Tag Archives: startup

Everything You Need to Know about BDL Circular 331

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BDL

Lebanon has the human capital and talents required to develop a startup ecosystem, but what was missing were the appropriate tools and financing; hence why Banque du Liban (BDL) decided to intervene. In August 2014, BDL announced Circular 331, injecting the potential of 400 million dollars into the Lebanese enterprise market. The Circular guarantees 75 percent of the banks’ investments in the knowledge economy through direct startup equity investment or indirect startup support entities.

BDL Circular 331 looks to reverse the trend of Lebanon’s university graduates leaving the country to look for jobs elsewhere. It is through BDL Circular 331 that many companies now have the chance to bring their innovative ideas to life not only through the financial aspect, but also by backing and supporting boot camps and training programs that would support and help entrepreneurs develop further.

The local banks receive a seven-year interest-free credit from BDL, which can be invested in treasury bonds with an interest rate of 7%. In return, the bank commits to investing in the knowledge economy. Local banks can invest up to 3% of their capital in startup support entities, funds or directly into startups. BDL guarantees 75% of the investment, de-risking it by mitigating the potential losses and reducing them to a mere 25%. The Circular is designed to diminish risk for the conservative local banks and does so by dictating the banks’ portfolio diversification. A bank can invest up to 10 % (of its 3%) in any one startup, thus spreading the risk. BDL takes on 75% of the risk and only 50% of any profit made, making the circular attractive waters to venture into.

The main objective of institutionalizing the Circular 331 is to move Lebanon towards a knowledge-based economy and eventually create job opportunities to battle the 20% unemployment rate expected to befall Lebanon in 2015. To ensure the circular is appropriately used and that it serves its intended purpose, BDL has laid down ground rules for qualifying. The company should be a Lebanese joint-stock company with nominal shares; its work should rely on knowledge economy, support creative intellectual skills, and have an enriching impact on the economic and social growth and on job creation in the Lebanese market.

EyeEm: Background & Achievements since BDL Accelerate 2014

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EyeEmLebanese-born Ramzi Rizk is a prime example of how hard work, dedication and passion can all lead to success. Ramzi moved to Hamburg, Germany to work on his M.Sc. in Software Architecture and later moved to Berlin to work on his Phd on Privacy in Social Media.

One night, while Florian Meissner and Lorenz Aschoff were hanging out at Ramzi’s place, Florian shared an idea he had from a revelation he got when his camera was stolen in New York in 2009 and he had used a friend’s iPhone to take pictures. Florian was impressed by the growing scene of mobile photographers and got the idea of a photo sharing app that does more than your average app.

Together in February 2011, the friends, Ramzi, Florian, Lorenz and Gen Sadakane started building a platform that enables mobile photographers to connect and do more than simply share images – they founded EyeEm. Prior to launching the app, the friends organized a few photographer exhibitions and published a book about it.

Ramzi was one of the speakers at BDL Accelerate 2014 discussing the journey EyeEm took from an idea discussed in a living room, to having over 13 million users in over 130 countries today while constantly adding new features empowering the community. Since Ramzi was with us last year, EyeEm bought Sight.io , an aesthetic algorithm that judges photos based on composition, color saturation and perspective, for an undisclosed amount, and raised $18 million in new venture funding led by Valar Ventures and existing investors Earlybird Ventures, Passion Capital, Wellington Partners, Atlantic Labs, and Open Ocean Capital.

The team behind EyeEm shows no signs of slowing down and is working long and hard hours to enhance users’ experience on the app truly reflecting that success is derived from a lot of hard work and dedication.

Lifecycle of a Startup

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startup process

Discovery
In the first phase as an entrepreneur, identify a meaningful problem and come up with a solution that people would be interested in. During this phase, learn about the lean startup methodology, assess the market, conduct interviews with potential consumers, figure out the most compelling value proposition of the product, and put together a founding team.

Validation & Product development
The startup’s product goes from being a hypothetical solution to minimum viable product created with minimal resources. Have early organic users test it out and get their feedback. Iterate your idea to adapt to the feedback received and test again. Use the learnings and iteration to obtain Product Market Fit (PMF). During this phase, hire key team members, refine your pitching skills, and join an accelerator or start attracting investors.

Efficiency
Once the product is PMF and ready for full-blown product development, refine all core features of the product, fix the leaky product, and start with studying product marketing. Learn the best channels and methods to acquire customers and start obtaining the first paying customers. The aim is to increase the customer base in the most effective way. Focus on activation and retention. Be prepared for the scaling phase.

