Noha Gad

Startup funding models are becoming increasingly diverse, underscoring a shift towards sustainable, flexible, and non-traditional approaches. The landscape emphasizes a mix of traditional equity funding, alternative financing, and innovative investor relations, triggered by advancements in technology, data-driven decision-making, and a desire for founders to maintain control and focus on long-term growth. 

Startups usually rely on venture capital (VC), angel investors, and bank loans to accelerate their growth. However, the pressure to deliver quick returns and meet aggressive growth targets has also contributed to high failure rates and significant stress for many founders. This shift encouraged entrepreneurs to explore alternative paths that prioritize sustainability, control, and long-term success.

What are anti-VC startups?

One of these emerging trends is the rise of anti-VC startups. These companies consciously choose to avoid traditional venture capital funding, focusing on building sustainable, profitable businesses without the typical pressures that come from external investors.

Anti-VC founders prioritize steady growth, profitability, and independence instead of seeking billion-dollar valuations and massive market disruptions. The anti-VC model offers founders autonomy and control over their startups, enabling them to retain full ownership and decision-making power, and to shape their company culture and strategy without external pressures. 

Through this model, startups focus more on achieving steady revenue, profitability, and long-term viability rather than pursuing rapid scale and investor-driven growth targets. This will eventually relieve founders from the constant fundraising cycle and high-stakes performance expectations. Founders can also stay aligned with their mission and vision without compromising due to investor demands for quick exits or pivots.

Further, the anti-VC model helps startups typically maintain healthier balance sheets and cash flows by focusing on revenue and avoiding excessive dilution.

Although the anti-VC model provides various benefits for founders, it comes with multiple disadvantages, notably:

• limited capital: Without VC funding, access to large amounts of growth capital is restricted, potentially slowing expansion and market penetration. Limited funding can also challenge hiring, marketing, R&D, and product development efforts.
• Networking gaps: VC companies usually provide valuable business advice, connections, and strategic support not readily available without their involvement.
• Market perceptions: Lack of VC backing may sometimes be perceived negatively by customers, partners, or later-stage investors.

Tips to build a startup without chasing VC investment

Here are key tips you have to follow to establish an anti-VC startup:

• Build your company based on the life and work balance you desire, rather than chasing aggressive growth for investor returns.
• Focus first on creating an audience, community, or market awareness. Share industry challenges, learning journeys, and solutions before expecting sales.
• Prioritize profitability over sheer growth, ensuring that each decision, hire, or product feature contributes to profitability rather than just scaling user numbers. 
• Automate operations to handle repetitive tasks like payment processing or customer onboarding, while keeping strategic decisions in your hands.
• Maintain operational control to protect the company’s mission and culture from dilution by outside investors.
• Engage hands-on in business growth with a focus on operational excellence and value creation, rather than relying on passive investment or high-risk bets.

The startup ecosystem is expected to witness significant transformation, thanks to the shift in funding models and broader market dynamics, notably the rise of hybrid and alternative funding models that combine founder-friendly values with flexible capital sources like revenue-based financing, syndicates, and equity crowdfunding.

The future suggests that founder-centric, alternative funding approaches will become more viable and respected, empowering entrepreneurs to create resilient businesses that can thrive long-term without losing sight of their core mission.

To sum up, choosing to build an anti-VC startup means embracing a different vision of success, which is grounded in sustainable growth, founder control, and profitability over hype. So, if you are a founder who prioritizes autonomy, balance, and enduring value creation, the anti-VC model is your perfect choice. It challenges conventional startup wisdom and opens new possibilities beyond chasing unicorns, proving that you can achieve meaningful success on your own terms.

Noha Gad

The freelance market in Saudi Arabia has witnessed rapid growth and transformation in recent years, becoming a dynamic and integral part of the national economy. This evolving sector offers flexible opportunities that empower individuals and foster innovation across various industries, aligning with the Vision 2030 agenda.

