Welcome to StartupQ8 Event :)

StartupQ8 1st EventSpeaker: Abdullah Alshalabi

Date: 26/9/2012

Why the event is in English!!!

1.This event is not only for Kuwaitis (Diversification = innovation)

2.We need non-Arabic speakers (Most talented people in Kuwait don’t speak Arabic)

3.We need to stay connected with the world (Share and learn from other countries experiences)

4.English is the “Learning Language” (Stay update or die)

And the winning Logo is…………

Let’s learn from each other

What is StartupQ8?

First, who am I?

Who am I?

A guy in love with entrepreneurship

Who am I?Mechanical Engineering Kuwait

University (2002-2007)

Kuwait (Jul 2007-May 2010)

Hong Kong (Jul 2010-Jun 2011)

Who am I?

Hong Kong (2010-2011)

Uruguay (Summer 2011)

Who am I?

Uruguay (Summer 2011)

(Sep 2011- Dec 2011)

(Jan 2012- Mar 2012)

(Mar 2012- Jun 2012)

Barcelona

Granada

Barcelona

Spain (Sep 2011 – Jun 2012)

Who am I?

Kuwait (Jun 2012- current)

Kuwait (Jul 2012- current)

(Sep 2011- Jun 2012)Spain Kuwait (Jun 2012 – Now)

Who am I?

Pescao - Designer

Jose - Co-founder

Krishna - Programmer

Fishfishme team

What is StartupQ8?

Wait, what is a Startup?

What is a Startup?

“A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a

repeatable and scalable business model” Steve Blank

Startups:- New product- New market- Unknown

customers- Seeking to create a

big company with high potential of growth

- Very risky, but very rewarding

Small Businesses:- Known

product/service- Known customer- Low risk- Want to keep it

small within the family

- Have small potential to grow

Fully committed to support and boost entrepreneurship, small businesses and innovation Startups are companies with founders that have a

vision to become big and world class companies and usually these companies are considered very innovative

• Create 1,000s of jobs• Attract international talents• Revenue > US$100M• Change the world to a better place

Key Characteristics• Create 10-100 of jobs• Attract cheap labor• Revenue < US$1M• Want to feed their family

Key Characteristics

• Mentorship and advice• Talent and skills• Incubators• Early stage investors

What do they need? (Ecosystem elements)• Late stage investors• Global network• Education

• Initial investment• Grants and Loans• Land• Regulations that support their products

What do they need? (Ecosystem elements)

StartupsSmall Businesses are companies built to make enough money to feed their families. Usually their founders prefer to stay small and let their family members manage the business for generations

Small Businesses

Startups Small Businessesvs

What is StartupQ8?

What is StartupQ8?

A blog and a monthly event that gathers people interested about entrepreneurship and innovation

Why do we need StartupQ8?

Because we need to establish a Startup Ecosystem in Kuwait

What is a Startup Ecosystem?

Silicon Valley, USA

London, UK

Amman, Jordan

Santiago, Chile

Singapore

Barcelona, Spain

Is a friendly and healthy place to start a company

Bangalore, India

Dubai, UAE

Berlin, Germany

What are the elements of a Startup Ecosystem?

We need to work together to make Kuwait a great place to start a new business

What will happen if we a have a healthy Startup Ecosystem?

This is what StartupQ8 is all about, is to help in building successful Kuwaiti Startups

We started StratupQ8 just 100days ago

And we already had some great results

1- Made friends in Finland and Estonia

2- A special weekly coverage about Kuwait in Wamda.com

Wamda is a platform designed to empower entrepreneurs in the MENA region.

I joined Wamda team last week to cover entrepreneurship scene happening in Kuwait

The first post will be about StartupQ8 event :)

And the best thing about StartupQ8, it’s a great way to meet like minded

people

It’s still a long way to transform Kuwait to a better place for entrepreneurs and Startups

We still have a lot of work to do

But, let’s start with something simple….

Let’s learn from each other