#SVTrip2017

[sulaimanmahmood-blog]

City Where Dreams Become Reality

After the 20 hour-long multiple journeys, we finally reach our destination, San Francisco, and my God, what a city. When people say, that New York never sleeps, I guess they haven’t visited the Silicon Valley yet. From the magnificent views of the golden gate bridge to the richness of modernization in the tech industry has made San Francisco, one of the top cities that I have ever visited. 

However, one of the most important reasons that this trip was a successful learning experience for me is because of these three people; Wadha, Muyesser, and Omar. I cannot think of any other individuals who could’ve done what these guys did for us. The continuous efforts they put in, shows how much they really care for us to learn and have a good experience from this trip. From getting everybody’s plane tickets ready to making sure everyone is on one of the vans every morning to even making sure that we got what we all as students demanded whether it be dining at In & Out, or shopping at the outlets malls, they gave us everything one could ask for. I personally cannot thank these guys enough, for all their efforts, and hopefully if you’re reading this, I just wanted to show my appreciation towards all your tireless efforts that you put in to make this trip one of the most memorable trip of all time.  

 Secondly, what made this trip extremely wonderful were the students I met from different Universities. These students go toUniversities in Education city. If it weren’t for this trip, I would’ve probably not met them at all. Amazing people, each and every one of them, I’m glad I met these people as these friendships will be one that lasts for long.

Aaah, Silicon Valley. What a place to be. From Google to Facebook to Uber to Zynga to Stanford. What an experience this has been.  Met these extra ordinary people. The word greatness doesn’t do justification to them, from not having electricity until the age of 14 to having 1000 patents in your name, from not knowing a single word of English to being the best in sales in one of the largest tech companies in the world. One of the most important things I learned from this trip wasn’t that I want to start my own startup, or work in one of the top companies in the world, I learned that you can achieve whatever you want in this world if you’re willing to put in the hard work. All these great people that I met, did not achieve what they did, overnight, it took them years and years of hard work to get where they are now. This is the most important aspect I take away from this trip. And hopefully one day, I’ll be back there, to fulfill my own dream.

[aymanraouf12-blog]

#svtrip2017 

Test

[svtrip2017]

Setting New Horizons

San Francisco was beautiful. From its breath-taking scenery, abundance of culture and innovation it is definitely a city I intend on visiting again. But what made this trip for me was the people I met.

Yes. The days are long. Yes. You will, at times, have 12 hour days. Yes. You will be expected to be punctual (you know who you are). But what you get out of this trip can change your life for the better - if you let it.

I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate the work contributed by those who coordinated this trip. Namely, Muyesser, Omar and Wadha - I personally cannot think of anyone else more capable of organizing this trip than the aforementioned. Through all of the unprecedented events they were always present, patient, and genuinely concerned for the well-being of the group. The following is in no way exclusive of them. It is as much about them as it is about the individuals we met in San Francisco.

This trip has allowed me to meet so many extraordinary people who amidst all adversity and failure continued to persevere anyway. To forge friendships which otherwise may never have  been. In this day and age of the need for everything to be instantaneous-at your fingertips-seamless, where waiting a few seconds for your iPhone to load an app can cause undue agitation, this mindset of looking at the bigger picture is lost on many (in recent years, especially myself). The people we met on this trip live and breathe resilience as well as patience. They put their lives on the line to work for something bigger than themselves instead of settling for mediocre, easy comforts.

I cannot understate how much I have learnt on this trip both in substance as well as form. Real stories of people who, under the most pressing of situations, managed to maintain a cool head and stayed true to themselves to not be swayed by the empty caress of instant gratification. To always push the envelope. Caught in the conditions of my own everyday life it is easy to lose this mindset of daring, steadfast conviction. To be able to catch a glimpse of people striving relentlessly to achieve ones potential, who look above and beyond the horizon of the next snapchat story post, the latest meme or when the next Star Wars movie will be released - is priceless. 

