In this episode, we sit down with Fouad Jeryes, co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Maqsam, MENA's AI-powered cloud communications platform. Fouad has been building in the region for over a decade, from co-founding CashBasha (one of Jordan's most trafficked e-commerce sites before its acquisition) to helping launch Oasis 500, Jordan's first tech accelerator, to running Amman Tech Tuesdays for ten years, bringing together over 40,000 attendees across the Jordanian startup ecosystem.

We cover:

– Why Maqsam's competitors are their best salespeople, and how customers keep migrating after poor experiences elsewhere. 
– Why most Arabic language accuracy benchmarks are nonsense, and why resolution rates are the only metric that actually matters. 
– Fouad's co-founder relationship with Sinan Taifour, why it's lasted longer than most marriages, and why being different is the whole point. 
– Why Maqsam has stayed deliberately quiet on fundraising while building a profitable, capital-efficient business. 
– What it actually means to build a MENA company as a Jordanian founder based in Riyadh, and why the question "are you a Saudi company" misses the point entirely.
– Fouad's take on AGI, why he thinks it's much further away than the headlines suggest, and why voice will be the last interface we ever use.

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Timestamps: 

00:00 - Introduction 
03:00 - The Genesis of CashBasha and Building for the Region 
06:00 - Why MENA's Fragmentation is Actually the Opportunity 
10:00 - A Co-Founder Relationship That's Outlasted Most Marriages 
14:00 - Why Maqsam Never Pivoted to AI 
15:00 - AI Will Replace Jobs and We Should Be Comfortable With That 
19:00 - OpenClaw, Prompt Injection, and the Dark Time Ahead 
23:00 - Voice is the Last Interface We'll Ever Use 
28:00 - Why Arabic Accuracy Benchmarks are Complete BS 
37:00 - Why Maqsam Stayed Deliberately Quiet on Fundraising 
39:00 - Our Competitors are Our Best Salespeople 
47:00 - Moving to Riyadh and Playing Where Ronaldo Plays 
49:00 - "Are You Guys a Saudi Company?" and the MENA Identity Crisis

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Transcript: https://share.transistor.fm/s/db87419a/transcript.txt

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