Establishing a start-up in Saudi Arabia: the Innosoft story
Publication date: 13 August 2019
Abstract
Subject Area
Entrepreneurship.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are to explain the importance of passion in entrepreneurship, develop an understanding of the business model canvas and its elements, identify typical challenges faced by a startup (during early days and while growing), explain the role of seed fund and customer feedback for small business success and identify the appropriate hiring strategy for startups.
Case overview/synopsis
The case traces the journey of two Saudi under-graduate software engineering students, namely, Loai Labani and Riyadh Al-Tayib, who had a vision to establish the best information technology (IT) services company in Saudi Arabia. With no previous experience of establishing a company or working for a startup, coupled with the fact that the culture of entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia is still in its ascendancy, they knew it would be challenging. Nevertheless, at the same time, they were convinced it would be totally up to them to do the hard work needed to propel their vision into reality. The case, after introducing the founders, talks about their respective backgrounds and how it complemented their goal/vision of establishing an IT services company. The case, with references from the literature, also throws light on the entrepreneurship culture in Saudi Arabia but the focus is the various challenges faced by the team in setting up their business and the strategies they used in dealing with the challenges. Some of the challenges discussed are securing early customers, initial financing to support startup, business model development, managing daily operations and hiring and marketing strategy. The case ends with another challenge faced by the founders, for the readers to think about the possible ways of dealing with the challenge at hand.
Complexity academic level
The case will be used for under-graduate level students.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend their sincere thanks and gratitude to Ms. Gerry Yemen, Senior Researcher at University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Professor James G. Clawson, Johnson and Higgins Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at University of Virginia Darden School of Business and Dr.Jacquelyn Elliot, Consultant at Academic Leadership Center, Saudi Arabia, for their support and guidance in the fulfilment of this case study.
Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making. The authors may have disguised names; financial and other recognizable information to protect confidentiality.
Citation
Mohammed, R.A., Horoub, M. and Walwil, H. (2019), "Establishing a start-up in Saudi Arabia: the Innosoft story", , Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-05-2017-0076
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited