FUNDXB Coworking Roadshow Report

Talks About Fai lure

Because failures are inevitable...

Why share the failure?

What if... If only... Maybe if I...

These are usually the responses running through our mind as we come to terms with failures. And, the stories behind those failures are the essence of what we cultivate at FUNDXB.

At this time where the world is encouraging entrepreneurship, lets not forget duality when we look at the situation; Yes, Dubai is a city full of success stories and with that, it bears its fair share of failures, yet, how much of that is shared?

That’s precisely why we shine the light on the concepts that didn’t go according to plan; the wrong choices in partners, investors and clients; the ideas that remained just a dream instead of being the next unicorn. These are some of the stories being shared by our brave speakers a.k.a. startups, business owners and entrepreneurs, or as I like to call them; ‘change makers’.

One-by-one they share their entrepreneurial failures which slowly shifts the needle on the failure-barometer from ‘keep the failure a secret’ all the way to ‘celebrate the failure lesson’. Every episode peels off another layer of negativity attached to failed businesses, brands and founders.

The negative layers are hidden in the truth. You are surrounded by 3 types of people: those who have failed, those who will fail and the liars.. that’s part of our story at the start of every episode. Why? because recognising our truth is an important part of learning the lessons that failures are teaching us.

I’ve learnt, that after experiencing failures, we rediscover ourselves in the stories of others. Through the simple act of listening to someones learnings, we encourage entrepreneurial evolution with a mindset of ‘failing forward’... it’s a powerful step towards creating a thriving, sustainable and impactful business, all by sharing stories.

Yet, FUNDXB is so much more than just an event sharing failure stories. It’s about cultivating the spirit of community, building a support system for entrepreneurs and demystifying the taboo surrounding failures, and if that wasn’t enough, every session is injected with my favourite 3 letter word... FUN!

As an audience member 2 years ago, I found the honesty being shared by speakers so refreshing. It became my must-attend event in Dubai. After meeting Jay and Brandon, the energetic duo who brought the franchise to Dubai, I made my easiest decision involving failure; I partnered with the boys, the duo quickly became a trio! Together we celebrate failure stories with a vibrant audience that is growing with every episode. After finishing our first

FUNDXB Roadshow, we’ve just got warmed up. The possibilities are endless. We continue to focus on encouraging more people to share their stories of the struggles, challenges and pitfalls, as we extend our reach to students, intrapreneurs, corporates and beyond! I could go on about the power of sharing failures, however with the limited space available on this page, I propose 3 new responses to reconciling failure that allow us to tap into our limitless potential..

What if... the risk takers, innovators, disruptors, entrepreneurs unbalance the anti-failure bias and embrace a stronger bias towards creativity, what potential can that unlock?

If only... we share our failure stories and the lessons learnt to support one another, what opportunities would show up?

Maybe if I... strive to launch a businesses by seeing far beyond the fear of failure, what are the possibilities I can create?

It’s been a joy to host 30 speakers at 10 episodes throughout this Roadshow and I hope at the least it’s brought your clarity, sense of community and knowing you are not alone!

I encourage each of you to support our courageous entrepreneurs sharing their stories and lessons... join the movement celebrating change makers!

- Fari -

Fariba Zoulfaghari Co-organizer and Host FUNDXB

10 Coworking Spaces

30 Speakers

1000+ Registrations

600+ Attendees

20 DaysHours of Talks

Failure Stories

BIG Thanks to:

Ecosystem Partner

Mobility Partner

Coworking Space Partners

The FUN begins...

EPISODE 1

4 March 2019

Richard Fitzgerald Founder & MD - Augustus Media @lovindubai

Remember tenacity and velocity.

Andrey Maksimov President - Precious Payload

Andrey Maksimov

Have a passionate connection with your business.

Nelio Leone Founder & CEO - Urban Monks @Nelio Leone

Execute fast, but don’t execute dumb.

Sabrina Sadiq Founder & CEO - Luxury Promise @luxurypromise

2 5 March 2019

Pivoting can mean closing down and starting from scratch.

