Yalla Let's Code

Ilias Haddad

A podcast where I interview software engineers by sharing their story and entrepreneurship journey

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

    Jun 3

    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

    59 min

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A podcast where I interview software engineers by sharing their story and entrepreneurship journey