We have a website now, so it's real.
"Helmy's the diversity quota."The Creative. She makes it real.
↻ tap to flipFounder & Lead Product Designer. The full-stack creative — she writes it, designs it, builds it, ships it. Some would call her a true Polymath (she can write what she wants because she built this website herself). Twenty years across four continents and the Ogilvy/Leo Burnett copy desks, then proof on her own terms: a globally-ranked pizzeria she founded and franchised (now a board member of the F&B group it became), a regional F&B consultancy, and a published cookbook. The proof's in the pudding: isn't the site cool? Or at least... different?
Artistic and systematic in equal measure — a linguist who speaks five tongues and enough computer to vibe fluently. Prompt engineering comes naturally. A childhood spent at the birth of the internet — mIRC, DOS, ICQ, Google beta. Half geek, half creative, no halves about it. Been a gamer since Snake.
Comes up with the idea and builds it — imagination up front, technical reasoning under the hood. Infinite pattern recognition.
Analog first: notebooks, brain-maps, a paintbrush, and a camera. Software's just where it lands.
Makes one of the actual best pizzas on Earth — What the Crust, ranked 84th worldwide. “Egypt's Queen of Pizza” — not our words, PMQ's.
The Planner. He makes it make sense.
↻ tap to flipFounder. Started in tech — building one of the Middle East's first e-commerce platforms: otlob.com (now acquired by talabat.com) was born back when online delivery orders were still mostly fulfilled by a human. He then spent two decades becoming one of the sharpest brand and communications strategists in MENA, culminating as Managing Director of Ogilvy Consulting, before founding his own consultancy firm. His reputation precedes him: he's the guy you call when you want to win the pitch. A true systems architect at heart: financial, operational, digital and future-facing in one move. Has been involved in more startups and launches than he could remember while being interviewed for this section. That early digital edge and wealth of planning experience means he sees structure where others see noise. He builds the complex machine, then makes the answer look easy.
Fluent in both creative chaos and operational precision — which sounds like a contradiction until you see it in a room. He doesn't choose a mode. He runs both, simultaneously.
Already planned for the version that goes sideways — and the one that goes right.
Business models, systems architecture, brand audits, market intel — plus enough HTML/CSS/PHP to be dangerous in a dev standup.
Designed an internal file-sharing tool for a tech company 30 years ago. That tool became Dropbox. Proof? None. The truth? He — and the team who built it — know exactly what happened.
The Engineer. Can she build it? Yes she can!
↻ tap to flipPartner. PhD in Computer Science from INRIA - Versailles, postdoc at UC Berkeley, and a decade-plus shipping real Android software in Europe and beyond (Withings, Arsenal's official app, and more). She's been wiring up the Internet of Things for a couple decades — then casually picked up building AI agents in recent years. The "can it be built?" question doesn't really apply to her. To be absolutely fair, she's the most important person here, even if we are struggling to explain the intricacies of the field of Computer Sciences that she specialises in. But she agreed to do this with us, so we have a real scientist and engineer. She most definitely is NOT a robot; she is most definitely an overqualified developer. And a very good (real) old friend.
Beirut → Versailles → Berkeley → your phone. Took the long route to shipping software millions of people use daily and never think about. Exactly as intended.
Architecture first. Make it correct, then make it scale.
Kotlin, Java (ME/SE/EE), Compose, Python, SQL — plus SPARQL and OWL when she's feeling fancy.
Writes SPARQL against OWL ontologies in Protégé — she doesn't just query data, she teaches machines what words mean.
Three pillars, infinitely connected. The framework we use even on ourselves: this whole site is the method, running.
The bit people remember after they've forgotten the pitch.
You haven't scrolled past this. That was the job.
The part where good ideas stop freeloading.
The order you're reading this in was a decision, not a default.
The machinery under the hood.
Feels effortless. It wasn't.
Story gives it soul. Strategy gives it shape. Systems give it legs.
Evidence with a pulse.
Built from zero.
Built with others.
Recognized externally.
Built from real frictions. Tested in the wild. Still evolving.
An event marketplace where an AI agent builds a vendor storefront in minutes. Vendors have parties to cater — not forms to fill.
An AI-powered POS designed by people who've survived a Friday-night service. It knows what a rush feels like.
The internet's bread encyclopedia, by a world-ranked baker. Yes, we're serious. Yes, about bread.
A game built on The Syndicate. Still becoming. Ask us about it.
Papers, essays, and small sharp tools — made public. Take what's useful. No email wall, no catch.
Peer-reviewed work and technical write-ups from the Systems side — the deep end, documented.
Notes on building with taste — story, strategy, and systems, minus the jargon and the LinkedIn voice.
Little utilities we built for ourselves and figured you'd want too. Free to use, no signup.
We answer fast. Faster if you mention food. Let's build something useful, beautiful, and actually intelligent.