Notes from Dubai: building in a city that never slows down

Why I chose Dubai as the base for the next chapter — and what a normal working week actually looks like here.

Dubai rewards people who show up. Not once, not for a conference week — every single day. The meetings that matter here rarely happen on the first call; they happen on the fourth, after people have watched how you behave when nothing is being signed.

My week is built around three blocks: partner meetings in the morning, deep work in the afternoon, and family in the evening. Everything that does not fit into one of those three blocks gets declined. That is the only reason the calendar still functions.

The lesson I keep relearning: speed is a byproduct of clarity. When you know exactly what you are building and who you are building it with, decisions take minutes instead of weeks.