Digital platforms have played a key role in facilitating seamless connections between freelancers and businesses. Among these platforms, Hurr (formerly Passioneurs) has established itself as a leader in the freelance market, thanks to its secure, user-friendly platform that supports both entrepreneurs and freelancers. 

Sharikat Mubasher spoke with Muna Balhamar, CEO and Founder of Hurr, to learn more about the platform’s role in transforming the freelance industry in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, as well as its next steps to expand its presence locally and regionally, notably following the launch of its new identity.

First, how does Hurr’s business model support entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region?

Hurr was built around one simple belief: entrepreneurship should be accessible, flexible, and sustainable. Our business model supports entrepreneurs and companies by giving them an easy way to find verified freelancers across more than 100 fields, without the burden of traditional hiring.

We help companies cut their employment-related costs by up to 60% by giving them instant access to qualified freelancers instead of hiring full-time roles they do not actually need. This allows entrepreneurs to stay lean, move faster, and grow without heavy overhead.

At the same time, we give freelancers a structured, trusted platform where they can build a real income, access opportunities across the GCC, and scale their skills into long-term careers.

In short, Hurr creates a win-win ecosystem: lowering costs for businesses while expanding opportunities for freelancers—both essential to the growth of entrepreneurship in the region.

How do you utilize technology to help users reduce operational costs?

Technology is at the core of how we help our users focus on their craft rather than overhead. We provide a robust digital marketplace where freelancers and entrepreneurs can create profiles, showcase their services, receive assignments, and get paid, all within one streamlined system. This reduces the need for them to build and maintain complex systems themselves.

We automate key processes: from client-matching and job allocation to payment processing and service review. That means less time spent on admin, less cost on infrastructure, and fewer mistakes.

We also offer analytics and insights to enable entrepreneurs to understand their utilization, pricing, service delivery, and client feedback, helping them optimize their operations and reduce waste.

We invest in scalable cloud infrastructure, modular design, and shared services, which pass cost savings directly to our users so they do not carry the burden of building expensive tech themselves.

And now, we are taking this a step further with our new AI-powered tools. These include features like AI-generated job descriptions to help clients describe their requirements more clearly, smarter AI matching to connect them with the best candidates instantly, and automated filtering to reduce time spent on reviewing profiles. All of this helps businesses hire faster and more accurately, while significantly cutting operational costs.

In essence, we provide the “platform as a service” layer to help entrepreneurs focus on delivering excellence, not on building technology from scratch.

You recently unveiled a new identity. How will this milestone reinforce your presence in the Saudi market and the broader region?

Unveiling our new identity was more than a visual refresh—it was a strategic step toward strengthening our presence in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and the wider Arab region.

The new brand reflects who we are today: a mature, confident, region-focused platform that understands local culture, language, and the evolving needs of both freelancers and businesses. It reinforces our commitment to being a truly Arab brand built for Arab talent.

It also boosts our credibility. A strong, modern identity helps us stand out in a competitive market and positions Hurr as a trusted partner for organizations across Saudi Arabia and the region. It creates clearer visibility, a deeper connection with users, and a unified message that supports expansion into GCC markets and the broader Arab world.

Most importantly, the new identity aligns our team, our freelancers, and our partners under one vision, helping us scale faster and build a platform that genuinely represents the future of freelancing in our region.

As a woman founder, what are the key challenges female entrepreneurs face in Saudi Arabia, and how do you see the Kingdom’s efforts to empower them?

To be honest, I do not see the challenges the way they are often portrayed. In Saudi Arabia today, women founders actually have incredible opportunities. The ecosystem is opening doors for us, not closing them. We are building companies, attracting partnerships, and leading teams in our own feminine, unique way, and the market is responding positively to that.

What stands out to me is how strongly the Kingdom is supporting and empowering women. From representation to visibility to access, we are seeing genuine encouragement for women to step into leadership and entrepreneurship. The environment now rewards competence, creativity, and commitment, and women in Saudi Arabia are showing all of that and more.

