Check out our event photo gallery here.
Events Recap
Here’s a list of the events we organized, co-organized and covered since 2018 until now. To check our event recap archive, scroll down to the slider:
- LebNet San Francisco, November 14, 2019: Why the future of store management lies in robots
- LebNet San Diego, November 7, 2019: Tech Trivia, prizes, news & updates from LebNet’s San Diego meetup
- LebNet Phoenix, October 23, 2019: 6 lessons on what it takes to craft a sustainable career
- LebNet Beirut, October 1-7, 2019: What you didn’t know about Lebanon’s startup scene
- LebNet Vancouver, September 5, 2019: LebNet’s first Vancouver event lays the groundwork for a growing community
- LebNet Toronto, June 19, 2019: From fake ads monitoring to building a pet society: insights from the LebNet Toronto event
- LebNet Boston, June 13, 2019: LebNet Boston panel discusses Artificial Pancreas, tricking cancer and healthtech breakthroughs
- LebNet New York, June 5, 2019: Two online lending leaders discuss how they’re using data to bypass banks and unlock capital
- Beirut, February 26, 27, 2019: Artificial General Intelligence and the tech singularity threat: 11 AI insights from experts
- LebNet Palo Alto, California, February 24, 2019: AUB’s president and Dean discuss new vision and enhancing entrepreneurship in Lebanon
- LebNet Silicon Valley, California, February 13, 2019: How Asurion grew from a small roadside assistance company to a multibillion-dollar mobility end-point servicing business
- LebNet San Diego, January 31, 2019: LebNet San Diego highlights the role of women in engineering and career development practices
- LebNet Biotech Community, San Francisco, January 10, 2019: LebNet’s second Biotech event sheds light on drug discovery, research and targeted cancer treatments
- LebNet San Mateo, California, December 10, 2018: How Postmates aims to impact local economy and fight against food poverty
- LebNet San Diego, October 18, 2018: Qualcomm president discusses 5G breakthrough and how the world will never be the same
- LebNet, LIFE and LCTechHub, Montreal, October 13, 2018: Insights from the Lebanese Fintech Global Conference
- LebNet Austin, May 24, 2018: Can fintech transform banks into tech companies?
Recap: July 19, 2012 Event
Some photos taken during dinner event with CEO of Dermandar on July 19th 2012. [su_custom_gallery...Read more
Recap: Sept 17 , 2012 Event
Please find attached the update shared by George Akiki during the event on Sep 17. Lebnet-event-Sep...Read more
Recap: Dec 3, 2012 Event
“WOW”, one word that sums up the experience the LebNet audience witnessed at the Dolby Theatre w...Read more
Recap: Mar 7, 2013 Event
Dr. Roger Hajjar, Founder and CTO of Prysm, treated the LebNet audience to an amazing evening of net...Read more
Recap: April 29, 2013 Event
A wonderful event hosted by LebNet with Telecom Minister from Lebanon, his excellency Mr. Nicolas ...Read more
Recap: June 18, 2013 Event
The event was held at the amazing Blackbox Residence in Atherton. This special dinner party was co...Read more
Recap: Nov 7, 2013 Event
The event was held at Tannourine Restaurant in Redwood City and featured our keynote speaker, Ahmad...Read more
Recap: April 21, 2014 Event
We are proud to announce that our first event in 2014 was sold out 10 days before the registration d...Read more
Recap: June 2014 - MIT PanArab Event
LebNet is proud to share that we were able to line up the required number of mentors for the Mentors...Read more
Recap: Sep 9, 2014 - LebNet & MEVP Mixer
Sep 9, 2014: Lebnet & MEVP Mixer MENA Start Ups from TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014 were invited ...Read more
Recap: Nov 10, 2014 LebNet Mixer
Recap: November 10 , 2014 Event We are proud to announce that our event on November 10, was o...Read more
Recap: March 4, 2015 LebNet Event
The event was held at the marvelous offices of our sponsor, Pillsbury law firm in San Francisco, ove...Read more
Recap: April 22, 2015 LebNet Event
The LebNet Youth Initiative event was held at the reputable San Francisco offices of our sponsor, Pi...Read more
LebNet Event - June 23rd, 2015 - SOLD-OUT -
LebNet Event - June 23rd, 2015 - SOLD-OUT -
