Behind Tawaref: Saudi became the largest, country-wide incubator. Childhood hardship shaped me as a founder.
Saeed Al-Ansari is sharing his journey from a SW Engineer to a Founder of renowned angel investment platform in Saudi Arabia. And how the hard things in his life gave him the drive to want more.
In this interview, we're making a virtual trip to Saudi Arabia, talking to Tawaref CEO Saeed Al-Ansari.
For more and more UAE founders, it's becoming important to learn about the startup ecosystem in KSA. And I don't know anyone more eligible than Saeed who could share all the details you need to know if you're interested in the Saudi market.
Saeed is an experienced leader and the founder of the angel investment platform Tawaref, specializing in bringing the best talent to Saudi Arabia and helping them with local connections and funding.
Hope you'll enjoy this interview, and Saeed, thank you for making time to share your knowledge and for being very open about your journey as a founder.
Let's jump in!
Can you share a background story about your journey and how you became a founder?
After graduating from King Fahd University in Saudi, I started my career as a Software Engineer at Aramco. What was a dream for others - working for the biggest company - wasn't really a dream for me. I didn't see the impact of my work.
So I left in 2008 and started my first company in 3D animation. Obviously, the timing wasn't great, with the crisis looming, and I only had one contract agreed. It was a bit naive, but it was also an important learning experience for me. I knew that next time I had to be better prepared and have more connections before starting a business. And not starting with 1000 Riyals in my bank account.
So, I eventually moved back to the corporate life and spent 12 years at Elm, where I started focusing more on leadership, mentoring, and coaching. I found out this really is my passion - people.
Fast forward, I ended up coaching thousands of leaders, the best CTOs in Saudi, government officials, driving main digitalization projects for the country, and even attending the drafting of the 2030 vision. I learned a lot, met amazing people, and started investing in startups.
So later on, it came naturally to start my own angel investment platform, Tawaref.
You had the chance to coach and talk to the most successful founders in Saudi. Understanding what shaped their personality and career. What were the key moments for you?
I guess there were several key moments in my life that shaped me. My father died when I was 16, and as the eldest son, I had the urgency to take care of the family. Becoming a leader wasn't an option for me; I had to take care of my mom and sister.
We didn't have an easy life. My father was a businessman, and from my early age, I understood the value of money. And I think that made me want more. I can't imagine doing some traditional business, like opening a restaurant; I need to see the impact of my work, do something big.
At Elm, I got this opportunity - to work on a national level, and this stuck with me. I felt like this is it.
I also remember my urge for education started when I was about 16. I wasn't the best student and got insulted by others. This pushed me, and I got very hungry for education. Later, I went to Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD. I spent so much time and money on education, my mom was telling me I'm crazy, it's enough, even though she was the one pushing me forward. Bringing B+ from your exam was unacceptable. God bless her.
I believe the hardship and struggles in my childhood shaped my personality, the Saeed of today, a lot.
How did the early days of Tawaref look like, and how did you start?
I left Elm in 2022 while already having 8 employees at Tawaref. I basically did two jobs simultaneously, and looking back, that was a mistake; you can't perform well under such circumstances.
Tawaref was unable to grow properly until I left my full-time job. It wasn't an easy decision. The level of uncertainty was new to me. At the same time, my mom passed away, and I knew that in case this would be a bad decision, at least it wouldn't influence my family. So, I jumped into it.
And at the start of 2022, another crisis happened, with startup investments decreasing significantly. I think we can start predicting the future crises based on when I start a company.
However, even given the global situation, we're growing, invested almost 10 million dollars into startups and VCs so far, and now also helping founders to set up their business in Saudi - full-service Saudi landing. You still need a lot of help when starting a company here. It's not as streamlined yet as in the UAE.
I think we're going to be about 24 people at Tawaref by the end of the year. We're a remote team, spread across multiple countries. So that's also a big responsibility for me as a founder to take good care of the business and my team.
How does the typical company/VC you invest in look like? And what is your added value (except money)?
