ideas and teams when the business is still at the beginning—and belief has to come before the evidence.

Yiannis is a founding Partner at 33East, a Pre-Seed and Seed investor in Cypriot founders and non-Cypriot teams interested in having presence and operations in Cyprus. He has more than a decade of experience working closely with early-stage technology companies across multiple sectors.
Prior to 33East, Yiannis was an investor at British International Investment, where he deployed in excess of $200 million of growth capital into technology companies. Before this, he spent time with Bain & Company in London and the US.
He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University of Bath.