Gaza Startup Weekend

Past event…

Oct 18 2012 Event Ended

Ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success?

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

Platinum Sponsors

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Gold Sponsors

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Organizers

Mohammed Alafranji

Reem Omran

Silver Sponsors

Media Sponsors

Speakers

Wael Attili

Creative Founder, Kharabeesh Network | Twitter

Wael is an architect by training, an avid blogger, a young entrepreneur, and a passionate storyteller..

Wael started working with Arabia.com in 1997 while still a student of Architecture at Jordan University. He later progressed his career in information design, user experience, branding and innovation until he finally started Kharabeesh, in 2008. Kharabeesh now is considered one of the fastest growing entertainment network based on social media that serves Arab internet users around the world. It started as a small storytelling house for the new Arab generation and it was aiming to place Arab entertainment on the WEB map. His hobby turned career has resulted in a large profile of productions recounting stories stemming out of his society to reflect its daily realities.

Mohannad El-Khairy

Mohannad El-Khairy is a Palestinian-Canadian living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he leads Plug and Play Tech Center's efforts in the Middle East and bridges their entrepreneurial ecosystems to Silicon Valley. He began his career in Montreal with BCA Research, a leading independent investment research firm, before moving to Dubai where he joined Zawya, one of the first successful internet startups in the Middle East (acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2012). At Zawya, Mohannad led the global business development team, managed the customer service division, built the brand and the company's 2.0 strategy, and structured several regional and international partnerships. Having paneled several conferences and seminars in the Middle East, he is an avid proponent of building the knowledge economy and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation and value creation. His particular interests involve empowering mobile and digital media startups. He completed his degrees in Economics and Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal and is an active writer, blogger and socio-political commentator.

Coaches

Brian Baker

Brian Baker created one of the very first web sites in the early 1990’s, and spent the next 10 years working in software, building several of the most visited websites, Fortune 100 enterprise systems, and management software tools. He is responsible for several online technologies we use every day, including how we read our news and how we view online video content. Mr. Baker moved to hardware design in 2003, finding great success with his own consumer electronics startup, selling product at national retail and earning awards and media attention around the world (company sold to a private equity group in 2008).

For the past 3 years Mr. Baker has helped Fortune 500 clients and startups with product discovery/design, marketing, and the manufacturing of consumer electronics and textile products. Mr. Baker has won several awards for user-centric approach to interactive and physical product design

Marie Alexander

Marie Alexander most recently served as the CEO of Quova, Inc., the leading IP geolocation services company in the United States. Marie raised over $35mm in venture financing, and led the sale of the company to Neustar (NSR NYSE.) Quova dominated the IP geolocation space and representative customers included Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell and MLB.com.

Prior to joining Quova Marie served in senior executive positions at Vantive and Harbinger, two publicly-traded CRM companies, in Engineering and Development, Product Management, Operations Management, Strategic Relationships, and Pre and Post Sales Service and Support.

Marie serves as a trustee of the National Center for Women in Technology and has had numerous essays published on geolocation and appeared on the USA Today CEO technology forum. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Information Systems from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Therapy from Georgia College.

Judges

Will Weathersby

Mercy Corps | Twitter

Will Weathersby is the program advisor for the Arab Developer Network Initiative (ADNI) for Mercy Corps in Jerusalem. Prior to joining Mercy Corps, he was a co-founder and General Partner of Nexus Group, LLC, a Silicon Valley based investment and venture capital firm. Nexus Group managed and invested over $200 million in technology start-ups in companies such as Phone.com, iVillage, CommerceOne, Broad Daylight, Quova, Service Metrics, and net.Genesis. He is an active angel investor in the United States and is currently serving as an advisor to AnaBasali, a Palestinian social start up. Will received his B.S. from the United States Military Academy and his MBA in Finance and Economics from the Wharton School of Business.

Aleksandar Milutinovic

Mercy Corps | Twitter

Seasoned program manager with eleven years of experience in development, conflict and post-conflict contexts. Expertise in community development and emergency relief. Extensive knowledge of donor rules and regulations. Extensive experience in building IT sector and knowledge based transformation.

Schedule

Thursday

Oct 18

3:30pm Registration Starts
4:00pm Welcome & Speakers
5:00pm Pitches Start
6:00pm Attendees vote for the top ideas
6:30pm Teams start forming and discussing ideas
7:00pm Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow

Friday

Oct 19

8:00am Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
8:30am Teams formed and setting up workspace for the weekend
10:30am Startup Dardashah
1:00pm Lunch
2:00pm Call for needs & skills
2:30pm Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
6:00pm Startup Dardashah
6:30pm Dinner
7:30pm Mid weekend check-in, status reports, call for help
10:00pm Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow