The last couple of years, it seems, have witnessed a certain coming of age of the tech ecosystem in MENA, with founders moving on to their second ventures, operators launching their own companies, and a lot of movement within support organizations. Exits such as those of Careem and Mumzworld are bound to create trailblazing founder ‘mafias’ of their own, who will go on to launch the next Careem’s and Mumzworld’s of the region. Others will take on leadership positions in similar companies and leverage their unique expertise to grow them into the next success story. There is a tangible change of pace in investments as well, with rounds closing in close succession and companies growing at an unprecedented pace, made possible in part by a strengthened support infrastructure, improved regulations, but most of all, by a new generation of founders with incredible depth of experience and the teams they surround themselves with. In Episode 7 of The Nuwa Capital podcast, we had the pleasure of hosting Nathalie Spree, Partner at True Search, an executive search platform helping companies hire senior talent across the globe, and part of the Nuwa Network. With companies witnessing accelerated growth on one hand, and sourcing and hiring the right talent becoming increasingly challenging and competitive on the other, we wanted to pause on what it means to build the right team, best practices for hiring, what talent is looking for, and the real cost of poor company culture.