November 12-14 at Beirut, Lebanon

Take an idea from concept! to reality in

just one weekend

Less Talk! All Action!

www.yallastartup.org/startupweekend/
Table of Contents
Welcome..................................................... 3
Program ..................................................... 4
Weekend Guide........................................... 6
Pitch Fire Rules.......................................... 8
Demo Night Rules ....................................... 9
Logistics................................................... 10
Venue Address ......................................... 11
Speaker Profiles ....................................... 12
Organizer Profiles .................................... 17
Notes........................................................ 25

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Welcome
YallaStartup is delighted to welcome you to the first ever
MENA Startup Weekend. The idea of hosting this event in
the MENA started many months ago. After a lot of hard
work we are super excited to host our first Startup
Weekend event in Lebanon, on Berytech’s beautiful
campus.

Many great companies started as weekend projects, and

now you are all here to do just that. During the weekend
you will experience a high-energy atmosphere, taking
that idea you all gravitated towards and turning it into
something real.

As a non-profit, YallaStartup depends on the support of

all our sponsors. We offer all the named sponsors our
sincerest thanks, and look forward to future
collaborations together.

This event is about less talk and all action, so yalla, let’s
make it happen. YallaStartup!

For more information please contact us at

weekend@yallastartup.org

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Program
Day 1, Friday November 12

4pm Registration opens up

5pm Welcome – YallaStartup/Berytech

5:15pm Pitches Fire

7pm Teams start forming and breaking off

8pm Dinner by Brochetta

Break off to continue the discussion and attempt to

paper prototype the application.

Day 2, Saturday November 13

8am Breakfast by Dunkin Donuts

9am Sponsor – Microsoft

Talk by Ayman Chalhoub, Global Product
Lead, Nokia
Talk by Walid Wannous, Creative Director,
Koein

11:30am Sponsor - N2V

Sponsor - Cisco
Talk by Joichi Ito. CEO, Creative Commons
Talk by Ziad Aly, Founder & CEO, ALZAD

12:30pm Lunch by Brochetta

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7:30pm Sponsor – Google
Talk by Chris Messina, Open Web Advocate,
Google
Talk by Ayah Bdeir, Artist
Talk by Sacha Tueni, Facebook

8:30pm Dinner by Brochetta

Gut check on the product; basic prototype building

10pm Movie – Pirates

Day 3, Sunday November 14

8am Breakfast by Dunkin Donuts

12:30pm Lunch by Brochetta

Crunch time; getting pitch and demo ready

5pm Presentations from each company

8pm Announcing the winners and giving out

prizes.

10:30pm Closing party – TheLink, Antelias Lebanon

5
Weekend Guide
Friday

Pitching Ideas
On Friday night people pitch their ideas. Some people
might already come in teams with their ideas and that’s
fine. Not everyone needs to have an idea in mind.
However, we highly encourage people to come with a
prepared elevator pitch. The pitch will also mention the
profile of the needed team members (developer, designer
etc…). We keep on pitching until everyone is done! This
stage will be very informal and relaxed. Some people
come in with no particular idea in mind and end up
thinking of something during the event. In fact, some of
the past Startup Weekend winners actually came up with
their idea during the pitching stage!

Team matching
All ideas will be listed on a board with the required team
members and skill set. Participants will select their top 2
or 3 picks and connect with the person behind the idea to
join the team. The pitchers will then pick their members
ideally forming a team of 4 to 6. If an idea doesn’t get
any traction with participants then the person behind
the idea simply joins another team. After the teams are
formed, they go on to start discussing the idea
further/paper prototyping etc.

Saturday & Sunday

Execution Stage
Teams will have 30 hours (Saturday and part of Sunday)
to develop their product ideas from start to end,
including a working demo. It is up to the teams to

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organize themselves, work together and take on the
different tasks in order to finalize their product. Make
sure all team members are engaging in an efficient and
useful way. Some will be great developers that will
program your apps/sites, others will be designers that
can help with the prototype and some might be business
people who might be looking at doing some online
research for the idea, surveying some of their friends
online and generating some buzz about the idea on social
networks to attract a few customers before the judging
stage. During the event there will also be some fun talks
by great speakers.

