Insights & Perspectives
The Fund Journey: An Emerging Manager’s Story from Kuala Lumpur to South-East Asia. Part I (Years T-2 to 1)
From Fund I ($10M) to Fund III ($50M) in Six Years. A Three-Part Series on Building a South-East Asian Venture Capital Firm from Scratch Written by Christian Rangen, advisor to VC funds, Fund-of-funds, faculty, Written through the lens of Aisha Rahman, Founding...
From Student to Master: The 4-Phase Journey to Master Scale Up Facilitation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Mastery in Scale Up facilitation is not a credential you earn; it is a progression you live. Over 18 to 36 months, you will evolve from content expert to transformer; someone who helps founders and teams see what they could not see alone. This...
Evolving Scale Up!
Over the past seven years we have delivered 300+ sessions with nearly 4.500 people through Scale Up! This month, we are rolling out the latest version, Scale Up MENA! and Scale Up Africa Rising! (launching in Q1 ’26). Here are the first observations from running the...
Scaling up the MENA ecosystem
“Mindblowing - but in a good way” “Absolutely stunning” “Possibly the most unique training I have taken part in. The highs and lows of being a start up founder squeezed into two days. “Every founder should have this!” Just wrapped up an incredible two-day...
The Three Types of Scale-Up Boards: A Founder’s Journey Through Series A in MENA
Written by Chris Rangen, advisor, faculty, investor Written through the lens of Dr. Layla Al-ha-Mansouri, Founder & CEO, HealthSyncz MENA With insights from: Tariq E. Hassan, General Partner, Desert Capital. The people and companies are fictional for the purpose...
How Startup Boards Evolve
Written by Chris Rangen, advisor, faculty, investor. Big thanks to Tiffany Bain , Dubai Future District Fund and Nitin Reen , Nuwa Capital for valuable discussion on the topic. Your board isn't static. It evolves as your company does. Most founders get this wrong....
Founder? These are the six decks you need
Just flying back from a week with founders in Dubai, one of the most common questions we received, “what should I put in my pitch deck?”. Our answer: “you are asking the wrong question. You need to develop all six decks” By: Christian Rangen, global advisor to VCs,...
Fundraising in MENA 101 – Your first funding round
Startup founder. Looking to raise your first round of capital? Check out our field notes from a week in Dubai. By: Chris Rangen, global advisor to VCs, FoF’s & ecosystem builders. Faculty, advisor, investor Sanjana Raheja, advisor to early-stage founders,...
The Top Ten Questions I Ask Founders Raising Capital Right Now
Are you a founder raising capital? These are the top ten questions I ask founders. I just got off a call. Great founder. Raising a strong Series A. Except, maybe not. The momentum was not quite there. The investor prospects were starting to dry up. Christmas was...