When Vision Meets Discipline: Lessons from Building 7awi
There’s an invisible tension that never really goes away when you are both the Founder and the CEO of your own company. One part of you dreams and disrupts. The other manages, protects, and measures. One part loves chaos; the other craves order. I’ve lived that contradiction for more than a decade at 7awi Media Group, and I can tell you — it’s not for the faint-hearted.
When I started 7awi, it wasn’t built out of a business plan. It was built out of conviction, that Arabic digital media could be smarter, more entertaining, more relevant. I wanted to create a platform that didn’t just publish content, but connected cultures, languages, and audiences across the region.
Back then, people said Arabic content doesn’t monetize, that CPMs were too low, that it wasn’t sustainable. The founder in me ignored all that. The CEO in me later had to face it.
The Founder: The Dreamer and the Believer
Founders live in the future. We see what’s possible before the data proves it.
In 7awi’s early days, that belief was everything. We didn’t have deep pockets or venture capital. What we had was energy, speed, and the will to create. We built Layalina, Yummy, Alqiyady, and Arabsturbo not because market research told us to, but because we saw gaps in the Arabic internet.
No one was writing about beauty in a modern, inclusive way. No one was creating relatable health and wellness content. No one was reviewing cars in Arabic with authenticity and production value. So we did.
I remember staying up until 3 AM with a small team writing, editing, debugging our CMS, and launching our first sites on a shoestring. There was joy in that chaos — the kind only founders understand. When we first hit one million pageviews, I celebrated like we’d just won a championship.
The founder in me is still driven by curiosity. That’s how SocialEye came to life — born from a simple question: What if we could connect brands and creators in the MENA region using AI and data instead of guesswork?
We saw a gap — influencer marketing was booming, but most brand-creator matches were based on personal preference, not performance data. The founder in me saw the opportunity; the CEO in me turned it into a platform with clear deliverables, partnerships, and measurable ROI.
That balance between vision and structure became the essence of 7awi’s evolution.
The CEO: The Operator and the Builder
The CEO doesn’t dream, he delivers.
As 7awi scaled, the founder in me wanted to launch more products, more countries, more experiments. The CEO in me had to say, “Wait. Let’s consolidate. Let’s measure. Let’s sustain.”
That’s when we built Casper CMS, our proprietary publishing system that now powers millions of monthly views across our network. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a game changer — automating workflows, cutting hosting costs, and giving us full control over our content and data.
The CEO side also meant building systems and resilience. During the pandemic, the founder in me wanted to react fast — launch new ideas, chase new markets. The CEO in me had to do the harder thing: protect what we’d built. We streamlined operations, built real-time dashboards, and turned crisis into clarity. We didn’t just survive that storm — we came out stronger, leaner, and smarter.
The CEO role also tests you emotionally. I’ve had to make difficult decisions — from restructuring teams to delaying launches — always balancing empathy with accountability. Those are moments that don’t make headlines, but they define leadership.
The Daily Conflict
Every day, I switch between two mindsets.
The founder wakes up thinking about new ideas: How can AI enhance our storytelling? Should we build a new vertical for Gen Z? What’s the next evolution of regional media?
The CEO wakes up thinking: What’s the ROI? Who owns this initiative? Does it align with our Q4 targets?
Take Jalees, for example — our open content platform that empowers writers, thinkers, and professionals across the Arab world to publish their perspectives.
The founder in me loved the concept — democratizing storytelling, giving individuals a voice, creating a space where experience and thought leadership meet. But the CEO in me knew it needed more than passion — it needed structure, moderation, and editorial curation.
We built the workflows, set community guidelines, created partnerships with universities and contributors, and gradually turned Jalees into one of the region’s most engaged UGC platforms.
That’s the constant dance — the founder wants to move fast and break things; the CEO wants to move strategically and build things that last.
The Emotional Side No One Talks About
People often see the title “CEO” and assume it means control, success, and confidence. What it really means is responsibility.
There are days when I’m surrounded by people, meetings, presentations, interviews and yet it feels incredibly lonely. Because at the end of the day, the decisions are mine. The wins are shared; the losses are personal.
When our AI initiative in Casper CMS hit early bugs, the founder in me wanted to rebuild everything overnight. The CEO in me said, “No — fix what’s broken, test, measure, improve.” When we debated expanding Inc. Arabia into print, the founder in me saw legacy; the CEO saw cost without clear value. We didn’t do it, and that restraint made us stronger digitally.
You don’t learn these lessons from business school or books. You learn them in silence, at 2 AM, when you’re thinking about payroll, partnerships, and people.
Balancing Vision and Structure
Over time, I’ve realized that vision means nothing without structure.
7awi started as a digital content publisher. Today, it’s a media-tech ecosystem — integrating AI, audience data, influencer marketing, and storytelling. That transformation didn’t happen by accident; it required the founder’s ambition and the CEO’s discipline, working in harmony.
The founder side still pushes for innovation, like expanding SocialEye to connect micro-creators with niche audiences, or developing new audience dashboards powered by Casper AI. The CEO side ensures we build scalable business models, track performance, and sustain long-term value.
In 2026, as we enter our next phase, $15M in projected revenue, deeper regional expansion, and a full pivot toward AI and recurring revenue, the tension remains. The founder wants to chase bold new ideas; the CEO wants to consolidate and perfect. The truth is, both are right.
The founder keeps the company alive.
The CEO keeps it sustainable.
What I’ve Learned
If I’ve learned anything from this journey, it’s that you never really stop being either. You just learn to lead with balance.
I’ve learned that culture matters more than hierarchy. That data matters more than opinions. That every “no” from the CEO makes room for a stronger “yes” from the founder later.
Most of all, I’ve learned that the tension between those two roles — the dreamer and the decision-maker — is what drives growth. It’s what keeps you grounded and ambitious at the same time.
So when people ask me what’s harder — being a founder or being a CEO — I say neither. The real challenge is being both, every single day.
But it’s also what makes the journey worth it.
Because the founder dreams of building something that lasts.
And the CEO makes sure it actually does.
