Elie El Khoury’s name is now associated with arguably the most compelling real time web analytics tool to have ever been created, by far exceeding existing tools such as Google’s. With over 80,000 committed users just at the testing stages, Woopra has recently moved to its first public release. Many of Woopra’s features have taken into consideration the feedback of users who have been encouraged by the Woopra team to voice their views about functionalities that matters most to them, thus creating the most challenging and unique collaborative process between development and the user community. Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Woopra , Elie El Khoury talks to coffeebreaklessons about his experience with Woopra and his aspirations for the future. Both a talented musician and an avid computer programmer, at the young age of 23, Elie is a Lebanese entrepreneur who will definitely leave a mark in his domain of business and for many years to come.

Coffeebreaklessons: You came up with a brilliant idea in a fast moving industry, developed it and now about to reap the fruits of your team’s effort. How do you describe your experience ?

Elie: It was a fantastic adventure. We’ve been through really hard times but also amazing periods.

Coffeebreaklessons: Surely there were lots of challenges along the way, what were the most daring steps you had to take in order to get the Woopra project on its feet and now up and running ?

Elie: We all know that Web 2.0 is a very risky industry. 8 or 9 out of 10 ventures fail. The toughest thing we had to do was simply sustaining ourselves for one and a half year, self-funded with no income whatsoever.

Coffeebreaklessons: We understand that the development work started in Lebanon, this must have presented lots of difficulties from lack of local business support to the unreliable and weak internet infrastructure of Lebanon. Did you ever think of giving up the project because of these difficulties and what motivated you to push forward ?

Elie: Development in Lebanon is not as tough as you think. I mean we may have in Lebanon one of the worst broadband infrastructures but that would have never stopped us. What motivated me the most to proceed is that I wanted to prove that a startup doesn’t have to be launched in the Silicon Valley to succeed, my dream was to succeed from my home country.

Coffeebreaklessons: How did your business associations in the USA help the project and in what ways ?

Elie: Being based now in the US helped us establish more credibility and raise funds. It’s just that the people there are more used to this kind of ventures.

Coffeebreaklessons: Woopra has lots of fantastic features, it has helped companies like us target our content to the market that had the most interest in our services and also enabled us to test response to our content from various markets. We also find its capability to initiate chat sessions directly with visitors as they browse the website to be an excellent marketing tool. Do you plan to add more useful features after the product is realeased in its final form ?

Elie: We have todos that will keep us busy for the next 3 years. I promise that we will have plenty of new cool features for Woopra and we’ll be focusing a bit more on the accessibility (mobiles apps and alerts)

Coffeebreaklessons: Lebanon may not be known as a technology hub, do you think this could potentially change in the near future ?

Elie: That’s my dream. Of course we still need to solve our internal conflicts first. From what I’ve learned from different countries like China, India and the US, it all needs a decision to become a hub. It’s not a coincidence, so we need to start by setting that as a goal otherwise it will never happen. At the moment, I don’t see any politicians or party even interested in the goal.

Coffeebreaklessons: You have graduated from the Lebanese American University of Byblos, surely this helped you learn theory and the basics of software development, but how did you manage to expand your development skills and how did you decide on what technologies to use to develop Woopra ?

Elie: I’ve been a developer since the age of 12. Software development has always been like a hobby for me. Woopra is not my 1st project, I started plenty of other projects that failed in the past, but I learned a lot from them which helped me gain enough experience to build Woopra.

Coffeebreaklessons: You are young in your early twenties, you also come across as being modest, sharp and dedicated to your work. These qualities are rare in people. Do you have a role model in your family or amongst your friends, or perhaps a source of inspiration that encouraged you to take the entrepreneurial route?

Elie: Thank you! Yes, my father is my inspiration. He may have never touched a computer until today but he’s a very successful entrepreneur and very dedicated to his work. As for my role model, that would be Steve Jobs.

Coffeebreaklessons: Can you name some of your most favourite musicians, what instruments you like to play and what kind of music you listen to ?

Elie: I’m a guitarist and taught the blues & jazz guitar during college. My favorite musicians are George Benson, Norman Brown, B.B. King, Scott Henderson, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra etc… .

Coffeebreaklessons: Do you like the Culture section of our website and what would you like to see in it ?

Elie: I love what you guys are doing at CoffeeBreakLessons. I would like to see and read more about entrepreneurship and startups

Visit Elie’s blog and Woopra’s website