Judging
After the product is complete, teams will prepare to pitch
their idea/demo/product to a panel of judges which will
include VCs, entrepreneurs and other business leaders.
Judges will then choose the top winners of YallaStartup
Weekend, as well as winners of particular categories
selected by the judges (i.e. “team likely to have the
greatest social impact”, etc.). There will also be multiple
news/media groups covering the events. Even if you are
not among the top winners you might get some hot media
coverage!

Remember that there is more to Startup Weekend than

just winning. It’s about learning through building and
producing, both in terms of relationships and teams as
well as projects. Make the most out of it and keep the
positive attitude throughout the event. The real winners
are the teams who stick together after the event and take
on what they learned to start the next big thing.

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Pitch Fire Rules
You will be given 60 seconds to pitch your problem AND
solution.

Pitching the PROBLEM your idea is addressing is the

most effective way to convey an idea and engage your
peers.

Here is a suggested outline:

1. INTRODUCTION: Three elements. First, introduction,

second, your background, and third, in ONE sentence,
provide a TITLE for your idea.

PITCH YOUR IDEA

2. THE PROBLEM: This is the MOST IMPORTANT

element. Connect with the audience. Tell a story...

3. VISION: How will you address the problem?

4. RESOURCES: What will the solution require to get

started? What types of skills, people and technology
help will you need? If you don’t know... most don’t!

Remember: you are pitching to a room full of experienced

people from ALL walks of life. EVERY startup needs at
least a developer, artist, marketer, system admin, and
legal advisor!

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Demo Night Rules
Each team will be given 4 minutes to pitch the startup
they created during the weekend.

We don’t have any rules set (aside from time limit) for
your pitch. It is up to each team to decide what kind of
information to present during this time. Some teams may
choose to walk through their demo the entire time while
others may have a powerpoint presentations prepared.

While the pitch format is up to you, we do have a few

recommendations for you:

Tell a story when pitching! Tell us why we should care

about your product and what problem it’s solving
Make sure you show your product within the first 60
seconds
You should have enough time to show a powerpoint and
demo your product…so use both tools
Powerpoint Rule of Thumb: Don’t have too many bullets
on your slides and don’t use any font size less than 30
Show, don’t tell... be creative and energetic in your
presentation
One driver, one navigator… Make sure the presenter is
well aligned with the navigator
Practice how to handle technical issues: Your team
only has one chance… don’t stop if your demo slips or
your presentation doesn’t load
Yes tell us your name but not your entire bio and
accomplishments… get right into the pitch you only
have 4 minutes

9
Logistics
Social Media

Twitter hashtag: #YSWLB

Flickr tag: yswlb
Facebook: facebook.com/yallastartup

Geeks on a Bus

Buses will leave on Monday morning from Berytech (the

venue in Lebanon) back to Damascus/Amman.

Exact time of departure from Berytech will be

communicated during the event, but it’s expected to be
around 6am to Jordan and 9am to Syria
Shuttles to/from Hotel

Sleeping at Berytech

You will be able to sleep at the venue in sleeping bags.

There will be showers for use at the venue, but you will
be expected to bring your own sleeping bag, tooth brush,
shampoo, towel, etc. We will also have gender specific
rooms for those who wish to use that.

Shuttles to/from Hotels

Shuttles to/from local hotels will be available. Details will

be communicated during the day.

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Venue Address
BERYTECH is located in proximity to the Campus of
Science and Technology in Mar Roukoz, which
encompasses the Beirut Superior School of Engineering
(ESIB), the Business Management Institute, and the
Faculty of Sciences of the University Saint-Joseph. The
site is on a green hill overlooking the capital Beirut which
comprises about 2 million inhabitants.

