My timeline:
I grew up in an insular community in Saudi Arabia, with no access to secular books, movies, music, or art. I left home in 2013 to learn English in New York. I've had a hunger ever since for the intellectual life I was starved of growing up. I fed that hunger with work, literally and figuratively. Through work, I ate and learned.
I built a career in investing that took me from emerging markets private equity to Silicon Valley venture capital. I’ve lived and worked in nine countries (The US, UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, UAE). Most recently, I co-founded Transition, a deep-tech fund where I raised $280M, led the US practice, and served on the boards of Olix, Reel Energy, Unigrid, Anthro Energy, and Applied Atomics.
My work has always been about finding deep believers and building the conditions for their ideas to come to life. What energizes me about venture is the conviction that comes before investing: the deep research, the reading, the collaborations I’ve formed with researchers, scientists, engineers, and writers. Over time, I realized this was not a side interest. It was the core of what I do best.
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“Work is the inescapable starting point for all social inquiry.” — Robert Heilbroner
This year, I’m stepping back from investing to explore the question of work itself through writing, reading, and conversations with people across industries who are thinking differently about it.
If any of this resonates with you, please reach out!
