Shows
Akylles TalksEpisode 38: 3 Hurdles when launchingThis episode discusses 3 main layers of complication when launching your startup. It all comes down to "Perceived stability" but the 3 layers are: 1. Explaining the new lifestyle to yourself2. Explain things to your parents and surrounding3. Explaining things to your partners, team, and investors. Follow on IG: @ramialame2022-08-0504 minAkylles TalksEpisode 37: Be nice to yourselfTake a second to be nice to yourselfInstagram: @ramialameTwitter: @rami_alameh2021-12-1806 minAkylles TalksEpisode 36: Listen, Adapt, ScaleIt’s a cliché to say that founders flounder, but unfortunately, that’s usually the case. Wild exceptions like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell aside, executives who start a business or project fizzle more often than not once they’ve gotten their venture on its feet.Entrepreneurs actually show their inability to switch to executive mode much earlier in the business development process than most people realize, as my stories will reveal. But the reasons executives fail to “scale”—that is, adapt their leadership capabilities to their growing businesses’ needs—remain fuzzy. It’s simply assumed th...2021-07-3007 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 35: True to yourselfBe True to yourself. Be real. Basic Instincts involve 2 main things as well1. Being true to yourself and being very transparent and honest with yourself2. Being true to others and making sure to be complementary with others. Ego can last for a short while and then dissipate into an oblivious scenario that has no ending or rather a bad ending. Be Organized, Be Passionate, Be StructuredIG: @ramialamewww.startupkudos.com2021-07-1706 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 34: Adversarial ExcitementThe sexual instinct aims to fuse chemically with another, this fusion transforming both parties. In a sense, this need for fusion on both parties can be objectifying. It is not a caring social fusion, but rather a chemical essential to infect and be infected, to have the other person grow inside you and alter you, thus each person transforming into something else. Achieving this fusion via seduction and display manifests in two ways:This is part of the Concept of Adversarial Excitement that gets you the fast win. The Partnership Excitement wins you the War. Be...2021-06-1304 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 33: Social Basic InstinctsIt is often said that “humans are social animals” without really thinking what that implies. Many creatures are social in the sense that they live in groups. Still, there are wide differences in what ‘social’ means – from the simple semi-chaos of herding for cattle or deer to the elaborate, regimented, division-of-labor society of the termite or the honey bee.Human social scientists (sociologists and anthropologists especially) have traditionally spent most of their time searching for differences between human societies and often assuming that the wide variety that exists is somehow infinite and has no, or few, underlying patterns, laws, or t...2021-06-0505 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 32: Basic Instincts: Sexual InstinctsSex is one of the biggest drivers in life; it is a cornerstone Of our decision-making, life path, and whatever we do. I want you to think of one time, one moment when in your life where you fully dissociated yourself from this; I doubt you will find. Not saying, though, that it is the ultimate goal; it does shapes the way we do things. I remember I was around 12, and we went on a summer trip to Cyprus with my parents, and we had friends there we would always hang out with. We visited a woman called Yanoulla, an...2021-05-1305 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 31: Basic Instincts: Self Preservation 1The self-preservation, survival instinct is the instinct of physical self-protection. As a living species, our bodies are the catalyst for our lives. It's the most basic, ubiquitous survival instinct. If our bodies fail, we cannot live. This instinct is concerned primarily with one's own physical body and its health, stability, protection, and ultimately that it continues to live. 1. Physical Well-BeingThe self-preservation instinct is focused on the body itself and its well-being. It includes health, strength, diet, fitness, and endurance. This facet of self-preservation is like a management system for your body. It seeks to find a r...2021-05-1105 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 30: Play with the tools the Gods gave youHumans all have three primary survival instincts: Self- Preservation, Sexual, and Social. Our Enneagram type is a strategy used to meet the needs of these three instinctual drives. Our personality tends to have an imbalance with the three rather than use them equally. Which one do you think you most identify with? Before understanding how our particular type interacts with our particular instinct, it's crucial to understand what each instinct is in its natural state. Be Organized, Be Passionate, Be StructuredIG: @ramialamewww.startupkudos.com2021-05-0506 minAkylles TalksEpisode 29: Why did I decide to write Startup Kudos?Three Reasons why I decided to write this book 1. I felt I needed to close a chapter and open a new one. I felt that I reached a time in my life where I realized that compromising is just a big "NO". 