As members of the tech ecosystem and community, we all love the story of early stage entrepreneurs that make it to full fledged success stories. It inspires fellow entrepreneurs, it motivates us, and shows us that success is possible with the right mentors, resources, and determination. It is especially rewarding for us when LebNet is an integral part of the success story of these thriving entrepreneurs due to the power of our network and the impact of our mentors. As our members know, the pillars of LebNet are “Network, Connect, Nurture” and we strive to honor those pillars in all our initiatives- whether it is to support startups here in the US or develop talent in Lebanon to tackle the long standing ‘brain drain’.
We selected two star entrepreneurs that exemplify the ‘Full Circle” success story of starting out as early stage startups to well-established business leaders and Mentors- with LebNet as part of their journeys. Read on to learn more about their stories and what they would like to share about what they have learned.
Hind Hobeika, Founder of Instabeat
Please describe the stage your business was in when you first came to Silicon Valley and met with LebNet.
We were in early stages of manufacturing of the first generation Instabeat and had low funding, no team. Our customer base and interests from brands/shops/etc.
What are the latest developments with Instabeat? (i.e funding, growth, expansion, new directions etc)?
Latest funding round was Funding: Raised $4M from Berytech Fund II end of 2016 and we are in late stages of manufacturing of generation 2.
What part of your involvement with LebNet impacted the success of your business the most and why? (ex. Workshops, Mentoring etc)?
My transition from Lebanon to SF was accompanied by hardcore mentoring from LebNet members that tremendously changed the way I think and work and pushed me to build a more solid product/company. The key advice we were given was:
Hire a COO
Raise funds
Leverage partnerships
Cash is king
Responsiveness is key
Communication is key
All learned by interacting with mentors!
There is a general belief that there is a ‘brain drain’ of talent in Lebanon. As an entrepreneur yourself, has this been your experience? If yes, what key challenges did you face as an entrepreneur based in Lebanon?
Yes of course but more than just that, our talent is not specialized enough because there are very little R&D/consumer electronics/product development companies in Lebanon that could train the talent. So we have to do the training ourselves, and difficult to do when you are a small company with limited resources.
I also had a lot of cultural issues, people value cash over equity, are not necessarily very mission driven, do not understand what it means to work in a startup. Of course that is a generalization, some people are awesome.
As the Founder of Instabeat now based in Silicon Valley, how are you alleviating this perceived talent gap in Lebanon?
By offering very specialized jobs that can train them in highly technical industries (machine learning, embedded systems, industrial design, etc.) and expose them to the startup culture in the US. I also have most of my team in Lebanon spend a few months a year in SF.
Since you have now become a mentor, if you could give the new LebNet Ignite Alumni advice for the future, what would it be?
Communication is key, I’ve learned it the hard way, at the cost of a few relationships. Keep reaching out, even when things are tough, update your mentors, be open minded, seek for advice and help, and most importantly give advice and help whenever you can.
Hassane Slaibi, CEO/Co-Founder of Band Industries
Please describe the stage your business was in when you first came to Silicon Valley and met with LebNet.
Our first interaction with LebNet was in June 2014 when we came to Silicon Valley with the MIT Enterprise Forum. Part of the visit was a mentorship day organized with LebNet where we met some brilliant mentors. Back in the day we had launched and successfully crowdfunded our first product – Roadie Tuner – on Kickstarter raising about $180,000 so we were focused on manufacturing and delivering it to our backers. We were also looking ahead for the next steps once the product hits the market with lots of questions about marketing and distribution. Today we have 3 products in the market and our last Kickstarter campaign raised more than $500,000 from over 4,700 backers which made it the most funded music accessory in crowdfunding history.
What part of your involvement with LebNet impacted the success of your business the most and why? (ex. Workshops, Mentoring etc)?
We had several chances to be mentored by LebNet members on topics ranging from business strategy to product roadmap, content, marketing, Silicon Valley presence, finance, hardware, etc. Some of the mentors who come to my mind include Ramzi Haidamus, Anthony Nassar, Elie Habib and George Akiki along with many others. We’re thankful for each and every one of them for contributing to the development of Band Industries.
There is a general belief that there is a ‘brain drain’ of talent in Lebanon. Would you support this? If yes, what key challenges did you face as an entrepreneur based in Lebanon?
Brain drain is a known fact in Lebanon. For instance, a big portion of my engineering class at AUB have migrated and started their careers abroad. Brain drain reduces the pool of talent that companies can hire from and leads to less firms trying to open offices in Lebanon. As you can see, this is a self-feeding problem with the end result being that some of our best talent is leaving the country. That said, I personally think we still have some exceptional talent in Lebanon with specific areas of strength in technology and creative fields. The growing startup ecosystem is also helping retain this talent and even reverse the brain drain. In fact we have seen this happen with both our current COO and CMO who studied and worked abroad but returned to Lebanon in order to work at Band Industries in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
What steps has Band Industries taken to alleviate this perceived talent gap in Lebanon?
The first and most important step is to build a workplace that attracts the best talent. We put a lot of effort into our company culture because out of the four ingredients of a successful company – Team, Strategy, Execution and Money – the team is the most important one.
Second, the best talent is usually not looking for a job; they are looking for purpose and impact. Working on world-class products and interacting with some of the legends of the music industry helped us build a name for our company as a place where our work will be seen by the best and by many.
Third comes the space where we work. We recently moved to a gorgeous new office in Monteverde that is surrounded by nature. The beautiful, well lit and productive space promotes creativity and collaboration which is crucial to the development of innovative solutions. Everyone wants to deliver their best work and a good space to do so helps attract and retain the best talent.
As a mentor, if you could give the new LebNet Ignite Alumni advice for the future, what would it be?
I would advise them to be open and assimilate the advice of Ignite mentors. Be curious and research to master the subject wherever you have knowledge gaps. Keep moving and perfect as you go, if you do this quickly and enough times and you will surely succeed.
