What Is Startup Weekend?

What is Startup Weekend?

Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Come share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.

Startup Weekend Global Site

Past event…

Event Ended

Ramallah Cultural Palace


View Larger Map

Ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success?

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

 

ستارت أب ويكند في طريقها إلى رام الله !!


ستارت أب ويكند هي فعالية تمتد على مدار 54 ساعة، يجتمع فيها المهتمون في تطوير البرمجيات، و التصميم، و التسويق، و مدراء المنتجات، و المتحمسون لإنشاء الشركات الناشئة في مكان واحد لتبادل الأفكار، و تشكيل فرق العمل، و بناء المنتجات ، و إطلاق الشركات الناشئة!
تمتد فعالية ستارت أب ويكند على طول عطلة نهاية الأسبوع التي يتم قضاؤها في العمل الفعلي المشترك بين الرياديين و الملهمين للتأكد من أن الأفكار التي يمتلكونها هي أفكار يمكن تأسيس شركة ناشئة قابلة للحياة بناء عليها، و عادة يتكون ما يقارب نصف المشاركين من الأشخاص الفنيين (تطوير، تصميم،…) و النصف الآخر من المختصين في المجالات التجارية.
تبدأ الفعالية يوم الخميس، بإتاحة المجال لكل المشاركين لطرح أفكارهم على بقية المشاركين، و ضمهم إلى فرق العمل. ليتم في يومي الجمعة و السبت العمل الفعلي على تصميم و تطوير الخطط التجارية بالتوازي مع تشكيل رؤية أوضح لشركتهم الناشئة.
تقوم جميع الفرق يوم السبت بعرض النماذج الاولية التي قاموا بإعدادها، و يستمعوا لآراء أعضاء لجنة التحكيم، و ربما يحالفهم الحظ بالفوز بجائزة.
تم تصميم فعالية ستارت اب ويكند خصيصا للرياديين الذين يرغبون بالحصول على تعليقات حول أفكارهم، أو إيجاد شركاء إضافيين، أو حتى تعلم معارات جديدة. نرحب بكل من يود تجربة عالم الريادة، علما أن الفعالية تعتبر بيئة يستطيع فيها الجميع العمل بمنتهى الحرية، وبلا شعور بالخوف من أي خسارة، لينطلق بقوة إلى عالم الشركات الناشئة.

Schedule

Thursday

Apr 4
  • Registration Starts
  • Welcome & Speakers
  • PITCHES START
  • Attendees vote for the top ideas
  • Teams start forming and discussing ideas
  • Dinner & Networking
  • Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
  • go to have some sleep tomorrow will be hard day

Friday

Apr 5
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Teams formed and setting up workspace for the weekend
  • Lunch
  • Call for needs & skills
  • Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
  • Dinner
  • Mid weekend check-in, status reports, call for help
  • Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
  • go to have some sleep tomorrow will be the final day

Saturday

Apr 6
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Call for help (this is self motivated, so don’t be shy)
  • Lunch
  • Coaches arrive… ASK QUESTIONS
  • Gut check. Start prepping for presentations
  • Dinner
  • FINAL PRESENTATIONS
  • Judging & awards
  • Wrapup
  • Go home!
Speakers

Kamran Elahian

Venture Capitalist, Global Entrepreneur and PhilanthropistVenture Capitalist, Global Entrepreneur and Philanthropist   |  LinkedInGoogle+

Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1954, Mr. Elahian immigrated to the U.S. in 1972. He received his BS in computer science, BS in mathematics and ME in computer graphics from the University of Utah by the age of 22. In addition, Mr. Elahian studied Integrated Circuit (chip) design at Stanford University's Honors Program while working as a design automation software engineer at Hewlett Packard (HP). As an entrepreneur, Mr. Elahian co-founded ten companies, three of them failed (e.g. Momenta), six of them produced a total market cap of over $8B (e.g. Cirrus Logic) and one has a potential for IPO next year. As a VC, Mr. Elahian co-founded Global Catalyst Partners with investments in the U.S., Japan, China, India and Israel. Underlying Mr. Elahian’s global vision is the conviction that modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be instrumental in dissolving barriers between the nations. This vision is reflected in Schools-Online, a nonprofit he co-founded in 1996 to connect the world, one school at a time (6400 schools in 36 countries were provided with computers and access to the Internet) and merged with Relief International in 2003

Amal Daraghmeh Masri

CEO of Ougarit Group and Editor-in-Chief & Partner at Palestine Business Focus Magazine.   |  LinkedIn

Mrs Masri holds many positions in local business organizations working for the advancement of women in Palestine and across the Arab world: these include being member of Palestinian Working Women's Society for Development, and founding member, former President and member of Business Women Forum of Palestine.

