This is the agenda of our 2nd StartupQ8 event

1. The 2 nd StartupQ8 Event
(Agenda)
Date: 7/11/2012
Time: 7PM – 9PM
Venue: Global Investment House
Building, Kuwait city, Kuwait

2. Agenda
Starts at 7:00PM
7:00 - 7:30 What is the Lean Startup methodology? with Mijbel AlQattan
7:35 - 8:00 Let’s learn from Ghana with Michael Szymanski (A Skype Call)
8:05 - 8:30 Interview and Q&A with Sulaiman AlTarrah the Co-founder of 965flowers.
8:30 - 9:00 Networking
Ends at 9:00PM
StartupQ8@gmail.com

3. Session#1: What is Lean Startup? (30min)
About the Session
Background: How did “lean startup” started
-Step 1: Vision (start, define, learn experiment)
-Step 2: Steer (leap, test, measure, pivot)
-Step 3: Accelerate (batch, grow, adapt, innovate)
-Q&A
About Mijbel AlQattan
Mijbel F. AlQattan is a founding partner at Cubical Services, where
he provides advisory and incubation services for startups (both
technology and traditional). His areas of expertise include business
model development, business plan analysis and financial analysis for
startups. has an extensive background in the finance and
investments industry, and is a CFA charter holder.
Mr. AlQattan has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering
from Virginia Tech.
StartupQ8@gmail.com

4. Session#2: Let’s learn from Ghana (25min)
About the Session
Ghana is now considered one of the best startup hubs in Africa. They accomplished a lot in
such a short period of time. We are going to do a Skype interview with Michael Szymanski to
learn from him how did they do that. Below is a sample of the questions we are going to ask:
• Tell us a bit about the startup scene in Ghana? (How did it look like 2-3 years ago
and how does it look like right now?)
• How did things changed to the better? (who made the change?)
• What do you think is the components of a healthy startup ecosystem?
• What do you think we should do here in Kuwait to get things moving?
About Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski leads the investment committee of the
MEST seed fund, and Business Development at the MEST
incubator in Accra, Ghana (www.meltwater.org). MEST has
invested over $1M in 11 tech start-ups in Accra, many of which
are now cash-flow positive, or are in negotiations with VCs and
angels for their 2nd round of funding.
StartupQ8@gmail.com

5. Session#3: Interview with 965flowers (25min)
About the Session
This is going to be an interview with one of the Kuwaitis Startups. The interview will be with
the Co-founder of 965flowers Slumain AlTarrah. Below is a sample of the questions that we
will probably going to use during the interview:
• How did it all started?
• How did you build your product? Was there any difficulties?
• How did you fund your startup?
• What was the most challenging things that happened to you during your journey
establishing an online business in Kuwait?
About Sulaiman Al Tarrah
Graduated with a BSc in Accounting from Kuwait University.
After graduation, I joined the Kuwait State Audit Bureau as an assistant auditor
in November 2003 for a period of one year, after which I joined KIPCO Asset
Management Company (KAMCO) Corporate Finance team on November 2004.
At present, I'm a partner in Gulf Connect Capital .
I have carried out different valuations, due diligence exercises, mergers &
acquisitions, capital raising, IPO’s and financial restructuring tasks. I'm a
Certified Investments and Derivatives Auditor and currently hold an MBA
degree from the University of Portsmouth, UK.
StartupQ8@gmail.com

6. Venue
Address: Global Investment House, Hilalli Street, Kuwait City, Kuwait (As
written in Google Maps)
Sponsors:
Participants:
StartupQ8@gmail.com

7. A note from the organizers
Don’t be late: We will start at 7PM even if the speaker himself is late
Dress Code: Wear something casual. We recommend that NO one wears a formal
dress. All of our speakers and organizers are requested to wear something casual.
Participation: This is a unique and a different kind of event. Everyone is welcomed
to participate by asking questions, adding comments or giving feedback
before, during or after the event.
StartupQ8@gmail.com