Sirdab Lab is an amazing concept in Kuwait that provides a startup friendly co-working space in a cool environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses to work in with an affordable price. With a strong belief that startups in Kuwait struggle to get people’s attention, they want to help them out in every way possible. They also organize workshops and accelerator programs that focus on tech startups and the internet of things. With this initiative, Sirdab Lab is targeting all startups and entrepreneurs to be a part of their community.
Read more about Sirdab Lab in the following interview with the founders of this great initiative…
Tell us more about Sirdab Lab…
Instead of defining what Sirdab Lab is we will define the problems we aim to solve through Sirdab Lab.
Kuwait’s entrepreneurial system is very fragmented. Existing clusters of startup initiatives don’t communicate with each other. We believe that passion and collaboration are the essence of entrepreneurship. We provide entrepreneurs with a network of enthusiastic, like-minded people who are ready to collaborate and to build awesome startups together. We offer a community of ambitious people, generous mentors, and smart investors looking to fund promising startups. We connect people through networking events, 1:1 and group mentoring sessions, ideation meet-ups, pitch nights and much more.
We also provide a startup friendly co-working space in Kuwait (Dasman Complex). In theory a co-working space is a very cool office with a young vibe at an affordable price but in reality it’s much more it is a place where ideas, talents and funds meet. In this space everyone is encouraged to come pitch ideas and get feedback use the meeting room for private meetings, host entrepreneurial events or use the facilities provided for our members.
Who are the people behind it?
The team behind Sirdab Lab has worked in or with tech startups (in Kuwait and Silicon Valley), and we know what struggles startups face. Unfortunately, a startup is smaller than a small business, and not necessarily a business (yet). That’s why they haven’t gotten much attention. We see lots of exhibitions and conferences for small businesses, but startups especially tech are largely ignored. Sirdab Lab aims to help tech startups in every way possible, from refining the idea to taking it globally. There are many people with great app ideas that can be extremely profitable to them, and bring great value to society. But those with ideas don’t know who to talk to for advice and how to develop their app. How many times have you seen an app become popular and someone says: “I had this idea many years ago, but I didn’t work on it.” Well, having the idea isn’t valuable. Building it is. And that’s where Sirdab Lab can help. We have different acceleration tracks to foster tech startups: first track is for idea to product stage and the second is for product to market stage. The details of those programs will soon be published on our website.
What is the purpose behind initiating this project?
There are many different kinds of problems. From bureaucratic (getting a business license, or knowing what license to apply for in the first place) down to marketing your business in a crowded space. We want to help entrepreneurs in every way possible. We don’t want entrepreneurs to let these obstacles stand in their way. We want them to know that Sirdab Lab is here to help. Don’t be shy. It’s your dream, and it’s up to you to chase after it. We’ll be here when you need us.
One of the other main challenges we face in our society is fear of failure. This is human nature but in our culture it is especially frowned upon to fail whereas in other communities, where startups flourish, failure is widely embraced. In fact some venture capitalists prefer not to invest with a team unless this is not their first attempt, they say ”I want someone who has failed and learned, I don’t want someone to learn with my money”. So the bottom line is you never fail, you either earn or learn.
Who are you targeting with the initiative?
Startups and entrepreneurs in each sector all welcomed to be a part of the Sirdab Lab community and co-working space. Our workshops and accelerator programs will be focused on tech startups and the internet of things.
What are your future plans?
In the near future we’ll be offering a comprehensive accelerator program that helps tech startups take their ideas globally. In the distant future it’s too soon to tell. Tech space is constantly evolving and we need to remain flexible to changing demands and circumstances.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Khaleejesque for always being so awesome, you’re one of our favorite publications! We would also like to encourage everyone who has a question to just drop us a line or just say Hi we are very approachable and love to listen for ideas and feedback.
For more information visit www.sirdab-lab.com
