The man behind yatzer.com

How did you start up on a one-digit budget for a website that currently ranks among the most popular in the world? How rough was the road to success?

Nothing is easy. The question should be if I’m still satisfied with my decision to do it that way. I quit my job to pursue my dream, without knowing where I was going, let alone I was just starting up and had zero income. Earnings from the site came three years later. So, one needs patience, determination and faith in his passion to get something good out of it.

For unfamiliar readers, introduce us to Yatzer’s background.

I was working with Maison & Decoration magazine when I received my army service enrollment notification. I got terrified by the thought of loosing contact with design people. Provided that I had my laptop on me all the time carrying an inspiration archive I used for my magazine articles, I decided to start posting its contents while serving my army duties in an effort to keep contact with the world of design. That’s how it all started for yatzer.com back in 2007. Everything I like from the world of design, architecture and fashion in Greece and abroad, it gets to be posted on the site. I chose to write in English, as few people in Greece are into design and because I wanted my choices to reach to the world. At the beginning, I didn’t spend any money whatsoever, but $5 dollars to purchase the domain name. It’s hard to keep focused, because the web’s information load is huge and you need to focus on following people that you really like, people you feel chemistry with. Last year in TedxAthens I said that if you invest on trust, users will click on you. The site is based on my personal style, so it’s not addressing everybody. It’s impossible to address your message to everybody and I do not intend to address everybody. I enjoy the love I have grown for the work of many architects, photographers and artists during the past 6 years and it’s a happy fact that my choices offer inspiration and satisfaction to millions of people around the world.

Since 2007, thousands of articles and interviews of influential figures have been posted on yatzer.com, like Jean-Paul Gaultier and Michael Zavros.

Posted articles amount to 2,500 since 2007. I’m happy I was one of the first in this part of the planet to discover Michael Zervos, as the painter lives in Australia, the continent I have only visited via the Internet.

 International recognition came for yatzer.com after Financial Times ranked the site among the best in the world. Were you planning on it?

Actually, I wasn’t planning on it. When I first started in 2007, I was talking about it with my friends, as the first to know are always the loved ones. Some time later, an American friend informed me about the article in Financial Times and that’s when most of my fellow Greeks also got to know about yatzer.com.

 Despite your success in the international industry, you’re still based in Athens. Has the thought of relocating abroad ever crossed your mind?

No, never!

 Thanks to family and friends or for some other reason?

To speak the language of the heart plays a crucial role in your life. Particularly if you leave in a foreign country. Otherwise, you will never get the opportunity to make true friends. I may sound a bit strict and I actually am. In terms of business, opportunity may come to you anytime and any place. Yatzer makes me happy and carries me everywhere in the world, despite the fact that most people believe that I’m New York based. That’s the magic of the Internet. For instance, you have the option of living on a deserted island and manage a site of millions of users at the same time! So, why not enjoy free Internet advantages? I have the option to live in the country of my choice and why not Greece?

 What do you think of the country during this harsh financial timing? Has the crisis affected your life?

Yes, it has affected my life and the closed circle of family and friends. A lot of them are unemployed and some cannot even afford their basic needs and it’s very frustrating. On the other hand, I can see a very positive turn happening against misery and I mean a spirit of collaboration and forming teams, a spirit of solidarity. You see people coming together and do things TOGETHER. Greeks used to do things all alone. Today, the new generations’ mindset is rapidly changing thanks to the crisis.

Do you believe that it is hard for someone currently living in Greece to make his dreams come true? A lot of young people choose to relocate to foreign countries to have the opportunity at least.

I believe that if you’re destined for success, then it will come to you regardless of your location, your base, your country, your friends or your business contacts. You will definitely come across success either the easy or the hard way!

What’s your career peak moment up to the present time?

At a young age, I was dreaming of becoming a pilot, but I never had the opportunity due to my left eye hypermetropia. However, using a website as a vehicle, I have ultimately traveled more than a pilot with Yatzer’s followers as my fellow passengers. So, my dreams came true.

In terms of design and architecture, which country or city do you pick out?

The further back a country’s history and cultural heritage dates, the more excessively their influence is mirrored on its city planning. I pick out Paris. Perhaps because I have visited Paris more than any other city in the world and I have walked about the city more than I have actually walked about Athens.

What does Greece mean to you?

Sun, hospitality, brine, summer… Greece is the definition of summer, even if we don’t appear able to organize our tourism market effectively. We have the background to become #1 summer destination in the world.

So, do you think that we need to restructure Greek tourism?

Every time I chose to post a Greek house, restaurant or hotel on yatzer.com, the foreign feedback is huge. A lot of work still needs to be done in terms of turning points of interest into proper images to effectively attract foreign attention.

What is the top question you would like to ask your fellow Greeks?

If they had the chance to eliminate just one of their character traits, what would that be and for what reason?

 

Achievements

The man behind yatzer.com

Costas Voyatzis was born in Piraeus in 1980 and currently lives at Exarchia. Since his early age, he has been developing a strong liking for design and calls himself a gadget freak. Later on, he decided to put a stop in his meteorology studies to follow his passion, design. The global www.yatzer.com first came public in January 2007. When serving the army, Costas conceived the idea of an online design portal while on watch in the early morning hours.

Yatzer.com is a popular and prestigious global online destination on design, architecture, fashion, events and art, receiving an average of 350,000 visitors and 1,200,000 page views on a monthly and global basis. In April 2001, Costas Voyatzis was named one of the 100 most influential people in the design industry by French Architectural Digest.

From 2007 up today, Yatzer has published over 2,000 articles and interviews with significant designers, like Jean Paul Gaultier, the Greek emigrant Australia-based painter Michael Zervos, the CEO of Wallpaper magazine Tony Chambers and many more.

Financial Times ranked www.yatzer.com in the list of the 20 best online sites in the world.

Photo Profile: Dimitra Spyropoulou

Read the full interview with Costas Voyatzis

COMMENTS

  Comments: 1

  1. Σεμίραμις Μεντεσίδου

    Απο τους ωραιότερους και ευφυέστερους ανθρώπους, με υπέροχη αύρα και θετική ενέργεια. Υπερήφανη που υπάρχουν αυτοί οι Ελληνες!!!


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