So instead of focusing on obstacles, I see momentum. I see women leading with clarity, compassion, and strength. And I see Saudi Arabia actively creating a space where female entrepreneurs can thrive, scale, and contribute meaningfully to the economy across the GCC and Arab region.

In your opinion, how does the private sector contribute to enhancing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Saudi Arabia in general, and the freelancing sector in particular?

The private sector in Saudi Arabia today is playing a huge role in pushing the entrepreneurship scene forward. Companies are becoming more open to new models of work, including freelancing, and that shift alone has unlocked a lot of opportunities for talent and for platforms like Hurr.

What I am seeing is that the private sector is no longer waiting for traditional hiring cycles. They want agility, speed, and specialized skills, and freelancers provide exactly that. When big organizations start integrating freelancers into their workforce, it sends a clear message: freelancing is not just a side gig; it is a real, professional career path.

At the same time, companies are collaborating with platforms, creating structured projects, supporting young talent, and giving people a chance to prove themselves. This combination, flexibility and opportunity, is what strengthens the ecosystem. And honestly, it is one of the reasons why the freelancing sector is growing so fast, not only in Saudi Arabia, but across the GCC and the wider Arab region.

Finally, what are Hurr’s plans to strengthen its position in Saudi Arabia and the GCC?

Our focus is very clear: to grow deeper in Saudi Arabia and expand confidently across the GCC. We are doing this by building a truly local, Arab-first experience that reflects the needs of our market.

A few of our next steps include:

● Enhancing the platform with more AI tools that make hiring faster, smarter, and more accurate, from auto job descriptions to intelligent matching and filtering.

● Expanding our freelancer community with more specialization and higher-quality talent that matches the demands of the region.

● Forming strategic partnerships with companies that want reliable, flexible, and cost-efficient hiring solutions.

● Strengthening our presence across the GCC, making it easier for companies to hire across borders and for freelancers to work regionally.

● Building an ecosystem, not just a platform, one that connects talent, companies, and opportunities across the Arab world.

And ultimately, our goal is to position Hurr as the leading platform for freelance solutions in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and the wider Arab region — the place companies trust and freelancers prefer.

Ghada Ismail

Every founder needs confidence. It’s what gets a startup off the ground, convinces early employees to take a chance, and persuades investors that an unproven idea is worth funding. But confidence has a darker side, a hidden cost many founders don’t realize they’re paying until it’s too late. Call it the ego tax: the silent drain on a startup’s potential when overconfidence begins to replace discipline, humility, and reality.

In Saudi Arabia’s fast-growing startup ecosystem — where ambition is high, capital is flowing, and competition is fierce — ego is becoming one of the most underestimated threats to early-stage companies. It rarely appears in pitch decks or failure reports, but its fingerprints are everywhere.

Ego Makes Founders Overestimate Their Market

Founders don’t intentionally misread the market. But ego can cloud judgment. It convinces startups that customers will “naturally” adopt the product, that competitors “don’t really get it,” or that early traction is a sign of inevitable dominance.

In practice, this leads to painful consequences: poor market sizing, weak customer discovery, and product-market fit assumptions that crumble under real-world pressure.

Many young Saudi startups expand too fast into multiple cities, or rush into new product lines before proving demand, not because the market asked for it, but because the founders believed it should.

Ego Blocks Feedback — Especially the Feedback That Hurts

The best entrepreneurs are feedback machines. But ego filters feedback, letting in only what feels good.

When overconfidence kicks in, founders ignore:

• Customer complaints
• Team warnings
• Investor concerns
• Industry benchmarks

In boardrooms, investors often see the same story: brilliant founders who stop listening after the first round of praise. The ego tax grows quietly each time a founder dismisses a tough question or refuses to pivot.

Ego Creates Blind Spots in Building the Team

A founder with an unchecked ego tends to hire people who won’t challenge them. That leads to weak leadership teams, inflated titles, and a culture where problems stay hidden until they explode.