2. I wanted to help Startups and Entrepreneurs launch their business and grow, and I believe it is the best time to do so. 3. I know that Post Covid is going to be a new era and I think that it is the best time to reflect on what would come next. Be...2021-04-3007 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 28: Why Startup Kudos?Kudos is praising and Compliments. For a very long time, I was praising startups and entrepreneurship without knowing. Later, I was privileged to join the startup world through different ecosystems and I was proud to launch Lexyom [www.lexyom.com ] a legal tech startup that aims to disrupt the way people deal with legal and with a vision of making "Legal the most spoken language worldwide".This podcast is based on my book " The Startup kudos " which relates the steps towards building your startup. Chapter 11 is about "relationship 2.0" and chapter 12 is about politics, a topic I love to...2021-04-2305 minAkylles TalksEpisode 27: Build your energyAlmost nothing great has ever been achieved without passion. Think of Winston Churchill in the darkest days of WWII, Lincoln in the Civil War.Great writers and artists have passion. Performers, too, Edith Piaf being an outstanding example. Our most innovative business leaders, people like Steve Jobs, have it.But what is it? I looked up the word passion in several dictionaries and nearly all of them focused on romance. Then I came across The Urban Dictionary and there it was:“Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do...2021-04-2204 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 26: Negotiation Skills 1Stages of NegotiationIn order to achieve a desirable outcome, it may be useful to follow a structured approach to negotiation. For example, in a work situation, a meeting may need to be arranged in which all parties involved can come together.The process of negotiation includes the following stages:PreparationDiscussionClarification of goalsNegotiate towards a Win-Win outcomeAgreementImplementation of a course of action1. PreparationBefore any negotiation takes place, a decision needs to be taken as to when and where a meeting will...2021-04-1706 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 25: UX / UI1. Involve Your UsersUsers naturally gravitate to websites they like. To best determine what people want in a website, just ask them. When you involve your users in the design process, you organically create a better UX. Though intuition is often a useful tool in a design project, what is intuitive to a site designer might not be intuitive to your customer base. Reaching out to users will give you design ideas that you can count on.How you choose to communicate depends on your customer demographic. Create a Twitter survey, start a Facebook quiz, initiate...2021-04-1705 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 24: Believing in your ideaWhy is a Positive Attitude Important for Entrepreneurs?A positive attitude and outlook are a must for successful entrepreneurs. The mindset of the head of the company sets the tone for the rest of the company and influences corporate culture.Negative thoughts undermine forward motion and the progress of the company, not to mention the management’s ability to lead staff and motivate employees. Part of what gives entrepreneurs the fortitude to weather business downturns is positivity.Cultivating a positive attitude is not about sticking your head in the sand and ignoring things that co...2021-04-1506 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 23: Grasping FailuresWays to Manage Failure1. Recognise and accept your emotionsFailure hurts, at least in the first instance, and you need to accept that. Trying to minimize your feelings or distract yourself can be counter-productive in the longer term. Just recognize your feelings for what they are and allow yourself time to hurt a bit.Don’t, however, dwell on it for too long. That, too, is counter-productive, especially if you blame yourself.Take a few days for the pain to lessen, and then start to move on.2. Don’t make it p...2021-04-1104 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 22: The Sleeping MythBalachandran from MD Andersen suggests ways to get better sleep.1. Set a consistent sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. 2. Create regular bedtime rituals. Do the same thing every night before bedtime, like take a warm bath, read or listen to music. Your pre-sleep activity should be relaxing so your body knows when it’s time to go to sleep.3. Get regular exercise. Make sure you exercise at least two hours before bedtime though, or it may be difficult to fall asleep.4. Keep a healthy diet. Me...2021-04-0904 minAkylles TalksEpisode 21: Startup storiesThe most successful startups never had it good when they actually started. In fact, for most of them, the product looked completely different, served a different need and market!Now, if you’re looking at building your app with a custom software development company, check out the software requirements document template to request proposals.These are the 10 most successful startups today. They all began with a simple idea and look where they are.#1 AirbnbThis is a story of 3 guys and how they went from renting mattresses to a $10 billion company. In 2007, designers Br...2021-04-0709 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 20: Product Development CycleThe primary artifact in Scrum development is, of course, the product itself. The Scrum model expects the team to bring the product or system to a potentially shippable state at the end of each Scrum sprint.The product backlog is another artifact of Scrum. This is the complete list of the functionality that remains to be added to the product. The product owner prioritizes the backlog, so the team always works on the most valuable features first.The most popular and successful way to create a product backlog using Scrum methodology is to populate it with...2021-04-0704 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 19: Product Market FitProduct/Market Fit is a common concept in the startup world. While widely applied in conversations around new high-growth companies, it doesn’t seem to have caught on in the rest of the business world yet.It deserves to be more widely understood because