Start up

hosted a Demo Day for entrepreneurs, part of its Accelerator program on May 25, 2016. The event showcased projects of 19 teams from across sectors such as health, construction, energy, and others. Held at Qatar National Convention Centre, the Demo Day was attended by a host of investors and entrepreneurs from Qatar and wider region.

QSTP, a part of runs a three-month Accelerator program aiming to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with physical space, training and mentorship to convert their ideas into viable businesses that can help address priority areas as defined in the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS). The four focus themes of QSTP are energy, environment, health sciences, and Information & Communication Technologies. To motivate the entrepreneurs, QSTP also gives the startups three key objectives to meet: “create a conceptual prototype, verify commercial viability, and access potential investors.” Projects graduating the current edition of the program include ARVEX (Amazing Reality View Experience), DigiHeart, EasyBroadcast, Qatar Smart Agriculture and Forestry (QSAF), Wheelchair Power Bar, Ultra Diesel and others. QASF, for instance, is a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Internet of Things (IoT) platform to remotely manage the environmental impact of green houses, while Ultra Diesel converts lubricant waste to diesel fuel and bitumen, which can be sold in the market thereby limiting waste.

QSTP says that its Accelerator program has been seeing increased interest from  since its launch. According to QSTP, the program’s first cycle received 27 applications, the second received 57 applications, and the current batch received a total of 103 applications. Further, the upcoming fourth batch is currently in the process of screening a “record 269 applications.”

New startups form limited liability companies (LLCs) and raise funding every day. Each startup needs a laundry list of technology to get up and running in a modern office setting. Luckily, we test plenty of new hardware, software and services in the PCMag Labs each month to figure out the products best suited for your business (so you don’t have to). This month’s recommended startup tools p everything from  tools, network monitoring tools, encryption tools and  to laptops, mice, scanners and more. By using the following hardware, software and services, you can arm your startup with productivity from the get go, so you can start generating revenue instead of returning to investors in a few months to ask for more funding.

Software and services

AxCrypt Premium

Encryption isn’t an option anymore, it’s a necessity. To ensure your file and password encryption is up to snuff, check out . This cheap, easy-to-use encryption software handles editing of encrypted files and can secure file deletion and online password storage, and even offers public key cryptography for encrypted file sharing. AxCrypt also offers  (PKI) cryptography, a feature held by few other tools.

Brand24

is core to growing your brand’s social following and online marketing efforts, but a startup shouldn’t be paying exorbitantly for it. For a reasonable price,  has a comprehensive set of core listening, mention tracking and influencer analytics features along with a clean, newly revamped user interface (UI) that includes Slack integration for better collaboration.

Certify Now

Every business needs to track expenses.  is a well-rounded expense tracking product that suits a small to midsize business (SMB) environment while marrying administrative and finance demands with a mobile user’s need for end to end expense reporting simplicity.

Datadog

is a great network monitoring and infrastructure management tool for companies looking for a real time monitoring tool, particularly those with the analysis and development chops to get the most out of the data being captured. For a startup that wants out of the box log aggregation, Datadog provides instant return on investment (ROI) with great dashboard functionality and a host of  (APIs).

Microsoft Power BI

(BI) is key to building a modern business strategy and making informed decisions.  has a large following and support ecosystem for an extremely powerful tool with a large selection of data sources and extensive visualizations. It’s a no-brainer.

Buffer for Business

has top-notch social media management and publishing capabilities, with an intuitive drag and drop post queue. As a startup itself, Buffer is continually adding new features and support to its product. The company recently added Instagram support to it plus expanded analytics and engagement metrics. Combined with Brand24, it’s a powerful combination of social publishing and listening tools to curate and expand your startup’s social brand.

Hardware

Acer Chromebook 14 for Work

For the business user who needs all day battery life and serious durability, the  is one of the more powerful  laptops we’ve seen. Its price is firmly in Windows-laptop territory, but the good looking Chromebook delivers some flash, is powerful enough for most business tasks, and can last more than 10 hours on a single battery charge.

Evoluent VerticalMouse C Right Wired

The  is a mouse that finally makes ergonomic sense. It’s got a comfortable, ergonomic grip; a sleek chrome design, and most importantly, your startup will be dealing with fewer cases of early onset carpal tunnel syndrome because your employees’ wrists will actually be in a natural position when gripping a mouse.