Some of the most unfortunate startup failures in the region come from teams where everyone “agreed” not because they genuinely believed in the plan, but because it felt safer than disagreeing.

Ego Leads to Overbuilding and Burning Cash

Overconfident founders often overbuild products, raise too much too early, or spend aggressively to signal momentum. Offices too fancy. Teams too large. Marketing campaigns too soon.

Saudi Arabia's startup scene is no exception. With investor enthusiasm on the rise, ego-driven spending becomes an easy trap, one that later shows up in runaway burn rates and painful down-rounds.

Ego Prevents Startups from Admitting Mistakes Early

The most expensive mistakes in startups aren’t the wrong decisions. They’re the wrong decisions stayed with for too long.

Ego convinces founders that:

• “One more sprint will fix it.”
• “The market just doesn’t understand yet.”
• “If we stop now, it means we were wrong.”

But the smartest founders cut their losses quickly. They pivot without shame. They admit when an idea isn’t working, and that humility often saves the company.

How Founders Can Avoid Paying the Ego Tax

You don’t eliminate ego. You manage it. Here’s how:

1. Surround yourself with people who challenge you.
If no one in the room disagrees with you, you don’t have a team; you have an audience.

2. Treat customer feedback as data, not criticism.
The harshest feedback usually holds the strongest truth.

3. Do disciplined market validation before investing big.
Belief is not a business model.

4. Institutionalize humility.
Data analysis, weekly metrics reviews, and open culture create a system that keeps ego in check.

5. Remember: you are not the customer.
Your intuition matters; however, it cannot replace real-world testing.

Wrapping Things Up…

In the end, ego rarely destroys a startup overnight. It erodes it quietly in the assumptions left unchallenged, the decisions made without data, and the warnings ignored until they become crises. A founder can recover from a bad hire, a failed launch, or even a funding setback. But recovering from a culture shaped by overconfidence is far harder.

The founders who win in Saudi Arabia’s fast-evolving ecosystem will be the ones who pair ambition with self-awareness. Confidence gets you started. Humility keeps you alive.

Noha Gad

Starting a business can be the most entertaining experience entrepreneurs ever undertake. The ability to be the master of their own destiny has a huge draw; however, they should be aware that the odds are stacked against them.

Recent statistics by Get Indemnity showed that nearly 60% of startups fail within five years, and 20% will close within just 12 months. There is a wide range of reasons why startups fail; however, cash flow is commonly identified as the largest cause of concern for the majority of SMEs. Other reasons include the lack of market fit, operational inefficiencies, legal complications, and cybersecurity threats.

In light of these challenges, failure insurance represents a valuable tool for startups to mitigate the financial and operational impacts of risk events. It encompasses various policies designed to transfer risk away from the startup to an insurer, offering crucial protection against costly setbacks.

Incorporating failure insurance into a startup’s risk management strategy is more than just a safety net; it is a vital component of building investor confidence and long-term resilience. This protection not only safeguards the startup’s resources but also helps maintain business continuity in times of crisis, enabling startups to focus on growth rather than the specter of catastrophic loss.

Why startups need failure insurance?

Failure insurance helps startups navigate the uncertainties inherent in early-stage ventures, empowering founders to pursue innovation with a buffer against unpredictable failures.

Events such as fires, theft, lawsuits, or cyberattacks can lead to severe financial losses that most startups cannot afford to cover out of pocket. Failure insurance transfers these risks to an insurer, providing a vital safety net that can help startups recover and continue operating despite setbacks. 

Failure insurance could also help startups maintain business continuity in the face of disruptions. Business interruption coverage, which is often part of failure insurance packages, supports startups by compensating for lost income during periods when normal operations are halted. 

Additionally, having failure insurance in place signals professionalism and prudence to stakeholders, making startups appear more credible and trustworthy. Insurance coverage, such as general liability, professional liability, and directors and officers (D&O) insurance, reaffirms that the startup is protected against a variety of legal and operational risks. 