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Speaker Profiles
Ayah Bdeir, Engineer, Artist,
http://ayahbdeir.com/

Ayah Bdeir is an engineer and

interactive artist who does not believe
in boundaries set by disciplines or
cultures. Bdeir holds a masters from the MIT Media Lab
and undergraduate degrees in Computer Engineering
and sociology from the American University of Beirut.
Her first solo show Identities in Motion" occurred in
September of 2009 at the Peacock Visual Arts gallery in
Scotland, and her work has been exhibited at numerous
venues including the New Museum, Ars Electronica,
Badcuyp and Location one gallery in New york.

Since 2008, Ayah has been awarded a fellowship at

Eyebeam art and technology center and taught graduate
classes at NYU and Parsons. She has lectured extensively
and taught numerous workshops to get non-engineers,
and particularly young girls and women interested in
producing art using science and technology. In 2010
Ayah was a mentor in the regional reality tv-show Stars
of Science promoting science and technology innovation
in the Middle East

Today, Ayah is a fellow with Creative Commons for her

work, including spearheading the first Open Hardware
definition and co-chairing the Open Hardware Summit at
the New York Hall of Science in September of 2010. Ayah
is the founder of littleBits, an award winning kit of pre-
assembled circuits made easy by tiny magnets. Ayah
lives and works between Beirut and New York.

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Ayman Chalhoub, Global Product
Lead for Growth Markets, Music,
Nokia

Ayman has worked for Nokia since the

summer of 2006 holding various
positions in Music and the Middle East
& Africa Markets. Currently Ayman
works on the Music Product team with a focus on
defining Nokia's Music Proposition for Growth Markets.
Ayman has been a
key contributor to launching Nokia's Music initiatives in
several global markets including the Middle East launch
of Ovi Music Unlimited in eleven markets.

Prior to joining Nokia, Ayman spent two years at

Siemens Middle East and Africa, in the home
entertainment and communications business. Earlier to
that Ayman took part in launching a start-up offering
smart home systems and installations
in Saudi Arabia.

Chris Messina, Open Web Advocate,

http://factoryjoe.com

Chris Messina is a well-known

advocate of the open web, starting as a
leader of the community marketing of
the launch of the popular Firefox web
browser in 2004. He is a board member of the OpenID
and Open Web Foundations, and plays an instrumental
role in advancing OAuth and safer online computing. A
frequent speaker at technology conferences such as Web
2.0 Expo and SXSW, he has been quoted in The New York
Times, Business Week, LA Times, Washington Post,
ReadWriteWeb, and Wired. In 2008, Chris received the
Google Open Source Award recognizing his community
work on initiatives like microformats. He also co-founded

13
the coworking and BarCamp communities, and is
credited with introducing hashtags on Twitter. He
currently works at Google as an Open Web Advocate and
resides in San Francisco.

Joichi Ito, CEO, Creative Commons,

http://joi.ito.com

Joichi Ito is the CEO of Creative

Commons. He is a co-founder and board
member of Digital Garage. He is on the
board of CCC and Tucows. He is a
Senior Visiting Researcher of Keio
Research Institute at Shonan Fujisawa Campus in Japan.
He is the Chairman of Six Apart Japan the weblog
software company. He is on board of a number of non-
profit organizations including The Mozilla Foundation,
WITNESS and Global Voices. He has created numerous
Internet companies including PSINet Japan, Digital
Garage and Infoseek Japan and was an early stage
investor in Twitter, Six Apart, Technorati, Flickr,
SocialText, Dopplr, Last.fm, Rupture, Kongregate and
other Internet companies. He maintains a weblog where
he regularly shares his thoughts with the online
community.

Ito was listed by Time Magazine as a member of the

“Cyber-Elite” in 1997. Ito was listed as one of the 50
“Stars of Asia” by BusinessWeek and commended by the
Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in
2000. He was selected by the World Economic Forum in
2001 as one of the “Global Leaders for Tomorrow”,
chosen by Newsweek as a member of the “Leaders of The
Pack” in 2005, and listed by Vanity Fair as a member of
“The Next Establishment” in 2007. Ito was also named by
Businessweek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on
the Web in 2008.

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Sacha Tueni, Business Development
Manager, Facebook,
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sachatue
ni

Excited to work on rolling out Facebook

on every phone and every carrier in the
world - I'm also a crowd-sourcing
advocate, telecom addict, former 160
chars best practice manager, ex Red Bull marketer and
world citizen :).