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June 25, 2015: FIRE SIDE CHAT
June 25, 2015: FIRE SIDE CHAT A UNIQUE FIRESIDE CHAT With Simon Khalaf, Senior VP, Yahoo!Moderate...Read more
September 19, 2015: OUTDOOR LEBNET TECH EVENT
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Sept 21, 2015: LEBNET MENTORS’ VIP ONLY EVENT
Sept 21, 2015: LEBNET MENTORS’ VIP ONLY EVENT LebNet mentors, who volunteered to work with Leba...Read more
Sept 25, 2015: MITEF 2015 MENTORSHIP DAY
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December 9, 2015 Cross Tech Event with Charles Debbas
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Jan 13, 2016 LebNet Board RoundTable Event: Fadi Daou of Multilane
LebNet board had the pleasure to hold a special round table for Fadi Daou, founder and CEO of Multil...Read more
Feb 19, 2016 Social & Tech Mixer
This first LebNet Social Tech Mixer was a huge success. LebNet partnered with our ecosystem partner,...Read more
Feb 22, 2016 Mentorship Event: Ignite2
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Mar 3, 2016 Special Partner Event with Berytech
The event was held at Peer Space, in San Francisco by invitation from Berytech to LebNet members onl...Read more
Mar 4, 2016 Lebanon Ecosystem Event
In margin of the Arabnet conference in Beirut, LebNet help a private event for stakeholders of the e...Read more
Mar 21, 2016 Social & Tech Mixer Event
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Apr 9, 2016 LebNet Sponsored Event: LCN 2016 @ UCLA
LebNet is a proud sponsored of the annual Lebanese Collegiate Network at UCLA. LebNet previous Ba...Read more
Apr 14, 2016 LebNet Panel Event: Intersection of Leading Edge Hardware, Firmware and Software
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June 16, 2016: Featured Speaker event - Dr. Magid Abraham
The event attracted more than 40 LebNet members and friends, at Cooley Law Firm in Palo Alto, desp...Read more
Sept. 13th 2016: LebNet Introduces MIT EF Pan Arab Selected Startups in San Francisco
On Sept. 13th 2016, LebNet was happy to host a Welcoming and Networking Reception to culminate our s...Read more
Sept. 8th 2016: From The Arab World to Silicon Valley: Mentorship Day at Google HQ
In line with our Mentorship Program, LebNet sponsored the MIT EF Pan Arab Region’s Silicon Valley ...Read more
Aug. 26th 2016: LebNet Ignite Powered by Blackbox Startup Showcase
On August 26th 2016, Three Lebanese startups, selected from the Speed Lebanese Accelerator, particip...Read more
LebNet Goes To New York
On September 26th, LebNet went to NYC for our first ever East Coast event! LebNet Board Members, Edg...Read more
Sept. 16th, 2016: Lebanese Diaspora Energy (LDE) Conference
As a follow up to the annual event in Lebanon, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affair...Read more
Oct. 18th, 2016: LebNet Fireside Chat, Featuring George Boutros
LebNet Fireside Chat 2016 featuring George Boutros, CEO of Qatalyst Partners. Moderated by Khaled Na...Read more
Nov. 13th 2016: Second Annual LebNet Tech in Park Virtual Reality Immersion
On Sunday, November 13th LebNet members and their families touched a planet and got slapped by whal...Read more
Dec. 12th, 2016:
Medtech, SportsTech, Mezza, and Arak! That’s a LebNet wrap on 2016! On Monday Dec. 12th, we hel...Read more
Feb.1, 2017 An Evening with Fadi Ghandour
On Wednesday, Feb 1, we kicked off our 2017 LebNet tech events series with over 60 attendees to our ...Read more
LebNet Goes to San Diego: April 7th, 2017
The University of California San Diego (UCSD) was the site for LebNet’s first ever program in San ...Read more
One Epic Week: LebNet Ignite#4
It’s the Ignite time of year again! Since 2015, LebNet has selected the most innovative startups f...Read more
Technology and Investment Executive Forum in NYC- May 15th 2017
LebNet never stops! Our East Coast expansion is just beginning. On May 15th, we held a Technology...Read more
Cyber Security in the Era of Digital Transformation: May 3rd, 2017
2016 saw the widest variety of information security incidents ever, with traditional attacks and adv...Read more
LebNet Goes to Boston