Startups face several risks that threaten their survival and success, notably:

• Lack of product-market fit: Most startups fail when the product or service does not meet market needs or attract customers.
• Cash flow problems: Running out of cash or insufficient financing to cover operational costs is a major risk.
• Team-related issues: Poor team dynamics, lack of skills, conflicts, or inappropriate team composition.
• Lack of clear business model or plan: No structured revenue model or strategic planning.
• Operational inefficiencies: Management failures, poor decisions, and organizational issues.
• Cybersecurity and tech risks: Data breaches, outdated technology, or system failures.

Choosing the right insurance

Selecting the right failure insurance involves a strategic and dynamic approach tailored to each startup’s unique circumstances. Founders can build a comprehensive insurance strategy that protects their startups and supports sustainable growth by following these steps:

• Conducting a comprehensive risk assessment.
• Understanding legal and contractual requirements.
• Evaluating coverage types and policy details.
• Considering the startup stage and growth plans.
• Consulting experienced insurance advisors.
• Updating insurance regularly in alignment with business changes.

Finally, failure insurance is an essential component of a comprehensive risk management strategy for startups as it helps protect founders’ investments, preserve business continuity, and mitigate the potentially devastating impacts of unforeseen events. Securing appropriate failure insurance allows startups to operate with greater confidence and resilience in today’s competitive and uncertain market. Thus, founders should view failure insurance as an indispensable part of their business toolkit to safeguard their vision and hard work.

Ghada Ismail

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the startup narrative continues to gain momentum under Vision 2030’s banner of innovation and economic diversification. Yet beneath the high-profile headlines of unicorns and mega‑funding rounds lies a quieter, but equally vital story: that of entrepreneurs whose first venture did not succeed and how they regroup, recalibrate, and launch again. For many Saudi entrepreneurs, failure is not a dead‑end but a stepping stone. So what drives these second-time founders? Where do they go after their first setback? And what does their journey reveal about the evolution of the Saudi startup ecosystem?

The first failure: stepping stones, not detours

Failure remains a common part of the startup lifecycle. Research globally suggests the majority of new ventures struggle to survive. For Saudi founders, the hardships may be slightly tougher given local cultural expectations, but shifting attitudes and ecosystem maturity are changing the narrative.

Take the story of Abdullah Alsaadi, co-founder and CEO of Taker.io. He launched his first idea, a cryptocurrency app, and after building nearly 30,000 lines of code, realized he had built something cool, but there was simply no market for it. His second attempt, a Salesforce‑platform app, failed because the Middle East infrastructure and market readiness were not aligned. Only after several more attempts did the business model click.

Similarly, Hatem Kameli (founder of Resal) started his first online business early in his career, closing down more than one venture due to a lack of venture capital.  

Since launching his first company at just 19, Hatem Kameli has been a driving force in Saudi Arabia’s startup scene. Today, the digital entrepreneur is preparing for his boldest move yet as he takes his company, Resal, public.

When a young Hatem founded his first internet startup two decades ago, right after the dotcom crash, family and friends urged him to focus on university and pursue a stable government job instead. But he was determined to chart his own path.

Two decades and several ventures later, Hatem stands as one of Saudi Arabia’s most recognized entrepreneurs. As Co-Founder and CEO of Resal, the Middle East’s largest digital gifting platform, he continues to push boundaries.

“In all my companies, I have always tried to use new technologies in ways that make a real difference to the economy and have a positive impact on people’s lives,” he says. “Whatever I do, I want to add value to the community.”

The journey was far from smooth. Hatem shuttered two early online ventures because of the scarcity of venture capital at the time. After selling one of his more successful startups, he decided to gain corporate experience by working on digital strategy projects for major banks and airlines, while also completing an MBA.

That experience proved invaluable. By the time Saudi Arabia unveiled Vision 2030, Hatem was perfectly positioned to ride the wave of transformation reshaping the Kingdom’s economy.

“Everything changed with Vision 2030,” he says. “We now have incubators and accelerators for startups, plentiful venture capital, and multiple financing programs. The ecosystem is incredible.”

