March 31, 2017

Catching up with Rabih Nassar from Scriptr.io

An integral part of the Mentoring Program at LebNet is fostering long-term relationships between our Mentors and Startups. Our Mentors are more than Coaches- they are partners that remain a source of guidance and support for our Member Startups to optimize their chances of success.

Scriptr.io, a member of LebNet Ignite Alumni and an award winning, managed service & enterprise IoT application marketplace secured $5M in a second and final round of Series A Funding led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP). The closing includes the participation of San Francisco-based Endeavor Catalyst and Berytech Fund (BFII).

We recently checked in with Rabih Nassar Founder/CEO of Sriptr.io to see how their business has evolved since participating in the LebNet Ignite Acceleration Program in Silicon Valley and the key factors that lead to their success.

First, let’s start with telling our readers how you started and conceptualized the idea for Scriptr.io.

By 2011, IoT market forecasts were overwhelming with the most pessimistic estimates amounting to tens of billions of devices by 2020. Devices mean data and data means applications. It seemed like the beginning of a new phase of exponential demand that would require new extremely agile tools, platforms, applications and methodologies. We figured we could have a role to play given our previous rich experience in agile enterprise software and cloud computing.

What was the first step you took in establishing the business?

Our existing core technology and building blocks developed part of ElementN were excellent stepping stones. It was easy for us to repurpose and transform a lot of what we already had into a new agile IoT software platform & application marketplace that we dubbed scriptr.io upon launch in 2015. It is currently an award winning market leader.

 

Following your recent success, what are your next steps from here?

Business expansion and continuous technology leadership.

 

What advice would you give to young, aspiring Lebanese entrepreneurs?

Try to solve big problems. Make sure their business ideas and models are scalable. Recruit carefully and know which leadership roles they need to fill early on. Pay attention to the quality of their messaging to make their positioning and value proposition clear to potential customers. Divide and conquer potential markets and focus where they create value the most at the beginning. Give it 110% and when they get tired, set the dial to 300% until they succeed.

 

How has LebNet contributed to any part of your success story?

Lebnet is wonderful. I hope I don’t forget anyone but in no particular order: Michelle Tager, Pierre Tager, Ghassan Bejjani, Elie Habib, George Akiki, Habib Keyrouz were all extremely helpful in one capacity or the other.

 

Who are your role models?

Ray Kurzweil & JFK are two out of many.

 

If you weren’t an entrepreneur, what would you be?

I would have either taken a more scientific role or been an artist.

 

We look forward to continuing to see what’s in store for Rabih and his team at Scriptr.io!