Interview with Tambi Jalouqa, on building, exiting, and investing from the MENA region

In this episode, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a global product from outside Silicon Valley, why he changed his mind about solo founders, the mistake almost every technical founder makes when they bring in a "business" co-founder, and how AI tools have flattened the geography of software.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:50 Starting on an MSX, fixing CRT monitors, and studying math before CS

05:18 Binary Interactive Studio

07:50 Jobland: video-CV app

10:35 POS Rocket

12:45 Raising from local VCs vs. the US

14:18 The secret sauce of POS Rocket

15:55 Switching from builder to investor

22:38 Why he co-founded Xpand Conference

27:30 Leaving Propeller to start Maza VC

31:30 Why pre-seed is both more impactful

33:30 The advantage of building from your home country

38:48 Did he miss coding?

42:00 Solo founders: red flag → green flag

46:25 The countries producing the best founders right now

48:18 The #1 mistake technical founders make

51:35 Mountain biking

55:50 New Section: Paul Graham, vibe code, mountain biking

56:50 Closing

Show Links:

- LinkedIn: https://jo.linkedin.com/in/tambijalouqa

- Maza VC: https://maza.vc

- Maza VC Handbook: https://handbook.maza.vc/about/introduction

- Propeller VC: https://propellervc.com

- Xpand Conference: https://www.xpandconf.com

- Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code

- Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com

- Paul Graham essays: https://paulgraham.co