“I’m grateful to work in a regional hub for technology, fintech, e-commerce, and digital entertainment.”

Hatem did not just benefit from this ecosystem. He helped build it. He contributed to one of Saudi Arabia’s first technology incubators, creating bridges between investors and startups. Alongside leading a digital marketing agency and launching a social media analytics platform, he pursued executive education at top international institutions and authored two books on social media marketing.

That same energy and passion for connecting people culminated in Resal, an award-winning platform that enables users and corporations to send and manage digital gift cards across hundreds of partner brands.

What emerges is a pattern: founders who don’t succeed the first time often gain resilience, domain familiarity, and networks, which prime them for a second act. From this, we realize that failure isn’t a detour; it becomes part of the journey.

What drives the comeback?

• Experience and resilience: Founders who have been through a rough first ride often have a thicker skin and better perspective. Alsaadi remarked that the six years of “failure after failure” taught him far more than success ever could. 
• Ecosystem backing: The Saudi startup ecosystem has grown substantially. Incubators, accelerators, government-backed funds, and regulatory reform now offer greater support than in earlier years of many founders’ first ventures.
• Refined idea selection: Having seen what does not work, second-time founders are often more deliberate about product–market fit, monetization, and business model viability.
• Network and credibility: Although prior failure carries a reputational risk, it also signals experience; founders who persevered have built networks, seen terrain, and can often draw on those assets for the next venture.

Paths taken after failure: Saudi second-time founder routes

In the Saudi context, second-time founders tend to follow one of a few broad routes:

a) Pivot and rebuild in the same or adjacent domain
Some entrepreneurs double down in their field, applying the lessons learned. Hatem Kameli’s pathway illustrates this: after early web‑ventures and business roles, he launched Resal in the digital gift‑cards sector when the timing and ecosystem were more favourable. This route allows the reuse of domain knowledge and contacts built during the first run.

b) Shift to a different sector or business model
Others take a hard pivot: they may leave a B2C model or consumer‑play and move into B2B, SaaS, enterprise, or niche segments where unit economics and market clarity improve. Alsaadi’s evolution is instructive: after his first few failed attempts, he focused on a SaaS platform (Taker.io) targeting restaurant ordering for a tighter set of customers, a clearer value‑proposition, and more achievable scale in Saudi. 

c) Serial entrepreneurship/portfolio approach
There is a growing mindset among Saudi founders: treat ventures as cycles. One venture may fail, but it becomes input into the next. Rather than view failure as ending the journey, they see it as calibration. In this sense, the second act is not “re-trying the same idea” but “applying accumulated experience to a better‑aligned idea”.

Lessons brought into the second act

From founder interviews and credible commentary, several recurring lessons appear:

• Test product–market fit early & deeply: Alsaadi admitted that his first app failed not because of technology, but because there was no market. 

• Own your destiny from day one: Second-time founders often emphasize controlling core components — hiring, metrics, cashflow — rather than relying purely on hype or external validation.

• Accept failure and iterate quickly: failure is not taboo, but rather a stage of the journey. 
• Adapt to the Saudi market context: Founders who succeed the second time have tailored their solution to local culture, regulatory environment, and consumer behavior rather than importing templates blindly.

Conclusion

The story of second-time founders in Saudi Arabia illustrates the evolution of the Kingdom’s startup ecosystem. Founders such as Abdullah Alsaadi and Hatem Kameli show that failure is not the end of the road; it can be the launchpad for a more aligned, disciplined, and timed second act. As the ecosystem matures, more Saudi entrepreneurs are using their first setback not as a stigma but as preparation.

Yet, success is not automatic. It demands realism, discipline, adaptation to the Saudi market, and courage to iterate. The key takeaway? For Saudi founders, the second attempt often matters more than the first. Failure is no longer taboo; it’s rather a credential. And in the Kingdom’s dynamic startup world, the founder who didn’t give up may be exactly the one who succeeds.