December 2023 Bulletin
This month's bulletin is a long one, with a big announcement👇
Today marks the start of a new chapter in Viaka’s 1 ½ year life - the launch of a Premium Membership.
I’ll dive into the reasoning in a moment, but let’s cover some logistics first:
All existing members of the Viaka Network are eligible for a 20% discount on Premium Membership - just use the code VIAKA2023
All Premium Memberships come with a 30 day free trial
Premium memberships can be purchased on a monthly or a yearly basis (yearly is the best price)
If you do not opt-into Premium Membership, you’ll automatically be downgraded to a Basic Membership by February 28th, 2024
So what does a Premium Membership entail (versus a Basic Membership)?:
Premium Members will also be given referral codes to recruit new members and earn credits towards their membership fees.
I’m in - no questions asked! How can I sign up?
As an existing member, you can sign up via these links & I’ll immediately set you up with a Premium Membership:
What’s the reasoning?
I want Viaka to be a place for MENA’s global community in tech to come together and build, invest in, and work with early stage startups. Over the past 1+ year, we’ve made great strides towards that vision.
Today, we have over 550 members, from Silicon Valley to the GCC. In 2024 alone, we:
Hosted in-person events in 6 cities - San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Boston, Munich, Riyadh, and Dubai.
We had 5 demo days - Health Tech, Web3, FinTech, Female Founders, and Commerce
Put on 4 virtual panels - Food Systems in MENA, the Lebanese Ecosystem, VC AMA, Founders in AI, and the Palestinian Ecosystem.
We also launched a consulting arm - Viaka Connect, helping early stage founders do just about everything under the sun to help their startups grow. The experts that contribute to Viaka Connect also give free workshops to Network members.
Most rewarding of all, members have seen tangible results.
Startups have landed their first clients and secured their first investments. Investors have found new deals and made valuable connections for their portfolio companies. People have traveled to tech hubs across the world and been introduced to local Network members, relevant to their work and goals. New friendships and professional relationships have been born!
I’m launching a Premium Membership because I think this is all just the beginning.
Together, we’ve only begun to deliver on the vision of a place for MENA's global startup community to gather, and this new chapter means taking things to the next level.
These are the big goals for 2024 that I see Premium memberships helping facilitate:
12 IRL events in 12 different cities: With the help of Network volunteers (& some budget from Viaka), I’d like to host mixers in at least 12 different cities. In 2023, we did 6 and I think we can easily double that.
Implement a “Mastermind Program:” I want to host and facilitate monthly brainstorm/venting/collaboration sessions between small-groups of Network members in similar fields. Think of 4 CPG founders or 4 Senior VC Associates, all with a shared connection to MENA, gathering monthly to talk through their ongoing challenges.
Host a job board: With the search for talent and the challenges of this job market, we can do more to help talent and great companies connect than posting in slack. I want us to facilitate that.
Launch an angel syndicate: We’re at a point where we have awesome early stage dealflow, plus experienced angels, and operators-ready-to-turn-angels. I’d love to see our community supporting each other financially and reaping the benefits of doing so.
Obviously, this is on top of continuing to do everything that’s already made Viaka what it is today, and we’ll continue to refine the member experience and tools we use to power it.
Delivering the Premium membership experience, and the revenue streams it opens up gives me the possibility to hire part-time staff & consultants to deliver on all the above, and more.
Now I’m in! Remind me how to sign up?
Use these links:
If you’d like to opt into the Basic Membership, please reply to this email so that I don’t pester you moving forward!
Finally, a big thank you!
I just want to close by thanking you all - a community is only as strong as the members that make it up and their engagement. I so appreciate that you made the decision to join this Network at one point or another, and have stayed engaged with it since.
If you’d like to chat about my vision for Viaka, please reply to this email & we can schedule time to chat. I’ll also invite everyone to a virtual presentation about this new chapter in early January 2024.
Best,
Hani
Viaka Connect
On December 12, Atticus will share his framework for how startups should understand their data, and how they can set up the right infrastructure to make decision-making fast and simple.
Upcoming Viaka Events
Meet Network members in Dubai (and online) 🙌
Network members have more chances than ever to connect this November:
Viaka Virtual Coffee Hour - December 6th
BONUS EVENT - TechWadi Mixer in Dubai — December 7th
Stay tuned for…
Gathering in Montreal 🇨🇦
Virtual Panel on the Saudi Ecosystem 🇸🇦
Hope to see you there!
Last Month’s Viaka Network Highlights
🚀The Viaka Network continues to grow
37 new members joined in November, including 7 investors and 21 founders, across fields such as Digital Health, FoodTech, and GovTech.
Our new network members join us from all over the world including Philadelphia, Riyadh, Miami, and Marrakech.
🖥 The Member Hub
Reminder that the Member hub is available under "For Premium Members" tab on the Viaka website.
Watch a demo video below outlining all the Hub's features 👇
*Note - the Member Hub will soon be moving to only be accessible for Premium Members*
📲 Join the Viaka Slack workspace
488 messages were sent in our Slack over the past month. Join the workspace and introduce yourself to the 350+ members already there!
☎️ Join our Whatsapp channel
I've started a Viaka Network Whatsapp group, exclusively for sharing event announcements and opportunities. No one needs another spammy whatsapp group that gets muted, so I plan on sending 3 messages maximum each month.
That’s it for this month! 🙏
Please encourage your relevant friends and connections to apply to join the Viaka Network by sharing this link with them: https://www.viaka.net/network. Premium Members will receive personalize referral codes, with incentives for both the existing member and new member to use!
As always, our team would love to hear any of your thoughts and questions, so please shoot us an email at info@viaka.net