Visioneer RoadWarrior X3

Scanners are still a necessary expense when it comes to important business documents. The  is inexpensive, compact and lightweight, with a capable software suite and high speeds for a manualfeed scanner. Take whatever old scanner you’re currently using out back, give it a good ‘ol , and get your startup one of these bad boys.

Startup Tool of the Month

Pwnie Express Pwn Pro

Take your startup’s network security seriously. The  gives IT managers a bird’s eye view of corporate networks and a remote foothold for security management and penetration testing. It’s a fantastic piece of hardware, if you’re using it for the right reasons. It gives you complete network visibility, with a remote presence for centralized IT operations. Plus, it’s easy to use with great network data visualizations.

Are you seeking funds or mentors? For every startup, money is life blood and at some point or the other, you need to infuse certain amount into your business to grow it. Whether you are seeking a few lakhs from your friends/relative or a huge amount through any venture capital firm, you need to do your homework well.

At times, reaching out to investors or mentors can become tricky for entrepreneurs considering their busy schedule. To make entrepreneurs’ life easier in terms of getting funds and mentors, Entrepreneur Media has created a platform called ‘Startup Kickoff’ where startups can pitch their business plans to a panel of investors/ VCs/accelerators.

At the ninth edition of the Startup Kickoff powered by The Franchise India 2016 investors once again praised and encouraged innovative startup ideas. In this edition, we found that apart from pitching, startups were given an opportunity to showcase their products and services to the funders in Demo Zone, an area specially dedicated for the startups.

With various applications they received, the panel selected 11 companies to showcase their product in Demo Zone.

The startups were from a broad spectrum of sectors – from services, gaming, web development, mapping to online commerce, all drew applause from the delegates attending the event. Few prominent names include Sachar Gaming Private Limited, UsemyVoucher.com, Cyrrup, Feedbot, Aamshe Technologies, Corporate Bag, Golocall, Doc24 Private Limited, UClean, Red Ribbion Advisory and sparsh interior designs.

Startups, All Set To Create A Mark

Out of these 11 ventures only 9 startups qualified for the final round where they got a chance to present their business plan on the Startup Kickoff stage directly to investors and delegates.

Sachar Gaming Private Limited, an online gaming and eCommerce firm; UsemyVoucher.com, an online application by which unused or unwanted vouchers and gift cards can be traded effortlessly; Cyrrup, Feedbot, effortlessly collect feedback on your bot; Aamshe Technologies, a multidisciplinary IT firm; Corporate Bag, providing all kind of merchandizing and services to corporate industry; Golocall, enabling consumer to find relevant information on google searches; UClean, self service laundary; Doc24 Private Limited, a startup known as community doctor are the few startups that managed to grab the attention of the investors. However, it was Rishab’s Jain startup UsemyVoucher .com that stole the show and the hearts of the VCs.

The Queen Bee

A simple, but powerful business plan of this young budding entrepreneur, grabbed the eye balls of investors. Out of all the 9 entrepreneurs, Rishab’s startups idea received the unanimous thumbs up. On asking about winning the investor’s attention, Jain said, “the only thing in today’s time which attracts every individual is “money” and “profit”.

“Being the creator of UMV, I am proud to present this advanced profitable technology company to the investors which not only looks good on presentation but also on actual paper,” said Jain.

He reiterated his belief in delivering the best and an optimum quality which would solve more than 70 per cent of problems people face in India with regard to shopping and gifting from the list of premium, superior and luxury recognized brands in India.

So you are launching a new enterprise communication tool (Slack) carshare platform (Uber) or location based dating app (Tinder). Great.

With roughly , unless you truly venture into Harry Potter levels of weird and wonderful, the chances are that there someone else has already created a product or service similar to yours. Consequently consumers and journalists alike are becoming de-sensitized and are increasingly more interested in the back-story and narrative to an announcement, than the product or company itself.

For this reason, when pitching to journalists you should keep the explanation of what your product or service is to a clear and concise few sentences in a pitch, then move onto the real meat of your story, the who and the why.

