d-Talks: Recent Episodes
Victoria and Nikita
Links and Additional informationHub71 homepage
Hub71 on LinkedIn
Techstars - Vijay Bio
Techstars Accelerator Program at Hub71
Key Timings in the podcast
- 01:30 - Ahmad introduction
- 02:17 - Vijay introduction
- 03:27 - What is Hub71?
- 06:26 - Techstars
- 08:48 - What Kind of startups are you looking for?
- 10:35 - What is the actual process?
- 12:55 - Hub71 infrastructure and support
- 14:53 - Access to incentive scheme of Hub71
- 15:40 - Hub71 Incentives
- 17:18 - Main criteria for startups
- 18:00 - Techstars accelerator package
- 19:35 - YACOB as an example of successful startup
- 20:08 - How does Abu Dhabi compare to other regions?
- 22:22 - Unexpected surprises of Hub71
- 23:44 - Words of wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs
- 27:00 - What is the difference between success and failure in startup world?
- 29:43 - Hub71 Stretch Goals
About Our Guest
Oliver Quie is the CEO and founder of GradCircle, an AI-powered resume matching service for students. He is also an educational researcher with UCL EDUCATE. Contact Olie: oliver.quie@gradcircle.org
Key Insights:
- Oliver’s story of overcoming a debilitating medical diagnosis and becoming an entrepreneur
- The key to building a tech company without being a hardcore “techie”
- Two perspectives hacks that will change the way you view failure and stress
- The difference between building a remote team and outsourcing
- The unique challenges & opportunity in the education industry
Key Quotes
- “In 2016 we thought we were the only people ever to discover the “job board” concept.”
- “I was at a Zen temple for the first 2 or 3 years of my life.”
- “Suddenly, I realized as I was getting older, ‘Oh wait, I’m obsessed with tech’. It doesn’t mean I’m a coder,,,but it’s always been a big part of my life.”
- “I didn’t speak English for like 6 months.”
- (Referring to a former roommate) “He really inspired me to believe that if you have an idea and you’re not a techie, you just need to be around people who are capable of translating that concept into hardcore software.”
- “I wasn’t happy with the sentence of being on really intense medication and being in pain all of my life.”
- “The deepest thing I learned was about stress and anxiety being primal ‘fight or flight mode.”
- “Most universities don’t even have ATS (applicant tracking system). They are not really tracking the interaction between education and market forces. They’re just doing their own thing.”
- “ I don’t want social media’s dirty feet walking in my mind”
Key Resources
GradCircle
Wim Hof
Key Insights
- Word of mouth marketing has the highest conversion rate
- 2.1 billion product recommendations are made each day on social networks
- Influencer job split into the content creator and the content validator
Key Moments in the Podcast
[00:05] About Melanie
[03:27] The process of creating something new
[06:33] Financing for Melanie’s idea
[14:10] Blockchain and tokenizing the platform
[16:16] The token generation event
[20:24] Importance of staging a product
[21:22] The problem the protocol solves
[24:07] Content marketing
[30:10] Honesty and authenticity
[33:10] Influencers
[35:39] What brings Melanie to the UAE
[42:05] Fostering a network
Quotes
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
“You can be a creator, validator or user on the platform.”
“The influencer is a job split into two. One is the content creator influencer and one is the content validator influencer. Both will be equally important.”
“When you’re creating a protocol, you are in constant fundraising.”
Follow
Website: Womprotocal.io
LinkedIn: Melanie Mohr
Twitter: @MohrWom
Key Insights
· How their partners started training a computer game to detect psychological traits of employees
· How to identify leadership traits and influential abilities in potential employees
· Resilience is essential for entrepreneurs because everything is challenging about a startup
Key Moments in the Podcast
[00:45] About Eirini Schlosser
[05:00] About Alexandre Perrin
[09:30] Working between 2 am – 4 am
[12:30] Enauto Ventures
[15:15] Fascination with AI
[19:05] Training a computer game to detect psychological traits of employees
[21:00] Identifying leadership traits and influential abilities
[26:35] Everything is challenging about a startup
[29:00] Resilience for entrepreneurs
[31:30] Engaging with advisors over time
[36:45] Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Quotes
“When you are working too many hours; you are only thinking analytically.” -Eirini
“I don’t want someone judging me in their head; I want them to judge me based on my abilities.” -Eirini
“My record at Morgan Stanley was working 53 hours straight.” -Eirini
“Even when things go wrong, fight for what you believe in.” -Alexandre
Follow Eirini and Alexandre’s work
Website: https://www.enauto.io
Email: info@enauto.io
Eirini’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eirini-schlosser-60469916/
Alexandre’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-perrin-8/
Other Resources to Explore
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Key Insights
- How he started a powerful company based on a simple obsession
- How and why Plotly pivoted into an open-source business model
- His big dream for Plotly’s future
Quotes
“I worked on it [the business idea known as Plotly] without any income or job for over a year…”
“I couldn’t just wait to start writing code and work on it and make it better.”
