I sat down with Abdullah Mutawi, Partner and Head of Corporate at law firm Taylor Wessing and prolific angel investor as the Co-founder and Chairman of Dubai Angel Investors and Saudi Angel Investors and we unpack some of the challenges that startups founders and venture capital investors are facing as they learn how to deal with a major downturn echoing the global venture capital downturn post 2020/2021 bubble.

As a prominent lawyer, Abdullah is often called upon to mitigate distress situations, those that evoke strong emotions between the parties. Abdullah shares his learnings from various situations he has managed including one of the successful restructuring deals he worked on with Fetchr, the logistics startups that was saved, only to shut down again in 2021 in a twist of fate. If you are in the startup ecosystem or a stakeholder of the ecosystem, then you will certainly enjoy this discussion.

Support for this episode comes from Capital.com, a global investment platform with newly launched offices in Dubai. To learn more about Capital.com click here.

Contents:

00:00:58 Meet Abdallah Mutawi: A legal and investment lawyer

00:01:09 The MENA startup ecosystem: challenges and insights

00:02:14 Abdallah’s perspective on entrepreneurship

00:02:55 The role of a corporate lawyer in startups

00:04:21 Understanding distress situations in startups

00:07:58 Legal dimensions of managing adversity

00:11:23 Investor confidence and company valuation

00:22:13 Navigating down rounds and convertible notes

00:33:09 The importance of founder and management roles

00:40:20 Case Study: The rise and fall of Fetchr

00:45:10 Understanding shareholder consent

00:46:43 Stakeholder management challenges

00:49:56 Explaining “pay to play”

00:52:24 Navigating investor relations

00:56:39 Handling high-stress situations

01:02:53 The importance of due diligence

01:07:24 Behavioral red flags in founders

01:17:16 The role of board dynamics

01:18:42 Final thoughts and advice