We spoke to Jonathan Greechan, co-founder of Silicon Valley incubator about how up and coming companies can weave a story around their company which will really engage the media and consumers.

Telling the right story.

When reaching out to journalists or publicizing your product or service, it is important to stick to the facts. Journalists are renowned for their sensitive buncombe sensors and fact checking is an integral part of their job. So don’t try to slip one past them, or you could end up with a red face.

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Remember that your end goal is for people to actually buy or use your product, app or service so if you tell tall tales about its capabilities, you will get called out. A few negative comments could soon spiral into your dirty washing being aired in front of hundreds of thousands of industry savvy readers on social media and platforms like Reddit, ProductHunt and Growth Hacker.

However, while the information you offer about what your product or company does should always be straightforward and factual, you have a lot more artistic freedom when describing the who and the why.

“Most entrepreneurs screw up when reaching out to journalists, because they focus on the features of their product,” Said Jonathan Greechan. “When you pitch the features of your product to a journalist, you aren’t pitching a story – you’re pitching an advertisement. Similar to the phrase “feature not a company” (FNAC), I like to call this “advertisement not a story” (ANAS).”

According to Jonathan Greechan, the common startup stories you’ll find in the press really boil down into just five major themes:

1. Drama.

Whether you are pitching to TechCrunch or a tabloid newspaper, all media outlets love stories which are brimming with drama.

We are living in the age of disruption, when previously unknown tech startups are demoting global giants like Kodak and Blockbuster to the history books. However, on the flipside tech superpowers like Amazon and Facebook are monopolizing industries by acquiring tech and small companies to snuff out any startup competition. David vs. Goliath stories, such as in a failed attempt to destroy:

• new kid in town Snapchat
• which has since grown to become
• are music to journalist’s ears.

If you can tie your company to a Good vs. Evil theme where a previously unheard of company stands up to an established tech superpower, then do so. Likewise if your startup is solving a problem in which local authorities are failing, then this could be a great story too.

No one is safe in the modern world of business, and even the biggest companies are left with two options: change or die. Evolution is an attractive theme for journalists too, so if your company’s big mission is to change the way people do things for the better, or totally disrupt an established industry with new tech, then base your story around this theme.

Controversy sells. End of story. If your team is comprised of ex-Apple developers who are creating a product to rival the iPhone, then roll with it. If you are developing an app which could let you know which ones of your social media contacts are Trump supporters based on their likes on Facebook , then that has a good chance of getting picked up too.

2. Trends.

The media are always on the lookout for announcements related to ‘trending topics.’ A publication’s end goal is to get as many hits and shares as possible for their article, and this tends to happen when it’s tied into a larger discussion.

Most of the world’s biggest business and tech publications, and consultancy firms like Deloitte and Mckinsey release “Tech trends for 2016” style reports. This year anything to do with V.R, A.R, cross-platform integration, or bitcoin style security tech is popular. If you can attach yourself to a “cresting wave” opportunity, you can immediately make yourself relevant.

Related:

That said, be aware that many trends — especially in the world of tech — come and go very quickly, so timing is key. For example, when Pokemon Go smashed app store records, anything linked to AR tech or the Pokemon brand was relevant for a month or so. Even the most ’ front pages were littered with “Gotta catch ‘em all’” and “Pokeball” gags. However, editors and readers alike grow tired of these trends quickly and one month later, pitching anything linked to Pokemon warranted nothing but a snarky response from publication gatekeepers.

3. People.

People are more interesting than companies or products, so try to include experiences of your founder or team backstory or your customer’s story.

Silicon Valley is brimming with eccentric, big characters, but many of them come from the same background. White, middle class, strong college education. If you as a founder do not fit into this stereotype, then this is something which you could make a story out of. Obviously this works better in the extremes. Stating you are 13 or 80, an ex-con or former politician or sport star, all add interesting differentiations to your narrative than your competitors.

Nick Morgan, author of “How to Tell Great Business Stories” states: “In a world where people have a lot of choices, the story may be the deciding factor.”

Even if your backstory is distinctly average, maybe your struggle to the top was notable, like the female founder who wore the same pair of white trousers for three years to sell her product, the in the forest to cut costs, or the fact that the Airbnb founders raised $30,000 selling politics themed cereals when they were struggling to raise Angel funding.