it’s a useful Mental Model for the interplay between a business, its products, and its customers. Learning about Product/Market Fit will help you see the world differently, and inspire new ways to create value for your customers and growth for your business.Product/market fit means being in a good mark...2021-04-0706 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 18: BrandingBrandingBranding gives greater meaning to a company's name and its products. Through effective emotional appeals and market messages, your business can help the market identify your brand and differentiate it from competitors based on benefits such as better quality, services, or tools. Companies build brands using memorable names, symbols such as logos, and other images and phrases. Catchy slogans, for instance, sometimes become strongly connected to your brand so that people easily recall the brand from hearing the slogan.Marketing MixAlso known as the "Four P's" of marketing, the marketing mix includes...2021-04-0605 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 17: User PersonaeA user persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. You’ll start the design process by conducting user research—building empathy with your target users and identifying exactly what they need from the product you’re designing. A persona is generally based on this user research and incorporates your target audience's needs, goals, and observed behavior patterns.Whether you’re developing a smartphone app or a mobile-responsive website, it’s essential to understand who will be using the product. To solve a real user problem, you need to have a clear problem statement in mind; to write this...2021-04-0603 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 16: Facebook's StoryFacebook Made it because founders understood their users and could scale swiftly and organically. In May 2005, TheFacebook received more money. This time investments of $12.7m from Accel and $1m from venture capitalist Jim Breyer's personal fortune. People were really paying attention now.In August, the ‘the’ was dropped, and the company officially became Facebook (the facebook.com domain cost $200,000). The following month high school students are admitted, along with employees of Microsoft and Apple. The company was now ready to move beyond its student base.Then in November, Zuckerberg took an important decision about his...2021-04-0606 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 15: Target Market -TAM - SAM -SOMWhen doing their market analysis start-ups often refer to TAM, SAM, and SOM but what do these acronyms mean, and why are they useful to investors when assessing an investment opportunity?TAM SAM SOM definitionTAM, SAM, and SOM are acronyms that represent different subsets of a market.TAM or Total Available Market is the total market demand for a product or service.SAM or Serviceable Available Market is the segment of the TAM targeted by your products and services which is within your geographical reach.SOM or Serviceable Obtainable Market is...2021-04-0606 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 14: Expertise in your CustomerThe only expertise you need is not the industry-specific one. It is expertise in your customer. The startup game is all about knowing your customer, understanding their needs and wants, and making sure you are in sync with what they want. You are the result and consequence of this relationship. To get your first customer, you need to be able to identify their pain points. Pain points are the specific issues or problems they're currently facing that your business could help them with.If your brand doesn't provide a solution for its customers, then they'll find...2021-04-0604 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 13: Startup Vs E-commerce Vs TradingAs we are going to a new age in the economy, we are moving towards different choices and different models. Young entrepreneurs are faced with new choices, new opportunities new challenges. Here are 5 major options to go through:1. Employment at a major company, startup, multinational. 2. Talent Career3. Financial trading [NEED TO LEARN]4. E-commerce shop5. StartupCheck the guides on www.startupkudos.comIG: @ramialame2021-04-0608 minAkylles TalksEpisode 12: The cofounder dilemmaYour best friend, spouse, or family member is the least likely candidate, so don’t start there. Take a hard look at your own business strengths and weaknesses, and write down what partner skills and experiences would best complement yours. Seek input from seasoned investors and peers.No matter how equal you all are, there is only room for one at the top to make the final decision on hard issues. Especially when everything feels good today, don’t be hesitant to ask the hard questions of each other. There can be only one chief executive officer.F...2021-04-0505 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 11: Before the startup" Startups are very counterintuitive. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just because knowledge about them hasn't permeated our culture yet. But whatever the reason, starting a startup is a task where you can't always trust your instincts.It's like skiing in that way. When you first try skiing and you want to slow down, your instinct is to lean back. But if you lean back on skis you fly down the hill out of control. So part of learning to ski is learning to suppress that impulse. Eventually, you get new habits, but at first, it takes a...2021-04-0507 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 10: The Entrepreneurship MindsetThe Entrepreneurship Mindset is all about 3 main traits1. Adaptation 2. Listening 3. Creativity in OrganizationAn entrepreneurial mindset is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings.It’s not a big idea alone that paves the path to ultimate entrepreneurial