These people are catalysts whose lessons I hope to take and internalize to streamline my own ambitions. To quickly bounce back from my own failures. To structure my life in a way where I never stop being enthusiastic about what I’m doing. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

-RM

[svtrip2017]

Truly Inspired

Today we had the great pleasure of visiting our fabulous hosts at Google and Facebook.  The effort that Rayman at Google and Hossam at Facebook put into making our time at their respective companies memorable was truly remarkable.  I am blessed to have such wonderful partners in crime who not only so freely give of their own time to inspire our visiting students, but who also became our ambassadors to their fellow colleagues to ensure their participation as well. Even for someone like me who has been in the Valley for the last 20 or so years, I was blown away by the humility, pride, willingness to share knowledge and sincere effort to connect with our students that these incredible men and women demonstrated.  Our community is better for having you represent it.

At dinner, one of our brightest and hardest working students Shashank Shetty managed to get into contact with one of his friends Kim at YouTube who graciously offered to give us a last minute tour. We had an amazing first hand account of how monetization and content go together.  She was truly insightful and offered to help our students find their footing to getting a job at YouTube.

As if the day couldn’t be any more inspirational, I must take a moment not only to admire Shashank for his resourcefulness and initiative, but to salute those students who fought for the opportunity to go on the visit even when we told them it was too late and we were tired.  You showed great tenacity and impressed us all by jumping on this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity as one of the student’s put it.  If you continue to take advantage of doors that are open for you in this manner, it will be you whom I will be working with to share your inspirational journeys for the students in the not too distant future.  You make me and the entire team incredibly proud!

Muyesser

[svtrip2017]

Welcome & Kick-Off

First off a very warm welcome to all of you to Silicon Valley, we’re sure you’re going to have a very enriching, rewarding and enlightening experience over the next few days.

This year’s trip is a bit unique to the previous two as it’s bringing together students from 5 different universities so you may not all know one another. Last night at dinner we had you introduce yourselves to the group so we can start learning about each person’s individual story.  Throughout the week we’ll create activities for you to truly interact with one another based on your interests and the direction you want to take your academic and professional journeys.  But please don’t wait for us to bring you together, find common ground and aspirations amongst yourselves.

Part of the obligation we all carry by being here is to share our learnings with one another and with those nearly 100 other applicants who were unable to join us.  Post often about your experiences and make sure to include the moments and people that truly inspired you.  

I will start by saying that my drive to create a great program of immersive learning for all of you is guided by the man who inspired me more than anyone else. My father (God rest his soul) died 3 years ago today while we were executing this tour for the inaugural Doha trip to Silicon Valley.  He instilled in us that the only way for anyone to have a truly meaningful journey in this life is to change as many lives as possible. And I hope to make him and all of you proud by the end of the week.

So join me in creating a blog that will truly uplift, challenge and inspire those who read it!

Muyesser

[svtrip2017]

My Networking is not Working

 If I had taken away one thing during this trip, it’s the magic of genuine networking. For some reason, networking has always been a burden. I’ve tried to analyze why I feel like that, but in vain. This trip though gave me an argument I can make about it.

 It was surprising during the trip that whenever I talk after a session to one of the entrepreneurs, I’d find a flow of words and ideas coming out naturally. I thought that was one lucky conversation as usual, but amazingly this remained the trend throughout the trip.

 This has not always been the case, because usually, I got used to whenever talking to entrepreneurs, to always be given this stance that their time is limited and that what they’re sharing is so valuable and that they know it all. This always created a subconscious burden on me. It’s also in my nature to do two things whenever I approach networking, (1) I feel the aim of networking is to be able to click and connect with everyone you meet (2) If there’s no click, I feel the burden that the networking is not working!

 The trip showed me that part of that burden was because I believed in the negative cultural connotation of the word “networking”; that says you approach a person because you want to use this connection one day. This made me feel I’m exploiting people. It also made me become more conscious not to be interpreted that way, and therefore I felt my networking is again not working!

 If I would describe the people we’ve met in Silicon Valley, I’d say they are truly genuine people. They’ve challenged the odds, moved mountains, grew distinctly in their careers, nevertheless, they talk from their hearts, lend you their ears, share more than ever expected, and never make you feel they’ve got it all figured out. In short, they’re truly humble and down to earth people.

