Making and Breaking Things: The Founder Mentality and Building in Emerging Markets with Nova and Postpay’s Tariq Sheikh

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In this episode we sit down with Tariq Sheikh, Co-founder and CEO of Nova, a contract intelligence platform transforming how teams manage and analyze business documents.

A self-described “third culture kid,” Tariq’s journey spans numerous countries across both Africa and Europe, stints in consulting, gold trading, and defense, and finally a series of successes scaling tech startups. He previously founded Postpay, the leading buy now, pay later provider in the Middle East, scaling the company from a handful of employees to over 100 in just six months and raising over $65M along the way.

Tariq shares how a constant lack of stability shaped his founder mentality—driving him to keep building, breaking, and pushing forward without getting too comfortable. We dive into what it takes to build in emerging markets, the realities of hypergrowth, and the nonstop firefighting that defines the founder journey. Tariq also reflects on how having had little time to pause and celebrate the wins is shaping how he’s building today.

👤 About the Guest

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shkhtar/

Company website: https://nova-doc.com/

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