Saad Fazil
Managing Director at VentureDive
Saad Fazil
Managing Director at VentureDive
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
Managing Director
2023 - Current
Driving global transformation through intelligent and scalable AI-driven solutions.
Advisor & Board Member
2023
Advising Data Darbar on growth and thought leadership in their mission to unlock MENA-P's private sector.
Angel Investor
2012
As an angel investor, I have made notable investments in emerging markets and across the globe. Some of my investments include Careem, Noon Academy, Pipe, Epic Games, and Bazaar.
Advisor
2022 - 2023
As a growth, product, and thought leadership advisor for Alt, I worked with visionary founders to create impactful startups and contributed to Alt's mission to be the YC for emerging markets. In addition, I assisted the founder with seed fund-raising.
CEO and Co-founder
2019 - 2022
I co-founded and directed all functional areas for an e-commerce (grocery delivery) start-up. Led and coached a team of over 50. Led efforts to develop and grow the product and improve the internal processes, systems, and personnel. Past successes: ❖Secured $4M in pre-series-A funding and grew the company to $40M in annual run rate (GMV), making it #2 in the largest market within the country. Our daily orders grew 30% each month, with a peak of 10K daily. ❖Built and developed one of the strongest teams and cultures in the region, along with creating and promulgating a widely-admired brand with a cult following.
Head of Products, Founding Team
2012 - 2019
I joined the company as first person in Product organization, recruiting and leading Product, Growth, Design, and Engineering teams. Managed 10 direct reports and a team of 400. Worked with the CEO and Heads of Markets in each country (Egypt, Pakistan, others) to create and execute growth strategies. Created a culture of iterative development and growth experimentation. Used data science & ML to solve hard problems such as demand-supply matching, ETA optimization, etc. I am proud to have: ❖Played an instrumental role in growing the company to a valuation of over $1B through my leadership of the Product, Growth, Engineering, and Design teams in creating the ride hailing product (the “Uber” of the Middle East), with Uber eventually purchasing the company for $3.1B in 2019.
Managing Director and Co-founder
2017 - 2019
I co-founded and led a technology consulting company. I managed all product design and development activities (app, web, and user experience) as well as the investment strategy, marketing initiatives, and recruitment/hiring functions. I currently serve as a Board Member. Key highlights: ❖Played a key role in VentureDive becoming one of the top 5 technology companies in Pakistan, with offices now in Dubai, London, and San Francisco. Led investments in select, promising consumer start-ups in the region, including Noon Academy (ed-tech company based in KSA valued at over $100M). ❖Led the development of an in-house product that has ~10M monthly active users.
Head of Product
2011 - 2014
I oversaw all product functions for a mapping company. I led, coached, and mentored a team of Product Managers, Engineering Managers, a Design Manager, and technical architects. Notably, I: ❖Led a team that delivered the world’s freshest next-generation maps and location experiences across multiple devices and platforms, for consumers as well as B2B clients (Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo Maps, etc.) ❖Launched HERE Maps for Android and HERE Explore (popular discovery app), and deployed multiple products on mobile and desktop web.
Senior Product Manager
2009 - 2011
I managed the development and launch of core mobile applications, including Visual Voicemail, Enhanced Address Book, and Rich Communications Services on Android and other operating systems. My accomplishments include: ❖Generated $40M in additional revenue for the organization through the launch of these applications that reached millions of users. ❖Served as a key member of the 4G Venture Forum, evaluating mobile start-ups and consulting with multiple venture capitalists.
Business Analyst
2007 - 2009
I worked with several providers and internal departments to implement a sophisticated supplier dashboard to improve quality and increase revenue. I also recruited and managed a task force of consultants to significantly enhance the hotel product.