#54 : Noureddine Tayebi : An entrepreneur is a paranoid defying the status quo !

Génération Kairos

Noureddine Tayebi is a High Tech phD, Entrepreneur, Investor, CoFounder and CEO of YASSIR, a leading startup for on demand services, such as ride hailing, food and groceries delivery. Yassir started in 2017 in Algeria and rapidly has developed presence in the Maghreb Region and internationally, today serving 8 million users, 45 cities and improving the lives of 100,000 partners including drivers, couriers, merchants, suppliers, and wholesalers.

After a series B in October 2022 of 150 millions USD with a total capital raised of 195 millions dollars, Yassir is one of the most valued and funded startups in North Africa and the Middle East. The startup is on a wild journey to build the biggest everyday super app in the Maghreb and french-speaking region in west Africa, moving people, packages, food, money and more. In this process Yassir will have to morph into a Fintech starting by handling payment services.

Noureddine was born and raised in Algeria up to an engineering degree. He acknowledges that his drives and values around ambition, confidence and resilience were unconsciously nurtured in his childhood through his parent's stories

"The values that you have will define your impact ! "

Thanks to a bold support from his family and a scholarship, he went to the United States to pursue further studies and got a PHD from Stanford University, the birth place of the silicon valley and high-tech industry. A lifetime changing experience with key learnings on high-tech engineering and on how a thriving mindset can be empowered by the ecosystem. So that since Noureddine likes mixing his engineering thinking with social sciences

"For an ecosystem to work, you must have a strong value system anchored : ambition, perseverance, creativity and rising by helping others "

"Culture is a value system that you have as a primary capital and you use in a subconscious way !"

" Stanford Mindset : I am going to be pursuing something that will make you forget everything else !"

Later working in Intel's Labs Division on start-up like projects, from research ideas to sales and funding, he went confidently from there to start his own Entrepreneur journey, having seen the potential impact one can create on teams and people.

Relating to his values, he is pursuing with Yassir and his cofounder a desire to contribute personally and more efficiently to the development of his birth region, by building a regional champion and inspiring the high-tech ecosystem to flourish, where he clearly points out the lack of values, mindset and best practices as the biggest problems for local Entrepreneurs. On this journey, he is holding in mind the similar model of Diaspora members around the world bringing back to their region of birth, knowledge, expertise and mindset, therefore enabling the emergence of local champions such as : Tencent, Grab, Tokopedia, Nubank

As a super App, Yassir form day one is build on the strategy to address the unbanked potential in the region and leverage technology and customer's confidence offering seamless access to necessary everyday on demand services
" To have a product Market-Fit , solve a problem where you have a necessity. You will have adoption even if you don’t have a great product. Raise money and come back to improve the product "
Noureddine emphasizes in Yassir's growth model in a highly competitive landscape the critical importance of implementing a business with sound economics, to build a profitable business

Yassir is pursuing a strategy of attracting the engineering talent in Europe that identify with the mission by opening R&D hubs in Alger, Paris and Berlin. The startup also is on the mission to empower local talents in each country it operates, being one of the largest employers of software developers in the Region with up to 400 people so far.

Noureddine recommends these two readings on Entrepreneurship :

Only the paranoid survive by Andrew Grove

The Hard things about hard things by Ben Horowitz