Meet the Leader: Roberto Croci, A pioneer in the startup ecosystem

How has the startup scene evolved since you first came to Dubai?

Significantly I came to Dubai 8 years ago when venture capital funds were in their initial stages. The startup ecosystem didn’t get the kind of attention we see today. The dramatic evolution of the startup ecosystem is attributable to many factors. Firstly, the government here is willing to shift the economy from oil to knowledge-based. To manage unemployment, the government is making attempts to shift the attention from job seeking to job creation. The involvement and encouragement on part of the government are making it easier to do business here. From a policy regulation perspective, the 100% ownership of the business model has also made it attractive for people to consider setting up a business. 

There has also been an evolution in terms of the maturity of the ecosystem. Initially, startups were copycats of existing business models. The mindset was to make an Arab version of an already existing model. While there is nothing wrong with such a model, it cannot be the only thing. There has been a shift in this mindset with entrepreneurs looking for new product solutions to address real problems. Exporting solutions into other markets to go international is another factor that has contributed to the evolution of the ecosystem here.

Finally, I would say what makes an ecosystem evolve are some critical success factors and some enabling factors. One enabling factor is quantity. The increase in the number of startups builds more quantity. This is an enabling factor for an ecosystem to flourish that also leads to an increase in quality.

The macroeconomics of the influx of people from eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russia and India has raised the bar in terms of entrepreneurship, ideas, and the solutions brought to the market. It is quite interesting to measure changes brought about by evolution. Let’s take funding, for example the total amount of funding it’s approximately two billion dollars, which is more than other ecosystems. A few years ago, nobody would have said that the funding here would have reached a billion dollars. The quantity and quality of startups are increasing. There are more ecosystem players like incubators, accelerators, and venture builders. There is the convergence of main indicators and enablers that makes an ecosystem that is the trajectory through which the ecosystem has been going through in the last years.

What’s your view on the startup landscape in Dubai?

As an optimist, I see a lot of positive indicators. The government is making it easier and easier for entrepreneurs to set up here. It is easing out regulations and policies. Availability of capital and increase in accessibility are also positive. The maturity of startups is increasing, and more corporations are looking at innovation. The first CVC that has been set up in the region is Etisalat at 250 billion. There are other funds that have been set up within corporates and are actively investing in startups. I would say the landscape is evolving in the right way.

Things can still be improved to make the ecosystem stronger. There is still a big gap between education and universities and the private and public sector. Generally speaking, there is not much research being done here, which means that the degree of innovation is not that high. But Dubai has historically been doing a great job in attracting talent and telling them, “Hey, this is a credible and reputable destination to consider for a career.” 

However, when we talk specifically about the startup ecosystem, it’s not easy for people to consider Dubai or UAE. It’s not only a matter of financial package and money. They want to meet great people working on cool projects and spend time on something they care about. The research component and talent are probably some of the biggest gaps.

As for funding, capital availability is getting better. What I envision is that in order for the ecosystem to be really healthy, it should be sort of a funnel. The upper funnel should have an abundance of early-stage ideation and early-stage funding. In Dubai, investors typically come in at a later stage. This ends up being difficult for younger entrepreneurs, first-time entrepreneurs and students for whom access to angel investors or early-stage capital is rare and/or limited. In order to make a sustainable funnel, abundance is necessary. 

Overall, though, I see a lot of positive indicators in the ecosystem. Once a few critical gaps are filled, Dubai will emerge as a global ecosystem and will compete globally with other emerging ecosystems.

What are the biggest success stories at ‘Microsoft for Startups’?

I had the privilege of leading ‘Microsoft for Startups’ for the last three years in the region. There was no team when I joined, so we built it up from scratch. I would say the first success has been setting it up. Followed by developing a strong presence by having a team that is able to speak the startup language and also has an ecosystem strategy, enabling the ecosystem and the different ecosystems there are to be successful. 