These types of story paint a human picture of your company, and the hard work you have put in to get to where you are today, a far shot from the cold faceless corporate image of many leading enterprises.

4. Purpose.

Unlike in the fast pace world of tech, there are some global trends which no one is going to stop caring about any time soon. If you want to create a story which millions of people can relate to, have a big mission which can help millions of people. Force yourself to begin your pitch with phrases like “There are..”, “Today..”, “Since 2010” and you will effectively link yourself to a larger cause that makes your company relevant. Elon Musk is the master of this. His big mission for Space X isn’t just to launch commercial space travel, it is to colonize Mars and save the human race from extinction.

Take beehive manufacturer , which raised more than $13 million with its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. Rather than just playing on how neat it is to be able to conveniently farm honey in your backyard, the company focused on making the process “easier for bees.” By linking to major environmental trends of bee colonies disappearing around the world due to climate change, which “poses an enormously grave threat to human survival,” the company created the story of why their product was important.

5. Unique insight.

Unique insights for startups usually boil down to data. Journalists like to work with hard facts, and if you can provide them with interesting data that either supports or contradicts widely preconceived notions, it is likely to be a great press opportunity. Use this data to form a problem for many people for which you have the solution, and voila you have the makings of a story.

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Journalists want to pick up stories which are engaging, trending and most importantly interesting. If you are an SAAS provider or are launching a new app — unless it allows you to move back in time, or change sex at the click of a button — then the chances are that your product itself is not any of these things to anyone apart from you and your development team.

To improve your chances of standing out from the crowd, you need to match a great product with an eye-grabbing narrative. It is up to the powers that be in your startup to weave a story which really grabs people’s attention and inspires them to invest time, energy and money in your dream.

If watching all those sci-fi movies or underwater documentary films in 3D was cool, then IMAX took it to next level. But still, there’s nothing better than sitting in your house and getting the same feeling you would have, when Bungee jumping from Bhurj Khalifa.  This is the power of augmented reality, and because of the immense popularity it has gained in such a short p, even biggies like Google, Samsung, Facebook and Microsoft are staking their money on it.

Following their lead are numerous startups, striving to apply a new approach to virtual reality. A sudden interest has grown in this domain from both startups and investors. Digi-Capital stated that investments in VR touched $1.1 billion in the first two months of this year, far exceeding the $700 million invested during 2015. These startups are not only trying to present reality in a new way, but also produce new and personalized content. We looked at some of the innovative startups in this space and these are the best in game – in no preferred order.

Teleport yourself with GazeMatic

If calling is too old school for you, you should definitely try what GazeMatic has for you. Founded in the year 2015 by Karthikeyan NG & MohanRaj MS, this startup is making teleporting a reality. They pride themselves in building first of its kind Virtual Reality application enabled with a voice caller feature where you can be in a virtual land when you are on a call with your pal. This app is called ‘The Caller’ and is set to change the way we communicate. And change it should because who wouldn’t want to teleport for a minutes every day?

Apart from building a minute version of a Tardis, GazeMatic is also venturing into 360 degree live streaming indie music discovery platform Sogn.TV, with the aim that we will be live streaming all the events through VR soon across the globe.

Meet your favorite scientist with GreyKernel

GreyKernal has moved on from Monoscopic 360 degree videos at a time when startups are venturing into them. Instead they promise to bring the Virtual Reality awesomeness to your smartphone through their IVR VR app. They are leading the space by creating Stereoscopic/Interactive VR content, not just for recreational purposes but also for exploring automobiles, real estate and publishing and also learning. Some of the coolest features you can explore are visiting the era of the scientist(s) you admire most, discover gravity with Newton, take a trip though the solar system and experience a haunted territory.

One of India’s first Virtual Reality and Advance Visualization tech start-up, GreyKernel was founded in 2015 by Abhishek Gupta and Pranshul Chandhok.

SmartVizX lets you live in your house before living there

Imagine when you’re house hunting, you actually get to see how living there would feel like when all the things are in place. SmartVizX will make that possible for you b giving you a realistic look at what your future house might look like. Extending AR/VR to the domain of AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry, features such as VI-VIZ, ARCH-VIZ, ARCH-VIZ (Mobile) etc., offer controllable and interactive walkthroughs of entire project, view of immediate surroundings from balconies and other vantage points, actual simulation of sunlight during any particular time of the day etc.

