The Spring 2014 VentureLab showcase, hosted recently by the KAUST New Ventures & Entrepreneurship team, featured finalists from six teams who presented their business ideas to a high-profile panel of judges. Comprising of a diverse group of KAUST researchers as well as Jeddah-based entrepreneurs and professionals from Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, these presentations were the result of the eight-week VentureLab entrepreneurship bootcamp, which began on March 1, 2014.

Through the program, which provided real world, hands-on learning experience on how to successfully start a company, the teams were encouraged by an international group of entrepreneurship coaches and mentors to test their business ideas with real potential customers. Collectively, the teams interviewed 522 people about their startup idea and went trough 1,500 hours of training.

The teams who presented at the Spring 2014 VentureLab showcase were:

• Burtoga – An online platform designed to help graphic designers visualize their flat design work into a photo-realistic mock-up. Their tool would allow designs to be viewed from different angles and against multiple backgrounds and settings. The team interviewed over 70 designers from 7 countries; and 83% of participants said they would be willing to pay for the service.
• Trochet – As their name’s formulation indicates (Trochet = Trash + Crochet), Trochet is a social enterprise that sells products made of repurposed plastic bags by underprivileged Saudi women. Tackling the huge duel problems of plastic bags going to waste and women’s unemployment in the Kingdom, Trochet collects thousands of discarded plastic bags and offers employment to underprivileged women who then knit or crochet them as stylish bean bags, cushions, stress balls, bags and more. The project started in 2013 with two women who were able to produce 288 prototypes.  Today, they work with around 75 women to produce over 1,000 prototypes, all of which sold.
• Tilez – A mobile application to assist users purchasing tiles for their homes or businesses. The tool lets the user select their tile pattern, design, material (ceramic, porcelain or marble) and the optimal amount they need purchase to avoid waste. The team, made up of an architect, IT specialist, systems programmer and marketing MBA, have pooled their collective talents together to devise this mobile application. Their goal is to simplify the process of design and implementation.
• SaudiMLS – Saudi Multi Listing Service (MLS) is an online real-estate platform devised to improve and standardize the traditional process of buying and selling homes in Saudi Arabia. The service aims to certify realtors, offer a subscription platform for sellers to list their properties and agents, as well as providing transparency and convenience for buyers. They have interviewed over 100 customers and have already garnered interest from King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).
• Nations Bazaar – A social and cultural e-commerce website aiming to act as a bridge between local Saudi Artisans, as well as the non-profit organizations representing them, and online buyers looking for authentic Saudi traditional arts and crafts products (such as baskets and pottery). The team has begun to work with both the Saudi Commission of Tourism and Antiquities and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce to help them establish contacts with social organizations in Saudi Arabia.
• 3enDmeD – An augmented reality system allowing neurosurgeons to use 3D visualization medical technology, with the use of special goggles, to visualize the structure of the brain directly and track the position of surgical probes inside a patient’s head. This can potentially greatly improve medical science by helping surgeons to be more precise and productive.

As VentureLab instructor Mark Searle, Senior Fellow at the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley, explained: “We challenge the teams to get out and challenge their own hypotheses." They accomplish this by interviewing potential customers, people they’ve never talked to before, and ask them about problems they are facing and if their startup idea can offer a viable solution. “This can be very uncomfortable because entrepreneurs are by nature passionate people,” adds Searle. “People get really upset when they go out there to present their idea, their baby, and the market says that their baby is really ugly.”

It’s particularly noteworthy, as Searle also points out, that half of the above teams who presented entered the program had a completely different business idea just eight weeks prior, when they started the program. “They discovered that by turning hypotheses into facts that they found new business opportunities that are real and that actually have some chance of success,” said Searle.

The teams competed for three awards as part of the showcase event: the People’s Choice Award (as voted by members of the audience), the Intel Nomination (awarded by Intel Corporation), and the Most Promising Startup Award (as determined by the panel’s judges). The distinguished panel of judges consisted of:

• Professor Karl Leo -- Director of KAUST’s Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center (SPERC)
• Mark Searle -- VentureLab Instructor, Senior Fellow at the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley, and an award-winning international serial entrepreneur and instructor.
• Tuba Terekli -- Cofounder and CEO of Qotuf Al Riyadah Development Company. She is considered among the top five female CEOs of her generation in Saudi Arabia.
• Khalid Suleimani -- A Saudi serial entrepreneur, IT consultant, and public speaker.
• Ibrahim AlSuwaiyel -- Intel Saudi Arabia Corporate Affairs Group Manager responsible from the national strategy of Intel's Corporate Affairs.
• Mohammad Al-Suwaileh -- Chairman of Oqal Jeddah Chapter.

While the People’s Choice Award went to Nations Bazaar and the Intel Nomination was awarded to 3dnDmeD, the above panel of judges selected Trochet for the Most Promising Startup Award. Trochet also previously won first prize at Harvard University as the best social impact project – allowing them to win a scholarship to spend five weeks in Silicon Valley where they were able to prominently display their products in the offices of leading tech companies such as Google and Yahoo.

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