Happy Holidays Startuppers and welcome to the End of the World!

In a World that doesn’t stop talking about edgy and innovatives young companies we decided it was time to look back at these last 12 months and talk about our story and then – hopefully (if Maya are proven to be wrong) – quickly forget about it and start pivoting back our overall business model for the beginning of the new year. 

It’s not secret that in Europe’s staggering economy hopefuls entrepreneurs like us are an important key for bootstrapping the economy. Yes we know that and we know well the difficulties we have to face while building our dream companies (stop talking about startups – build one).

Looking back we couldn’t be more happy. After 1 year and a ½ since we kick-started INSIDEOUT10 and acquired INTERACT EGYPT we’ve been increasing the business, expanding our market reach and most importantly…having great fun.

Projects moved globally from Accra to Cairo, from Rome to Salzburg, from Berlin to Tel Aviv and from Tunis and Wien finally back to the rolling hills of Tuscany. This is the globalisation we were taught in schools but it’s also the inherently chaotic nature of Startups (blended with our foolish love for discovery). Now this is a model I personally like (a product you envision in one place adds value somewhere else on the planet) but it’s not sustainable (not always at least). Solid growth comes from leveraging on different markets; at the same time it shall be based on deep local cultural roots. We need to stay global and act locally as much as possible. Acting in Egypt to contribuite in sustaining the industry of tourism using everything we learned on social media marketing was a great success story but most importantly…only open-minded egyptians could make that happen!

Technology entrepreneurship is about managing technological transitions and our success is based on several of these transitions let’s group them as follows:

DATA

  • from the web of pages to the web of data
  • from big data to open data 
  • from search to discovery

LOCAL

  • from web to mobile
  • from single screen online video experience to multi-screens

this undermines the advantage of established brands and creates room for startups like ours but it can also become extremely volatile. The real value requires speed, proper funding and a wealth of experience but it’s also about sharing as much as possible inside and outside the organisation – expanding partnerships and quickly getting more people on board without leaving the rest behind is where we see our future in the coming months. Keeping the focus on the products we’re building while being able to create a successful business value for the people around us (clients, partners, friends and families) is what we’re dreaming of while waiting for the World to come to an END!

Thanks to all of you for reading our short story and for keeping us inspired along this journey.

All the Best! 


 

Ahmed ElMeligy

Read more posts by this author.