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By Posted on Posted in Accelerator, Consumer, Incubator, Private Label, Retail, Retail Distribution, Startups No Comments


I am a big fan of consumer products and retail concepts and this is what I do for living. I was trying lately to find any incubator and/or accelerator related to those industries in this part of the world (Levant & MENA) but unfortunately I came across so many of them who are only focused on technology startups and only technology and some of them also have a restricted geographic region they do cover.

I was kind of disappointed seeing no one is interested in “offline” consumer and retail (except if you are an online or e-commerce oriented). A very big industry and sector that touch the lives of millions if not billions worldwide but investors most probably prefer the fast bucks lane and are in continuous search for the next Facebook or Uber.

I would like to launch a consumer & retail oriented incubator and accelerator with no geographic restrictions, but looking for people sharing the same vision and dream to build it together.

If you are a consumer and retail incubator and accelerator that I missed finding in a way or another, please get in touch.

if you are a consumer and retail passionate, let’s do this together.

By Posted on Posted in E-commerce, E-tailing, France, Jordan, Startups, Supermarkets No Comments

Yesterday in a news from AMEinfo, a Jordan based company called MENA Apps launched its online supermarket Sallaty.jo for the Jordanian market.

Online supermarkets in the Middle East or Gulf are not a viable business and most of whom tried to launch this concept ended up shutting down.

Many years back during the dotcom boom in the early 2000, Webvan was “the” online grocery who wanted to take the retail grocery business to the next level and they ended up burning $830 millions and firing 2,000 employees.

And while real brick-and-mortar stores are looking for ways to shrink their operational cost and surfaces, some think that the online option is the solution. Big international retailers have all the needed platforms and money to do it and are barely succeeding in it (compare online grocery sites in France), so the main direction in a very advanced retail market crowded with endless big names and store formats like France are moving towards Drive formats (in French), you buy online and come pick up your stuff yourself from a store near you (compare Drives in France).

If you are not a supermarket yourself, it will be quite hard to offer the needed assortment to your clients, as a supermarket have on average 45,000 items on its shelves so it is quite impossible for any start-ups to stock all these items and variations in its back store, especially with all the fresh and frozen food. And if you have a kind a joint venture with a supermarket, you will end up with very tiny margins on your orders, especially that no supermarket will sacrifice a big chunk of his margin that he is fighting day and night to get from his suppliers.

Good luck for Sallaty.jo.

By Posted on Posted in Fund Raising, Funny, Startups No Comments

OSTRICH PILLOW is a revolutionary new product to enable easy power naps anytime, everywhere, OSTRICH PILLOW ‘s unique design offers a micro environment in which to take a cosy and comfortable power nap at ease. OSTRICH PILLOW has been designed to allow you to create a little private space within a public one, to relax and unwind. Its soothing soft interior shelters and isolates your head and hands (mind and body) for a short break, without needing to leave your desk, chair, bench or wherever you may be.

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Innovation, Startups No Comments

Gillette, the world leader in system shaving blades, will have to face some competition from a new startup called Dollar Shave Club. The startup seeks to provide consumers with $1 razors shipped to their homes (plus $2 for shipping and handling) only in the USA.

Like most good ideas, The Dollar Shave Club started with two guys who were pissed off about something and decided to do something about it… So… they teamed up with one of the world’s leading blade manufacturers and created signature 2, 4, and 6 blade razors. They’ve got everything you need in a shave: stainless steel blades, lubrication bars, and pivoting heads.

Dollar Shave Club is aptly named: You pay a dollar and you get a month’s supply of twin-blade razors shipped to you. That’s right. $1. A few more dollars and you get a few more blades. The top of the line is the “executive” where you get a month’s supply of six blade razors for $9 a month.

According to Michael Dubin, CEO and founder of Dollar Shave Club, the vast majority of that is going to marketing, as companies like Gillette and Schick work hard to hang onto marketshare in a massive industry, paying athletes and actors exorbitant endorsement contracts. Dollar Shave Club is stripping all that out.

By Posted on Posted in Startups No Comments

Startups are about ideas and ideas can come to anyone, anywhere and at no specific time, then you need to sit down, think, put things on papers and try to find the easiest way to get funded and run after endless number of VCs and prepare wonderful presentations and get rejected, then try again until you launch your company.

Before all these steps, you need a place to sit, think and write, and most of these “entrepreneurs” (I don’t really like this word anymore because of its misusage during the last couple of years) are with no money to invest in a nice prime location office with Herman Miller chairs.

So they end up in coffee shops, where most of their meetings and brainstorming are held with co-founders or even potential investors. Just by paying for a coffee, founders spend hours and hours in a relaxed and most of the time smoking-free environment.

I bet that not one single startup in this world, did not have at least 1 meeting or brainstorming session in a Starbucks shop and many of them are doing it at this very moment.

So Starbucks is the mother of all startups at their very early stage and all, for the price of a coffee cup.

By Posted on Posted in Startups No Comments

loic.jpgThe Financial Times has a profile of French (now Silicon Valley) entrepreneur Loic Le Meur today.

Loic is an accomplished entrepreneur – he founded uBlog (merged with Six Apart), organizes the annual Le Web conference and has now created Seesmic.

Included in the article are his ten rules for startup success. Reprinted below.

1. Don’t wait for a revolutionary idea. It will never happen. Just focus on a simple, exciting, empty space and execute as fast as possible

2. Share your idea. The more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.

3. Build a community. Use blogging and social software to make sure people hear about you.

4. Listen to your community. Answer questions and build your product with their feedback.

5. Gather a great team. Select those with very different skills from you. Look for people who are better than you.

6. Be the first to recognize a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Address the issue in public, learn about and correct it.

7. Don’t spend time on market research. Launch test versions as early as possible. Keep improving the product in the open.

8. Don’t obsess over spreadsheet business plans. They are not going to turn out as you predict, in any case.

9. Don’t plan a big marketing effort. It’s much more important and powerful that your community loves the product.

10. Don’t focus on getting rich. Focus on your users. Money is a consequence of success, not a goal.