Mohamed Elsherifالعربية

What I have learned by getting it wrong first

Operations, scaling and the MENA market. Published when I have something to say, not on a schedule.

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  • Your SaaS Co-founder Is Not the Risk

    Most SaaS companies do not start with a legal department. They start with two or three people, a product idea, a few late-night calls, and a shared belief that the details can wait.

    • Founders
    • Governance
    • Legal
  • As a SaaS Founder, You Have a "No" Problem

    Every SaaS product team eventually hits the same wall. The backlog has two hundred items, the roadmap meeting runs over by an hour, and everyone leaves convinced their feature was the one that actually mattered. The problem is…

    • Product
    • Prioritisation
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SaaS COOs

    A SaaS COO is often described as the person responsible for operations.

    • Operations
    • COO
  • How to Package a Hybrid Model of PLG and SLG SaaS

    My recent consultations with SaaS founders in GCC raised the same question in different shapes.

    • Pricing
    • GTM
    • MENA
  • SaaS Growth vs. Scale

    MENA startups closed 2025 having raised $7.5 billion, a 225% jump year-on-year, the strongest year the region's ecosystem has ever recorded. Exit activity was up 54%, concentrated in fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce across the UAE,…

    • Scale
    • Unit economics
    • MENA
  • A SaaS COO Should Build a Culture of Operations Without Killing Agility

    This article is for you! The COO of the SaaS company who loves to document! Well, imagine you spent three months documenting every repeatable process in the company. Onboarding flows, QBR templates, escalation paths, and handoff…

    • Operations
    • COO
    • Culture
  • Can Customer Success Managers Be Turned into Forward-Deployed Engineers؟

    If you're building a SaaS or AI product right now, you've probably looked at your Customer Success team and thought: "These people are closest to the customer, can I just upskill them into Forward-Deployed Engineers and solve my…

    • AI
    • Customer Success
    • Hiring
  • Your ICP Is a Lie (And It's Killing Your Sales)

    Most MENA SaaS founders I work with can describe their ICP in about 10 seconds. "SMEs in Egypt." "Mid-size companies in the Gulf." "Businesses with 50 to 200 employees."

    • Validation
    • ICP
    • MENA
  • You Shouldn't Have Hired that Great Salesperson!

    It is Saturday, and we are back to writing! I find it really annoying how LinkedIn has not yet solved the right-to-left problem with LinkedIn Articles, which forces me to write in English. By any means, let us talk about moving…

    • Sales
    • Hiring
    • MENA
  • The Money Flow in a SaaS Startup

    My dear founder, it is very important to get your money basics straight and structured. There are a few items that you must know, even if you are planning to hire an accountant. I will share some basic items here that I hope, in…

    • Finance
    • Unit economics
  • The SaaS COO Growth Role to Push the RevOps Forward

    Finally! It is a holiday, and I can go back to writing! In this episode of The SaaS Newsletter, we are shedding light on the actions and roles the COO must take to push the SaaS company forward. So, if you know anyone working in…

    • Operations
    • RevOps
    • COO
  • COGS in SaaS Companies

    If you run a SaaS company, there is one number on your financials more dangerous than revenue itself: cost of goods sold. Get it wrong and your gross margin — and your valuation — go with it.

    • Finance
    • Unit economics
    • AI
  • The Rule of 40 for SaaS Businesses

    For a long time the golden advice to any SaaS founder was: grow fast, profit comes later. That advice has expired. Growth without efficiency is no longer an advantage.

    • Finance
    • Growth
    • Valuation
  • The SaaS Growth Paradox

    Have you ever wondered why rising sales/capital can drain your business?

    • Finance
    • Cash flow
    • Growth
  • Scaling SaaS The Systems You Must Build First (MENA Edition)

    In the SaaS Masterclass , we often discuss how SaaS is not just software online; it is an economic and operating model. When you scale from 1 to 100 employees, you aren't just adding people; you are stressing your operating system.

    • Operations
    • Tooling
    • MENA