Builders

What if you could build a billion-dollar empire from what everyone else ignored? In this episode, Toufic Kreidieh, Founder and Executive Chairman of Brands For Less Group (BFL Group), reveals how he transformed overstock and unsold goods into one of the Middle East’s most powerful retail empires, now valued at over $1.2 billion. Toufic shares his raw lessons on building resilience, leadership thro...

In this episode, we sit down with Greg McKeown, the bestselling author of Essentialism and Effortless. Greg explains why "insecure overachievers" often fail by pushing too hard and introduces the 85% Rule to sustain peak performance. We discuss his 1-2-3 Method for daily priority setting and his new mission to train "Signalists"—people who can cut through emotional noise to bui...

In this deeply moving episode, we sit down with world-renowned behavioral scientist and bestselling author Dan Ariely. While Dan is famous for his work on rational (and irrational) decision-making, our conversation takes an unexpected and profound turn into the psychology of the end of life. Dan shares his unique perspective as both a scientist and an end-of-life doula, reflecting on how our final...

"If you’re explaining, you’re losing." In this episode, we sit down with legendary FBI hostage negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss. He reveals why your "elevator pitch" is likely failing, how to use the power of "No" to get what you want, and the neuroscience-backed secrets to winning any business deal or fixing any relationship. Chris shar...

In this episode, I sit down with Philip Bahoshy, founder & CEO of Magnitt, to break down what’s really happening to venture capital in MENA amid rising geopolitical tensions. We’re recording this at a critical moment, and the big question is:Are we on the verge of losing an entire generation of startups? Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.mahmoudkhodor.comGet reports from https://magnitt....

In this episode, I sit down with Alain Bejjani, former Group CEO of Majid Al Futtaim, one of the largest conglomerates in the Middle East operating multi-billion dollar businesses across retail, real estate, and entertainment. We break down what actually happens when companies scale — and why most leaders unknowingly become the biggest bottleneck in their own organization. This is not theory. This...

Join me on this episode of Future Money as I sit down with Gaurav Dhar, Group CEO of Marshall Fintech Partners and early backer of Tabby—MENA’s first fintech unicorn. We dive into how he transformed a 40-year family payments business into a regional tech powerhouse across 18 countries, why Dubai’s rise to global fintech hub has also made it a target for fraud, and his bold predictions on AI “canni...

In this episode, I sit down with Samer ElSahn, a product and scaling leader who has worked inside some of the region’s most influential companies: Souq, Careem, Nana, and Floward. Samer shares hard-earned lessons from scaling startups across the Middle East — and why many companies don’t fail… they simply stall. Subscribe my newsletter: https://www.mahmoudkhodor.comSamer ElSahn's Linkedin: htt...

Very few people on the planet have built products used by 2+ billion people. Today’s guest is Uri Levine — co-founder of Waze (acquired by Google) and early founder of Moovit (acquired for $1B+), and the author of “Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution.”In this episode, Uri breaks down the real mechanics behind breakout products—starting with the problem, not the tech. We go deep on:- Th...

Builder.ai hit a $1.5B valuation—then collapsed into insolvency. In this first long-form interview after the downfall, founder Sachin Dev Duggal joins Mahmoud Khodor to go beyond the headlines. We unpack what Builder.ai was actually building (feature “Lego blocks,” an end-to-end SDLC redesign, and the “Natasha” AI product manager), what was genuinely automated vs. human-led, and why the viral “700...

We turned a “boring” laundromat idea into a $1M ARR tech brand in under a year. In this episode, I sit down with Jad Halaoui, co-founder of Washmen, to break down how they validated the idea with a scrappy Facebook ad, hit $1M ARR in year one, and then built a vertically integrated laundry operation that now processes hundreds of thousands of garments per month. We go deep into:How Jad left a safe...

In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Kelly – founding executive editor of WIRED, legendary futurist, and author of The Inevitable, Excellent Advice for Living, and the new photo book Colors of Asia. We go way beyond AI hype and talk about why we’re probably overestimating AI in the next 5–10 years but massively underestimating it over the next 100, how emotional and empathetic AIs will become ou...

In this episode, positioning legend April Dunford breaks down why “product-market fit” is a myth, how founders should think about positioning, and what separates products that grow from those that disappear. We talk about April’s early days turning a failing database product into a billion-dollar success, why most startups get positioning completely wrong, and how to make customers finally get wha...

