Startup Confessionals

Today, the stories behind the creation of startups in emerging markets are often left out of the global narrative. In “Startup Confessionals”, we’ll dive into founder stories from the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on the Arab world, to learn about some of their biggest lessons and challenges on the road to product market fit, and hopefully leave you more reflective, and inspired. Our mission is to illuminate founders in the region and uncover the honest and often unspoken truths about startup life, from the personal to the professional. We’ll dive into topics like: - How founders continue to stay motivated and productive when there are challenges - The topics of productivity and resilience - How they raised capital and more I’m your host, Yasmeen Turayhi, and as a product marketing expert in Silicon Valley and Board member of TechWadi, the leading non-profit organization building bridges between Silicon Valley and the Middle East and North Africa region, I’ll lead these interviews with startup founders and entrepreneurs where we will learn about what it takes to start a company from the personal to the professional.

Today, the stories behind the creation of startups in emerging markets are often left out of the global narrative. In “Startup Confessionals”, we’ll dive into founder stories from the Middle East and North Africa to learn about some of their biggest lessons and challenges on the road to product market fit, and hopefully leave you more reflective, and inspired. لسماع البودكاست ا-ب تغذية على انغامي: ‏ https://hakawati.fm/alef-ba-taghziya

Today’s episode is with Dana Baki, co-founder and COO of Munch:On (formerly LUNCH:ON), a food delivery app and one of the region’s fastest growing tech companies. The company was selected as one of the Top 50 Hottest Tech Companies in the World by Techcrunch. Before starting MUNCH:ON, Dana was a Partner of Business Development at Aljal Capital—a boutique venture capital firm in the UAE. We talk about: - Munch:On’s value proposition and the food delivery ecosystem - Why Dana and her co-founders decided to start this company - The moment they realized they had product market fit - How priorities shift based on the stage of the company and size - How the covid crisis impacted their business and how to deal with adversity Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa. Please tag us and tell us what you learned. لسماع البودكاست ا-ب تغذية على انغامي: ‏ https://hakawati.fm/alef-ba-taghziya

Mazen AlDarrab, Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Zid, a Riyadh-based Shopify-like e-commerce management startup that helps people (and businesses) set up their online stores. Mazen AlDarrab is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded and led different companies before Zid. He is passionate about e-commerce in the MENA region and is on a mission to enable thousands of retail brands with the power of modern retail. We talk about: ✅ Why he started the company Zid ✅ The landscape of the retail and e-commerce market in the MENA region ✅ His journey towards fundraising the company ✅ How he engages with customers and gets feedback for his product roadmap Stay tuned for upcoming shows with startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa. Please tag us and tell us what you learned. لسماع البودكاست ا-ب تغذية على انغامي: ‏ https://hakawati.fm/alef-ba-taghziya

Today’s episode is with Amir Allam, the CEO and Founder of Elmenus, a food discovery platform with over 12,000 restaurants and over 1.5 Million monthly users. Their mission is to share the best dishes in each city in the region by combining a social, visual and personalized experience to help connect restaurants with the diners. Amir is an ex internationally ranked squash player, computer science grad, and he started Elmenus out of a love of food, technology and curiosity in building impactful products. He founded Elmenus in 2011 and grew it to a series C company with millions of users in Egypt. We talk about: ✅ Why he started Elmenus ✅ The landscape of the food and dining ecosystem in the MENA region ✅ How his priorities shifted within each stage of the company ✅ How he engages with customers and gets feedback for his product roadmap ✅ The biggest moment of adversity he and his team faced and how the pandemic became an opportunity Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa. Please tag us and tell us what you learned. لسماع البودكاست ا-ب تغذية على انغامي: ‏ https://hakawati.fm/alef-ba-taghziya