Scale
It’s time to prove that the startup has the capacity to grow in a sustainable manner while keeping costs down. It is time for the larger fundraising rounds. Consider if you want to grow within the market via new product lines and/or research new markets for strategic expansion. Build a solid infrastructure, grow the team and create the company culture.

Mature
With the support of large fundraising rounds, you managed to scale. Now is not the time to click on cruise control and admire what you have done. Problems may arise at this phase that you can’t afford to put on the back burner. In order to increase the longevity of your business and to sustain profits or grow, tackle the problems instantly. The startup should have significant revenue at this phase; plan how you want to further expand with product lines and/or market expansions. Start planning the exit strategy and future growth of the company.

Exit or renew
The business model is working and credible. The funding is available to expand and you have succeeded. You have two choices at this phase, either to exit by selling the startup or to go public.

The startup life cycle is crucial to how one can acquire the resources for what the brand will require to grow, renew, and constantly reinvent itself in the vigorous market.

The Startup Explosion

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global startup

Most big cities, from Madrid to Singapore and Beirut, now have sizeable startup ecosystems. They are home to thousands of VCs, accelerators, and caffeinated startup founders and their teams. Every year, millions of hopefuls take a stab at their dream venture launching an astounding 100 million businesses annually, just around 3 businesses per second. Unfortunately, 90 percent of these startups fail, yet an impressive amount of money is still being invested in them. Furthermore, according to the 2015 edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Index, the fastest growth of entrepreneurship is taking place in the MENA region despite political turmoil.

The main reason for this startup explosion is that startups may be built for thousands, rather than millions of dollars, as they did in the past. Cloud computing and coding have become so abundant and cheap as well as the Internet itself, which is much faster than it was, is universal and wireless. Today’s lean startups can outsource most of what they do, and no longer have to operate their own servers.

Since it does not cost as much to produce a startup, we’ve seen new types of investors come about such as angels, micro-VCs, and accelerators. Many startups don’t need a large amount of seed funding, so these investors can invest in a big number of smaller companies rather than pump millions into one company.

Another factor in the startup explosion is a cultural shift in attitude. Parents used to consider that getting a traditional job was a safer bet, discouraging young people from starting up their own ventures. With the rise in youth unemployment in many countries today, entrepreneurship is being promoted to create jobs for the growing youth population.

With the cost of entry-level for startups at an all-time low, funding for early-stage startups more available than ever, the world becoming a single market, and baby-boomers creating job opportunities, it seems rather unlikely that the startup movement will die out soon.

 

Disruptive Innovation

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disruptive innovation

We constantly hear about disruptive startups and the most disruptive ideas there are. What is disruptive innovation?

Clayton Christensen introduced the ‘disruptive innovation’ theory in 1995 in an article defining it as a product or service designed for a new set of customers. The theory was aimed at well managed companies and managing executives who overlooked researching the community. Clayton believed that disruptive innovation companies could hurt successful companies by focusing on the customer and tapping into a market the successful companies had ignored.

Clayton distinguished between ‘low-end disruption’ that targets customers who do not need the full performance that high-end customers would look for, and ‘new-market disruption’, which targets a previously unserved customer base.

A classic example of ‘low-end disruption’ is the personal computer. Prior to personal computers, minicomputers and mainframes were the dominant products in the computing industry that required engineering experience to operate. In the late 1970s Apple began selling computers as a toy for children. Their products were not good enough to compete with the minicomputers, however, since the mass could not afford or know how to use the expensive minicomputers, they did not care since the inferior Apple computers were much better than their alternative. Gradually, Apple improved their innovation, and within a few years their computers were able to do the work of the much more expensive minicomputers. Apple created a huge new market making personal computers attainable to the mass and ultimately eliminated the existing industry.

An example of ‘new-market disruption’ is when Ford introduced Model T in 1908 changing the transportation market. The introduction of automobiles prior to the Ford Model T were expensive and a luxury item that did not disrupt the horse-drawn vehicles market. Through Ford’s innovative production method, he was able to mass-produce automobiles which inevitably replaced horse-drawn vehicles.

A product does not have to eliminate industries but it can improve an existing market or adopt new business models. For instance, Netflix adapted by changing their business model which was sending out rental DVDs by post to streaming on-demand video to its customers. Most disruptive innovations find their customers at the bottom of the market with unpolished products that incumbents often fail to recognize as a threat. The disruptive innovation companies tend to refine their products and start stealing customers or reshaping industries, as Skype did with long distance calls and Craiglist did with classified ads.

The more technology advances and global knowledge is shared, we may witness several new disruptive innovations pop up. We might see 3D printing evolve further and disrupt manufacturing industries, or Amazon deliver to your door using drones, or anything else for that matter!