It’s rare to have the likes of Dave McClure, Fadi Ghandour, Chris Schroeder, Hala Fadel, Ahmed al-Alfy and Wael Fakharany in the same space at the same time. It’s even more rare to have them around and easily accessible for two full days, doling out advice and nuggets of entrepreneurial wisdom as they mix and mingle with start-up founders, answering questions left and right (at times literally) to whoever is quick enough to grab their attention or even bold enough to pitch their idea on the spot.
But this was the core purpose of the RiseUp Summit. The result of two days worth of back-to-back panel discussions, parallel workshops and countless conversations, was a wealth of information from experts in diverse fields, of benefit to any aspiring entrepreneur or start-up founder looking to scale up their projects.
Their, often divergent, views on some issues created vibrant debate. Here’s a selection of the most interesting opinions and information that was shared.
On business plans
“I’m not a fan of business plans. They’re static. Business plans are the over engineering of unpredictable factors. You’re better off working with functional prototypes and knowing your customer base and the customer experience. This is functional data, and investors should ask for customer metrics and unit economics. Have a short business plan.” —Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups and serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur
On investors
“Investors are the bottlenecks; they need to get better and take more risks. Start-ups are not real estate, they will not make revenue right away. Up to 80 percent of start-ups will fail. Investors are too timid … they are the weak link. They are those who do not know how to invest in tech. They need to get better … and put money into the start-up market.” —Dave McClure
“All VCs look for is top-line growth. It’s better to have two people interested and investing in your success than just one. It becomes a different dynamic, but you also have to keep both happy and they have to be able to work with you and together. Usually, there is one lead investor that can bring others on board who they trust.” —Hany al-Sonbaty, co-founder and managing partner of Sawari Ventures
To entrepreneurs
“People will give you their networks before they give you a check. There’s more time here for people to mentor entrepreneurs.” —Ahmed al-Alfy, founder of Sawari Ventures
“Any place in the world is easier to start a company than Silicon Valley was 15 years ago. Stop whining, it is f***ing easy. Just find customers and build a company.
The cost of launching a company has decreased significantly since 2000. The price of building software and websites has plummeted and the lean start-up movement has made start-ups more efficient. The start-ups in 2000 were “big, fat dinosaur start-ups,” slower and with a much longer development cycle. Today, the development cycle is reduced to a fraction of what it used to be, while there is more capital to be found through platforms such as Kickstarter and Angel List.
“There are tons of other things that are required to get these ecosystems off the ground, but this one is most essential: a portfolio approach to start-ups, writing lots of little checks and assuming that a few will work, statistically speaking.” —Dave McClure
“Starting your own company is never easy. Prioritizing your time and resources is key. The line between success or failure is razor thin, there are no guarantees.” —Hany al-Sonbaty
“I failed to navigate Egypt’s bureaucracy. The lesson learned is get big companies to help set you up and be your advocate with the state. Deal with experts, don’t do everything yourself. Watch your cash burn through rate, there has to be a balance between spending too quickly and being too cautious with your money.” —Wael Rizk, entrepreneurial car builder
On exit strategies in the region
“Exits are for investors, not entrepreneurs. The biggest misconception in the regional ecosystem is about quick exits. Technology needs to be matched with a market, usability and scalability.” —Fadi Ghandour, founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex
“IPOs for the region are the most promising exit, because it means the start-up is sustainable.” —Hala Fadel, chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the pan-Arab region
“There are two risk factors: there is no clear exit strategy and there are not enough other investors. We modified our model toward revenue producing projects instead of ones that need heavy capital. Be greedy for growth and revenue. It’s not exits, it’s liquidity that we care about.” —Dave McClure
On the regional market
“The Middle East is in a leadership position because people are building projects in their homes and connecting with the world.” —Chris Schroeder, author of “Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution”
“The Arab world needs to open up markets to each other.” —Fadi Ghandour
On technology
“Self-education creates potential … it is an example of how people are using technology to solve problems and catch up.” —Ahmed al-Alfy
“Look at technology not as an innovation provider, but as a customer acquisition platform. Internet marketing drives investors.” —Dave McClure
On political risk
“There are as many opportunities as there are risks. Others look at political risk as an impediment, but not necessarily.” The company has three investments in Egypt and is looking at five to ten in the MENA region this year. “Online business with leverage and growth are not affected.” —Dave McClure
“Growth is still happening, despite turmoil. By 2025, 64 percent of global GDP will be in growth markets, they are growing at four times developed markets. The Middle East is part of that.”
On social impact
“Social responsibility should be viewed as a license to operate, from all stakeholders. How do I create impact and support those who live around me?” —Noha Hefny, director of corporate affairs at PepsiCo
“If CSR [corporate social responsibility] is a PR project, then throw it in the garbage. It’s not the charity people are looking for, it’s about how you act in that business as a community, creating jobs.”
“You can have double returns, social and financial. There are social entrepreneurs creating massive impact that doesn’t reflect on the balance sheet. Social entrepreneurship is moving faster than static business perspectives, but not in a sustainable manner. Still, we cannot remove a whole section of activist society that cannot translate into sustainability.” —Fadi Ghandour
On co-working spaces and shared economies
“Egypt doesn’t have the best designed co-working spaces, but the communities around them are great, and better connected.”
“Build your community first before opening a co-working space. I did that by organizing events first.”
“Sometimes spaces under-sell themselves. It’s important to have co-workers that can afford the rent. Sometimes people cite economic conditions and say they can’t make people pay, but that’s not true. People spend money on a lot of things.” —Romy Sigl, founder of CoworkingSalsburg and CoworkingCamps
On media and digital
“Out of the US$5 billion of pan-Arab advertising, digital is 14 percent. There are 140 million pan-Arab viewers and watch time used to be 200 million hours a day, now it’s up to 600-700 million, mostly for sports, entertainment and music on Google.” —Wael Fakharany, Google
“Publishers themselves will be the ones to kill print. There is no proper, trusted information on circulation and distribution. The good news is digital buyers are increasing daily.” —Shady Sherif, founder of GTV
“Every trend or strategy has an expiry date. Digital users are now focusing on content, not ad banners. That means more social, more mobile, more videos, more information. Now you have to pull users in instead of pushing the message toward them. It’s about targeting.” —Ahdab G.Badr, social Media Manager at Digital Republic
On big data
“Entrepreneurs should look for data that can solve a local problem. For example, real time traffic monitoring data could be sold to companies like Google. Speed is very important. If it fails, you have to fail fast and move on to the next thing.” —Wael Khalifa, co-founder of NRG-Solutions and founder of EGTNS, Emokhalfa and Weftid
“The key is to look for patterns, don’t get too hung up on why those patterns occur. Don’t get stuck on causality; you just need to find patterns.” —Omar Kamal, data analytics consultant and software quality manager
“Use big data to understand both your customers and your competitors. Pay attention to consumer responses. Insight can be used for things like designing billboards. Big data, social media, it helps to understand marketing opportunities.” —Bassem al-Hady, cofounder and CEO of Kijami
On RiseUp 2014
“This is a great place and a tight network and more attention is needed here. We are quantum leaps ahead of what was happening three years ago.” —Fadi Ghandour
“RiseUp is an amazing network. We were able to bring founders of 30 co-working spaces from 17 different countries to take part in our second co-working camp.” —Romy Sigl
