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๐Ÿ” Deep-dives

๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐Ÿ“ฐ News๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ Weekly round-up๐Ÿ” Deep-dives๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Strategy Breakdown๐Ÿ“˜ Founder Playbook๐Ÿ›ฃ๏ธ The Roadshow๐ŸŽง Podcast
๐Ÿ” Deep-dives๐Ÿ” Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers
8 hours ago

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENAโ€™s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data โ€“ and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐Ÿ” Deep-dives๐Ÿ” Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#2)
8 hours ago

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#2)

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENAโ€™s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data โ€“ and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐Ÿ” Deep-dives๐Ÿ” Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#3)
8 hours ago

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#3)

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENAโ€™s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data โ€“ and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
AdalFi: Powering credit infrastructure across emerging markets
May 07, 2025

AdalFi: Powering credit infrastructure across emerging markets

What it takes to digitise lending inside legacy banks without triggering resistance, how to underwrite customers with no formal credit history, and why AdalFiโ€™s refusal to lend may be its biggest strategic moat.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Investing in MENA+ founders in the diaspora
Apr 30, 2025

Investing in MENA+ founders in the diaspora

The mechanics of how to build a high-performing syndicate, why values alignment is a competitive moat, and the MENA+ diasporic founders you should know.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond
Apr 24, 2025

Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

What it means to build in a market where volatility isnโ€™t a risk โ€“ itโ€™s a cyclical certainty, why going top-down beats direct-to-MSME, and how you build real moats in enterprise fintech โ€” not with UX, but with trust, switching friction, and time.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Building a band-aid for cancer
Apr 16, 2025

Building a band-aid for cancer

Seven years, 959 rejections, and a circuitous journey from San Diego to New York to Abu Dhabi โ€“ Khatija Ali MD and BioSapienโ€™s mission to deliver chemotherapy locally is as much about persistence as it is about innovation.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Hubpay: Building the financial backbone of MENA and beyond
Apr 09, 2025

Hubpay: Building the financial backbone of MENA and beyond

The long road to fintech infrastructure in MENA, the overlooked power of remittance corridors, why stablecoins are no longer a sideshow โ€“ and what it really means to build a business from the trenches of regulatory complexity.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
MNT Halan: from ride-hailing to fintech unicorn
Mar 26, 2025

MNT Halan: from ride-hailing to fintech unicorn

CEO Mounir Nakhla on achieving fintech ecosystem lock-in, the company's acquisition and expansion strategy, why tailored risk models beat copy-paste approaches, and the potential path toward becoming a fully-fledged digital bank.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Rise, fall & reinvention
Mar 19, 2025

Rise, fall & reinvention

An honest reflection with Idriss Al Rifai on Fetchrโ€™s hypergrowth, what went wrong, the isolation of being a founder, and the emotional cost of tying self-worth to a company, plus hard-won lessons on hiring, scaling, and the $140 billion SME financing opportunity in MENA.

Jamie Lane
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Tapping into the potential of Palestinian youth
Mar 12, 2025

Tapping into the potential of Palestinian youth

TAPโ€™s transformation from manual job placement to AI-driven talent acceleration, how it's sustaining financial viability without compromising impact, and the realities of scaling a company in the face of relentless adversity.

Jamie Lane, +1
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Interview
+1+1
Building the iTunes for spare parts
Mar 05, 2025

Building the iTunes for spare parts

Why the next industrial revolution will be local, breaking โ€˜pilot purgatoryโ€™ in deeptech sales, and the biggest misconceptions about additive manufacturing.

Jamie Lane, +1
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