Foti Panagiotakopoulos
Founder of GrowthMentor
I build communities where people get unstuck.
Athens. Bootstrapped.
I got a finance degree in 2007 and never used it. Became the first non-engineer hire at a hosting company, spent a decade learning marketing by burning ad budget on broad match keywords and doing a ton of dumb shit.
During those years I felt professionally isolated. No mentors, no peers. I hired Upwork freelancers just to have someone to talk through problems with. It was messy and expensive.
So in 2018 I built the thing I wished existed.
Writing
- The Captain's Log Every night at 4am, Claude Code writes my dev diary while I sleep. 81 entries in, it's become source material.
- Direction Is the Only Scarce Variable AI made speed and quality nearly free. So what's left?
- The Dumbest Smartest Things I Ever Did I spent the last $5K I had exhibiting at Startup Grind in 2019, raised nothing, and figured out the whole business the next month.
- Why I Still Interview Every Mentor Applicant 300 mentor applications a month, read one by one for seven years. Last month, on something like interview one thousand, an applicant said a thing I'd never heard.
- The Blog War Room How I wrote a blog post from the transcripts of 13 of my own mentorship calls, with four AI agents arguing about everything except what to say.
Media
Podcast appearances.
- Conversion Alchemy“The Accidental Growth Mentor”
- In Growth We Trust“Vibe Loops and Growth Journalism”
- CHURN FM“Doing Things That Don’t Scale”
- Flying Cat Marketing“Fundraising Pitfalls & Upskilling”
- Kenny Soto’s Podcast“Getting Into Growth Marketing”
- SaaS Breakthrough“Ethical Growth Hacking”
- The First 1000“World class mentors at a fraction of the cost”
- Productize & Scale“Tackling a Marketplace Service”
- Building With Buyers“AI Gives You Logic, GrowthMentor Gives You The Feels”
- NxtStep“Growing Your Business Without Additional Funding”
- Agency Highway“What Clients Look For in an Agency”
- Growth Multiplier“Building a Company That Generates Good Karma”
- No Hacks“Avoiding Early Growth Startup Mistakes”
- Off the Record“Growing Your Startup With Freelancers”
- SaaS AdLab“Founder of GrowthMentor”
Recent travels
I think better when I’m moving.
CreteJune 2026
MessiniaJune 2026
AmsterdamJune 2026
AmsterdamJune 2026
Anogeia, CreteJune 2026
Anogeia, CreteJune 2026
Sitia, CreteJune 2026
Plakias, CreteJune 2026
RomeJune 2026
AthensMay 2026
GlyfadaMay 2026
AthensMay 2026
AthensMay 2026
GlyfadaMay 2026
GlyfadaMay 2026
MilanMay 2026
Capalbio, ItalyMay 2026
Porto Ercole, ItalyApril 2026
Monte Argentario, ItalyApril 2026
Madison, WisconsinApril 2026
Madison, WisconsinApril 2026
KyparissiaApril 2026
Messinia to AthensApril 2026
GlyfadaSpring 2026
VouliagmeniMarch 2026
LarnacaMarch 2026
LimassolMarch 2026
NicosiaMarch 2026
MarathosMarch 2026
MarathosMarch 2026
NicosiaMarch 2026
AthensFebruary 2026
AthensFebruary 2026
GlyfadaFebruary 2026
MaltaFebruary 2026
MaltaFebruary 2026
MaltaFebruary 2026
MaltaFebruary 2026
MaltaFebruary 2026
En route to TriesteJanuary 2026
Trieste, ItalyJanuary 2026
Trieste, ItalyJanuary 2026
Trieste, ItalyJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
Buenos AiresJanuary 2026
El CalafateJanuary 2026
PatagoniaJanuary 2026
PatagoniaJanuary 2026
PatagoniaJanuary 2026
DelphiJanuary 2026
DelphiJanuary 2026
Prato Nevoso, ItalyDecember 2025
Prato Nevoso, ItalyDecember 2025
Bardonecchia, ItalyDecember 2025
Bardonecchia, ItalyDecember 2025
Attica coastNovember 2025
GlyfadaNovember 2025
AthensNovember 2025
Flisvos, AthensNovember 2025
AthensNovember 2025
Anthousa, AthensNovember 2025
MilanNovember 2025
MilanNovember 2025
MilanNovember 2025
Monforte d'Alba, ItalyNovember 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
LisbonOctober 2025
SardiniaJuly 2025
SardiniaJuly 2025
SardiniaJuly 2025
BolognaJune 2025
BolognaJune 2025
GenoaJune 2025
GenoaJune 2025
AvignonMay 2025
AvignonMay 2025
ParisMay 2025
ParisMay 2025
LisbonMarch 2025
LisbonMarch 2025
BaliJune 2024