Greetings!

[alphadore]

Hello all,

This is Deniz. I am glad to be joining this forum and looking forward to contributing and learning from it. I am currently based in Dubai, UAE but been travelling a lot for the past 7 years. I am not a fugitive :) just the work threw me all around the world.

I am a financial analyst by background, worked for the company which reduced the credit rating of U.S. for the first time in the U.S. history :( . In addition, I am very much into project management and risk management practices so I am a certified PMP and PMI-RMP in addition to my MBA from Cass Business School of City University London.

Reason why I decided to join this group is to learn new small business practices, trends, and methods to market and run a small business. I co-founded a financial statement analysis web application called Alphadore which primarily targets small business owners. It helps small business owners interpret their financial statements and also benchmarks the results against their competitors or industry standards per region. I am definitely hoping to get some good feedback from this forum and thus will be giving out the product for free of charge to the active members (I havent browsed the forum properly yet but I guess there is a freebie section), believing their response will make me improve my product and in return they benefit from the consultancy report. That's it for now. Looking forward to meeting you all.

-Deniz

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Deniz. No need to apologize for moving around. Sounds more interesting than being the same place all the time.

So you're the one behind this poor rating the country now has. :) Ok may not.

Sounds like an interesting business idea. I really like the idea of setting benchmarks and being able to compare to the competition. At the same time I'm often a little hesitant to compare. I take the view that my success has more to do with me than what my competitors do. If I do well it shouldn't matter if they're doing better or worse than me. I prefer to compare my business to itself over time. Better now than 6 months ago, etc.

Helping us interpret financial statements is also a great feature.

We don't currently offer a place for you to offer freebies. For now we ask you to just link to your offer in your signature. That's usually enough to attract those interested. In time I may add something to allow people to market their businesses a little more, but at the moment it's signature only. Thanks.

Nice to have you here and thanks for joining the community.

[Spider]

Welcome aboard, Deniz. What an interesting job you have! (If one likes maths - which I do!) I lived in Dubai for a while in my wandering career, but that was way back in the late '60s/early '70s. Big changes since then! I've often thought I would like to go back, but retiring there probably isn't so easy. I wonder if you have anything to do with the Dubai Little Theatre? Many non-locals used to gravitate to the British Council-sponsored amateur theater group. Perhaps they still do?

[alphadore]

Welcome aboard, Deniz. What an interesting job you have! (If one likes maths - which I do!) I lived in Dubai for a while in my wandering career, but that was way back in the late '60s/early '70s. Big changes since then! I've often thought I would like to go back, but retiring there probably isn't so easy. I wonder if you have anything to do with the Dubai Little Theatre? Many non-locals used to gravitate to the British Council-sponsored amateur theater group. Perhaps they still do?

Hi Spider. Thanks for the warm welcome. Dubai is changing very rapidly. I believe during late 60s and 70s the city was only in Deira and Bur Dubai area. Now Dubai expanded towards Abu Dhabi with Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Sheikh Zayed road, jumeirah lake towers, etc. From time to time we still go to Deira for the creek. It still has that old Arabic pearl trader town feel.

Dubai Little Theatre? I guess it is renamed to Dubai international arts center now. They are located in a big villa in Jumeirah 1, close to the beach road. In fact, my fiance' is running the place as the director currently. So, I go there very frequently. Wonderful environment, full of friendly people, different sorts of art studios including theatre.

[alphadore]

Oh there is also DUCTAC arts center. I guess that was a theatre in early 80s and converted into a fully fledged arts center recently.

[alphadore]

Welcome to the forum Deniz. No need to apologize for moving around. Sounds more interesting than being the same place all the time.

So you're the one behind this poor rating the country now has. :) Ok may not.

Sounds like an interesting business idea. I really like the idea of setting benchmarks and being able to compare to the competition. At the same time I'm often a little hesitant to compare. I take the view that my success has more to do with me than what my competitors do. If I do well it shouldn't matter if they're doing better or worse than me. I prefer to compare my business to itself over time. Better now than 6 months ago, etc.

