The Future of FWDstart

Building in public, introducing eight new premium deep-dive formats, and sharing our vision for future coverage and analysis

Jamie Lane & Zoe O Dwyer
January 15, 2025

Hi, friends 👋

At the start of the year, we promised a special announcement on January 15th – and in case you're caught up in the whirlwind of work, meetings, and events post-holidays and might have lost track of the date, well, that day is today.

Is there any significance to the date? Not in the slightest. It was chosen entirely arbitrarily – but publicly announcing a deadline is a powerful way to keep yourself accountable.

Over the past year, we’ve explored the MENA tech ecosystem, covering a wide range of topics, industries, and companies through various formats. Since May 2024, our content has included startup founding stories, sector overviews, and case studies, alongside our regular weekly news briefing.

The fact that so many of you (2.6K+) read so frequently (49% open rate per edition) and have personally shared very lovely and kind feedback with us speaks volumes.

Clearly, there’s a demand for writing about our ecosystem that goes beyond the banal and fluffy – content that’s more builder-aligned and substance-driven. Who would’ve thought?…

Now look, in the grand scheme of things, these numbers are still modest, but they highlight a growing appetite – one we’re eager to keep fuelling (Novo Nordisk look away).

So, with that in mind, over the course of the last number of weeks and months we’ve been plotting away in secret, brainstorming, hashing out ideas, working on a variety of different formats and chatting to some of the region’s best founders and investors.

The result of that is, well, not quite a result – but a framework that will structure and inform what we focus on next.

Think of it as FWDstart 2.0, if you will.

🤔 So what is FWDstart 2.0?

It’s not just a publication, it’s a movement…

Just kidding, Jamie hasn’t quite developed that level of messianic complex yet.

For the avoidance of doubt, FWDstart will continue to be a twice-weekly publication.

And the overarching goal remains fundamentally the same, and quite simple:

“Cover what matters in MENA tech and VC with… thoughtful analysis.”

To stay true to that mission, we’ve put together a manifesto — a pitch deck in video format (because we know you didn’t sign up to flip through slides). It breaks down our vision, the formats we’ll pursue to deliver maximum practical value, our monetisation strategy, potential reasons we could fail, and, most importantly, how you can help.

👇 Don’t have time for that? TL;DR below

What is FWDstart? A publication covering what matters in MENA tech and VC with thoughtful analysis. Every Friday, it informs and contextualises regional startup news. Every Wednesday, it equips operators with actionable insights through eight premium deep-dive formats, including interviews, case studies, and practical guides.
How is it going so far? We've organically grown to over 2.6K subscribers, and count many of the MENA region's leading founders, investors, LPs, and operators as readers — in fact nearly half our audience are active founders. It's been an honour to gather insights from some of the region's most respected voices, and we’re just getting started.
How will we pay the bills? To continue delivering value and expanding the depth, breadth, and diversity of our content, we’re introducing premium subscriptions. Starting next week, most deep dives — including interviews, case studies, strategy playbooks, and actionable guides — will move behind a paywall. Pricing is set at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. You can subscribe to ensure you can read next week’s deep-dive in full, and support our work here.
How will we continue to grow? Deliver exceptional content, stay builder-focused with rigorous analysis, diversify formats with audio, video and richer storytelling, collaborate with experts, and provide a platform for bold, diverse voices.
Who are we anyway? We're extraordinarily ordinary – yet insatiably curious. We've also convinced incredible operators across MENA to share firsthand insights into the problems they're solving and the strategies they've deployed. Knowledge is power and we want to democratise access to as much as possible to help you learn and build.
How might it fail? Not niching down and opting for diverse content formats is a risk. But we firmly believe great insights transfer across industries, and variety keeps things fresh. Some formats will resonate more than others – when they do, we’ll double down. Not offering our content in Arabic could also be a limiting factor, but we’re committed to launching FWDstart in Arabic once we’ve solidified a baseline of support and it becomes viable.
What does success look like? Consistently delivering insights and lessons that inspire, educate, and engage a community of curious thinkers and doers – while ensuring financial sustainability for continued growth.
How can you help? If you've made it this far, you're already part of our journey. Want to go further? Share FWDstart with founders and operators, or become a paid subscriber for less than $1 per edition — and it’s easily expensed!

💰 What’s this about premium subscriptions?

We get it. Paywalls can feel like a barrier, especially when you've been enjoying free content. So why the shift?

From day one, FWDstart has been about delivering thoughtful, in-depth insights that genuinely help builders, founders, and operators across the MENA region. The demand for substance-driven, actionable content has been clear — and we’re committed to doubling down on that mission.

To do that sustainably (and keep delivering the quality you’ve come to expect), we need a model that allows us to:

Expand our content library: More high-value deep dives, expert interviews, and practical playbooks (these take an enormous amount of time!)
Stay independent: Remain focused on substance, not clickbait, and keep our editorial direction driven by impact — not external agendas.

The weekly news briefing you know and maybe even love will remain free. But the deeper, more strategic content — interviews, case studies, and premium guides — is moving behind a paywall: $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year (that’s less than $1.25 per edition).

It would truly mean the world to count you as one of our first paying backers and believers!

Coming up over the next few weeks, we have:

Lessons Learned interview with Khalid Baareh, on how an $80M Series B turned into a strategic acquisition, and the realities of an exit – timelines, expectations, and how founders can prepare.
An interview with DXwand’s Ahmed Mahmoud on the challenges of building agentic AI for Arabic dialects.
A strategy breakdown of Tabby’s customer acquisition playbook.
The first editions of our MENA VC and Founder Playbooks.
Plus + a whole lot more in the pipeline!

We’re not in the business of gatekeeping knowledge. If the current subscription price feels out of reach, just reach out – we’ll find a way to make it work!

🐢 Thank you

To everyone reading this, thank you for your continued support.

And to those who’ve generously shared their time, hopped on calls, and passed along invaluable knowledge over the past few months — thank you for paying it forward.

We hope to do the same through our work in the weeks, months, and years ahead.