Amad Almsaodi, the CEO of Yemen-based Aqarmap.com, a location-based real estate portal for the Middle East, discusses how Aqarmap fills a key market gap Middle East. Almsaodi discusses how he began the business by bootstrapping, and then winning the MIT Business Plan Competition in 2009, and how the revolutions in the region has influenced his plans to scale.

"A message here to the entrepreneurs: investors are not really willing to invest in ideas if the entrepreneurs don't really believe in themselves. If you are not willing to quit your job, put your own money and effort into the company before any investor comes, nobody will believe in you. If you don't trust your idea, how do you expect investors to trust it?"

Almsaodi also discusses the extensive research that he and his team did to truly understand the market. His pay off? Investment from internet holding company N2V.