Welcome to Let's Talk Product, a podcast by Propeller about building software products and startups. On this show, host Leen Ashqar speaks to founders and builders who have been through it themselves to uncover the practical and tactical advice needed to build better products out of the Middle East. They cover everything related to building tech products - from creating a customer-centric culture to achieving and maintaining product-market fit. If you're a founder, product manager, or someone working in tech, this show is for you!
Let's Talk Product is produced by Propeller, a seed-stage, MENA-focused venture capital firm. If your startup is looking for an early-stage investor, make sure to get in touch, we'd love to talk. Learn more at: www.propellerinc.me.
Waleed is one of Jawaker's founding engineers. He joined in 2009 to help build and launch the product and has since then grown to manage and lead the entire product and tech team at the company. On the episode, we walk through the journey of Jawaker, reflecting on how they built things back in 2009 and how they steadily and organically grew their user base throughout the years. We also chat about their progressive product development process, the impact of cool-down periods, and how they were able to recreate the social experience of playing cards in the app. Finally, Waleed highlights the big role culture and leadership has played in retaining and developing their team all throughout the years.
1 Dec 2021
16. Global SaaS out of KSA w/ Iyad Aldalooj, co-founder @ Penny
Iyad Aldalooj is the co-founder and CEO of Penny software, a SaaS procurement solution. Prior to founding Penny in 2020, Iyad was the General Manager & Marketing Director at Careem in Saudi Arabia. On the episode we learn about Iyad's journey and delve into the steps they're taking in building a global SaaS product from day 1.
30 Sept 2021
15. Transforming insurance w/ Walid Daniel Dib, co-founder @ Hala
Walid Daniel Dib is the co-founder and CEO of Hala (previously Addenda), a startup that is transforming insurance to a simple and pleasant experience. In 2018, him and his brother started off by building a blockchain solution for insurance companies. After over a year of pivoting, they were still in search of product-market fit. Soon after, they made a final pivot to B2C and have only been growing since. On the episode, Walid shares the lessons they’ve learnt along this journey and talks to us about how they’re reinventing insurance for consumers in the Middle East.
31 Aug 2021
14. Product design w/ Jonathan, Head of Design @ Property Finder
Jonathan Steingiesser is Head of Design at Property Finder, the largest real estate platform in the UAE. With over 17 years of design experience at startups across various sectors including retail and education, Jonathan has fostered a deep passion for design innovation and continuous improvement. On the episode, we cover the foundations of product design — from what to look for when hiring your first product designer, to the research processes and methods that enable continuous product innovation.
We talk to Yousef Wadi, founder and CEO of Nestrom about his early pivot and how he built a must-have solution for enterprise customers in the Middle East. Today Nestrom serves enterprises including Al-Futtaim Group, Nabil and Fine Hygienic Holding. He shares a ton of learnings around value proposition, pricing, sales, target persona, and more.
30 Jun 2021
12. Product development speed vs. quality w/ Nabil Mohamed, VP of Product @ Instabug
Nabil Mohamed, VP of Product at Instabug, shares the decision making framework that helps him balance the need of speed vs. quality when developing tech products. He also shares what he looks for when hiring exceptional talent.
31 May 2021
11. Fundamentals of product marketing w/ Yasmine Helmy, growth lead @ Trella & ex-Instabug
Yasmine Helmy is an experienced growth and product marketer who has built and scaled Instabug's growth marketing engine over 6 years. On this episode, she explains what product marketing is and shares the fundamental frameworks for establishing a product's positioning and developing a go-to-market plan.
30 Apr 2021
10. User onboarding & engagement w/ Yazan, co-founder @ Userpilot
Guiding users along their onboarding journey is crucial to the success of your software product. Yazan, co-founder and CEO of Userpilot, walks us through the steps we need to take to increase adoption at each stage of the user journey, making sure users get to experience the full benefits of our products.
Ahmed El Assy, co-founder and CPO of Gameball, talks to us about how they've adopted a self-service product strategy to get to their first 1000 global customers. He also shares some tactics that have helped them reduce churn at Gameball.
25 Feb 2021
8. Customer Discovery w/ Tariq Seksek co-founder @ Alma Health
Tariq Seksek, co-founder and Head of Product at Alma Health, a recently launched health-tech startup in the UAE, walks us through his journey of conducting customer discovery interviews and iterating on their solution.
10 Feb 2021
7. How to localize product for new markets & the role of the 1st Product Manager w/ Reham, PM @ Trella
As the first product manager at Trella, Reham walks us through each step she took to build out and scale the product function from scratch. We also delve into how they customize the product to meet the needs of users in new geographies.
27 Jan 2021
6. Towards a 10x better product w/ Talal Bayaa, co-founder @ Bayzat
Talal Bayaa, co-founder & CEO of Bayzat, shares the journey, philosophy and practice behind building one of Middle East's top B2B technology products.
17 Jan 2021
5. Lessons from a decade of entrepreneurship, Fouad Jeryes co-founder @ Maqsam
Fouad Jeryes, co-founder of Maqsam and CashBasha, walks us through his journey of entrepreneurship and the evolution of his business ideas; sharing key lessons around validating, launching and scaling tech products.
15 Dec 2020
4. Transitioning to a product-led company w/ Tony Fadel, Sr Product Director @ Talabat
Tony is a product leader with 10+ years of experience with Google, Careem and most recently Talabat. On this episode, he shares his experience in helping Talabat, a 15-year old company, transition to a product-led organization and cultivate a customer-centric, collaborative culture.
5 Nov 2020
3. Building product teams w/ Yazan Masafah, ex-VP Products at Unifonic
Yazan Masafah has been working in Product Management for 15 years and most recently was VP of Products at Unifonic for 5 years. With a profound growth mentality and experimental mindset, Yazan has a lot of learnings to share on structuring, orchestrating and motivating product teams.
4 Nov 2020
2. A story of vision and persistence w/ Amjad Masad, co-founder of Repl.it
Amjad Masad, co-founder of Repl.it, has turned his long-lost vision into a global product backed by top-tier VCs including Andreessen Horowitz. This is a story of pure passion, persistence and vision.
4 Nov 2020
1. Building Middle East's leading music streaming app w/ Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami
Elie shares the journey of building Middle East's leading music streaming app and what it takes to continue to win the market amid global competition.
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