It was September of 2015, and we were 8 months into running Checkmate Digital — My first startup to earn revenue. Getting clients was tough, but making sure that we had talented people to make sure work got done was even harder. In September, there were only 5 of us full-timers and our main line of revenue was making websites.
As a few app deals came closer and closer in the sales funnel, I knew I needed to hire an application developer. Specifically, I was looking for someone that could build web apps using Javascript. I figured it would be cheaper to hire someone outside of the US to work on the mobile side of things (deciding between hiring locally vs. freelancers vs. outsourcing is its own can of worms).
My father is Lebanese and my mother French Canadian. Both piqued my curiosity to outsource, but (stereotypically) I assumed that Lebanon would be much cheaper to outsource to. After all, with a last name like Nassr, I figured it was worth a try.
My search started and ended on Twitter. I met a woman named Layale. She was a brilliant software engineer working at Microsoft in Beirut at the time. We had a few initial conversations about what languages she knew, culture, and other software she had built. After the initial “hello”, we talked a few more times about other projects Checkmate had going on, and I briefly mentioned an app I had started developing called Kricket, a Meteor.js app.
I explained its crowdsourced-mapping abilities, and the three principles that the app works off of:
+ Everyone is looking at the same map
+ Everyone has the ability to contribute to the map
+ User generated content is erased from the map in 24 hours.
She immediately saw the potential for a use case that I had never considered: using Kricket to help people at refugee camps. Volunteers are constantly being shifted around the camps, trying to deliver and allocate resources to the right places, while the refugees themselves often lack critical information about where they can find help. Little did Layale know, that 15 minute conversation on October 2nd in 2015 would put me on a path that I wouldn’t fully understand nor be remotely prepared for; as Kricket took on a new purpose.
That weekend, October 3rd-4th, I transformed the branding around Kricket to reflect the refugee focus. We wanted to create a ‘digital underground railroad’ for refugees to leave notes to each other on the map, identify resources worth sharing, and help the information in and around refugee camps to become more accessible and open. I had no idea what these ideas truly meant in the context of the real refugee crisis that millions of people are experiencing everyday. To this day, I do not pretend to be an expert, and the political, logistical, and humanitarian aspects of the refugee crisis as it continue to grow more complex and, at times, reflects the very worst side of human nature.
In early October of 2015, I reconnected with a friend and old professor of mine, Anat Biletzki, to tell her about Kricket. She immediately re-introduced me to an old friend, Louis Venturelli. Louis was leading the youth delegates of the World Summit for Nobel Peace Laureates scheduled to have a conference in two weeks in Barcelona, Spain. Next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Barcelona to rally youth around the world to support an anonymous, community resource mapping project called Kricket. It was the beginning of a long, amazing series of firework experiences that Layale casually set into motion just two weeks prior.
At the World Summit, among many amazing people, four stand out for this story: John R. Seydel, Maxton Scotland, Peter Barter, and Luke Addison. Between the four of them, my perspective and ability to move amongst the circles of impactful people will simply never be the same.
To my naive entrepreneurial surprise, a weekend in Barcelona with nobel peace laureates and a few hundred young people did not yield enormous success, adoption, and world saving like I had planned. But I did build genuine friendships with folks that I will continue to be friends with for a very long time.
After the summit, John suggested I apply to the Nexus Global Youth Summit. 4 months later, in February of 2016, after an intense screening process, I was able to be included into the community of millennial change makers. Many of whom had not just tried to generate impact, but actually generated impact. It was a massive reality check for me, just like Enstitute was about 4 years previous.
I left the Nexus USA Summit in DC feeling a strange mix of inferiority, optimism, humbleness, inspiration, motivation, and love.
The next year and a half, I would learn exactly what it would take to be able to ‘do business’ with the non-profit, refugee, and aid-distribution industry. The entire non-profit industry, the way it is currently structured is unsustainable. It’s sad to see that the most vulnerable people are in the most fragile of support structures. (Fragile in the sense that Naseem Talib is talking about in Anti-Fragile), but that’s a whole other article.
Rounding out 2016 and going into 2017, Checkmate Digital experienced rapid growth, my focus on Kricket naturally faded as my attention shifted more to Checkmate (and rightfully so). We are on track to double for our third year in a row both in terms of both staff and revenue. Our team’s hard work has been paying off; I was named the Entrepreneur of the Year in CT in ‘17, and Checkmate won the ‘Innovator of the Month’ award in CT from Senator Chris Murphy in August ‘17. In short, the agency has needed my full attention as we continue to build on our recent success.
Yet in July of 2017, Layale’s seeds came back at the Global Nexus event in NYC a few months ago. I decided to embrace my Lebanese heritage and attend the ‘Arab Diaspora’ dinner. At that dinner, I was asked by Lynn to lead the digital team for a Nexus Arab Future Summit in Beirut Lebanon, scheduled for October 6–7 of 2017. Just a few days ago, I was able to play my part in a successful collection of Impact Investors, Forced Displacement Experts, and the creation of what was called “The New Arab Narrative”.
Conveniently enough, we needed volunteers at the summit, and the one person I knew in Beirut, Layale, was able to lend a hand. A few days ago, I met her in person for the first time after speaking more than two years ago to the day. It’s funny how life works out sometimes. I’m telling this story to both say ‘thank you’ and to remind myself how impactful a 15 minute conversation can grow to become with almost anyone. I can only hope I’m able to be as impactful in her life as she has been in mine. At the time, she shifted my mindset a degree or two in one direction, social impact.
For the most part, ‘shifting a degree or two’ is an incredible parallel to what is going on in the MENA region. There is so much hatred, yet so much optimism. American media streams give their own slant, and MENA media does the same. Depending on who you talk to, governments and organizations are simultaneously completely corrupt and totally trustworthy. The differences in perspective are vast and deep rooted. That said, when I think of all the people I’ve met, of all religions, backgrounds, expertise, and nationalities, they are all strikingly similar: they want peace and they have love to share.
Naturally, I tend to be an optimist. With a growing tech-startup scene in Beirut, I think that there will be a few surprises coming out of MENA soon. At this point, I’d say it relies on a handful of people to foster the culture of support. My time in Beirut was filled with new perspectives and warm welcomes. With leaders like Roadie, Elevate, B & Y Ventures, and the Beirut Digital District, Lebanon is trending in a good direction. Let’s watch as the next time I visit, companies like FabricAid.me and Bildits continue to grow and deliver value.
A special thanks to Zad, Hassam, Omar, Lia, Vanessa, David & David, Jonathan, Tyson, Lynn, Ramzi, Rami, Abdallah, Ghaith, Ali, and of course Layale. Thank you for all the support, hospitality and optimism. Your positivity is contagiously inspiring and I hope to see you all again very soon.