“They just made their open source software so popular. It just infected companies like a virus.”
“I think we (Plotly) want to keep growing…so that we’re really the standard for graphing analytics, data science, and machine learning.”
“You have to find and choose an idea that you’re just deeply, deeply in love with.”
Follow Jack's work
Plot.ly
Plotl.ly on Twitter
Plot.ly on Instagram
Other Resources to Explore
Alex Johnson, co-founder of Plotly
MATLAB
Redhat
Mongodb
Elastic Search
“Microsoft Excel (Office) has about 1.2 billion licensed users.”.
GitHub
Slack
Key Insights:
Ø What is “artificial intelligence”?
Ø Is “artificial intelligence” a threat or an opportunity for humanity?
Ø What could the future of artificial intelligence look like?
Key Moments in the Podcast
[00:49] Jamil shares his academic background and training in machine learning
[1:29] What is “artificial intelligence”?
[4:20] Will AI take our jobs?
[13:10] What Jamil feels is probably more in realistic in terms of the future of artificial intelligence
[14:07] Why Jamil feels optimistic about the future of AI
[17:15] What are your current projects?
[19:05] What is ambient intelligence?
[20:01] How is artificial intelligence developing in the Middle East region?
[21:56} What do you think is needed for the AI ecosystem to be sustainable?
[28:20] What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs?
[31:29] Jamil breaks down the three basic types of innovative entrepreneurs
Quotes
“Actually, this (artificial intelligence) is something has been going on since 1952 and just gaining visibility now.”
“As the new term that is used in the Middle East, ‘data is the new oil’.
“The greatest enemy for human beings is not artificial intelligence. It’s really laziness.”
“What if artificial intelligence becomes religious?”
“This is where humans need to step it up, to be able to integrate itself with technology …or else they will be left behind.”
Resources
What is ubiquitous computing?
General vs Narrow AI
What is the technological singularity?
Moore’s Law
Neuralink: How the Human Brain Will Download Directly from a Computer
An IBM Scientist Taught His Supercomputer To Swear Like A Sailor
What is ambient intelligence?
UAE National Program for Artificial Intelligence
One Million Arab Coders offers new coding and programming courses
About Our Guest
Jamil Asfour on Twitter
Jamil Asfour on Roland Berger company page
Jamil joined Roland Berger as a Partner in 2018 and brings more than 18 years of experience from fortune 500 companies Apple, IBM, HPE and Ernst & Young across the globe in the US, UK, UAE, KSA and China, to the company. He has carried out several executive positions, managing special and secret projects and more than 20 M&A deals in the most valuable company in the world. His recent work experience focused on shaping the ubiquitous computing service offering, including application development governance and user experience, while focusing on user privacy and security.
Jamil holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering specializing in Cryptography from The University of Texas at Austin and two postgraduate degrees, a Diploma in Management and Leadership from MIT and an MBA from The University of Oxford. He also holds over 10 certificates in various technology specializations and is an active member of several engineering societies in the US, UK, Saudi, Jordan and Australia. He is also a widely known contributor to the Global Innovation Index and the Global Connectivity Index.
Key Insights:
- Why Bitcoin is growing in popularity
- How a junior programmer from Russia ended up owning a cryptocurrency-selling platform in the Middle East?
- Why are people interested in cryptocurrency and how can they get involved?
Key Moments in the Podcast
[2:40] Grigory shares his background and what led him to his current role as BitMeEx co-founder & CEO
[6:22] What is blockchain?
[9:25] Grigory talks about his entrepreneurial “moment of realization” & why he chose Bitcoin in the first place
[11:30] Why did Grigory decide to start business? Was it difficult?
[13:45] How easy or difficult is it to start a business in the UAE?
[18:30] How to overcome hurdles when starting your own business?
[23:55] BitMeEx strategy for the next year.
[25:10] BitMeEx competitors.
[27:05] BitMeEx account opening process.
[31:25] What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
[31:25] What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
[36:34] Different blockchain applications
About Our Guest
Grigory Rybalchenko is a cryptocurrency evangelist who leveraged his early interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency to become the co-founder & CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange (BitMeEx) and an adviser to crypto assets fund, BOLTON Coin BFCL. Rybalchenko is also an educator, meetup facilitator, and adviser on cryptocurrency to individuals, private businesses and governments.
Learn More
BitMeEx
Grigory on LinkedIn
In this episode we cover:
- The beginning of Anish's startup journey
- How NFT and 3D printed avatars work
- Startup development and team work
Links:
Flamingo Skies
Planet Pegasus
We welcome our very first guest - Samson Williams and in this episode we cover:
- Technological disruption and blockchain and Initial Coin Offerings
- Human resistance to changes/Human impact to digital transformation
- Emergency management
- Cryptocurrency regulation
- Blockchain development in the UAE
Links:
Web: http://www.samsonwilliams.com/
Email: samson@axeandeggs.com
Twitter: @hustleFundBaby