Walid Wannous, Creative Director,

Koein,
http://www.koein.com/

Co-founder and creative director of

Koein the most awarded web and
interactive agency in the region and
design instructor at one of the top
universities in Lebanon. With more than 10 years of
experience in interface design; Walid has been creating
winning interactive solutions for websites and
applications and offering web design consultancy for
major corporations in the MENA region.

Ziad W. Aly, Founder and CEO of

ALZWAD,
http://www.alzwad.com/

Ziad is currently the Founder & CEO of

ALZWAD a company specialized in
providing Telecom and Mobile
Services. ALZWAD has developed a

15
unique Ad-Funded infotainment and Communications
Mobile Portal “ME” – www.me3almobile.com has major
partnership deals with Mobinil, Rotana, Americana, and
many other interesting service and content
providers. Ziad is a serial entrepreneur with over 20
years of extensive experience in Business Development
and Senior Management in the fields of IT, Fashion
Retailing, Catering & Restaurants, Logistics and
Transportation and Telecommunication. During these
years he has founded and participated in the
management of innovative concepts like Club Executive,
a fashion retailing chain, L’escapade Café at the Cairo
World Trade Center and Protech, an IBM business
partner, later became NOKIA agent and member of RAYA
holding. Managed a turnaround operation for Aramex
Egypt. And finally, as a member of the senior executives
team, actively participated in setting and implementing
the policies and strategies that lead Vodafone Egypt to
become one of the model companies in Egypt and the
Middle East.

Surprise Speakers

We will have a number of surprise

speakers sharing key insights on
entrepreneurship. Stay tuned. You will
be impressed!

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Organizer Profiles
About YallaStartup
YallaStartup is a non-profit that
started in 2009 with the
primary mission to foster early stage entrepreneurship
in the MENA region. Our goal is to address the gaps in the
early stage entrepreneurial ecosystem both online and
offline. We focus on knowledge sharing, community
building, mentorship, and assisting in finding seed
investment. YallaStartup has partnered with many
international and local organizations such as INJAZ, the
Harvard founded AllWorldNetwork, Wharton School and
others. YallaStartup is also a backed by the Young Global
Leaders, a group part of the World Economic Forum.

About Berytech
Berytech Technological Pole is the
first Lebanese Business Innovation
and Development Centre, providing
hi-tech hosting, incubation, training
and counseling to SMEs. Since its
inception, Berytech became a
national reference for SME support,
overseeing the establishment of tens of start-ups and
created more than hundreds of jobs in technology sectors
such as IT and multimedia. Berytech brings innovation,
information and business together while helping people
on the road to self-employment by assisting existing and
aspiring entrepreneurs to identify new projects and
business opportunities, develop their entrepreneurial
skills, and help them access information, local and
international networks as well as funding. News from
Berytech is located at www.berytech.org

17
About Startup Weekend
Startup Weekend began in June
2007 based out of Seattle with the
goal to be the most valuable and
influential organization in startup communities around
the world. Startup Weekend doesn’t teach
entrepreneurship in a boring classroom setting, but
model it in a fun, interactive, and results driven way. It is
known for its quick decisions and ‘out of the box’
thinking. The program has already met with success in
over 100 cities and 25 countries. The participants decide
what they want to tackle over the weekend and come out
at the end with several developed companies or projects.
YallaStartup is brining Startup Weekend to the Middle
East for the first time!

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Sponsor Profiles
Diamond Sponsors

Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. designs,
manufactures, and sells Internet
protocol (IP)-based networking and
other products related to the
communications and information technology (IT)
industry and provide services associated with these
products and their use. The Company provides a line of
products for transporting data, voice, and video within
buildings, across campuses, and around the world. Its
products are designed to transform how people connect,
communicate, and collaborate. Its products are installed
at enterprise businesses, public institutions,
telecommunications companies, commercial businesses,
and personal residences.

