Insights

Papi & Laado publishes occasional notes that reflect observations across the Saudi venture environment. These notes study patterns in behaviour, structure, regulation, and alignment among founders, investors, public institutions, family offices, and ecosystem builders.

Each piece is written to support clearer thinking, responsible development, and NSR-aligned decisions.

Recent Insights

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Plato’s Cave and the Venture Ecosystem’s Blind Spots

This insight examines how assumptions form and persist within venture ecosystems when trends and news narratives are prioritised over evidence. Drawing on the metaphor of Plato’s cave, it explores how repeated signals, media reinforcement, and unchallenged enthusiasm can create the illusion of validity, even in the absence of proof. The piece highlights how short-term alignment with fashionable ideas can suppress critical challenge and weaken long-term outcomes, concluding with a call for greater discipline in evidence-seeking and assumption-testing as a structural responsibility within the ecosystem.

The Venture Ecosystem Is Not the Product

A venture ecosystem, like any effective service system, exists to enable change rather than to showcase its components. Programmes, funding, mentors, and institutions are not the goal; they are instruments. The true measure of an ecosystem lies in whether ventures emerge more capable, resilient, and aligned with their operating environment than when they entered. When ecosystems focus on inputs instead of outcomes, founders are left to assemble transformation on their own. A mature ecosystem accepts responsibility for the journey, not just the activity.

Building for Oneself Before the Market Notices

Pebble and Clicks highlight a shared pattern of founder-led product clarity. Both are building devices they personally want to use before responding to broader market signals. Pebble’s calm, self-funded revival and Clicks’ BlackBerry-inspired communicator show how restraint, lived experience, and quiet nostalgia can shape focused products without chasing scale or trends.

The Responsibility of Power: Reconciling Purpose, Principles, and Authority in Leadership

This Insight examines the tension between purpose, principles, and power in modern leadership, drawing on contemporary interpretations of the Machiavelli Paradox. It explores how authority, when exercised without structural responsibility, can erode trust, distort judgement, and weaken institutions. The piece reframes power not as a tool for control or personal advancement, but as a custodial obligation to the wider system. Through the lens of National Sense of Responsibility (NSR), it outlines why restraint, alignment, and ethical coherence are essential for leaders and advisors operating in high-impact environments.

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Insights are published as part of our ongoing study of venture environments and institutional development.