We are sector-agnostic, focusing on the MENA region, mainly Saudi, UAE, Egypt. We're not your next lead investor; we like to co-invest with the top funds and accelerators, and our biggest added value is the connections and network to decision-makers in Saudi we are able to provide. I always say we are the last and slowest check. But we are also the most valuable one. Our angel platform consists of players in the government, big local corporations, and family offices that can help the founders to scale.
You know, in Saudi (and the Middle East in general), nothing can be done without personal connections and going for a coffee 3-5 times before closing the deal. And we can help with this.
We have 12 startups in our portfolio, and most of them are doing well. I think except one, that might be declared as a failure soon. But that's the risk of this business. On average, the return we make is 3x, which is amazing.
What oops moments/fails from your entrepreneurial journey can you share?
There thankfully weren't any major fails yet.
But now living as a founder through the two major crises of the 21st century, being flexible and adapting to change is crucial. We know startup investments aren't growing as much now, so we are looking into other opportunities for growth. Don't be afraid to try different business models.
Also, my team grew, and I had to make some structural changes. Not everyone could be my direct report anymore. And unfortunately, I lost some great people.
But I always try to find a common ground. There were cases when someone wanted to leave, and we spent the whole night on the phone, resolving how to adjust the scope, compensation, challenges. If you hire smart, driven people, you have to keep them under pressure and bring them big projects to work on.
What are differences between the UAE and KSA ecosystem from your point of view?
I don't know the UAE much, so I can't compare. But from my personal perspective, I see especially Dubai as Europe in the Middle East. Everything is structured, well-established. UAE is still way ahead, but they also have it easier with a much smaller country.
KSA still needs some time to do major reforms and changes on the national level. And locals need time to adapt to the changes.
What is the KSA startup scene like, where are the key opportunities?
I was lucky to be there when they were building the vision 2030. I remember thinking that what was written on the paper could never happen, it's impossible.
But here I am, shocked every day by how things are changing and moving. It's like putting the whole country into an incubator. Whenever I meet with a new startup, I'm surprised by the government programs they're working on. Most of the time, I have no idea this is being built - be it HealthTech, GreenTech, TravelTech, you name it. So, opportunities really are everywhere.
What are your recommendations for founders interested in KSA?
Saudi is still very different from the UAE. It's a huge country, and it's much more complex to change regulations, introduce changes. So people should be patient. You won't get your business license in 2 days. It won't be an online process. You won't get the deal on your first meeting. So first of all, I'd recommend being patient and empathizing with the local culture, which is driven by personal connections.
But on the regulations side, these things will get smoother and improve. I know for Q1 2024, there might be some new changes, and getting a visa or a business license should get much easier, not just limited to startups with funding or local partners. However as of now, there are still several checkpoints to ensure the newly established companies comply with the country's interest.
Another tip is to have an Arabic speaker or ideally a local partner. Until now, I didn't see an international startup coming without a local, or at least Arabic-speaking partner, succeeding easily in Saudi.
And the last one is on hiring and salaries. Many founders come to me, shocked about how high the salaries, especially in Riyadh are. In the capital, you're competing with the government, and that's tough to beat in terms of compensation. So, I'd recommend to only hire in the capital if necessary.
How do you keep up to date, interesting resources, people to follow?
To be honest, I don't have much time to read books or other resources. How I stay up to date is talking to founders, seeing hundreds of pitch decks, and learning how the market is changing through the insights they provide.
I still regret I didn't work in finance, M&A, private equity - that would give me a very good edge. So I'm looking for a Co-Founder who'd be strong in this area.
Most of the time, I'm using my past experiences and frameworks I used to work with. Or learning through smart people and founders I meet, like recently in the AI area.
Saeed, thank you for the interview. It was a pleasure to get to know you not only as a founder and business man, but also as a person.
P.S.: Wondering what’s the meaning of “Tawaref” in Arabic? “Money earned, not inherited”.
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