42Geeks tour mena, by alan tien
First time geek Alan Tien
I was lucky enough to connect with my old PayPal friend Dave McClure, who recently rebooted his “Geeks on a Plane” concept under the new brand “42Geeks” (if you don’t get the “42” reference, you may not be geeky enough to join).
When was the last time you hung out with your intellectual and cultural peers traveling together for a fortnight? For me, it was post-college on Love Boat, and like that adventure almost 30 years ago, I haven’t learned about new cultures and environs, slept so little, went out so much, and gained so many new BFFs in a long time. It was a heady experience, and I’ll take you on a mini-recap of the tour.
Segment 1 geeks gathered in Tel Aviv, Israel for our welcome orientation
Tel Aviv, israel
At the start of 2023, I joined 42Geeks - a group of tech entrepreneurs, investors, and VCs from around the world - to embark on a 10-day tour of Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. We explored the regional tech hubs, accelerators and incubators, and networked with local entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders. In between the meetings, we gorged on the local delights, took selfies everywhere, and generally reliving our lives like high schoolers in summer camp.
During the first welcome dinner, I ordered a bottle of Cha Cha, a grappa-like alcohol from Georgia (the country), thinking it would be about the size of a beer bottle. My new friends ribbed me instantly, but they were happy to partake. I knew it was going to be a good trip.
Though our Jerusalem trip was canceled for safety reasons, we enjoyed Old Jaffa and ate through the Carmel Market (just don’t go, like us the first time, during Shabbat, when the entire market is shut down).
Jason Greenblatt, Former White House Envoy to the Middle East
The group's first official stop was in Tel Aviv, Israel, known for its thriving tech startup scene, supercharged by alumni from the famed 8200 military intelligence unit that has led to the country’s competitive advantage in cyber security. We visited Startup Nation to learn how Israel raised over $28 billion in venture capital in 2021 and spawned over 7500 startups in a nation of 9M people. But perhaps the most interesting talk was given by fellow geek Jason Greenblatt about the Abraham Accords, which normalized the relationship between Israel and UAE (meaning, among other things, we can now fly directly from Tel Aviv to Dubai). Oh, btw, he’s literally the architect of the accords.
Despite the increased tensions in the region, we braved the torrential rain and bussed to Ramallah in Palestine. We stopped at Mandela Square and Yasser Arafat’s shrine before arriving at uMake to meet the intrepid entrepreneurs of Palestine. This sobering tour reminded us of how lucky we are to have all the advantages of Silicon Valley, or whichever cosseted ecosystem we’re building our startups from.
Ramallah, palestine
Geeks visiting Mandela Square in Ramallah, Palestine
Of course, the best learning is done outside of the classroom. In fact, it was in the evening Tel Aviv excursions, where I learned more about the impact of AI from a Zell mentor and mentee. Properly buzzed and motivated, I downloaded Discord, set up my own server, and invited the Midjourney Bot to join, whereupon I prompted it to create some images about our group. Throughout the trip, we played around with generative AI, something I’ve read about but didn’t get around to actually trying. Being around fellow geeks encouraged me to rediscover my inner nerdom.
Dubai, the united arab emirates
Dubai Museum of the Future
Inside Dubai’s Museum of the Future
Next, we headed to Dubai, which I have heard so much about but was visiting for the first time. In short, I was blown away. On my first Emirates flight (I know!), I watched “My Story,” bite-sized videos of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. I was amazed that the glittering city of Dubai was not funded by the gushing oil of the region, but by superb governance, incredible tolerance, and breathtaking vision. I could not help but think of the parallels to Singapore, where another inimitable leader Lee Kuan Yew imagined a city out of nothing.
Appropriately, after we heard from the Minister of AI and the leaders of the Dubai tech ecosystem at the Dubai Future Foundation (which looks like a mall), a subset of the group oohed and aahed through a tour of the Dubai Museum of the Future. Believe me, the interior is as spectacular as the exterior.
I was grateful that we were visiting Dubai in February when we walked over to DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) under a hot but bearable sun. One of the geeks said it was 50℃ in the summer when he had last visited! DIFC reminds me of Shanghai’s Pudong financial center, also built from nothing in the last 20 years.
After a few sessions about the tech startup scene in Dubai, we went to Visa’s CEMEA Innovation Center, courtesy of my friend Akshay Chopra. It was even more beautiful than the Singapore one, where we had worked together. The ultimate compliment was when one of the geeks asked why the “payment super app” demoed in the center wasn’t a reality already.
That evening, we were feted by a friend of a geek on his private balcony overlooking the Persian Gulf and Dubai’s sensational skyline. It’s nice to have friends in high places. Since we had a professional videographer at this stunning venue, one of the geeks generated a short script using ChatGPT, and we filmed our star, Dave McClure, and 2 other geeks making an impromptu skit.
The next day, we tried to wrap our brains around the idea of a Network State, with literally the author of the book - Balaji Srinivasan - Zooming in. It was a bit surreal learning about what makes an ideal state within the dreamland of Dubai, seemingly, to the uninitiated at least, the end-state of this abstract concept.
After a big night out on Friday night, we went “dune bashing” - basically a roller coaster ride in Toyota Land Cruisers, on sand dunes and without rails. Needless to say, it was a blast. It also afforded us some awesome pictures at sunset.
At this point, I was exhausted from the trip and hoping to take it easy the next day. But what was I to do? We were invited to a sunset yacht cruise down the Dubai “river,” man-made like everything else.
Throughout the trip, smaller groups splintered off to meet up with local friends and potential investors, roam the astounding malls (ice skate, ride a roller coaster, or even ski indoors!), taste the local cuisine at an amazing array of restaurants, and of course drink and dance at the glitzy bars and clubs. I joined one such group to tour the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa (though the Saudis are building an even taller building, Jeddah Tower).
abu dhabi, united arab emirates
Back to “work” on Monday, the group headed to Abu Dhabi, the “other” UAE city competing against Dubai by throwing big bucks (like billions of dollars) to attract top tech talent to their ecosystem. After networking with the trailblazing founders of several startups, we visited the blindingly white Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi
Suddenly, it was time for me to leave the group, many of whom were continuing their adventure in Segment 2 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I felt genuinely sad saying farewell to my tribe of geeks, with whom I had bonded over the last 10 days eating, drinking, learning, selfie-ing, bussing, flying, scootering, dune bashing, yachting…did I mention drinking? Goodbye compadres. Til the next 42geeks adventure!
Interested in our next 42Geeks trip?
by Alan Tien
Alan is General Partner at Hang10X Capital. Alan was formerly the General Manager of PayPal China, and Senior Director at PayPal in Singapore. Alan was also Vice President of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships APAC at Visa.