Christoffer Thorshiem Director of Fleet Solutions - Careem @christofferthorsheim

Choose to be with or create a value-driven company.

Hamza Khan Co-founder - letswork @letsworkdxb

Finding a co-founder is like asking someone on a date!

EPISODE 3

6 March 2019

Shazzad Bhatti Founder & CEO - The Co-working Popup @coworking.ae

Dawn Barnable Founder & MD - The B Collective @bcollectiveme

Todays competition can be tomorrows client.

Don’t keep your struggle a secret.

Karl Edwards Editor & Producer - Kemotion Pictures @kemotionpictures

Learning to be resourceful , creates sustainability.

Briar Prestidge Founder & CEO - Briar Prestidge International Producer of Deals in High Heels @kemotionpictures

“Success is quite often achieved by those who believe that failure is inevitable.” Coco Chanel

Moe Fouda CEO of Flipdezign and Reto Events @moefouda

Rhiannon Downie Hurst Founder Club Media FZE Founder of www.brideclubme.com and Bride Club ME Business @riocaptures

Each mini-failure we face in life and business has an important lesson that its teaching you.

Fear of failure invented the art of lying.

EPISODE 5

24 March 2019

Ravi Bhusari

Co-founder - Duplays and Nook @nookdxb

Don’t be stuck on the highs or the lows.

Alessia Donato Founder - Via Sana Wellness @viasanawellness

Failure is just feedback, you can only fail upward.

Clifford Tindell Founder - Core Direction @coredirection

Challenges create revenue streams.

Muhammad Chbib Founder and CEO

Building People to Create Great Cultures @muhammadchbib

Quickly remove poisonous “coffee machine terrorists” from your environment.

6 13 March 2019

Ali

Founder & Creative Director - Creative Animals @creativeanimals

Listen to your wife!

Richard Anderton Chief Commercial Officer - Our Space @ourspace.work

Hire people with the right values and right attitude.

Mokdad

EPISODE 7

18 March 2019

Sam Fouladgar You Unlimited - Peak Performance Consultant and Success Coach @samthelifecoach

Cynthia Helena Rif Co-founder - WitWork @witwork.io

Failure doesn’t define us.

The market matters not the haters.

Callie Dickens Managing Director and Founder ORENDA + Bloom @callie_dickens

I dont let fear of failure stop me.

Ammar Akhtar Founder and CEO - Final Rentals @entrepreneur_dubai

8 19 March 2019

Vice President - DTEC @Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority Failure is powerful when used correctly.

Zohare Haider Founding Director - Digital Street @jjbaybee

Follow your purpose and money will follow you.

I learnt early on from my grandfather that where theres a will theres a way.

Hans Henrik Christensen

EPISODE 9 20

March 2019

Mahmoud Bartawi Co-founder - Under500 @bartawi

The continuation of your business depends on sustainable cashflow.

Dont belittle yourself, always dream big.

Al

Founder - Baaqah @baaqah

Trust the journey, because even if you fail, failure is a lesson money can’t buy.

Maya Alhawary Chairwoman of the Board of Governors and Director of Planning of Dubai Carmel School @mayaalhawary

Alreem

Ammarri

Ioanna Angelideki

Co-founder and CMO - Instashop @instashop_app

10 25 March 2019

Be around people who support you.

Craig McDonald Co-founder - YallaParking @yalla_parking

Focus on something people want to buy NOT what you want to build.

Zarah Darwish Founder - Sit Jump Play Events @sitjumpplayevent

Think of startups as a project with phases.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

I’ve attended a couple fundxb events and loved every one of them. It’s great to hear about other people’s problems and makes you feel better when your faced with the same issues. I also met some amazing people and made some new friends. It’s worth going and I’ll definitely be attending more. Thank you fundxb!

Oh fundxb it has been such an enhancing experience!! Being part of one of fundxb episodes added to me alot as I wanted that urge to keep going and was always scared of failure by the time I heard the speakers speak of failure things changed and I started looking at it all in a different light!