Regionally and internationally, Mrs Daraghmeh Masri is founder and former board member of Middle East Business Women's Network, member of the Arab International Women’s Forum – London and sits on the steering committee of the Fostering Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East initiative. She is member of the advisory board and shareholder of Mixberry Media – USA and a member of the Palestinian-American Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of Ramallah’s Chamber of Commerce.

Mrs Masri organizes and heads economic events that tackle important economic issues in Palestine such as unemployment. She was voted as being one of the 'Top Ten Influential Arab Women working in Public Relations in the Arab world' and regularly appears on TV and radio, both in Palestine and overseas, most notably the Arab League’s 'Model Arab Women' programme.

In 2010, she developed and organized the first ever PR and Communications Conference in Palestine, which was celebrated as being only the third of its kind in the Arab world. Mrs Masri has spoken at many international conferences: this includes New Arab Women's Forum in Beirut and the Middle East Business Women Forum in Dubai. She attended the World Economic Forum in Davos in February 2013.

Mrs Masri is married to Khaled Masri, her business partner. They have two daughters and one son and live in Ramallah, Palestine. Mrs Masri comes from a large family of nine sisters and a brother. She was educated and in France before returning to Palestine to establish her own businesses.

Judges

Huda El Jack

Vice President of Investments at Siraj Fund Management Company   |  LinkedIn

Named by Forbes Middle East as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Arab Business Women in Listed Companies in 2012”, Huda El Jack serves as Vice President of Investments in Siraj Fund Management Company (SFMC), a Ramallah-based company owned by Massar International. Massar International, a Ramalled based holding company manages a network of 15 subsidiaries in multiple sectors. The Company made history in Private Equity in 2003 by launching the 1st Palestinian Fund Management Company and again in 2011 when its first fund became the 1st Private Equity Fund, dedicated to investing in companies operating in Palestine, to ever close. Siraj Palestine Fund 1, a 90 Million fund is designed to invest exclusively in enterprises operating in Palestine, focusing on those with the potential to become market leaders or expand their operations internationally. Since its launch, the Fund has committed over 25% of the total fund Size (or $25 Million) in 11 Palestinian companies across multiple sectors including Energy, Distribution, Hospitality, Financial Services, Agriculture and Agribusiness.

Since coming to Palestine from the US in 2003, Ms. El Jack has held several senior positions in leading Palestinian companies - serving as General Manager of Hadara, a Paltel Group Company, COO of VTEL, a Dubai based $1Billion Telecom Holding Company and Senior Associate at Massar International, a Ramallah holding company which manages a network of 15 subsidiaries.

In 2008, while completing her International Executive MBA at Kellogg Recannati School of Management she launched ZAMN premium coffee. Launched from Palestine ZAMN is the 1st International Espresso Coffee Brand to be launched in the Arab world. Today it operates two highly successful stores with a plan to take expand the chain across the country and region.

Ms. El Jack continues to be driven by her passion to impact market value creation through sustainable private sector development in the Palestine.

Saed Nashef

Founding Partner at Sadara Ventures

Saed Nashef is Founding Partner at Sadara Ventures, the first IT-focused, early-stage venture capital firm in Palestine. He co-founded and was previously CTO of Equiom, Inc., a software consultancy with operations in Washington and Colorado, and founded and was managing director of Equiom-MENA, a company based in Ramallah, which delivered software-outsourcing services to clients in international markets. Prior to founding Equiom, Saed lead a team of software engineers at Fidesic, a Seattle-based, venture-backed Internet startup in the electronic payments space. Before that, he spent six years at Microsoft in various software engineering and leadership roles.

In June 2010, Saed served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem. He was also a West Bank delegate to the U.S. Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship held in April 2010 in Washington, DC.

In July 2009 Saed was selected to join the Kauffman Fellows Program at the Center for Venture Education in Palo Alto. He recently graduated as the first Kauffman Fellow in the Arab Middle East, and was the Class 14 recipient of the Jeff Timmons Memorial Award for service.

Tareq Sameeh Maayah

CEO, Exalt Technologies, Ramallah, Palestine.   |  LinkedIn

Tareq Sameeh Maayah is the CEO of Exalt Technologies, a leading Palestinian software house. Prior to this position, Tareq was the CEO for Siemens Information and Communication Technologies Ltd., a Siemens AG research and development center for data communication equipment. Tareq has been the Chairman of numerous boards: Palestine Information Technology Association of Companies, and Palestine Information and Communication Technologies Incubator from 2004-2006. Tareq also participated in the Advisory Board to The Palestinian Ministry of Post & Telecommunications, and was part of the steering committee responsible for the telecommunication sector restructuring effort and the Oslo B negotiations with Israel for the Telecommunication and Postal spheres. Tareq holds a Masters of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University, and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, (IIT). He is a member of the 2007 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Muhammad Zahalqa

Enterprise application architectures

Muhammad Zahalqa is veteran entrepreneur who is working on building his fourth company. He is currently working as CTO with Experis software and with his own consultancy firm TryFinally.com.

