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Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

Bio

I have 20+ years of experience in the software filed, ranging from working as a software developer, project manager, product manager, scrum master, Private Equity manager, post acquisition and integration transformation to Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer. I ‘ve helped numerous companies and entrepreneurs turn their business ideas to successful working companies, I also have global experience working with companies in US, Europe and MENA region. In addition, I ‘m PMP certified and hold an MBA.

Recent Answers

angel investing

Buying shares of an early startup : What are the things to consider?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

. Ask about the vesting for the other equity holders team members . What is the current valuation of the company ? so what is your % equity . When will they have another round of funding ? Will that affect your shares ? how will yours be liquidated ? . Will you just be a share holder ? Any voting power ? Will share the benefits / earning as well ?

Manufacturing

How do I validate if there is a need for this business without building a full backend first


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

There are definitely multiple ways !! . Go to kickstarter and indiegogo and see if there will be backers or no .Try to go for a roadshow and see if there will be a series A investors or no ( investors know alot about the market ! Even better than you sometimes) . Check the comparatives / Competitors . Do market research / study groups . Go even to your future target customers , and see their input and hear from them . Create an MVP ( Minimum Viable Product) and start doing sales. It is called MINIMUM for a reason

Agile Project Management

What's the best approach to sell agile / scrum coaching and training services to companies?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

I 've done project management consulting for years, using Scrum , XP , as well as the classic PMI approach, and a blend of waterfall and spiral. People think that Agile is a silver bullet that will solve all their problems, which is not true. You need to do your gap analysis and due diligence , and show the company the gaps in their implementations, and the problems they have. If Agile ( and scrum) will be the right fix, you then should show them how it does it. Afterwards, you do basic high level training, coaching, sharing ideas, , then take one team / project as an example,. and do the thorough change management by co-managing the project with their managers ( or scrum master and product owner if they have the right structure) . They will be shadowing you in the beginning for one or two sprints, then you drive and they lead after wards and you keep advising them until things are stable .. But just giving training or theoretical lecture is not supposed to deliver a real result.

Crowdfunding

Is there a US fundraising equity platform similar to Seedrs - specifically that would help coordinate a pre-revenue F&F raise of approx. $50k?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

You may check kickstarter and Indiegogo for crowdfunding.

Project Management

What are the best project management softwares out there?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

It Depends !! I 've used multiple project management tools, including , but not restricted to , Basecamp, Ms. Project, Jira , Trello , VersionOne, RallyDev. I also used TFS and Sharepoint. Even excel and google docs. Every option has pros and cons, depending on the type of team your are working with, type of project and industry , budget, technical literacy, project management literacy of both the team and the management, targets ( is this to manage a project or to do a massive change management ? ) and the management scheme used ( agile , cmmi, pmi , prince2 lean ..etc. ) There is no best project management tool .Your answer to the above will lead you to chose the most convenient one. Good Luck !

Entrepreneurship

How can I convert my well-developed chat application into a commercial application in order to gain revenue?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

You can make it entity based. For example , brand it for an elite group usage. You can also make it server based, where entities , like universities, clubs or companies, can use it for their internal network to reach each others.

Mobile applications

What is the best technology for developing a new mobile app from scratch?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

It Depends :) For back end ,you need to ask are you looking for scalability ? or just fixed number of users. What about the data base ? do you need a relational database or a non relational database .. ? if non relational ? Which type ? Do you need to do analytics ? what type of analytics ? For front end .. Is this an enterprise app ? Or will be used for public ? Still I prefer to avoid cross platforms because :- . Harder to maintain . Lots of bugs . Lower performance if compared to native apps . Doesn't make full use of the hardware and OS platform if compared to native apps. But this again depends on the complexity of the project and the target market needs. Sometimes the extra value of the native apps is not justifiable. Again it depends. If you need more help let me know , to discuss the case in more details to guide you the right way. Good Luck!

Mobile applications

Which one to choose? App business or a SaaS business idea?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

That will depend on the business model, target market and expected cash flows. Also if the deliverable will be a one time purchase or a recurrent purchase. If you are targeting mass scale clients, I recommend to go for SaaS . That will help increase your sales very fast, where people can try , pay a monthly fee or per license fee..etc. If your market is small and you are delivering a high end expensive project, very specialised, I then recommend to go for app . and you may not even go for a store app. You may then be delivering an on platform app , with even a hardware token or something for licensing , either per user , or a corporate license. If you want a detailed study I can help you , based on your business plan ( I can help you prepare one ) and assess then and help make models for which one can be better. Good Luck !

Startups

A tech startup fully outsourced. What problems would be in this situation?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

Bad Idea.. Sorry to say that. I've consulted startups for years. You don't outsource a startup project. When your company grows, you may outsource one of the operations , if it is beyond your area of expertise, and then assessing outsourcing VS starting a new subsidiary or department to solve the problems you are facing will still be another option. For startups , it is always recommended to hire professionals to help you manage what is going on. For example , if you are making a web app or a mobile app and you are not a developer, then you should hire a project manager or a CTO , to help you hire a tech team , manage them and be under your control to turn your ideas to reality. And think about the money you will spend on the outsourcing and spend it on your internal team. This is important for lots of stuff:- . You will learn a lot. Which is priceless. . If the company fails, what you learn will help you move forwards to your next startup . . As a startup, whatever you have in mind will change a lot on the go , based on updates in business, funding , competitors , or if things boom and you want to have funding from a venture capital or investor or even be acquired. If you outsource things, you loose control on what you have about your company insiders, especially on technology stuff, and also you don;t have the needed flexibility to do all the changes you want on that short notice if compared to the case that you have your internal team. You may hire CORE team for important stuff, and keep hiring freelancers here and there for short tasks that you don't need frequently . And these people will still be willing to join you later on a full time contract or a return basis. My answers are high level , but will give you an overview on where to go. If you need more details , we can have a discussion and I can help you from A to Z on how to move forwards on your work, what exactly to do internally and what to outsource of even buy . Good Luck !

Technical Hiring

Where can I find programmers willing to join a growing mobile start up for equity only?


Tamer Maher

CTO / COO- M&A Business Consultant MBA & PMP

You will need to pay a minimum salary. Then equity will be negotiable. angel.co is one of the platforms where people go to work with startups for just salary, or equity or a blend of both. If you need help with your startup let me know. Thanks

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Startup ConsultingLean StartupsScrumJIRAFinancial ModelingSoftware Project ManagementAgile Project ManagementHealthcare Information TechnologyFinancial AnalysisLean Manufacturing