As part of our East Coast expansion plan, LebNet went to Boston for the first time and it was a great success! On September 2nd, 2017 we were pleased to collaborate with the prestigious AUB Computer Science Chapter by participating in the first AUB Computer Science Alumni Reunion in North America. George Akiki (LebNet President and Co-founder) and Edgar Masri (LebNet Board Member) flew out from our main headquarters in Silicon Valley to attend as a special guests. Edgar Masri gave an informative presentation to a diverse crowd of the industry’s finest. Attendees enjoyed mingling and gaining insights into the latest developments in AI Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, and much more. Special thanks to AUB Computer Science Alumni Chapter and all East Coast LebNeters who attended!Read more
Speed Lebanon Accelerator Meets LebNet: Sept. 18th.
LebNet never stops! On Monday Sept 18th, we held our Speed Lebanon Accelerator Meets LebNet event ...Read more
LebNet in San Diego October 19th, 2017
The law firm of Knobbe Martens was the host for a LebNet event in San Diego focused on the importanc...Read more
LebNet Goes to Seattle: Nov. 8th, 2017
We came, we saw, and we had a blast in Seattle! On Nov. 8th, we held our first event in Seattle a...Read more
LebNet Holiday Happy Hour in New York: Dec. 12, 2017
LebNeters of New York celebrated the holiday season on Dec. 12th, 2017 at the Hudson Hotel in NYC. O...Read more
LebNet Holiday Dinner Party in Boston: Dec. 12, 2017
On Dec. 12th, LebNet held our first exclusive kick off event in Boston! For our first event, our ...Read more
Bay Area Annual Cross Tech Dinner: The Power of Science, Dec. 13th, 2017
On Dec. 13th, we held our annual cross tech dinner event, to celebrate 2017 and showcase how Biotec...Read more
Private Exclusive Dinner with the new Dean of Engineering @ AUB- Jan 21st, 2018
We kicked off 2018 with an exclusive evening with Dr. Alan Shihadeh, new Dean of the Maroun Semaan...Read more
LebNet Ignite#6
On February 26-March 9 2018, LebNet Ignite#6 powered by Blackbox kicked off to what would become a m...Read more
Decoding Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies: April 5th, 2018
As the first event in this topic series across LebNet expansion branches, we held an event on Apr...Read more
LebNet Launch in Los Angeles: April 12th 2018
On April 12th 2018, we kicked off our first ever event in LA! We brought together the brightest ...Read more
LebNet Spring Meetup in Boston: May 3rd 2018
On May 3rd, 2018, the LebNet team was excited to head back to Boston for another opportunity to brin...Read more
LebNet in San Diego: The High Tech & Biotech Startup Scene: Apr 27th, 2018
Hera Hub was the host for LebNet’s third event in San Diego, on Apr 27 th . Around 40 people atte...Read more
LebNet in San Francisco: Andre Haddad talks about taking Turo to the next level. September 10, 2018
Andre Haddad left Beirut in 1989 because his parent’s house was bombed during the war. Fast forward 29 years, he is a successful entrepreneur and CEO of Turo, a peer-to-peer car sharing platform featuring 350,000 registered vehicles and 100 million signups. How did it all begin? On September 10, Haddad opened up about his success and lessons learned during a panel on peer economy, organized by LebNet and TechWadi. Around 100 people gathered in Cambria Gallery in San Francisco to listen to him talk about Turo achieving product/market fit, scaling, and dealing with challenges. The session was moderated by Rony Chammas, the founder and chief product officer of Peerspace, a peer-to-peer marketplace for booking spaces for events, meetings, and film shootings in San Francisco. From idea creation to product/market fit Haddad laid the foundation of his success on a childhood passion. During the bombing of his hometown, his entire music collection was destroyed. When he moved with his family to France, he started buying music records and vinyl discs from eBay at bargain prices and have them shipped from the US, until one day he decided to launch a similar concept in his country of residence to spare himself the trouble of shipping. This is how he launched his first startup iBazar, which was acquired by eBay in 2001. “That was my first step into the internet