So I learnt three things in this trip;

(1)   the aim of networking is not to make use of your connections later, the main aim is to genuinely connect with people through a conversation. It might come in as a result that this connection could be of help to you in the future, but it’s not the aim.

(2)   Genuine networking is not only talking about your work but more about personal storytelling. I suppose the storytelling session we had with the entrepreneurs on the trip was one session that made us connect and relate to the entrepreneurs even before we speak to them. This paved a smooth entry to the one to one networking.

(3)   realizing from the beginning the nature of the person in front of you could save you a lot of time and struggle. If he is genuine, gives you his ears and is humble about what he knows, he’s worth knowing as a person in the first place. But if not, then in my opinion, connection cannot be forced.

 I appreciate the effort of Muyesser, Omar and Wadha in choosing not any people but the truly genuine and caring ones we could relate to and who show that you could be the holder of a thousand patents but still be humble enough to hold value in giving your time, knowledge and experience without returns to a group of students you might never see again in your life.

 HAG.

[svtrip2017]

Building the Culture of your Startup

While we’ve always heard of Silicon Valley’s culture, it’s a privilege to have the opportunity of visiting those tech giants and experience it yourself. I got inspired from several things, the simple fact of having a transparent, flat hierarchy, open office culture that highly motivates employees and gives them a feeling of ownership, belonging and loyalty to the place, it’s that simple but that complex as well. Also the gigantic size of the companies with the number of employees ranging from 2,000 to 9,000! Also it was really encouraging to see how those employees working in one of the top companies in the world, are so down to earth and humble about what they do.

It’s inspirational when you think about the fact that those companies started off as a simple small idea that one person in his teens was passionate about, and how it ended as a massive business that is home to thousands of employees and is having an everyday immense impact in the world.

I suppose a good number of us are interested in initiating his/her own startup idea at some point. While it’s easy to see a model that is successful, building it is a totally different story, it’s as bumpy of a ride as we’d ever think;

Things to think about:

- It’s magical how just one person can create a huge change in the world and how just being passionate about something could influence your future and the future of millions of other people.

- We’re living one of the most powerful years by being in our youth, if each one translates this power into an actionable force, imagine the amount of change and impact we’ll be having in the world.

- It’s never too late to rethink what we’re doing. Keep rolling the wheels till you figure out your passion, be bold in creating your own vision and incorporate action to it and you’ll see marvels.

Building a particular culture in your company is simply a reflection of who you are, what you believe in and how you implement them. So start now, be transparent with people, connect with them, run for your dreams, have a flat hierarchy in your life with others, be a helpful bumblebee to whoever needs your help, and most importantly be humble with people and with yourself about what you do. When you finally have the chance to build your startup, I think you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to incorporate your values and build the culture you’ve always wanted.

HAG

[svtrip2017]

.

The trip has given me firsthand exposure to what perseverance can do for you. If you have a vision and take action to achieve your dream it showed why the recipe of persistence is important. The best of the entrepreneurial US was offered to me in a week where my pencil never let go of the paper from all the note-taking. 

The 500 Start Up was so far the most auspicious presentation I've had where the entrepreneurs have shared with us their life experiences and the mistakes they made along their ways. 

Facebook, Google and Uber were geared towards implementing entrepreneurship on an employee level rather than a self running business. But these were nevertheless worthwhile to gain insight on what one entrepreneurial skills boosts your career and makes you more resilient and irreplaceable. What is remarkable is that these corporations foster an environment for their employees to think creatively, and although individualism is cheered upon, it should nevertheless keep you humbled in a flat managerial environment rather than a top-down style if you want to go far.  We were fortunate enough to meet with Youtube, where it opened the door on the importance of Intellectual Property rights and patent rights that occur for companies. 

The Autodesk showroom presented the beauty of design creativity in their various software, whether its in the building construction industry in promoting sustainability or in intelligent design solutions of everyday products. A careful look in the library at Autodesk gives you some interesting reading material to change your mindset to think more creatively in devising solutions to everyday problems.