What happens when your AI chatbot accidentally tries to buy a car for $0?In this episode, I sit down with Andrew Kabrit, co-founder of Seez.co , the startup once known as the “Shazam for Cars.”From scraping car data to building an AI platform used by major dealerships across Europe and the Middle East, Andrew shares how a single pivot turned Seez from a consumer app into a thriving B2B automotive...

Can AI truly become your third teammate in design? In this episode, David Kossnick, Head of AI Products at Figma, joins Mahmoud Khodor to explore how Figma Make is transforming the way product managers, designers, and engineers co-create. You’ll learn how Figma is integrating AI beyond the gimmick, from “prompt-to-app” workflows to multiplayer prototyping where humans and AI build side by side. Da...

In this episode, positioning legend April Dunford breaks down why “product-market fit” is a myth, how founders should think about positioning, and what separates products that grow from those that disappear. We talk about April’s early days turning a failing database product into a billion-dollar success, why most startups get positioning completely wrong, and how to make customers finally get wha...

Unlock the story behind one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing modern media companies as Richard Fitzgerald, Founder & CEO of Loving Dubai (Augustus Media), shares how he built a multi-city network from scratch in 2015. In this in-depth conversation, we cover:🎙️ Most Surprising Thing in Dubai: Richard’s biggest takeaway after 13 years in the city🚀 Genesis of Loving Dubai & Augustus Medi...

From a London living room startup to powering some of the biggest e-commerce brands in the Middle East, this is the incredible journey of Basel Kusa, co-founder & CEO of Quiqup (QuickUp).Subscribe my newsletter: https://www.mahmoudkhodor.comBassel Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bassel-el-koussa-37576652/Quiqup Website: https://www.quiqup.com/In this episode, Bassel shares:- How he and h...

Mona Ataya is one of the Arab world’s most influential entrepreneurs, the founder of Mom’s World, the region’s most trusted mother and baby platform with over 2.5 million customers. In this episode, Mona shares the unfiltered story of building a purpose-driven e-commerce giant from scratch — using her savings, her own car for deliveries, and grit to compete with Amazon and win. Subscribe to my new...

Meet Ahmed El Rawi, founder of CALO, one of the fastest-growing food-tech startups in the Middle East. In this episode, Ahmed shares how he:- Ran a smoke test MVP that sold food before it even existed- Built a 10,000-person waitlist across Bahrain, Saudi, and the UAE- Found undeniable product-market fit and scaled without paid ads- Assembled a top-tier team and turned customer obsession into a cul...

Alok Kumar, founder of CozmoX, joins me for a raw and revealing conversation about the brutal decisions founders face — including why he had to let go of 86 people, how AI is reshaping everything from company structure to customer experience, and the emotional toll of building in public. We dive deep into:- What no one tells you about layoffs and leadership- The CozmoX origin story and vision for...

How did Talabat become the Middle East’s leading delivery platform, valued at $10B?In this episode, I sit down with Yi-Wei Ang, Chief Product Officer at Talabat, to unpack how he scaled the product and engineering org 7x, why local insights outperform global playbooks, and how Talabat continues to innovate across food, groceries, fintech, and AI.Newsletter: https://www.mahmoudkhodor.comYi-Wei'...

In this episode, I sit down with Khalil Alami, CEO of Telr, one of the oldest and most innovative fintech companies in the UAE. We dive into the bold decisions that transformed Telr into a regional payments leader, why they shut down a successful product, and how they’re tackling the #1 problem killing startups in MENA—opening a bank account. From customer-centric product strategy to building a fu...

In this episode I sit down with Vitalii Duk, founder and CEO of Dynamic, to explore how AI agents—from voice assistants to back-office automations—are revolutionizing businesses. Vitalii explains how Dynamic’s low-code platform enables developers and product managers to build and deploy AI agents in hours instead of months. You’ll hear real-world use cases (customer-facing chatbots 2.0, internal c...

In this deep, unfiltered conversation, we dive into the business of dating, Dubai's hidden loneliness crisis, the paradox of dating in a city full of singles, and how modern matchmaking is evolving. - Why dating apps fail 80% of people- The myths and truths of dating in Dubai- Emotional readiness vs. relationship goals- Matchmaking vs. online swiping- Financial expectations in modern love- How...