Start-up Launch Series #3: ticklemybrain → where minds come to work

Tara Nehme completed her undergraduate degree in Finance at the American University of Beirut in 2009. She had lived in Canada for nine years prior to making the move to Lebanon for university. Post graduation, she was employed as a Forensic Services Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dubai. She worked at PwC for almost two years before quitting her job and heading to back to Beirut to develop ticklemybrain.

ticklemybrain; an online, dynamic, youth driven, career resource portal; presented its plan to empower the Middle Eastern workforce at the Seeqnce Space two days ago.
 
Launched on February 6, www.ticklemybrain.com aims to revolutionize the job market. For months before that, ticklemybrain founder, Tara Nehme, had been blogging about the trials and tribulations of the young person’s working life, garnering the attention of fresh graduates and young professionals from around the region. Her newly released website is an interactive platform for people looking to develop their professional life, combining form and function to make career-enhancement not only a service but an experience.
 
Its founder, Tara Nehme, gave an energetic presentation, where she described the idea behind her business. Afterwards, she answered audience questions and an active discussion ensued as to the company’s future vision.
 
It was a great session! Here are some of the highlights:

 
ticklemybrain: What It Does
 
Currently, the website offers users the opportunity to:
 
1. Transform your resume and cover letter: You can ‘transform’ your resume and ‘create’ your cover letter for a fee that varies according to your career stage.

2. Join a professional network: ticklemybrain is about to launch its own social networking site, the ‘think network’, helping to increase job seekers’ visibility to recruiters.

3. Discover career advice: Artickles is ticklemybrain’s advice and resource area where writers address topics and issues affecting professionals today. Posts are categorized by their self-explanatory titles: find your job, love your job and leave your job.

4. Understand industries: As the website describes it, “Countless professionals seeking employment opportunities live under an illusion of what jobs truly entail, mainly due to the lack of proper resources explaining otherwise. Day in the life aims to clarify these pretenses in a creative way and more importantly by involving users.” Referred to by Tara as the, “wikipedia for careers”, users are encouraged to write about their jobs and help others better understand work life in different industries. In this section, ticklemybrain also publishes snippets about organizations and key figures making headlines.
 
The team is currently comprised of six people:
 
- Tara Nehme, Managing Director and Founder
- Cyma Hammoud, Marketing Strategy Consultant
- Four Editorial Consultants: Stephanie Nehme, Lara Atallah, Sergio Kays and Ilija Trojanovic 


ticklemybrain: How the Idea Came About 

After graduating from university, going through interviews and considering several career paths, Tara found a job she thought would fulfill her aspirations. She was hired as a Forensic Services Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dubai.
 
It was a great opportunity since the job itself was related to finance, her subject of study at university, as well as law, a field she had always been passionate about. It was through her work experience, which Tara came up with the ticklemybrain idea. She explained in her first blog post, “I was the CSI of business crimes. Fraud, corruption, theft, you name it, my team and I investigated it. I learnt an incredible amount, became very close friends with a few coworkers, and more times than not loved my job. Nevertheless, I constantly felt uneasy wondering about my future and the decisions I had made. I was reminded of the struggle I faced seeking employment when friends would ask me to see whether their resumes had room for improvement. I sometimes considered finding a job in a different country but the hassle of the process and lack of resources available shied me away from it all.” Tara realized that there was a gap in the market and more importantly, a  need for the services her website currently offers. Thus, ticklemybrain was born.


ticklemybrain: Challenges Faced

Tara talked about the biggest challenges she faced while working on the idea and named five of them:

1. Self-Discipline: She learnt how to organize and manage her workload and ultimately get it done. It was a significant change from having to report to a boss on a daily basis.

2. Programmers: Finding skilled programmers to build the site was unbelievably challenging. “Until I found my current programmers, founders of php Lebanon, I hired and fired two companies,” said Tara.

3. Code, Photoshop and English: Bridging the gap between programmers, her web designer, Maya Zankoul, and herself was not easy. Tara stressed the importance of finding the right people who would love the project as much she did and would go out of their way to get things right. She said, “I’m a big fan of Maya Zankoul and my programmers: Chawki Matta, Simon Tadros and Derek Haddad. They are simply great.”

4. Time Management: “There are not enough hours in the day to make things perfect and this is why my greatest lesson insofar has been learning to let go of this obsession and to work on improving the website each day,” she said.

5. Employees: Finding reliable people you can trust is an ongoing challenge. While ticklemybrain is not actively seeking new employees, Tara said, “I am always open to hearing from passionate and enthusiastic writers who would be interested in joining ticklemybrain. If they possess amazing skills, I would not let them go.”


ticklemybrain: Where It’s Going

Finally, Tara revealed that ticklemybrain did not seek any funding or help for the first phase of its project as it was not capital intensive and she believed her vision for ticklemybrain was feasible on her own. “Once we are ready to expand our reach and website offerings, we will most likely be seeking external funding,” explained Tara.

We asked Tara what she thought of companies like Seeqnce. “When I first moved to Beirut, I felt I was the only person without a ‘normal’ job. Companies like Seeqnce reminded me of the active entrepreneurial spirit in Lebanon, and that there are many ambitious minds with amazing ideas trying to be the next big thing. Even though I didn’t use the help of a start-up accelerator myself, it felt good to know they were present in Beirut, supporting the entrepreneurial visions of
young businesses,” said Tara.

