At Mix n' Mentor Cairo, entrepreneurs and mentors discussed 3 major issues faced by Egyptian entrepreneurs. We've compiled a few of the key takeways and pieces of advice we heard throughout the day. Below is the list of tweetable tips shared by Wamda team members noted in parenthesis: 

Team Building Panel

1) "The ideal startup would have 3 co-founders, 2 technical employees and a hustler.” – Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large at TechCrunch (Ahmed Gabr) [tweet this tip].

2) “When hiring, I look for personality before technicality." - Mahmoud Ghoz of Rawy (Ahmed Gabr) [tweet this tip].

3) "An entrepreneur has to feel comfortable being outside their comfort zone." - Caroline Cummings, VP of Marketing at Palo Alto Software (Omar Aysha) [tweet this tip].

4) When you go to fire someone, “Be sure to make things clear gradually, and tell the entrepreneur your thoughts before having the last conversation." – Will Hutson, former Managing Director at Carrot Creative (Maya Rahal) [tweet this tip].

5) "In the startup stage, titles like CEO are not important. Now, everyone does what they're capable to make things happen." – a mentor (Rola Tarek) [tweet this tip].

6) “The market now is emerging and growing to the point that not a single person can do it alone. If you have a dream you better share it." - Amr AbdelRahman, co-founder of MIMV  (Stephanie Nour Prince) [tweet this tip].

Fundraising

7) "Don't ask for huge amounts of money, when you only need half to scale.” - Ramez Mohamed, CEO of Flat6Labs (Maya Rahal) [tweet this tip].

8) "The take away from this fundraising session should be that fundraising is not about money.” – Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, founder of B-Kam (Lana Alamat) [tweet this tip].

9) “Finding an investor is not only about money, it's like finding a partner. If you're just looking for money, go to a bank" - Karim Beshara, CEO of Orascom Telecom Media (Ahmed Gabr) [tweet this tip].

10) "When investors valuate your company, a consistent revenue is much better than a big revenue." - Karim Beshara, CEO of Orascom Telecom Media (Ahmed Gabr) [tweet this tip].

11) "Regardless of whether we agree, the entrepreneur needs to be capable of having an intelligent debate with me." - Hany Sonbaty (Omar Aysha) [tweet this tip].

12) "I will not invest in a company because of their presentation abilities." - Karim Beshara (@karimgb, as tweeted by Hana Abdel Maguid @hmeguid) [tweet this tip]. 

Sales & Marketing

These were from Mike Butcher's initial talk on How to Pitch to Tech Bloggers that opened the event, they were also some of Ahmed Gabr’s favorite quotes:

13) "We in the tech press look for purple cows.” Meaning that exciting startups that completely stand out and may not have existed before are the most interesting to follow [tweet this tip].

14) He also pointed out that "the fact that you actually exist is not news." We at Wamda agree with this as well- we can’t just cover you because you launched; it always pays to pitch the press a full story of what’s exciting and different about the product and what kind of traffic or success it’s reaching [tweet this tip].

15) Noha Mahmoud of SolverMine and new innovation hub Fekra2 summed up some of the best advice of the day in her tweet: "Knowledge is key, you can't succeed without gaining knowledge and self educate yourself." [tweet this tip].

For more, check out the tweets on #mixnmentor. To attend a Mix n’ Mentor in your city, go to www.wamda.com/mixnmentor.