Helping us interpret financial statements is also a great feature.

We don't currently offer a place for you to offer freebies. For now we ask you to just link to your offer in your signature. That's usually enough to attract those interested. In time I may add something to allow people to market their businesses a little more, but at the moment it's signature only. Thanks.

Nice to have you here and thanks for joining the community.

Nice to be here! Having your previous results as a benchmark is also a very good way to measure your success. I agree with you that sometimes we dont really need to know how the industry is doing as long as we are progressing and getting better results compared to previous year.

Alphadore currently doesn't provide a benchmark to previous quarter's or year's data but it is something I am considering to include in future. Now users input total of only 12 line items from balance sheet and income statement. If Alphadore provides a benchmark to previous years results, then users need to input 30 line items. This may be a turn off for some users. Or maybe I can give it optional in future. That would be great if you can try it and let me know of your feedback. There are still some bugs and errors but progressing everyday.

[Spider]

Hi Spider. Thanks for the warm welcome. Dubai is changing very rapidly. I believe during late 60s and 70s the city was only in Deira and Bur Dubai area. Now Dubai expanded towards Abu Dhabi with Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Sheikh Zayed road, jumeirah lake towers, etc. From time to time we still go to Deira for the creek. It still has that old Arabic pearl trader town feel....I lived in Deira, just a stonethrow's distance from the creek-taxi landing spot, which was right in the heart of the old souk - it was 'old' then so it must have a very ancient feel to it now. Thanks for the feedback about the theatre - it still feels very real to me.

Tell me, are there any British retirees living in Dubai that you know of? I wonder if it is even possible to retire there? From the news one gets, Dubai seems like such an advanced modern city these days - major horse racing, Formula One car racing, financial center, super-modern architecture. It sounds wonderful. You must love living there, I think.

[alphadore]

I lived in Deira, just a stonethrow's distance from the creek-taxi landing spot, which was right in the heart of the old souk - it was 'old' then so it must have a very ancient feel to it now. Thanks for the feedback about the theatre - it still feels very real to me.

Tell me, are there any British retirees living in Dubai that you know of? I wonder if it is even possible to retire there? From the news one gets, Dubai seems like such an advanced modern city these days - major horse racing, Formula One car racing, financial center, super-modern architecture. It sounds wonderful. You must love living there, I think.

Deira is still a very authentic place to live but unfortunately now the city moving towards Abu Dhabi, Deira has become pretty far from the city centre. There is a large number of British expats working in Dubai. But honestly I havent seen many British retirees over the past 3 years. In fact, I have seen just one retired couple living in Dubai so far. They were from Texas - I met them in Dubai International Arts Centre in a gallery opening. Such a lovely couple, Nelda and Eugiene. I guess the problem here is one needs to have a visa to stay in the country for more than a month or you have to go to border and come back to renew your stay to get another 30 days. I remember Eugiene telling me that he had to put up a company to sponsor their visas.

However, if you are looking for a good place to retire, I definitely recommend Philippines! I have stayed there for 3.5 years and those were the years of my life. What a wonderful nature, friendly people, and great food. Oh, I take that back. The food could have been better :) I was based in Ortigas, Manila but frequently visiting a town called Coron in Palawan island. Highly recommended!

[Spider]

Hmm. The Philippines have never been on my radar - I should look into that. Thanks for the comments.

[cbscreative]

Hey, Deniz, welcome to the group. That's an interesting background for sure. I don't share your love of math, but I'm glad there are people who love to do what I hate to do. I prefer to just know what needs to be done so I can make it happen. I have no desire to do the math.

I saw a great quote recently: "Dear Math, I'm not a therapist. Solve your own problems."

[alphadore]

I saw a great quote recently: "Dear Math, I'm not a therapist. Solve your own problems."

Thanks for the warm welcome. Awesome quote! :) It will be my facebook status with your permission.

[cbscreative]

Funny you should want to use it for your FB status because my son had it on his which is where I got it from. Feel free to pass on the quote, it's a good one.