Muhammad has a proven track in leading, managing and acting as CTO on advanced software projects.
His expertise is in the domain of large scale enterprise application architectures focusing on parallel algorithms, scaling.
He has previously cofounded "We! Consulting" in 2000 which later was sold in 2007 to Hilan Tech. Cofounded "Agile Business solutions" in 2008 and which was sold to Netwise in 2010.

Being an experienced architect with passion to programming he masters more than seven programming languages.
Currently working on Android kernel to optimise eMMC usage.

Mohammed Musleh

Business Development Lead, Palestinian IT Association (PITA)

At PITA, Mohammed is in charge of obtaining resources and managing partners in order to achieve PITA’s goals. Mohammed started his first company, jeeran.com, back in 2000. Jeeran.com grew and has become the Yelp of the Middle East with operations across the Middle East. Mohammed was also involved in the creation of a second leading Middle Eastern Web Portal “d1g.com” and a leading Palestinian portal “Maan Souq ms.ps”.

Mohammed has extensive ICT consulting experience focusing on collaboration platforms and infrastructure related issues. Mohammed has also worked with an array of Palestinian and Jordanian companies in the area of Business Development, product development and marketing.

Mohammed has a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) from The Marriott School at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Mohammed is currently a fellow in the BYU Management Society.

Event Sponsors
Become one
Media Sponsors
Become one
Logistics Sponsors
Become one
Internet Sponsors
Become one
Coaches

Salem Awadalla

Service Delivery Director   |  LinkedIn

Mr. Salem Awadallah is the Service Delivery Director and Chief Technical Officer at ASAL Technologies. He has worked on building software engineering teams to service international clients and increase the quality of Software Services offered in Palestine. Mr. Awadallah returned to Palestine after a long career in the Healthcare Information Technology and Software industry in the US. He held various key positions in Software Development, Project Management and Product Management in global companies such as Motorola, Eclipsys and MediServe. He has a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University, and an MBA in telecommunication management, from Keller, USA

Ali Taha

CEO   |  LinkedIn

Ali Taha is the founder and CEO of Art Technologies company, Ramallah, Palestine. Art Technologies is specialized in providing software development and consultation services. Art Technologies has recently released two mobile applications and games (X-Bugs and Azkari).

Prior Art Technologies, Ali filled a software project manager at Hulul Business Solutions, the IT arm of Paltel group, he was responsible for the in house software development process. Before that, he filled a senior software engineer in Arab Technology Systems and SIEMENS ict.

During 12 years of his professional line, Ali gained extensive experience in programming, analysis, management, and the overall software lifecycle methodologies and project management techniques.

Asem Masri

Project Manager   |  LinkedIn

Asem Masri holds a BSc in Computer Engineering from AN-Najah National University, with 8 years of professional experience, in Application and mobile Development. As a team leader for several Software Development and mobile applications projects, Asem covered many sectors in the industry and business which included Telecom, Market Exchange, NGOs, and government. After working for 4 years as a software development team leader, Asem with some of his colleagues, has established a new startup called ART Technologies, with the vision of providing quality mobile games and applications as well as GIS solutions. Working in this startup for a year and half now, Asem has been leading the applications development department, and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in MBA. Besides his passion to software development, Asem also likes scuba diving, body pump, travelling and reading.

Mohammed Salameh

Marcom consultant   |  LinkedIn

Born and raised in Palestine, Mohammed Salameh came from an entrepreneurial family, with trade and innovation in their roots. After completing his bachelor’s in graphic design, Mohammed began his career working with different creative agencies across the Middle East.
In 2006 Mohammed began teaching at the faculty of fine arts at An Najah national university. Upon realizing the need to expand his core competences and explore new fields, Mohammed sought an MBA degree in change and innovation in France's IAE Aix-en-Provence – a field unheard of in the Middle East at the time. At this point, he used his experience in visual arts, in addition to his newfound knowledge with innovation, social media, entrepreneurship and online marketing to co-found eSolutions. Ever since 2009, eSolutions has been a pioneer in Palestinian web development and social media.

Salameh also focused on voluntary work, most prominently with his role in the UNDP women’s empowerment program in Palestine, where he helped other volunteers communicate effectively with their targeted audience through self-designed mediums.

Khalil Hanna Hraimat

Sr. UI Product Designer and User Experience   |  LinkedIn

In 1998 after the completion of my BSc. in Computer Science, I started my first career as a computer instructor in Microsoft Authorized center in UAE, in the beginning this didn't fulfill my ambition ,but later on my passion to draw and design succeeded to tweak my career future to be a professional designer and creative Artist, and since 2001 up to now I spent precious part of my time experiencing Digital Art, Web, UI design, building brands, and motion graphics. It's so excited to work what you love to do.

