Founder Connects Podcast

This is the VC masterclass nobody gives founders. Until now. 

Elliott Denham is Head of Programs at Oraseya Capital a $150 million VC fund based in Dubai, and the UAE's #1 most active investor for the past two and a half years. With over 70 startups in their portfolio and a mandate spanning pre-Seed all the way to Series B, Elliott has sat across the table from hundreds of tech founders. He knows what makes them stand out, what makes them lose the room, and what happens to their pitch after they leave. 

October 11 2026:  A milestone for Oraseya Capital! Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), chaired by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, has announced the expansion of their venture capital fund from AED 500 million to AED 1 billion.

In this episode we pull back the curtain on everything founders wish they knew before raising. We get into the depths of how VCs actually think - what they're really evaluating when you walk in the room, how the lifecycle of a VC fund can impact the timing of your fundraising efforts, why a “no” from a VC is not a “no” forever, and the one reframe that changes how every founder should approach the entire fundraising process.

0:00 Intro
3:52 Who is Oraseya Capital?
5:50 Why do entrepreneurs struggle with time & project management?
14:36 Due diligence for founders & VCs
22:30 Founders fighting for attention
31:16 AI & Solo Founders vs Founding Team
38:00 Founder credibility & market fit
41:45 What is an early stage founder?
45:40 How do you evaluate if a founder actually needs investment?
48:30 Sandbox accelerator process
1:02:39 Investment that didn't go through 
1:07:24 Different investors different terms
1:12:12 Cap Table & De-risking investments VC
1:21:31 Understanding VC investment stages and cycles
1:30:11 Investors are in the business of exits

Follow Elliott:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-denham/
Website: https://oraseyacapital.com/

Follow Founder Connects:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founder-connects-mena/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/founderconnects/
Website: https://www.founderconnects.com/

Founder Connects Meetups
https://luma.com/founderconnects?utm_source=YT

Hamza Khan is the co-founder and CEO of Letswork, a co-working marketplace with over 75,000 members globally. From surviving Covid when revenue disappeared overnight, to rebuilding from scratch, twice, his story is one of the most honest accounts of what the founder journey actually looks like when the plan falls apart and the tough decisions have to be made anyway.

In this episode we go back to both moments and discuss what it actually felt like to go from 100 to zero overnight, How they got funded with a four-minute pitch and no polished deck. Why being pushed out of your comfort zone was the best thing that happened to the business.

0:00 Intro
3:15 Hamza's Background
8:33 How Do You Evaluate Failure for Startups 
14:00 The Letswork Journey
15:47 What Makes a Great Co-working Space
20:42 Fundraising & Joining an Accelerator
26:16 Your Business Could Disappear Overnight 
34:23 Business Expansion Challenges
43:42 In-Office vs Remote Working
49:32 Founder Connects Community Question
50:34 What Gap Did You See in the Market?
52:27 The Struggle of Balancing Family and Business
56:18 The Right Co-founder Makes Everything

Follow Hamza:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamza-khan-b2414772/
Website: https://www.letswork.io/

Follow Founder Connects:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founder-connects-mena/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/founderconnects/
Website: https://www.founderconnects.com/

Founder Connects Meetups
https://luma.com/founderconnects?utm_source=YT

Founder Connects Residency
https://founderconnects.com/residency 

Most founders think growth comes from raising more, hiring more, and building more. Our guest today has done all of that, across five startups and he'll tell you that's money isn't the problem.

Ayham Gorani is a serial entrepreneur who has built and exited four companies across fintech, SaaS, and platform businesses. Now as the co-founder of PEMO, he’s on a mission to support SMEs across MENA with their all-in-one spend management software that gives entrepreneurs their time back and allows them to work on their business, not in it.

In this episode we get into why most startups fail to validate before they execute, why hiring more people can actually slow you down, why focusing on exit is overrated, and the one lesson he discovered in his founder journey that changed everything

0:00 Intro
3:44 Does the Founder Journey Ever Get Easier? 
5:56 Should You Have a Backup Plan?
9:46 How to Actually Validate Your Idea
16:21 Why Founders Think They Need to Know Everything
21:38 Working With Family 
24:20 How to Find the Right Co-Founder
30:36 How to Filter Through the Noise
35:47 You Are the Biggest Block to Your Own Success
38:17 When Is It Time to Move On?
44:33 The PEMO Journey
47:45 How to Deal With Competition
51:42 The Challenges of Experimentation
54:50 Hiring, Culture and Building the Right Team
1:00:35 Optimism vs Belief 
1:02:47 The Inflection Point 
1:05:25 The Fundraising Misconception 
1:10:43 What Every First-Time Founder Needs to Hear

Follow Ayham:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayhamg/
Website: https://www.pemo.io/

Follow Founderconnects:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founder-connects-mena/posts/?feedView=all
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/founderconnects/
Website: https://www.founderconnects.com/