There is a lot of value that can be unlocked. We are in a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment office where launch regional programs to be closer to the startup ecosystem and attract more relevant startups in the UAE. We also develop and help put them through conditions that accelerate their growth. 

We launched an accelerator focused on corporate innovation called ‘Growth’, where we have both relevant corporates from the region and global corporates from the Emirates, Etihad, and Etisalat. Accenture, DHL, IKEA and Unilever are some of our global brands. We spend time with them to find challenges and then work with them to figure out solutions to those challenges. We look at challenges as impulses to accelerate the development of the process. We live in an innovative startup ecosystem. Helping corporates find challenges is not the hard part. Sourcing startups with great ideas is not the hard part either. The real toughie is when startups and corporates start working together. A lot of corporates don’t know what they want, and even the ones that do know they want don’t know how to work with startups because it is a completely different process. Often, they don’t know how and other times, don’t have the patience to. On the startup side, they don’t know how to tap into corporates most of the time. Finding the right stakeholders, securing a deal and managing sales is difficult. We help enable this collaboration in a tangible way. With real programs being addressed and showing results. 

Real innovation is happening, and real business opportunities and business value are delivered for startups and corporates. That is a great story from Microsoft’s perspective because Microsoft focuses on the B2B side of things and then works with corporates, enabling innovation for them.

What funding advice would you give to a first-time founder?

First-time founders seeking investment are really stressed about securing that money, so at the point that it becomes their main and only thing they are doing, they tend to disregard or forget about the product, the team, the culture and other things. 

I’m not saying that funding is not important, it is one of the key requirements. But I would say that raising money too early is a problem. A lot of founders make the mistake of raising money too early, even if they don’t even need it; because it gives them a sense of confidence and security. However, the negative consequences of having to dilute the company, along with added unnecessary pressure and deviation from what is needed, happen far too often. 

First, you need to discover customers, validate ideas and build prototypes before scaling the company. In my experience, money is not an issue. Think about reverting your approach where you build up and reach a stage where the money is chasing you. That’s what great founders are able to do.  

What sectors are you interested in?

I’m interested in innovation that can simplify things and solve problems. Education is a sector that I’m more passionate about. We haven’t changed the education system for ages. The current education system was created with a different premise, era and time in mind. The needs and conditions of the world have changed drastically since. 

I would want to see way more things happening beyond the fact that you can have an online platform to connect tutors with. That’s fine. Those kinds of things are nice to have to me, but the fundamental issues that we have with education considering all the stakeholders involved from teachers themselves, schools, institutions, parents, families, kids, and students. Education is becoming increasingly expensive. I want to see more of how we can make education more effective, how we can get less dependent on the certificate and focus more on skills. Another sector that fascinates me is Healthcare. I think that the same amount of innovation we have seen in financial services with the Fintech boom, we have seen in Healthcare the last couple of years. What we saw in the pandemic was just an acceleration of something that was already there. To me, however, sick care is not real healthcare. There is a lot of potential innovation that can happen. If you think about the amount of time it took to come with the vaccine, you see the boon of technology. 

There is a lot of innovation that we haven’t seen yet that will happen across healthcare. I want to see more fundamental innovation happen to solve the real problems. 

Apart from that, in technology, I am intrigued by the promises of ‘Web3’ and ‘Metaverse’. While the expected decentralization and disruption is fascinating, other scenarios point towards the benefits of centralisation in making an impact on specific businesses. 

Was your career goal always to end up in the tech industry?

Let’s say my career goal has always been about empowering people. It has always been about leadership and not exclusively in tech. I love technology. But, for most of my career, and throughout my experiences at Google and Microsoft, a key takeaway is that technology is a means to an end. For example, I like football. 

But, sometimes there are certain critics and referees who will make a match all about themselves. A good refry should be invisible. He should make decisions and keep things under control. Using this as an analogy, technology should be sort of an invisible layer of support and problem solving. It should serve as a useful underlying layer—a means to an end. Technology is always about human beings. It is something we use to improve our human experience. 