world and building something from scratch. During those times it was really challenging to know if it’s a good or bad idea,” said Haddad. After taking on executive roles at Shopping.com and eBay, Haddad returned to the startup scene in 2011 and joined Turo (previously RelayRides) to solve another problem he faced. Step one to achieve a product/market fit: solve your own problems, then solve the problems of others His problem was he had many cars being the car enthusiast that he is, yet his cars weren’t being driven enough to stay in a good running condition. So he became passionate about Turo’s value proposition which allows users on the platform to rent and lease cars from other individuals “I felt I was solving a problem, something I would be interested in solving as a consumer. It’s good to have a personal connection with the problem because you spend many years in your life to build it and pay for it and you go through lots of ups and down. If there’s no personal connectivity with the problem you're solving it will be a lot harder to be successful in the product/market fit and be persuasive enough to have others join you,” he advised the audience. That first step in the product/market fit did not require data tracking and analysis, but gut feeling, he said. Once entrepreneurs identify a real market need they should shift their focus towards metrics and data. Step two to achieve a product/market fit: obsess about conversions Conversion rates tracks how many of the people who downloaded the Turo application became real customers. A high organic conversion rate is a clear sign the product is a good fit. Once entrepreneurs reach that phase, they should start thinking about scaling. Step one to scale your company: spending money on user acquisition Turo has around 10 million signups, 350,000 registered vehicles and 6 million booked days, according to Haddad. Yet, he believed his business is still in the early stages, “it’s not Airbnb and Uber,” this is why the team keeps looking at the number of downloads and bookings and spend more money to grow their traffic. “When you have high conversion rates then you know there’s a strong probability people will download and use the app. So you start spending more money on acquiring new users and this further accelerates growth,” he explained. Today, the team measures the money spent on ads closely to track how quickly will each paid customer generate revenues, in other terms ROI. “Investors looking at Turo today are going to write a big check and know that most of the money we’re going to spend will be on marketing expenses. eBay even at its scale still spends 30 percent of its revenue on marketing,” he clarified. The main takeaway? “You move away with just product/market fit and conversion towards creating a balance between free and paid traffic and how much are customers generating. Management of the business becomes more complex, metrics become less simple and cover a variety of things.” Step two to scale your company: become more disciplined To figure out product/market fit, you need to have a lot of passion and creativity, said Haddad. But to figure out scaling, you need a lot of discipline, data measurement and tracking and team management. Haddad stated that entrepreneurs need to start hiring people who are more intelligent than they are and need to figure out ways to keep them motivated. “How do you bring people who don’t have the similar passion you have for the product you built, but empower them to run the business?” he asked rhetorically. Like many entrepreneurs, the journey for Haddad was bumpy. “The car business is an 80 billion dollar market. There’s a lot of need for cars but what wasn’t clear back in 2011 was if anyone would be willing to share their car,” he said about the early beginnings. The first time he gave his Porsche keys to a stranger, he was petrified but he went with his instinct then scaled. “Throw yourself into something you are really passionate about and be engaged with the problem you are solving. It’s hard to have the long-term commitment during the ups and downs if there’s no real connection, if it’s not part of your life,” Haddad concluded. Read more