Coming Soon to a Sandbox Near You

A newsletter analyzing how technology products are built in emerging ecosystems

This is Sandbox, a product-centric newsletter about how technology companies are built in emerging and frontier markets.

Media today is saturated with stories of nascent technology ecosystems in markets like Southeast Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Names such as GoJek, Nubank, Paystack, Rappi and Careem have made headlines over the past decade as the fast-growing ambassadors of their respective regions. Top-shelf venture capital firms have forayed into all of these markets and, in many cases, have hired teams locally.

Headlines aside, what are the challenges and opportunities for founders in these geographies? How are technology products built in the face of limited resources, legacy regulations, and fragmented markets? What’s happening in the immediate vicinity of these companies that affects their trajectories? I’ll take a product-focused look at unique technology companies around the world who’ve left their imprint on their local ecosystem whilst sharing my own insights and opinions formed over years of operating and investing in such markets.