We then went to Stanford University and met with several Arab entrepreneurs. They all wore their hearts on their sleeves to explain the realities that they went through to become who they are. A gentleman from Syria showed the beauty of social entrepreneurship when his goal was to open a company that centered around improving employees careers both professionally and psychologically, and he shared with us some interesting points on psychological pitfalls that people have that need to be tackled.  I was really humbled by the company Quanergy and its self-made CEO Louay Eldada. He was a principled man and started from scratch from applying himself from an academia background to opening a ~$1 Billion business-a testament to what it means to stick to your vision and persevere to become successful 

I cannot stress enough how great the organizing team Muyeser, Wadha and Omar are and how much effort they were putting into allowing us students to see the best that Silicon Valley can offer. Their dedication and efforts to break the barriers between us as students from various disciplines and various age groups enabled synergy among ourselves and learn from one another in engaging conversations. I’ve gained several friends in this trip and admired many of their cool characters and personalities. 

For anyone doing this trip next year, be prepared to ask the people you meet as many questions as you can in the mistakes they made along their journeys, the skills that are important to have, what to do when you hit rock bottom, and how to keep aspiring to improve oneself. 

Ayman Raouf

#QSTP #SVTrip2017 

[svtrip2017]

City Where Dreams Become Reality

After the 20 hour-long multiple journeys, we finally reach our destination, San Francisco, and my God, what a city. When people say, that New York never sleeps, I guess they haven’t visited the Silicon Valley yet. From the magnificent views of the golden gate bridge to the richness of modernization in the tech industry has made San Francisco, one of the top cities that I have ever visited. 

However, one of the most important reasons that this trip was a successful learning experience for me is because of these three people; Wadha, Muyesser, and Omar. I cannot think of any other individuals who could’ve done what these guys did for us. The continuous efforts they put in, shows how much they really care for us to learn and have a good experience from this trip. From getting everybody’s plane tickets ready to making sure everyone is on one of the vans every morning to even making sure that we got what we all as students demanded whether it be dining at In & Out, or shopping at the outlets malls, they gave us everything one could ask for. I personally cannot thank these guys enough, for all their efforts, and hopefully if you’re reading this, I just wanted to show my appreciation towards all your tireless efforts that you put in to make this trip one of the most memorable trip of all time. 

Secondly, what made this trip extremely wonderful were the students I met from different Universities. These students go toUniversities in Education city. If it weren’t for this trip, I would’ve probably not met them at all. Amazing people, each and every one of them, I’m glad I met these people as these friendships will be one that lasts for long.

Aaah, Silicon Valley. What a place to be. From Google to Facebook to Uber to Zynga to Stanford. What an experience this has been.  Met these extra ordinary people. The word greatness doesn’t do justification to them, from not having electricity until the age of 14 to having 1000 patents in your name, from not knowing a single word of English to being the best in sales in one of the largest tech companies in the world. One of the most important things I learned from this trip wasn’t that I want to start my own startup, or work in one of the top companies in the world, I learned that you can achieve whatever you want in this world if you’re willing to put in the hard work. All these great people that I met, did not achieve what they did, overnight, it took them years and years of hard work to get where they are now. This is the most important aspect I take away from this trip. And hopefully one day, I’ll be back there, to fulfill my own dream.

  #SV #SVTrip2017 #QSTP #SF

-Sulaiman Mahmood

[aymanraouf12-blog]

So far the trip has given us firsthand exposure to what perseverance can do for you. If you have a vision and take action to achieve your dream it showed why the recipe of perseverance is important. The 500 Start Up was so far the most auspicious presentation I ve had where the entrepreneurs have shared with us their life experiences and the mistakes they made along their ways. Facebook and Google were more geared towards implementing entrepreneurship on an employee level rather than a self running business. But these were nevertheless worthwhile to see and gain insight on what one wants if they were after an internship to learn skills of entrepreneurship. #Muyeser The area of improvement I would suggest is to look into a company that has just started up but is having early signs of potential success, or a company waiting for the turnover to occur, or even failed businesses literally just to learn from their mistakes. In terms of organising, I cannot stress enough how great the organising team is and how much effort they are putting into allowing us students to see the best there is. I just do hope that every individual is encouraged to be self motivated to engage and focus rather than being forced to be told off to stay focused.