Named as ‘Startup of the Week’ by NASSCOM under its 10000 start-ups initiative, SMartVizX has VR solutions across all devices such as mobile, laptop, desktop, tablet etc. The startup was launched in 2015 and is the virtual baby of husband-wife duo Gaurav and Tithi Tewari .

Capture your house with Tesseract Inc.

This startup will deliver the future of photography right in your hands with their app. They are eliminating the use of photo or video editing software you use on your desktop all together and adding cool feature such as change 3D lighting, key-out backgrounds from your home-made video, or just move your friends around in the image. They promise to give an enhanced 3D and 4D experience by fundamentally changing how each ray of light is processed, before it hits your sensor and your screen. All of this works through their patented technology – a photolithographic mask that attenuates each incoming light ray depending on its angle.

Tesseract has also come up with their own and the world’s first virtual reality based camera called Methane 360 VR Camera that allows you to map out every house, restaurant, hotel or space in 360 and 3D. The Methane camera takes not only 360 and 3D images but can create automatic floorplans, seamless walkthroughs, virtual reality showcases and much more. The startup was founded by Kshitij Marwah in 2015 and will soon launch world’s smallest 360 Virtual Reality Camera.

The recent change in the digital world, especially in India has seen the (dot) (com) culture weaving its own triumphant path. But, the less time-consuming, go-to medium is undoubtedly a mobile application. The major amount of time spent browsing, clicking and surfing on a smartphone is devoted to the apps installed.

The startup trend in India has experienced a sea of apps floating on the Google Play and App Store.  Some suffice in performing their jobs while others get lost in the crowd.

However, the impact differentiation happens when a user doesn’t click – “uninstall”.

Here are 5 features that a business owner should adhere to while presenting its application to its potential customers:

1. Convenience is the key! The primary feature of any mobile application is its convenience – A mobile application should be user-friendly and comprehensible.  The simpler the app, the more stars it gains at the web application store. It should satisfy the needs and have an answer to why is it downloaded.

2. Operating Systems: The two main OS that is essential for any application building and processing are: Android over Google Play Store and IOS for apple users. Both the infamous platforms are used over the globe.  The application for any given business should be thoroughly checked and tested before the final execution.

3. Offline Functionality: There are handfuls of apps that rely on a data connection but there ought to be a few options for the app to work offline.

On asking Saurabh Wadhawan, Product Head, Jugnoo on what leads a user to uninstall an application on his device, he said,

“Users uninstall an app when it becomes too intrusive and starts barging their privacy. They get annoyed when apps start reading their SMS, tracking user behaviour and giving unnecessary push notifications based on them. There is a thin line that demarcates system intelligence from an intrusive system, which needs to be kept in mind so that the users are not displeased. Also, an app is much likely to be uninstalled by a user if it fails to fulfil its primary use case”.

4. Marketing is the mantra:  If an application is topping the charts on the web-store then an enthusiastic marketing team is to be credited behind its rank. Start-Ups and SME’s should ponder to the strategies that go into popularizing the application that brings the best customer feedback.

5. Get your customer glued: Any successful business will have a tremendous amount of target audience engaged to their application. The messaging program plays a key role in this phase. Customers do not drift to other reliable apps only because of engagement and that happens only when relevant messages land up on the devices without any hustle-bustle.

Your presentation to your investor is sparkling with clarity, confidence, and chutzpah. You can feel the energy in the room bursting, and you feel like you have them eating from your hands. You finish your presentation with flair, you are expecting an applause, and you are already starting to bow. “Ahem!” Your VC Investor clears his throat. 

“Great product, great traction. But, I am sorry, I don’t see a strong Team. 

In fact, I am surprised how you have come so far. I don’t think you are going to last for six months.

Sorry, we are not going to invest, and in fact, we are going to have a serious chat with your lead investor to exit your startup before it crash lands.”

“What? Wait! Team, where did that come from?” You hear yourself screaming. 

