by Areti Vassou
Theodore Moulos has always been interested in programming, entrepreneurship, and building technological products. His career started back in 1996, and since then, he has been involved non-stop in several top international teams and products.
Nowadays you can find him leading the way at Growthrocks.com, among other projects all over the planet. If Marvel was looking for a new superhero, then definitely Theodore has all the qualities for the role. Pioneering vision of the future in digital technology and the ethics to balance power of knowledge with generosity.
I have met several CEOs in the industry, but this guy is a natural star. Knowing how to use his power for good is the best reason to trust your brand in his hands. Theodore will skyrocket your business! He is a Growth Hacking Guru.
Follow Theodore’s journey at www.growthrocks.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Interview Questions
A few words about our interview questions:
Interviews can deeply influence how people view a mission, a product, a service or a brand. It’s the perfect way to share the mentality and the culture that helped a person to accomplished his/her goals in life. In several cases, it’s the only way to connect with the community outside of a business frame.
The fundamental principles behind our interviews are communication and respect. The people we chose to interview and the questions we ask are aiming to present the pioneers of our industry.
What’s your favorite social media network, and why?
For personal use, I prefer Instagram. However, as a Growth Hacker, I simply love Facebook! Facebook is not just another social media channel; it’s a tech company! Besides the amazing tools and features for growth, the technology behind Facebook is unparalleled.
How many hours per day do you use social media?
I use social media all day – every day! As I said, I am a Growth Hacker. That means that I need to be up-to-date with the daily changes, news, and trends in the social media sphere. Not only that, but I have to use chat apps like Messenger and Whatsapp to communicate with friends and colleagues.
What is your job? What do you do for a living?
By day I’m the group CEO of GrowthRocks and Viral Loops. GrowthRocks is a growth hacking & digital marketing agency, and Viral Loops is a B2B SaaS platform which started as a spinoff and is now an entire entity on its own. By night… I’m the same thing; sometimes it can become very demanding.
What do you find appealing in social media?
Connectivity and, what else, diversity. The fact that in just 4 minutes I can find out about the new product from a competitor, a concert for next Sunday I’d probably had missed otherwise, a new marketing tool and about my cousin having a newborn.
Name one thing that you dislike in social media.
Please let me name two: Stalkers and stolen content.
Stalkers. As simple as that. We need to be careful about what we share through social media. Privacy is a high priority for Facebook, as Mark Zuckerberg told us in F8. Everyone should keep that in mind – especially parents.
Another thing I dislike is stolen content. Unoriginal content is one thing, but stealing content just sucks. Moreover, whenever we use someone else’s content, we shouldn’t forget to give credit where credit is due. For example, at GrowthRocks, we post a comic strip every Tuesday. We always tag the creator on the body text, even when their signature is at the bottom of the strip.
How has social media influenced the way you do business?
[Something about how social media haven’t changed the way you do business and sales (?)]
Is there something that you would like to learn more about social media or digital marketing?
Definitely, and this is one of the parts of my job that I love the most. Digital marketing is like a living organism that involves day to day. Together with social media, they’ve changed so much in so little time.
Which people you believe are the most influential in social media?
Niche authority figures. Does that make sense? So, for example, in the social media within the sports realm, Ronaldo and Antetokounmpo are influential, whereas, in my niche, it’s Neil Patel and Gary Vaynerchuk.
When was the last time you learned something new through the use of social media?
In my visit to F8 one month ago in San Francisco, I learned very intriguing stuff about the future of social media. To be more precise, it’s not about social media anymore. It’s about platforms.
For instance, Facebook’s force goes beyond the social media spectrum. And so, apart from a place where you can connect with family and friends or socialize, Facebook wants to be the place where you advertise your business, you buy and sell things, and you will also do so with its own currency. For the last one, we will have to wait a bit though.
What do you do during your free time? What makes you forget to check your mobile?
During my free time, I advise startups, and also I create products. There is nothing I hate more than doing the same thing twice. Thus, I productize everything I believe it would save me time.
I’m a skydiver, a diver and also a sailor. There is nothing that makes me forget to check my mobile. My mobile is not a tool of work but also a tool for my hobbies. So, it’s always ON, even for navigation maps only.
Can you name 3 books that you absolutely adore?
- The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Written by one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, this book is full of practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems
- The Painter of Battles by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. He of my favorite writers whose novels travel me to fantastic places.
- The Story of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly by Luis Sepulveda. My favorite writer of all times that is proving to me constantly that “what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.”
What advice would you give to yourself when you were 16 years old?
To get a diversified academic experience. To combine engineering with accounting, Marketing with computer science, and psychology with engineering or computer science. That’s the advice I got when I was 16 years old and that advice changed my life.
What is your favorite quote?
My own personal motto is to “live your life with passion.” So I have two quotes about that:
Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence, and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire teammates and customers. Robin S. Sharma – Lawyer
Enjoy the journey and try to get better every day. And don’t lose the passion and the love for what you do. Nadia Comaneci – Athlete
So, what’s your life story in a summary?
It’s a bit boring but here is the short version:
I’ve always been interested in programming, entrepreneurship, and building technological products. My career started back in 1996, and since then, I have been involved non-stop in several top international teams and products.
Right after University (my first degree), I worked as a Senior Consultant in a Consulting firm where I was implementing various projects and managing a team of 10 consultants. In just a few years, I moved in CTO positions creating products from scratch and implementing projects. Since then, I have been a CEO in various international companies leading teams.
There are two milestones that changed my life:
- I’ve been advised to change my professional accounting engagement and to get involved with IT projects that were up-to-that point my hobby. “If you can make money doing what you love, go for it,” a senior manager told me once.
- I’ve been pushed to change my career from CTO roles to Sales, on my way to CEO. “The Sales or commercial roles lead to CEO,” another senior manager told me as well.
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