success. Oftentimes the success or failure of a business comes down to the characteristics of the entrepreneur themselves. It takes a unique aggregate of characteristics to meld one big idea into a fully functional thriving bu...2021-04-0507 minAkylles TalksEpisode 9: How to set KPIsSo, this is important because, obviously, you should know what state your business is in at all times. So, setting the right KPIs and goals will objectively tell you if you're doing well, just okay, or bad. So, nothing keeps you more grounded, humbled, and realistic about where you are than a bunch of numbers because if you interpret those numbers correctly, they don't lie. It'll also actually act as a feedback mechanism for whether your current strategy like user acquisition, launching new features, and so on and so forth, are actually working. So, if you do something and things...2021-04-0305 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 8: Prioritize your timeSo let me go through an example. Let's say I'm a founder of a SaaS software, generic SaaS software company. My goal for the next week and I just kind of launched and my goal for the next week is just to get five new paying customers. So here's just a sliver of things I can do to reach that goal. At the top, you'll see that the most impactful thing I can do is go to the offices of 10 potential customers who were actually insured to me by friends or whoever, and I know that if I show up...2021-04-0306 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 7: Building CultureI know you have a lot on your plate in starting this company, but what you need to do doesn't take a whole lot of time. For the most part, it's just some conversations with your co-founder. And so I came up with a list of six things that you can do now to help you or to help the likelihood of you building a strong and coherent culture. First one, be proud of the problem you're solving. Kind of seems silly to say, but you need to, right? If you don't have the problem yourself, you need to identify...2021-04-0305 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 6: Importance of the VisionA vision is crucial for your business it has many facets, many variables, and can impact on so many levels in your business. What is the Vision for Tesla? To Accelerate the world's shift to sustainable energyWhy? 1. It was an entry point to the market especially in California and the Tesla Roadster was an amazing social message that people bought to show their willingness to move to sustainable energy. 2. It is a magnet to attract the specific people you want to attract3. It is the roadmap for product development. ...2021-04-0308 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 5: Let's talk ideationWhat is ideation? It is the process of creating ideas to implement. This is the Most F..... up Concept out there, because there is no standalone ideation. An idea startswith a problem, with a concept with a “pain”. This pain is what will take you forward and what will make you generate these crazy ideas and crazy concepts that can turn into solutions.A lot of people ask me how do we start? How do we get an idea? And my answer always is: You can create many ideas but the Billion Dollar idea is within you, with...2021-04-0207 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 4: No need to be an EntrepreneurIf you are feeling the pressure of being an entrepreneur, this episode is for you. Yes, there is no urge to be an entrepreneur or to be a startup founder. With the new disruptions, more and more companies are changing their cultures, the way they do things and are adopting more and more the startup vibe. You think you can work less. ...? You work moreYou think you can work whenever you want. ... No you work all the timeYou're not willing to financially cut back. ... You will cut backYou're not willing to do...2021-04-0204 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 3: MoonlightingI have added content related to the United States but these concepts apply wherever around the world relative to the laws in place. Read the concepts and PLEASE understand this is in NO WAY LEGAL CONSULTATION.Moonlighting is a term used to refer to holding a second job outside of normal working hours. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 7 to 8 million Americans -- about 5+ percent of all workers -- work multiple jobs moonlighting while working for a private employer is governed by the policies of the employer. Public employees seeking to hold a second job...2021-04-0205 min
Akylles TalksEpisode 2: When employed what do you do?When employed what do you do to start your business? You do not leave your job before having: 1. identified the pain 2. Started the ideation process [Check the guide available on www.startupkudos.com].3. Do surveys with family & friends 4. Prepare your pitch deckOnce all of this is done, add them on google drive and add a list of investors, incubators, partners you want to contact. Prepare a financial forecast for your funds to last you for at least 8 months after you leave your job so you have the time to raise capital and grow...2021-04-0205 minAkylles TalksEpisode 1: Intro to Startup KudosThe Startup Kudos became an initiative aimed at sharing content, guides, ideas, tricks, and news related to Startups from around the world. It is a community of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators sharing and interacting. On startupkudos.com you can find guides, books, and material to help you start, grow and scale your business. On Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNQ99egUh7y3iAFkQNC51MQ you can find videos, news, tips for startups. The Akylles Program is the program that helps startups start and build their startups from scratch, raise funds and understand all concepts related to startups as they...2021-04-0204 min