Tag: poll results

What major obstacle did you face while looking to fund your project? [Poll Results]

MMM 5 Comments

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question that was addressed to the entrepreneur readers was:

What major obstacle did you face while looking to fund your project?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:

Major obstacles getting funding

Out of 89 readers who responded to the poll:

– 37% of them responded that it was initiating contact with potential investors
– 29% said it was allocating and finding the right investors
– 18% think it was measuring the seriousness of the investors
– 8% believe it was the cost of connecting with investors (traveling and attending conferences …etc)

The remaining 7% cited other obstacles.

What do you think? Do you share the same view? What solutions do you see for these obstacles?

What do Arab startups need the most? [Poll Results]

MMM

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was:

What do Arab startups need the most?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:

What do Arab startups need the most?

Out of 230 readers who responded to the poll:

– 30% of them believe there is a need for more original ideas
– 28% say funding is the most needed thing for these startups
– 17% think Arab startups are in need of mentoring
– 12% believe there is a need for strong complimentary teams at these startups
– 8% think marketing is what Arab startups need more of

The remaining 5% listed some other very interesting and true needs for Arab startups; among them are: business freedom from govermental interference, market research skills, ability to set up a truely limited liability company, more social media interaction, available data and statistics, unregulated non-paternalistic markets, and good execution.

Another really interesting thing the results of this poll show is that even though it’s often easy to blame the lack of funding or support for the lack of successes in the internet space in the Arab world; not all of the important things Arab startups need are external factors, there is a lot they can work on and solve themselves like picking and working on more original ideas, putting together stronger complimentary teams, buffing up their business and market research skills, reaching out more to the community …etc.

Of course, the external factors like mentoring, funding, government support are also very important and should go in parallel to help startups on their way to perfecting their product and building a successful business around it.

What do you think? What’s your view of things?

How will the current economic crisis affect Arab online startups? [Poll Results]

MMM 3 Comments

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was:

How will the current economic crisis affect Arab online startups?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:

Effect of the crisis

Out of 123 readers who responded to the poll:
– 43% of them believe the effects will be positive
– 39% say they think it’ll affect online startups negatively
 – and the remaining 18% don’t see it having any effect whatsoever

The results are obviously very close, which I guess reflects the existing confusion out there on how everything going on will be affecting different types of businesses on the short and long run.

Personally, my belief ever since the crisis began has always been that for online startups, there is eventually no way but up; I mean, it’s not like they were getting all that many big investments before the crisis, or making really big money from the online advertising market that makes up less than 1% of overall advertising spend. So with the option of investing in real estate becoming unsafe for investors, and with businesses cutting their marketing budgets; if anything at all, it would mean it’s a chance for a bit more investments to make it to the online world, and for a bit more advertising to move online.

From being in the middle of it all, I can actually confirm that this is happening, slowly maybe, but it is happening; more investment opportunities are becoming/going to become available for Arab online startups, and more businesses are currently experimenting with online advertising.

But now comes in the role of the entrepreneurs and startups to make sure they benefit from this chance, build their business case to entice the right investors for them, and make sure that those businesses experimenting with online advertising have successful online campaigns with maximum analytics transparence, so that they see how effective the internet is as a medium and stick to it even when things pick up again.

In short, the crisis can be a great time for Arab online startups if they grab the opportunities it offers them and are ready to jump on any chances hidden in its midst. 

What do you think? What’s your view of things?

How much money do you need for your startup? [Poll Results]

MMM 7 Comments

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was: 

How much money do you need for your startup?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:  

How much money do you need for your startup?

 

Out of 230 readers who responded to the poll:
– 37.83% of them say they’d need only between $10,000 and $50,000
– 17.83% say they need $100,000 to $250,000 
– 14.78% only need $50,000 to $100,000
– 11.74% said they need $250,000 to $1,000,000 
– 7.83% need more than $1,000,000
– and the remaining 10% don’t need any money at all

I think the results of this poll are very interesting, because they highlight a number of really important issues:

– The evident gap we have in angel and seed funding that covers the lower startup budgets that make up the biggest percentage of startup needs, as confirmed by the numbers above.

– Are the region’s VC firms being realistic with the investment sizes they’re looking for in the online and technology startups area?

– Are entrepreneurs being realistic with the amounts of money they think they need? Are they asking for too much or too little? Are they taking into consideration all the costs they need to get their startup on its feet, or are they just looking at what it costs for them to get a prototype out the door? 

These are all important issues to think about, and that I’ll be exploring in more detail in future articles.
If you have any ideas or thoughts about this, or if you would like to help in writing the articles about these points, please do drop a comment.

What kind of name do you prefer for a startup? [Poll Results]

MMM

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was: 

What kind of name do you prefer for a startup?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:  

Startup name poll

Out of 79 readers who responded to the poll:
– 35% of them prefer names that sound cool or a bit weird 
– 32% think self explanatory names are a better choice 
– 27% responded that they like names that reflect the local culture 
– and the remaining 6% chose generic, not necessarily related names

I’m personally torn between the different choices in this poll, but I have to say that I really like startup names that reflect the local culture in some way and that come out sounding very cool.

What audience should Arab startups target? [Poll Results]

MMM 8 Comments

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was: 

What audience should Arab startups target?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:

Target audience poll

Out of 79 readers who responded to the poll:

– 35% of them think that it depends on the service
– 32% think they should go for a global audience
– 22% responded that they should go for a wide Arab audience grouping both locals and expats
– and the remaining 11% voted for them to stick to a local Arab audience

Personally I share the opinion that it depends on the service; some services have a very local nature while others can be extended to the whole Arab region or even globally. But a number of other factors come into play as well in the decision, like for example whether they have the necessary time and budget to invest in scaling it and opening it up to more people; including technical, marketing, support costs and all the other costs that come with it.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for Arab online startups? [Poll Results]

MMM 4 Comments

In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was:
What do you think is the biggest challenge for Arab online startups?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:

Poll results: Challenges

Out of 62 readers who responded to the poll:
– 32% of them think that the main challenge for Arab startups is funding
– 26% think the immature online advertising market is the biggest challenge
– 15% responded that it was the low internet penetration in the region
– Another 15% blame the non conducive environment
– Only 10% thought trust was the biggest challenge
– and the remaining 3% specified other reasons like the lack of original ideas or targeting other markets other than the local one

Even though the list of challenges in this poll, and the ones added by the readers, might not be fully comprehensive, I think they actually give a good idea about the biggest challenges and problems that Arab startups and entrepreneurs face and have to tackle, and how important each one of them is.