Co-Founder & Tech Lead
Khaled co-founded two startup ventures over 16 months. BConfident was an automated video interviewing platform with real-time emotion detection for HR recruiting - the team built an iOS prototype and spent a year fundraising, receiving a 200,000 euro offer from a German research center that was declined due to relocation requirements. AskDucks was a two-sided marketplace connecting international students abroad with prospective students seeking advice - the MVP was completed but COVID-19 closed universities to international students, killing the market. Both ventures were born from personal pain points and provided deep lessons about commitment, timing, and the realities of startup life.
Why I Joined
Entrepreneurial drive to build products solving personal pain points and create own vision
- •Led technical development as co-founder responsible for all product engineering
- •Built BConfident iOS prototype with Swift, Firebase, and MIT scholar's emotion detection SDK
- •Developed AskDucks cross-platform MVP using Flutter and Firebase
- •Conducted year-long fundraising campaign for BConfident across Egyptian angels, VCs, and German research center
- •Integrated machine learning emotion detection SDK for video interview analysis
- •Designed matching algorithms for connecting international students with relevant consultants
- ✓Built BConfident prototype integrating emotion detection ML for real-time video interview analysis
- ✓Secured 200,000 euro funding offer from German research center (declined due to relocation requirement)
- ✓Completed AskDucks MVP connecting international students for paid consultation services
- ✓Gained year-long fundraising experience presenting to Egyptian angels, VCs, and European research institutions
Technology Stack
Situation
After the Fries Factory experience, Khaled continued his entrepreneurial journey with two tech ventures. BConfident aimed to solve HR recruiting inefficiencies with automated video interviews and emotion detection. AskDucks was born from both co-founders' experience as Egyptian international students constantly fielding questions from others wanting to study abroad.
Task
Build and launch two tech products: an HR technology platform with ML capabilities, and a two-sided marketplace for international student consultation.
Action
For BConfident, Khaled built an iOS prototype integrating an emotion detection SDK from an Egyptian MIT scholar. He spent a year fundraising, presenting to Egyptian angels and VCs, eventually receiving a 200,000 euro offer from a German research center. He declined because it required relocating to Germany and renaming the product under their umbrella. For AskDucks, he built a complete cross-platform MVP using Flutter and Firebase, with matching algorithms to connect students by city, university, nationality, and field of study.
Result
BConfident reached prototype stage with significant VC interest but was not pursued due to commitment constraints. AskDucks was completed as an MVP but COVID-19 closed universities to international students, eliminating the target market overnight. These 16 months provided the longest and deepest entrepreneurial lessons about commitment, timing, and hard decisions.
Size: 2 people
Structure: Two co-founders startup partnership
Reported to: Self (Co-Founder)
0Skills Gained
Skills Deepened
- 💡Full commitment is required to build startups - half-measures do not work
- 💡External factors like COVID can kill even validated ideas with good product-market fit
- 💡Products born from personal pain points have authentic value propositions
- 💡Fundraising is a year-long journey with many rejections before real offers
- 💡Sometimes saying no to funding is harder than saying yes