Over the past seven years we have delivered 300+ sessions with nearly 4.500 people through Scale Up! This month, we are rolling out the latest version, Scale Up MENA! and Scale Up Africa Rising! (launching in Q1 ’26). Here are the first observations from running the next generation of Scale Up! It was one of […]
A few weeks ago we published “Who attends Scale Up!?” It hit 5,000 views across our platforms in days. Then someone asked: “Great, but who actually buys Scale Up!?” Good question. Here’s Part II. Start With Problems, Not Products First, the harsh truth: nobody cares about your solution. Even less about your product. If you’re […]
Are you heading into one of our upcoming Scale Up MENA! Masterclasses? In that case, you might want to explore the wonders of cap table management first. Think about this as a soft warm-up exercise. Cap tables matter Cap tables are the backbone of any successful startup scaling into a long-term successful winner. But, along […]
Angel e-mail (written for Scale Up MENA! Masterclasses) From: Mohammed, local angel mentor To: The new startup team Re: Congrats on your new startup Hi team, Congratulations on your latest startup. I am super excited to see talent such as yourselves spending your time and energy to build the future growth companies our region needs. […]
The journey from first contact to final investment is a structured, rigorous process that separates exceptional opportunities from the merely good. Here’s how leading venture capital firms navigate the path to investment. The venture capital investment process isn’t a single decision—it’s a carefully orchestrated sequence of escalating commitment, deeper understanding, and strategic alignment. From the […]
Over the years, we have run more than 200 unique Scale Up! sessions globally. From 3-hour discovery sessions to 4-week investment readiness programs and everything in between. We’ve had thousands of founders, investors, ecosystem builders, government officials, and faculty join in. Here are the 10 steps we believe are important for a winning Scale Up! […]
“We just hit unicorn status!” the founder announced proudly at the Dubai Angel Network event. Congratulations flowed. Champagne corks popped. LinkedIn lit up. But here’s the uncomfortable question nobody asked: How are you actually going to turn that into cash? Welcome to the MENA ecosystem’s most misunderstood trio: value creation, value realization, and exit. They’re not the […]
What is a ‘good cap table’? How have we trained 4,000+ participants on cap tables to date and how can new trainers become masters of cap tables? Over the coming 12 months we expect to train and certify 30-60 Scale Up Train-the-trainers. These range from accelerator managers, business school faculty, VCs and program managers at […]
Over the past six years working with 250+ emerging fund managers across every continent, I’ve noticed a troubling pattern. Most aspiring GPs can articulate their investment thesis in vivid detail. They know their target sectors, geographies, and check sizes. They’ve researched comparable funds and can cite industry statistics with precision. But when I ask them […]
Since we launched Fund Manager 4,5 years ago, more than 50 Masterclasses and programs have been delivered around the world. From Singapore to Toronto, London to Cape Town, 1.200 people have experienced building a new VC firm in just days, scaling it from idea to successful DPI. 1. Generally, low understanding of venture capital and […]