Rami's Universe

Debut Labs incubator Application

6 min read

Are you a first time founder? If not, tell us what you learned

During my first venture, we pivoted after hitting major flaws 4 months after building nonstop, costing us hundreds of hours in refactoring. That experience, plus books like That Will Never Work taught me a big lesson: Don’t build things no one asked for. Now I focus on validating ideas early and often and focus on growing a community of people who deeply care about what I’m building.

Share some information detailing the professional/academic experience and accomplishments of you and your team members

I’ve spent over 800 hours building two mobile apps (Exo & Orbit) and 400+ hours producing 25+ videos, all while maintaining a 3.7 GPA as a full-time student and intern. That level of output required extreme focus, strict time management, and a willingness to cut out distractions that unis have. But I didn’t mind since my motivation to work on these things are deep and pure.

I’ve gotten a 16-month (+4 months part-time during summer) internship at a startup within IBM called skills.network located in Toronto. Where I led several AI projects aiming to leverage GenAI to educate learners trying to break into the tech industry through taking online courses and guided projects. You can find more info about what I did through my resume: https://rami-maalouf.tech/resume

Building in the consumer social space is very tough but I am determined to succeed. This is the impact that I love to create on this world: Empowering people to reach their full potential through: - Helping them grow their social skills and have more confidence in themselves. But that takes a lot of effort and time. But it’s all about having a growth mindset. Which is what self-improvement and my YouTube videos are all about: https://youtube.com/@ramimaalouf - Helping them maintain & grow their friendships/relationsips. This is why I’m building Exo: https://getexo.vercel.app - Helping people find the perfect person to meet up with in whatever context. We’re building somewhat of a 4th dimension to the world where you bump into ppl who can transform ur life. This is Orbit: https://youtu.be/QI8HgFye-m0 (b4 pivot). During my most recent hackathon, I tested out an idea for orbit: automate everything standing between people and their perfect circle. (we won best use of AI) More info: - https://devpost.com/software/orbit-w84iq1 - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rami-m_aiagents-vectordb-ai-activity-7324825143568961536-VmTh

More useful links:

Share a short brief of the Idea (150 chars max)

Orbit, an AI friend that knows everyone around you, helps you to effortlessly find n connect with the exact ppl you are looking for, for whtv context

What is the problem the idea will be solving?

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” but it goes deeper than that. “You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with” but it goes even deeper than that. I’m a true believer that bonding and connecting with people is the most important aspect of life. Forget the job opportunities and career advancements, it’s also about life satisfaction. That’s what life is all about in my opinion: The People and your ability to FIND the right people, and DEEPLY CONNECT with them. This is exactly what Orbit strives to solve.

What is Unique about your idea/solution?

Orbit is built to make the process of finding and connecting with the right people frictionless. Through leveraging the most powerful and recent AI tools, It learns who you are, what drives you, and what you’re looking for, and uses that context to introduce you to the right people at the right time. Whether you’re looking for friends, mentors, co-founders, or a life partner, Orbit works in two ways:

  1. it also scans your extended and Orbit network to help you find exactly who you’re looking to meet. But it doesn’t stop there
  2. As you’re out n about, like walking into a cafe, a classroom, or a gym, Orbit can instantly flag the kind of people you’re looking to meet in realtime.

How do you plan on making money(revenue) by solving the problem with your idea?

  • Rate-limiting (B2C)
    • x amount of messages/calls per day/week/month
    • x amount of connections per day/week/month
  • faster responses (no queue, priority speed, always available) (B2C)
  • work with educational institutions to connect Orbit to all the information available regarding anything about the university (B2E):
    • public events
    • where to go for support (mental health facilities)
    • course-specific and enrollment info
    • and so much more… there’s so much potential
  • Restaurants & cafes (B2B)
    • suggest 2 people who got connected through Orbit to go to a specific restaurant (for a discount). So a win-win for both my users and the restaurant/cafe

How long have you been working on the idea and how far along are you?

  • I have proof for the numbers
  • 515+ hours of building the app (before our 2nd pivot)
  • Started it while I was a full-time student in september and continued to build, research, test, and market it while taking a full course load from sept 2024-may 2025
  • We are now at our 3rd pivot. Currently in the process of building the platform that’s powered by AI Agents and several cutting edge technologies and launch it during fall semester

What are the top 3 challenges/hurdles you are currently facing with regards to staring up with this idea

  • mentorship from both growth and technical experts. To make sure I don’t fall trap to things that I could have avoided if I had an expert advising me. I hate wasting time. While sometimes it’s inevitable and recommended, I strive to move fast but also steady. Validating everything we are building before we dedicate 100s of hours on it
  • It’s been a challenge building alone and it would be very motivating to be surrounded by cracked, ambitious people like me. My energy comes from the people I surround myself with. Also being in an environment where I can get instantaneous feedback on features I implemented. Enables me to build and break fast
  • Since I’m the CEO (Chief Everything Officer) for now, I need to do both CTO and CMO roles simultaneously. Currently in the process of learning the secret sauce for digital marketing and growing as a content creator to expand on the skills I learned over the past 3 years through making YouTube videos. I’m currently readying “Contagious - Why things Catch on”. 25% done. Planning to finish the rest in my 9 hour flight. I’d like to be surrounded by experts who can help me in that process as well.

What are your goals for this program?

By the end of the program, I would like to have Orbit fully launched and being used inside one university. Grow an active community around Orbit that is actively supporting and testing the development of it Deeply connect with other participants and mentors that I would be friends with for the rest of my life (I’m expecting the best of the best out there). And of course help other participants in anything I can help with

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