Google
Google Inc. maintains an index of
Websites and other online content,
and makes this information freely available through its
search engine to anyone with an Internet connection. Its
automated search technology helps people obtain nearly
instant access to relevant information from its online
index. It generates revenue primarily by delivering
online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program
to promote their products and services with targeted
advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party
Websites that comprise the Google Network use its
AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate
revenue and enhance the user experience.

Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is engaged in

19
developing, manufacturing, licensing and supporting a
range of software products and services for different
types of computing devices. It operates in five segments:
Windows & Windows Live Division (Windows Division),
Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft
Business Division, and Entertainment and Devices
Division. It also designs and sells hardware, including the
Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment console and
accessories, the Zune digital music and entertainment
device and accessories, and Microsoft personal computer
(PC) hardware products.

National Net Ventures

National Net Ventures (N2V) is an
internet holding company whose
core business is to develop online
and interactive web-based ventures.
N2V invests capital in a wide variety
of ventures: from start-ups to
established companies. They also offer infrastructure,
resources and tools, experience and know-how, so as to
accelerate the growth of the Arab Internet industry and
match global players in size and in eminence. National
Net Ventures (N2V) is a member of National Technology
Group (NTG): the region’s largest ICT conglomerate and
key provider of financial information and solutions for
streaming real-time stock-market feeds. N2V's portfolio
of investments include Yebab.com, an Arabic language
portal dedicated to providing information related to
wedding services in the UAE, HawaaWorld.com and
Mubasher.info.

20
Platinum Partners

Aramex
Aramex is a leading global provider of comprehensive
logistics and transportation solutions. Established in
1982 as an express operator, the company rapidly
evolved into a global brand recognized for its customized
services and innovative multi-product offering. In June
2005 Aramex went public on the Dubai Financial Market
(DFM) as Arab International Logistics (Aramex) with its
shares traded under ARMX. Today, Aramex employs
more than 8,100 people in over 310 locations around the
globe, and has a strong alliance network providing
worldwide presence.

Banque Libano-Francaise
Banque Libano-Française was
organized as a joint stock company (Société Anonyme
Libanaise, SAL) in 1967. Its Head office is located at
Beirut Liberty Plaza Building, Hamra District, Beirut,
Lebanon. Banque Libano-Française is one of the leading
banks in Lebanon and an important participant in the
Lebanese economy. While it has historically been a
commercial bank, the bank has diversified its activities
and currently provides banking services in five principal
areas: commercial banking, retail banking, investment
banking, private banking and correspondent banking.

Brocheta
Our vision is to be much more than just
a food place… It is a vision for a
superior product that is fresh and tasty because it is
made from the highest quality ingredients and a wide
selection of homemade sauces. It is a vision of genuine,
mouth-watering food that is good enough to thrill you!

21
IDM
IncoNet- Data Management sal (IDM) is
a Lebanese Internet Service Provider
offering Internet access to individual and corporate
businesses. It is one of the first licensed ISP’s in Lebanon
and its head office located in Jisr Al basha Main Street.
IDM was established in 1995. IDM is Lebanon's leading
ISP with around 121,500 users representing more than
50% of the Dial-up market segment. IDM also accounts
for about 60% of the corporate segment.

Owliance Group
Owliance Web Agency is part of
Owliance Group, a leading information
technology company based in France. Owliance helps
companies grow their brands by capturing audiences and
engaging with them wherever they are interacting
online. Owniance digital services combine consumer
insights, technology and creativity to create uniquely
compelling experience that chart new communication
channels for the brand. Owliance Group's services
include: Community development, portals, e-commerce,
publishing solutions, social applications and full-fledged
online marketing campaigns.

Potential
Potential has pioneered the innovative
Next Generation Performance
framework for DEVELOPING STARS, whether Individual
Entrepreneurs or employees within SMEs and Large
Organizations. Founded in 2005 with headquarters in
Dubai and team locations across the Middle East region,
Potential is supporting thousands of individuals and
hundreds of organizations to kick-start their businesses,
improve their performance, boost sales, improve

22
customer service performance, innovate, expand and
develop their Next Generation Leaders.

“Geeks on a Bus” Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Media Partner

23
Career Partner

Community Partner

24
Notes

25