A Start-up Founder's Story: Archif

Joining King's Start-up Accelerator

At first, I honestly didn’t think the accelerator was the right fit for me because my business was based in Lebanon. I decided to apply anyway to give it a chance and keep my options open and I’m really glad I did!

Being surrounded by other founders has been incredibly rewarding. There are moments where you doubt yourself, or think you’re doing everything wrong, but seeing others go through the same challenges makes a huge difference. It turns something that feels lonely into something that feels shared.

Starting a business vs joining the job market

Building a start-up right after finishing university is pretty unconventional. Most people around you are getting jobs and that can feel isolating. I kept telling myself that I could always get a job later but might only have this window now to try to build something on my own. Straight after university felt like the lowest-risk moment to take that leap. Later, it could be much harder to pause my career and start from scratch. 

When you’re surrounded by other people who are also building companies, it normalises the experience. It makes you realise that you’re not crazy, you’re not doing something impossible, you’re just choosing a different path.

I realise how lucky I am that I also have the support of my parents and family, which makes pursuing this idea possible.

First paying customers

Social media has been key. Honestly!

I always tell people to start building in public before they launch. That was my biggest distribution channel from day one. I was transparent about my journey, about what I was building, even before the product existed, and that’s how I had customers before the business officially launched.

Start posting and promoting yourself early. Don’t wait until everything is "ready". Building in public is the easiest and most effective way to get your first customers at this stage.

The first six months on the King’s Start-up Accelerator

At the start, I didn’t even have a minimal viable product (MVP). Since then, I’ve launched one, reached five figures in revenue, been featured in the press, and met so many incredible people along the way.

What surprised me most is how people perceive what you’re doing. At the beginning, a lot of people, including myself, doubted whether this was even possible. And then suddenly, six months later, you’re on the other side of it.

Support from King’s Start-up Accelerator

The community and mentorship have had the biggest impact on my progress, and I really underestimated both at the beginning.

Your environment is everything. Every single day I’m in the office, I learn something new from my peers or from mentors. When you’re surrounded by people who are also building start-ups, you grow together, you challenge each other, and your thinking constantly expands.

The mentorship has been invaluable. It’s genuinely changed the course of my business and my development as a founder.

Biggest learning so far

Systems beat discipline, every single time. I have ADHD, and for a long time I tried to “fix” myself by becoming more disciplined. But that’s exhausting and unsustainable. What works is putting systems in place that set you up for success by default. That’s a much better investment of time and energy, and it’s way more consistent in the long run.

Next steps

Right now, I’m at the stage where I’m considering raising investment and growing the team. I started in Lebanon, and my goal is to scale to other countries and regions in the Middle East. To do that, the first step is automating a lot of processes that are currently very manual. That’s my immediate focus, moving from manual execution to systems that can scale. From there, it’s about increasing output so we can expand sustainably into new markets.

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Learn more about Archif on their website and Instagram.

The Entrepreneurship Institute supports students, staff and alumni, to start and scale their ideas and ventures through the King's Start-up Accelerator. If you would like to know more, check out our website.