01:49:12 · John Coogan, Deena Shakir
[01:49:12] S0: Yeah. What does, what what is the status quo of of software in the critical infrastructure space? Like, you hear about these massive machines from Siemens, and I imagine that there's some maybe web based dashboard for something or other. But are those companies asleep at the wheel? Is there just so much opportunity that you can do a yes and solution where it's not a rip and replace, but it's an additive functionality for critical infrastructure, managers and companies? Like, what is the shape of the job to be done? [01:49:44] S9: Yeah. I mean, there's a real greenfield opportunity, especially in the region. It's going to come down to the application layer to deployment. This is not a novel concept. There's a lot of discussion right now about the distribution advantage. We're sort of moving beyond the mode of models and to actually who can deploy on the ground with partners. And what's exciting about the GCC is of course we think about them a lot as investors, There's a lot of money coming in from The UAE, from Saudi, from Qatar and elsewhere into these companies. But the idea of a homegrown company that is built for the GCC which is a true global hub clearly not only on the investing side but actually on the customer side where there's an opportunity for really fast, massive multi $100 billion dollar types of deployments Yeah. At scale. Something that you really don't see anywhere else in the world. [01:50:34] S0: Yeah. Really quickly, we gotta we gotta hit the gong. It came in the middle of an answer, I didn't get a chance to do it. But Jordan,
01:50:34 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[01:50:34] S0: Yeah. Really quickly, we gotta we gotta hit the gong. It came in the middle of an answer, I didn't get a chance to do it. But Jordan, [01:50:44] S1: please. Yeah. What what is what is deal flow like coming out of coming out of The Gulf? Like, I I can't imagine it it's more than, like, 10% of the opportunities you're seeing, maybe, like, 5%. But how are you evaluating those opportunities? [01:50:58] S0: And do you go there? Or do they come here? How does [01:51:01] S1: that Yeah. Do they did their money comes here, but then their entrepreneurs, do they come and do a road show here? Or, you know, is
01:51:01 · Jordi Hays, Deena Shakir
[01:51:01] S1: that Yeah. Do they did their money comes here, but then their entrepreneurs, do they come and do a road show here? Or, you know, is [01:51:07] S9: the You know, it's it's still really early days. There, of course, have been companies innovating in Dubai and all over The Gulf for quite some time. This is our first investment in twenty five years. That's a company headquartered there. Certainly we have a lot of companies that are doing business there or companies that have gotten investment from the region, but it's still early days. What's really exciting about this company among many other things is the founder and the founding team and this thesis that they have around the diaspora. So how can they catalyze some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs from the region who have worked in The US, Bilal, the founder and CEO was born in Jordan, studied computer science at Yale, worked for many years at scale, helped to grow their business in the region, had the opportunity to do anything and saw that there was this incredibly unique opportunity to build a homegrown sovereign AI company focused on the GCC. When we invested, it was just him in an idea and he has attracted some of the best and brightest. It has been such a joy just to watch the incredible talent that he's amassed around him, and that was one of the early signals for us to really double down.
01:51:07 · Deena Shakir, John Coogan
[01:51:07] S9: the You know, it's it's still really early days. There, of course, have been companies innovating in Dubai and all over The Gulf for quite some time. This is our first investment in twenty five years. That's a company headquartered there. Certainly we have a lot of companies that are doing business there or companies that have gotten investment from the region, but it's still early days. What's really exciting about this company among many other things is the founder and the founding team and this thesis that they have around the diaspora. So how can they catalyze some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs from the region who have worked in The US, Bilal, the founder and CEO was born in Jordan, studied computer science at Yale, worked for many years at scale, helped to grow their business in the region, had the opportunity to do anything and saw that there was this incredibly unique opportunity to build a homegrown sovereign AI company focused on the GCC. When we invested, it was just him in an idea and he has attracted some of the best and brightest. It has been such a joy just to watch the incredible talent that he's amassed around him, and that was one of the early signals for us to really double down. [01:52:13] S0: What are the key stops on the calendar in The Gulf these days? If you're in America, you might go to liquidity by the all in team. You might go to SF Tech Week, Milken, Sun Valley. What are the key stops if you're investing or doing business in The Gulf?
01:52:13 · John Coogan, Deena Shakir
[01:52:13] S0: What are the key stops on the calendar in The Gulf these days? If you're in America, you might go to liquidity by the all in team. You might go to SF Tech Week, Milken, Sun Valley. What are the key stops if you're investing or doing business in The Gulf? [01:52:32] S9: Well, the big one, especially in the last few years has been FII, which take click takes place in the fall in Saudi, in Riyadh. That's known as Davos in the desert to some. So that's that's a big one. And many people do a trip around that where Milken does a big summit as well in Abu Dhabi. A lot of folks are doing global conferences and actually creating their own versions in The Gulf because there is a lot of opportunity again, not just on the on the investing side, but actually now increasingly on the talent side. And we're excited to be at the forefront of that. [01:53:05] S0: Yeah. Web Summit's out there too, but tough. Web [01:53:08] S9: Summit and Qatar. [01:53:09] S0: Yeah. Because AI killed the web. It doesn't even really exist anymore. But they need to rename it. They should just rename it AI Summit. There you go. [01:53:17] S9: Well, then AI will be out of date. We're gonna have to just be constantly changing the names names for all of these. [01:53:22] S0: Potentially. Potentially. How are how are Gulf based companies pricing relative to San Francisco based companies?
01:53:22 · John Coogan, Deena Shakir, Jordi Hays, John Nay
[01:53:22] S0: Potentially. Potentially. How are how are Gulf based companies pricing relative to San Francisco based companies? [01:53:31] S9: Honestly, I think the global market for these companies for the absolute top tier of talent is pretty consistent and it really just comes down to that team. It's not about being golf based. There's no discount for a founder like Bilal. [01:53:43] S0: When you [01:53:43] S9: see that talent for a generational company, you know, it it's the prices are going to look like they do for general generational companies anywhere in the world. He's headquartered between London and Dubai, you know, has attracted talent from all over the world, including many, many folks actually, you know, from from Silicon Valley as well. Yeah. So no discount there, but also [01:54:04] S0: feeder in London, like in [01:54:07] S9: DeepMind is a feeder. There's really no limit, on the opportunity. Lots of great alums coming out of scale as well. [01:54:13] S0: Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Well, congratulations on the latest news and thank you so [01:54:18] S1: forward to meeting him. [01:54:18] S0: Coming on and talking to us for [01:54:20] S9: You've gotta have him on. He's excellent. Great to see you guys. Thanks for having me. [01:54:23] S1: To you. [01:54:24] S0: Thank you so much. We'll talk [01:54:25] S6: to you soon. Christina.