{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"FWDstart","title":"Fouad Jeryes (Maqsam) on Why MENA's Fragmentation is the Opportunity, Why Arabic AI Benchmarks are BS, & Why Your Competitors are Your Best Salespeople","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3472,"description":"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.\nWe cover:\n– Why Maqsam's competitors are their best salespeople, and how customers keep migrating after poor experiences elsewhere. \n– Why most Arabic language accuracy benchmarks are nonsense, and why resolution rates are the only metric that actually matters. \n– Fouad's co-founder relationship with Sinan Taifour, why it's lasted longer than most marriages, and why being different is the whole point. \n– Why Maqsam has stayed deliberately quiet on fundraising while building a profitable, capital-efficient business. \n– 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.\n– 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.\n-----------------------------------------------\nTimestamps: \n00:00 - Introduction \n03:00 - The Genesis of CashBasha and Building for the Region \n06:00 - Why MENA's Fragmentation is Actually the Opportunity \n10:00 - A Co-Founder Relationship That's Outlasted Most Marriages \n14:00 - Why Maqsam Never Pivoted to AI \n15:00 - AI Will Replace Jobs and We Should Be Comfortable With That \n19:00 - OpenClaw, Prompt Injection, and the Dark Time Ahead \n23:00 - Voice is the Last Interface We'll Ever Use \n28:00 - Why Arabic Accuracy Benchmarks are Complete BS \n37:00 - Why Maqsam Stayed Deliberately Quiet on Fundraising \n39:00 - Our Competitors are Our Best Salespeople \n47:00 - Moving...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/rw5tuXzSlVVTIYGhONUr8fUF7P47ZEBy7HgU8S4OYCc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9iY2M5/ZDg1NjgwNzY2YzM0/ODcxOTc5MGEzOWMw/Mzk0OS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}