Tara sent a great message to all entrepreneurs wanting to jump-ship from their current jobs. She said that they should plan their business case well, find an objective mentor and most importantly, love what they do. She is a big fan of Steve Jobs and mentioned how his Stanford commencement speech in 2005 helped and continues to motivate her though the ticklemybrain challenges.

The Execution Quarterly Reunion

The Execution Quarterly Reunion took place yesterday in the Lounge at Seeqnce space in Hamra.

It was a casual gathering where over 30 people came. All attendees were former participants at The Execution. The teams represented last night were: The Dream Matchers, The Penguins, Saafer, Red Drops in Lebanon, Smart Code, Custom Dreams, and Global Team (Kolaz).

Everyone had a chance to catch up on what has been going on in the months that have passed since the competition.  It was great to see that some teams have already launched their startups, or were in the final steps of doing so.

 

Among the highlights of the evening, Kolaz updated us with the launch of the beta version of their app. They showed the app and received valuable feedback from several Execution alumna. The app is now available on the Android Store. You can download it here! 


In addition, Samer Karam, the Founder of Seeqnce, shared Seeqnce - related updates which included: new website; The 2012 Seeqnce Program; new additions to the Seeqnce team; which startups were graduating Seeqnce after successful acceleration; which startups were joining Seeqnce and which new startups have started their residence at Seeqnce.

Presentations were kept short, allowing people to relax, have some drinks, some laughs and even some playstation. 

Thank you to all who attended last night’s reunion!


Social Media Partnership: The Power Of Innovative Online Marketing

In our last blog post we provided some social media stats, emphasizing the importance of social platforms and the tools you can use to capitalize on the same. In addition to this we would like to add another concept that has been attracting a lot of attention lately. And that is social media partnership. 

In today’s article we answer to 3 questions related to social media partnership: WHAT is social media partnership? WHY is it important? And HOW can you use it to intensify your marketing?

1. What? - It is a way to “to team up with a company or organization to create mutually-beneficial social media marketing opportunities”, writes Tuvel.  When we say social media, we do not refer to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn only, but we also refer to niche online communities, groups, blogs, forums, and newsletters. The main goal is to build a mutually beneficial partnership with the partnering company while getting great promotional exposure via any possible social media channels.

2. Why? - Social media partnerships, if being successful, could deliver a lot of benefits. There are many reasons why one would like to engage with this type of relationships. Let’s name three of them:

  •  Increased online visibility: Social media partnerships will help your content appear on additional online platforms owned by your partner. “The elements of the partnership may include paid media elements such as customized homepage takeovers, the creation of a brand-endorsed profile for your product, email marketing, or participation in the partner’s newsletter. Remember that most of these social networks also have Facebook and Twitter profiles through which they can cross-promote the partnership and help you reach another tier of the audience on these major social networks” explains iMediaConnection.
  • Targeted marketing: establishing partnership with a company or social network whose customers/users suit your targeted audience can help you approach the same in a very effective way.

    For example, the filmmakers of “The Cove”, a documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Japan, “partnered with Care2, a social network for activists, because its members matched the audience profile of the movi. The production company Take Part developed a petition targeting President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki, asking them to address the dolphin slaughter in Japan. The petition was also available in Japanese for Japanese citizens, who could then send it to the Prime Minister and Minister of Health. In addition, Care2 developed an interesting call-to-action strategy. The end of the movie included a message asking viewers to sign the petition, either via a mobile version of the petition site or by visiting the suggested URL. The company also created widgets in both English and Japanese that included information on the movie, along with the names of all the supporters of the petition. That widget could then be integrated into Facebook or MySpace profiles in order to generate digital WOM”, writes iMediaCOnnection.
  • Amplify your brand image: If realized successfully, social media partnerships could prove you have done your homework meaning you put efforts to get to know your customers, identify their needs, and respond to the same. Moreover, you show that you follow the latest social and digital trends, something that always contributes to company’s brand image.

3. How? - There are plenty of strategies to establish successful social media partnerships. Let’s see a few suggestions:

  • Co-branding:  “Offer logo exposure on your event website and in onsite printed materials (such as show programs and signage) as a Social Media Partner, while your Partner runs a banner or logo on their website”, suggests Tuvel.
  • Coverage: “Provide your Partner with a press pass to attend your event and cover it for their blog or publication. This will result in even more exposure both during and after your event”, advises Tuvel.  Or you can ask a partner to mention your product or company in one of  their blog posts or newsletter.
  • Social capital: Ask your partner to retweet “or to cross-post on Facebook to give your communications an extra boost”, writes Social Media Examiner.
  • Onsite advertising opportunities:  “If it’s appropriate for your Partner and space is available, offer a small booth space to them so they can get in front of your attendees. Another option may be to provide them space in the press room for their marketing materials”, recommends Social Media Examiner.

To sum up: Make a list of your potential social media partners. Think about the benefits you could gain from them but also think about the benefits they could foresee in the partnership you offer. Since we are talking about mutually beneficial partnership, do not undervalue your partners!  To the contrary, come up with an optimal solution that both sides (sometimes more parties could be involved) will find it attractive.