Christopher Schroeder
Internet CEO, Venture Investor/Advisor & Writer. Father of three, Husband of One & Mentor to Many
Discussion
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
Am I an optimist? I've spent the last four years traveling across the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and beyond seeing how new generations with universal access to tech are changing their societies. Wrote a book on it Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Entrepreneur (healthcentral.com among others); Intrepreneur (washingtonpost.newsweek interactive among others); Investor (vox media; skiftt, 10APP, iBotta among many others); advisor/LP in leading VC funds (no name dropping). There is no time in world history better to be alive.
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Hala Fadel هلا فاضل
@halafrangie · Managing partner, Leap ventures
@cmschroed what is the market opportunity presented by Iran in the tech space and how does it compare to the rest of the middle east?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@halafrangie I have been in awe of what I've seen there -- the challenges are great, mostly in still figuring out what government will do sustainably -- but the talent, history, culture, access to the world around them is all there. I wrote some about it here: http://www.politico.com/magazine... I think the potential shared learning and connections with MENA are enormous. My generation likes to talk about historic distrust of Arabs and Persians -- and I don't know enough to comment on what that means to a new generation. Except that every young person I met loved to go to Istanbul and Dubai and vice versa. Note, btw, that Iran just announced a huge deal for air craft for flights to and from Dubai.
Saeed Abbaspour
@srabbaspour · Entrepreneur & Front End Web Developer
@cmschroed What is holding SV investors back from investing on Iranian startups? Especially now that Iran and the west reached to a deal and most of the sanctions are removed.
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@srabbaspour US Law. :) This will open shortly, but remember rule of law, ability to get transparency, ability to repatriate capital -- all will take time to convince investors. But if the politicians take this seriously, Iran will be an extraordinary part of the technology ecosystem. Even with sanctions in many ways it already is.
Khaled Talhouni
@khaledtalhouni · Partner
Do you that cryptocurrencies will be widely adopted in emerging markets with limited financial infrastructure and banking/credit card penetration or is there a need for traditional financial services to develop first ahead of that?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@khaledtalhouni I believe necessity drives a ton of adoption. The question not demand, which is already large. But will the companies be able to sustain in scale as competition will come from places like Silicon Valley. But some great enterprises like BitOasis in your backyard are very intriguing.
Hala Fadel هلا فاضل
@halafrangie · Managing partner, Leap ventures
@cmschroed what do you see as a game changer in the region over the next 2 years compared to other regions?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@halafrangie you. I mean this,. Folks like your VC operation, wamdacapital, sawari ventures, Flat6Labs and more global players are looking to invest real capital in the remarkable innovation that is coming bottom up in MENA and beyond. This despite the tradition one narrative in Western Media. The young folks need sustained capital, mentors, market access. Folks like you are providing this at scale now.
Loulou Khazen Baz
@loulsk · Founder & CEO, Nabbesh.com
@cmschroed it's been 2 years since you published startup rising, what has changed? do you still maintain the same views on the Middle East? Are we better or worse off?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@loulsk you live the ups and downs better than anyone, so your answer is more valuable than mine. Much remains hard -- startups are hard. But the speed and increase of quality enterprises and capital has been very encouraging to me. Most of the companies I've written about are not only still there, but thriving. Souq.com, of course, the Amazon of the Middle East just completed a round valued at over $1 bb. eCommerce generally has blown the doors off in the region and elsewhere. The UAE has been very forward leaning with the GCC on opening rule of law. This is wonderful. Syria and Iraq are heart breaking, and yet I know so many superb entrepreneurs from there still building from impossible conditions in and out side of them.
Ruba Al Hassan
@rubaalhassan
In your book you write about the rise of women entrepreneurs in the Middle East, which tends to be counter to the usual western rhetoric of the Middle East doing poorly on gender empowerment . What is the reality on the ground that you have seen?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@rubaalhassan The Economist reported 25% of startups in MENA are run by women. I've been to start up gatherings which have 40% women. Try to find that in Silicon Valley! One woman told me, "the definition of a great entrepreneur is someone who works through anything. Guess what, we work through a lot." Pretty good overview.
Elmira Bayrasli
@endeavoringe · Author, From The Other Side of The World
I agree w you that there is a lot of potential in the Middle East. Yet it seems to get overlooked and/or eclipsed by what's happening in Silicon Valley. Should we measure startups and innovation in the Middle East in the same way we do in Silicon Valley? Or how can we value/access what's happening in the region on its own merits?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@endeavoringe I think your fabulous new book has made clear that innovation and great ideas -- game changing all -- makes clear that great ideas come from where great humans, which means everywhere. The difference between today and even five years ago is the access to software that unleashes and scales these ideas where ever they come from. Like most things in life, one has to take the criteria seriously from Silicon Valley - there is a reason why the Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter of India are Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter; or that Google has such a swath in search and other activities. But, at the same time, these new markets will be huge and require local understanding -- look at Ali Baba and Tencent which built multi billion dollar enterprise with virtually no revenue from the West; and great global innovation will come like Waze did in Israel. But the competition with software will be compelled to duke it out with great ideas from Silicon Valley very often
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@endeavoringe btw, so people have the link to your must-read book: http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side...
Nina Curley
@9aa · Managing Director, Flat6Labs Abu Dhabi
@cmschroed You've written extensively about the benefits of entrepreneurship; what are the potential pitfalls that we face as startup enablers and promoters? Are we realistic and open enough about the challenges entrepreneurs face? What are we doing right and where/how could we improve our coverage and our work to evangelize and advocate?
Paul Niehaus
@paulfniehaus
@cmschroed can you talk public sector. Emerging market governments have some of the biggest needs for innovation and IT to deliver critical public services, but are notoriously fickle customers. I've seen several startups in India run out of runway while waiting for gov't to pay on a big contract. What should the public sector be doing to build trust?
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Chris Schroeder
@cmschroed · investor
@paulfniehaus I'll stay this until I am blue in the face. Never has there been more tools available for people to solve problems bottom up -- the people most benefiting by these opportunities and problem solving. When we look at the challenges of poverty, or the youth bulge (30+% of populations now between the ages of 15 and 30) government too often hope the old games of government jobs and big traditional processes will solve things top down. Well how well has that gone? Now the tools are there. If governments embrace this kind of problem solving, get their own processes to the 21st century (as the UAE has to a great degree and we are seeing amazing potential in places like Rwanda -- the irony is their societies will improve in the very ways governments are most held accountable and let their people down. It is happening anyhow.