You drop into your chair like a leaden stone and panic begins. And then you wake up. “Thank God, it was a nightmare. But can it really happen?”

Yes, it can. 

Team. Every Investor worth his salt will tell you that they invest in teams, not the product. The idea and the product can only go so far. What builds and sustains the business is the strength and harmony of your team.

What do you need to do to build a kick ass team? Here are the Five Critical Step

1 Focus On One Thing Which Decides Your Success

Gary Keller in The One Thing says “Success demands singleness of purpose.” The number one reason for business success is Focus.

More importantly, what do you focus on?

Once your product idea is clear, your focus has to be on relentlessly answering the question “What is the problem I am solving and how can I get better at it?

Too often I have sat through Startup Board meetings where the product is clear but who it is serving and what specific pain point it is solving is not clear.

Drive this clarity in your team. This singular focus will make sure that everyone in your team is working on the same customer problem. This focus will lead everyone owning the solution.

2 Have Your Team Own Your Business

As a startup founder, you clearly own the business and its outcome. But can you say that about everyone in your team?

The test is if you made your sales rep or a finance person do a presentation to the investor, would they say the same thing with the same clarity and passion?

If the normal bumps in the road come, will they desert you at the first moment or stick with you and ride out the storm? How does one build an ownership mindset? There are steps for that.

The critical ones are sharing your vision for the business and then continuously communicating your journey with all its ups and downs to the team. 

Make them an owner of the business: owning the problem and the solution. This brings the team closer to each other and builds alignment

3 Make Your Team Be Joined At The Hip

Alignment. What’s that? It is a complete, wholehearted commitment to the process and agreed goal. Why does it matter?

Often people will nod their heads and agree when they want to go with the flow. Or they will argue endlessly.

As a startup head, you can’t afford both behaviors.

You need to get your teams, product development, and sales or, finance and sales together.

Emphasize the goal you have for the company and how you want to delight the customer.

Now ask: What are the best behaviors we need to have to produce this outcome? What behaviors are required to Support these behaviors and outcome?

E.g. when you are solving the critical issues for your customer, your sales team discovers that there is an opportunity area for the client which if they work on can grow the customer sales. 

As a company, you would want your sales team to offer a product that delivers that opportunity for your customer. You also need your product team to develop that solution rapidly. 

But, the dev team might be already working on ten different projects. Which one should they prioritize? 

These are real life situations which can drive a wedge between teams. But with alignment, they can become a source of joy for teams to work together and discover new ways to delight customers. The success of your teams will help them grow into giants.

4 Surround Yourself With Giants

Issac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

While the temptation to do everything yourself will always be there for you, hire the best in the field. This will make sure that you will not have to look over their shoulder all the time.

This does not mean you always pay the highest to get the best. Find the ones who get your mission, who share the same values and will be absorbed in your culture.

Remember Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

The task of creating the culture is in your hands. Whether you build a culture of Navy Seals (independent, highly skilled, one team) or clock watchers is in your hands. What is necessary is to have a team which moves fast, fails fast and learns fast.

5 Create, Action, And Destroy – Fast Fail

Angela Duckworth of Grit fame says“People who are successful fail more than others. That’s what makes them successful.”

Make your startup an Idea Factory.

Get better at solving the customer problem every day.

Develop a fast fail mentality in your team. Encourage your team to generate ideas and take action on them immediately. If it fails, learn and record the learning and move to the next one.

The more idea experiments you run, the better you will get at delighting your customers and increasing the gap between your competitors.

Most of us from our school days are trained to look down at failures and to take it personally. You need to show your team how fast fail works. 

Train them in looking at everything as an experiment. This will make sure that everyone remains objective in both success and failure.

We know the importance of building a strong team. But too often we get caught up in the daily meetings, to-do lists, and tasks.

We start looking at our team as “resources”: something to be used, a means to an end.

Would you like to be treated as a machine which is fueled, used, depreciated and sold as junk?

Off course Not!

Daniel Goleman, the foremost expert on Emotional Intelligence, says, “When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands.”

Tune into the music which your team is creating.

Be like an Orchestra conductor. 

Set the tempo for your team, direct the notes they strike, let them conduct themselves with flair and guide them to a crescendo.

Let the music begin.

The Applause awaits you.