But, sometimes there are certain critics and referees who will make a match all about themselves. A good refry should be invisible. He should make decisions and keep things under control. Using this as an analogy, technology should be sort of an invisible layer of support and problem solving. It should serve as a useful underlying layer—a means to an end. Technology is always about human beings. It is something we use to improve our human experience. 

Tell us about your journey in your career.

I started my career in consulting. I’ve worked with PWC for a while, which was a great learning experience. In consulting, you get assigned different assignments and work in different industries. You learn how to be professional, navigate stakeholders, and build recommendations, so it was a great experience. 

I have been trying to intentionally build my career by moving towards whatever interests me the most. After my experience in consulting, I joined a startup. The startup was building a sort of multi-channel e-commerce model in the industry of design and furniture. It was kind of like the UK company ‘Net-A-Porte’ but in a different industry. I was part of the founding team, which was an amazing experience. It was like an accelerated MBA because you do almost everything when you are in the founding team of a startup. Just a few people launching retail stores, running e-commerce and doing everything from the admin processes to managing suppliers, logistics, call centers and everything! 

I then joined ‘DoubleClick’, which Google acquired. In 2008, it was the second largest acquisition at 3.1 billion dollars. I was in charge of Business Development in Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The experience was very different. At the time, the core business of Google was media; it was more technological. The acquisition was less transactional and was more about longer-term value. I developed the business, grew the team and was on an amazing ride. I really loved feeling like a part of the revolution. It was at that time that digital marketing and marketing technology evolved, and we were at the forefront of that revolution with a leading platform empowering clients, advertisers and publishers to change their business model and monetize the data of their audience. 

With Google, I had the chance to live in different countries and live what it means to become a global citizen. I drive a lot of the energy that I have from managing multicultural, high-performing teams that are driven by desire to create impact. 

I joined Microsoft four years ago as the Managing Director of ‘Microsoft for Startups’. I was setting up this division from scratch, building programs and partnerships and scaling across the Middle East and Africa regions. 

I left Microsoft early in September of last year to embark on my entrepreneurial journey. I am now supporting the set up of a few venture capital funds in Dubai. Soon, I’ll join a supreme wealth fund and move towards the investment side of things rather than management. I look forward to leveraging all the experience I have to give back to business owners, entrepreneurs and founders. I want to help people set up and scale successful businesses.

Do you have any tips for young professionals?

Two things I did throughout my journey were, one, I kept investing in myself through education. Learning is lifelong. I did my Executive MBA four years ago at HBS, which also helped me build on my network. Intentionally building your network is the second most important thing. Having a relevant network that allows you a meaningful transactional relationship is an art and a science. Be intentional with building your network in a way that it fills gaps: a diverse network.  

What are some of your favourite local startups?

There are a bunch of startup founders that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I love what they stand for, drive and what they do. I’ll mention just a few, but, of course, there are many others. ‘Secret Groves’ is founded by a couple. One of the founders used to be a Senior Executive with Emirates, NBD. He launched this company with his wife with an aim of targeting issues related to deforestation. They make people guardians of the forest. The first time I met him, I thought they were crazy. “How can you guard all the forests?” I thought. But they are now in talks with governments around the world, including Uganda and India. They find forests, digitize them and make people guardians of the forest. They have to them preserve those forests like gardens that’s why secret groves. 

They are also getting into conservative commerce, recycling and waste management. Serenity and humanity are the key areas of focus. I love what they are doing, and I think they will be extremely successful going forward. 

Another thing I have to mention is the Fintech startups. It is difficult to pick just one because there have been many successful startups here, from ‘Tabby’ and ‘ZENA’ to ‘SPottii’ and many more. These companies have been creating great teams. The quality of the funding team is also excellent, given their ambition to scale and grow profitability and revenues. The sophistication and maturity of the startup ecosystem is growing.