During my working experience I've been awarded for my work in different design and software firms:

- ARC World Wide: Mena Crystal Awards 06 - 07. Awarded for the idea and animation in an online campaign for DSF.

- G.ho.st (Global Hosted Operating System): Our application Earned several International awards, in terms of idea and implementation.

-Alcatel-Lucent: ALU won the CES 2011 Design Award which held in LasVegas, Our UI Team is one of the involved teams in building the awarded conceptual home gateway device.

Through the years, I've been working for known and awarded brands like: GM, Braun, Kelloggs, Heinz, DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival), Showtime, Vodafone, Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent, and now HP.

Currently as a Sr. UI product designer and team lead in Exalt Technologies, my focus primary is for Product UI design, understanding and producing GUI for smart devices and web ,with nice and innovative look & feel, applying UX best practices and methodologies. Building Business, and Entertainment applications like games.

Ziad Ziadeh

Web Designer & Front-End Developer   |  LinkedIn

Designed hundreds of unique, creative, and artistic designs to capture imagination of clients and clearly communicate the message.
Created mix of web designs for clients across all industries and for a wide range clients’ backgrounds, business model, technical skills, and company sizes. Holds a solid understanding of the technical aspect of web site development ensure smooth implementations of designs.

Rasha Salahaddin

Team Leader of Development Team, Axsos ,Palestine   |  LinkedIn

Rasha is a computer engineer. In 2007, Rasha received her Bachelor’s
degree in Computer Engineering from Al-Quds University. Rasha began her career as Software Engineer at GSSI working spent 3 years between data integration, development and GUI automation then she added to her experience another 3 years working with 2i Software as software engineer between data mining, development on windows,web and project lead .Over the years Rasha has gained an extensive knowledge of the technology field. She is currently a Lead Developer at Axsos.

Salah Masalha

CIO on a big industrial company   |  LinkedIn

Salah Masalha currently working as CIO on a big industrial company .
he is entrepreneur who is working on building his First StartUp.
Salah Masalha is CIO experienced in working in critical high-availability environments.
strategic thinker, Product Management, Marketing ,High, hands-on, technical & analytical expertise in all aspects of IT development, analysis, characterization and delivery, skilled in policy and budget setting within regulatory constraints.Adept in technology investigations, engineering and procedure management, strategic planning.Comprehensive professional outlook, client, time & task oriented, excellent interpersonal skills.

Adel Hazboun

Director of User Experience, Tradeos

Adel has more than 13 years of Product Management and Marketing experience in various industries with in-depth proficiency in software technology. Expert in User Experience/Interaction and web design lead several web and mobile applications. Involved over the years in small and medium high-tech startups as well as multinational giant organizations.

Nour Jubour

Founder of AppiaTech   |  LinkedIn

Ayman Salem

Project Manager - Microsoft R&D Project   |  LinkedIn

Highly motivated software engineer and proactive manager with professional experience in the following areas:-

- Software project management, outsourcing, off-shoring.
- Innovation processes, research, and development.
- Hiring, training, team building, leadership, and group collaboration.
- System analysis, requirements management, and documentation.
- Traditional software lifecycle models and modern/agile development methodologies.
- Object Oriented Modeling/Design, Enterprise Architecture, SOA, and MDA.
- Web/enterprise application development, mobile development, and cloud computing.
- Database design, ORM, persistence technologies, and transaction management.
- Standardization, performance enhancement/tuning, re-factoring and modernization.
- Software testing, test automation, quality assurance, and quality control.
- System administration, security, maintenance, and resource management.
- Semiconductor yield analysis, real-estate, healthcare/insurance, and multimedia systems.

Specialties:Java/JEE, C#.NET, Apache containers/frameworks, Struts, JBoss, AJAX, Web Services, Windows Azure, Oracle, Informix, MS-SQL, MySQL, JUnit, Http-Unit, Mock-Runner, HP/Mercury Win-runner, Test Complete, Eclipse, UNIX and MS-Windows environments, networks and remote access (Exceed, Citrix, VPN).

Alaa Theeb

Project Manager at ASAL Technologies   |  LinkedIn

Alaa Theeb is a Project Manager at ASAL Technologies. He managed various projects with high profile MNCs such as intel, Winbond.
Alaa holds a master degree in e-Business & ICT Management from Politecnico di Torino University. Also holds a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from An-Najah National University.
Alaa has more than 8 years experience in delivering software solutions and gained his experience through working on local and international companies.
Alaa is an active community member and safe no effort to contribute in improving the ICT sector and Entrepreneurship in Palestine.

Tareq Doufish

Firas Nasser

Ibrahim abu Kitesh

Organizers
George Khadder
Mohammad Asmar
Mohammed Jebrini
Jafar Hajeer
Nedal Zahran
Jaafar Abu Sair
Blog
view all
Upcoming Events
View all