Rami Alame is the founder of Lexyom, one of the pioneers in Legal Tech in 2017. Today, Lexyom is going into Artificial intelligence and Blockchain technology. CEO Rami Alame is a lawyer who graduated from the Lebanese University before pursuing 2 LLMs in Business Law, Financial Services Law, and Arbitration. He worked with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Downtown Manhattan, the Lebanese Permanent Mission for the United Nations, before coming back to Lebanon in 2015 as the Lebanese Central Bank was implementing Circular 331. We sat with Rami and asked him a few questions about his new book “The Startup Kudos”.
Q: The first question is in regards to these circumstances the country is experiencing, what made you come back to Lebanon in 2015?
A: I was born clinically blind, and adaptation is part of my DNA. It made me always had a feel for entrepreneurship since my youth. I use to buy and sell small items, mobile phones, etc.… In 2015 the opportunity was there in Lebanon with the central bank allocating 400 Million USD for startups [It was all over Tech Crunch , and my Lebanese friends in the Silicon Valley were all over this news. This coincided with a family complication I faced, and so it happened. I came back to Lebanon and started Ororus Advisors LLP, a Boutique Law Firm that caters only to startups and entrepreneurs.
Q: Can we know about the issues you faced?
A: Yes, my grandfather, an inspiration to me, was sick. I left things to be next to him, lost my job in New York, and with good prospects for Lebanon, considering the risk, I decided to stay and on February 5th opened Ororus’s doors to startups and entrepreneurs.
Q: Today, we want to talk to you about your newly released book, what can you tell us about it?
A: I recently launched “The Startup Kudos” which narrates the journey of Akylles, an entrepreneur who struggles to find his way in building his startup and facing life complications. It is inspired by true events. I wanted to share the struggles, the complications but also the passion, the excitement and as cliché as it might sound, the beauty of the journey versus the result. There are 12 Chapters [Actually there is a 13th chapter I did not publish but might in a future edition]. The first 10 chapters relate the phase towards building your startup from basic instinct to growth. The 11th chapter is about Relationship 2.0 which will be my second book, and the 12th chapter is titled “ The Startup Nation” my vision for Lebanon.
Q: Why Akylles?
A: Achilles is a hero in Greek mythology who won all battles and no one could defeat him. Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel, because when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels. I chose this Character because it represents the symbol of entrepreneurs and human beings in general. As powerful as we are, we all have a weak point we should embrace.
Q: And why Startup Kudos?
A: Kudos means praise and honour received for an achievement. The book praises startups and achievements and shows the potential of startups as disruptors. Following the book, I started a project Startup Kudos called to provide startups with all the tools they need to kickstart their business {guides, articles, courses, tools & perks}. I want to keep helping startups, and I want to dedicate time for Lebanese startups, for Lebanon, for this wonderful country we want to build. I do that through my @ramialame Instagram page.
Q: What would you advise entrepreneurs to do?
A: Start by educating yourselves fast. You are the result of what you read, who you listen to and who you surround yourself with. Education became very very cheap and everyone with a PC, Mobile phone and Internet access can have access to it. Second do not be scared and think you need a lot of money to launch, no you do not. There are many ways to raise funds and I did many guides, videos and content on that.
Q: My last question is how do you see Lebanon in the future?
A: I am working with many entrepreneurs, including a close friend Jad Fakhani @Wolfofbey , with a vision to make Lebanon a Startup Nation. We want to build a borderless startup country. This is our vision. Lebanon will be Great Again.
Thank you so much for your time, and best of luck in your endeavors.