Doola Tahnat Founder - Doola Digital @dooladigital

Hala Omar @mchalaomar

Failure is an integral part of success and through the roadshow, you people have managed to turn most of the region’s failure stories into a beautiful inspirational journey.

Being an Entrepreneur myself, I could resonate to most of the speakers and also it was a great opportunity to learn from them. The event further enhanced the networking with like-minded people where, entrepreneurs from different industries came under one roof and shared all their sorrows, beliefs and challenges they were going through. Which was just amazing, because we all could pick those up somewhere to our lives and deep in our mind, we could not stop ourselves thinking about our actions.

Finally, my experience was just great and I feel fortunate that i managed to attend most of them. Looking forward to few more of them in the future.

A one of a kind experience which doesn’t get old! Every failure story provides great insights, and proves that failures are just part of the hustle.

Madan Kumar Founder and CEO - T.F.C. FZE /thefuturecontracts

Aashish

I have to say that the FunDXB event and the organisers behind the event are amazing, always a personal invite at entry. The failure stories that many entrepreneurs dread to talk about were put in front of an audience something you rarely hear. The atmosphere at each venue was brilliant and they each had something to offer for the visitors at the end.

You knew when you enter a FUN DXB event, you were also welcomed at each venue and felt like you’ve belonged and people around were going through the same issues you had.

I love each speaker’s story and lessons learnt. They added so much of value into my life. I loved the organizers who were humble yet so giving much of energy and passion were felt through interaction.

I will always be continuously inspired through stories that I’ve heard, advice that I’ve received and friends that I’ve made during the FUN DXB roadshow.

Bhavesh Makwana Founder - ZAAP.ae @b4vvm

Nigel Pinto Professional Photographer @nigeljpinto

FUNDXB is true to its name ..well literally ;) ….super FUN atmosphere where entrepreneurs come out in the open and share their failure experiences and what they learnt from it ...this is a one of a kind experience where wannapreneurs can learn so much and plan their next steps.

I attended many of the FUNDXB roadshow events and loved the atmosphere to enable people to interact with complete strangers and learn from each other and always gain something at the end of each event....love what Jay and the team are doing and look forward to their forthcoming roadshows and participating and supporting any way I can...cheers!

FUN DXB is one of a kind event where likeminded entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts share their mistakes in business so we can learn from their mistakes. It is a one of a kind concept which provides invaluable learning, and great connections. I have been a regular attendee to their events and love the energy of Jay, Fari and the team in organizing these events for the startup community.

Richaa Bansal @nigeljpinto

Urfi @instaurfi

A very inspiring session on a very unconventional topic. Failure. It was so good to hear people who we consider to be successful and role models, speak honestly about the times the numerous mistakes they made and failed.

It gets quite emotional and even relatable. I learnt at fuckup nights that there’s great value in failure and we should embrace it.

The particular talk we attended really resonated with a lot of what we’ve experienced as entrepreneurs. It was amazing to see how candid and honest the panelist were about sharing their fuckups and failures, and the learnings they also got from it.

We were able to network, meet like minded people and at the same time, feel reassured that there is an ecosystem and support for people experiencing the same journey and are willing to share their trials and triumphs and still be humble!

Salman Mushir @salmanmushir

Maria Abu Hanna & Nadine Tayara Founders of KeepEATReal @keepeatreal

FUNDXB is a beautiful initiative that’s traveled all over the world and now accessible to us here, in the UAE. Thanks Jay and Brandon, the people behind it.

It’s very inspiring and humbling to hear from entrepreneurs what it takes to be successful and how all the losses along the way make you better. It’s not all wins, more often than not a lot of set-backs before you reach your goal.

This has been a huge teaching moment for me, personally. Just the fact that it’s okay to fail and that it’s not always the end of the world when you do.

With the cliché success stories being all over the place, FUN DXB brings some reality to the table in a casual, cool and authentic atmosphere. Genuinely inspiring stories that make you want to screw-up the best way possible.

Maajabeen Abdul @maajabeenab

Reham Haskeen @rehameyad

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