Transcriber: Hamzeh Koumakli Reviewer: sadegh zabihi
I was 19 when I got my first office.
It was three floors high, and it was extremely big.
Yes, my office was the Jafet Library.
And I will tell you in a few minutes how things started from here, literally.
Back when I was at school, I used to be the shy one,
and my teachers reminded me in every single transcript:
"Omar, you need to be more confident."
Luckily enough, school ended and university started.
You might think that university and a shy person don't mix,
but my passion for computer science saved me,
and I used this to my advantage.
It was at university when I realized
that there was a rapid potential in mobile applications in Lebanon,
but there was no company developing any apps.
So, I had this idea to start one with my friend in our office.
Now, of course not everyone sitting in Jafet has started a company.
And starting a company is not easy.
I knew it was hard,
but back then, I said to myself,
"What is the worst thing that is going to happen?
Maybe the company would go bankrupt, so I won't put it to my CV."
But not only did I add it to my CV,
Executive Magazine talked about it,
and we were able to attract more than 12 clients
from all over the world, including the US,
in less than a year.
I'm a nice guy, so I'm going to tell you
about three secrets you won't read in any newspaper or magazine.
Secret number one:
I didn't wait.
I didn't wait until I graduated and got a job to learn how to be a professional.
I went online, I read books, I read articles.
I learned how to look like a professional,
talk like a professional, and communicate like a professional.
And I didn't wait until I'm 30 to start my own business.
I actually started the company when I realized
there were no other businesses developing any apps at that time.
And I didn't wait until I built my own network of contacts.
In fact, I leveraged network I have.
And that means talking to everyone
and everyone's fathers, mothers, aunts, and uncles.
Secret number two:
don't assume, just pitch.
Two years ago, I was at UC Berkeley for a summer session,
and after I settled into the dorms,
I got to know my way around on campus a bit.
I decided that I should pay the administration of housing a visit
and tell them what we can do as a mobile app company.
Now, I can see from your faces that you're asking the same question
most people would do:
"Aren't there enough smart people at UC Berkeley
to develop their mobile app?"
Well, there are, but they didn't pitch.
I did.
And actually, one week later, they asked us to develop their mobile app
for the International House at UC Berkeley,
which reminds me: always have a pitch ready
and don't walk in there without doing your homework.
I prepared a skeleton of the app,
what options they can incorporate,
and a small design of what the app can look like.
And all of that, just for a pitch.
Secret number three:
fly the plane, and build it at the same time.
What does that mean?
I've used the basics I've learned from university,
and believe me,
any university in the world is going to give you only the basics.
And for a computer science student, that’s what you do.
There is no way that you can learn every single language out there
before walking into a client's meeting.
They will ask you questions you don't know the answer of.
They will request features that you don't know how to do.
But it doesn't matter what you've learned.
What matters is that you can learn and use the resources out there.
You don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Now, all of this was happening - the company, the clients, the money -
and I was over the moon.
But somehow, Lebanon has a way to knock you on the head.
So, what if you're good enough in Lebanon, the smallest market in the Middle East,
but are you good enough to make it into the world?
And two months ago, I learned the answer to my question.
I was selected to participate
in the New York University Abu Dhabi International Hackathon,
where they gathered top computer science students
from all over the world.
There were students from Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Yale.
There were students from Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Sri Lanka,
and the judges were no different.
They came from NASA, Google, Microsoft,
and from many other big players in the IT industry.
Now, among Ivy League university students,
you can easily feel that you lack competence.
But the truth is, only one team will win.
So, losing has nothing to do with what you're capable of.
And when everyone else wanted to explore the city on the first day,
I did something I never thought I would do in my entire life.
I drank coffee for the very first time.
(Laughter)
And after three sleepless nights,
my team and I won.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
Thank you.
Now, you can win all the competitions in the world,
but that doesn't mean that your professor is going to let you graduate.
I was quickly reminded that I was still a student
and I have to present my final year project.
I had two ideas in mind.
The first one is interesting, hard, and will impress my professor.
But the second one is more interesting, much harder,
and will ensure my professor will never forget my name,
probably because it was virtually impossible to do in four months.
So, I decided to sacrifice my social life,
my friends, my relationship with my parents, proper food,
(Laughter)
and instead embrace the second project and multiple visits to the ER.
So, what was the project?
The project was about developing malaria,
automatically detecting malaria in five seconds
instead of waiting one hour in a hospital and paying money for each test.
I started this project with my teammate, and guess what?
It was hell.
Hell I chose
every day during these four months.
After finishing my daily six working hours,
I was frustrated.
Even my professor told me at some point to drop the idea
because I may not be able to achieve it in time for graduation.
I had to learn image processing and biology at the same time.
I even remember having a conversation with my biology professor,
and I was describing malaria as a bacteria, to which he responded,
"Malaria is a parasite, not a bacteria."
Well, I really don't care.
I just wanted to detect it and graduate.
And now, I actually did graduate.
And in the time you've listened to my talk,
the software would have diagnosed more than 120 patients
instead of waiting 50 more minutes to diagnose only one patient.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
So, the next time you're sitting at Jafet Library,
trying to study, worrying about your future,
or trying to get a date from the girl sitting next to you,
I want you to remember two things.
First, the purpose of university, any university,
is not to acquire knowledge.
It is to learn how to acquire knowledge and to learn what you're capable of.
Second: don't wait, don't assume, make a move.
Remember that a moving target is a lot harder to shoot down
than a fixed one.
Every object around us has been created by people who are mostly shy,
but have developed themselves and took the first step
when everyone else was holding back.
You can be one of those people.
You can add your object to the world around us
and be its own creator.
Thank you.
(Applause)