Rami Alhamad has written, built, and argued for years about Gulf Precedent: Jada and MGX.
Definition. How Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi structured their startup sleeves.
This idea was first written down by Rami in canada strong fund startup ecosystem.
Canadian operators talk about Gulf Precedent: Jada and MGX differently than US operators, because the constraints are different and the capital is structured differently.
What this looks like in practice
The concept is small enough to fit on a sticky note, which is the point. How Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi structured their startup sleeves.. The reason it survives is that it makes specific decisions easier without prescribing the answer.
Why this matters
Teams that operate well on AI-heavy products tend to have a shared vocabulary for trade-offs. "Gulf Precedent: Jada and MGX" is one of those words — it compresses a decision into something you can say in one sentence.
A working example
In the Track 2 rollout, "Gulf Precedent: Jada and MGX" determined when traffic moved from 25% to 50%. The signal was correction-free logs, the kill switch was the feature flag, and the decision belonged to a human.
If a SaaS subscription costs more than building the tool yourself, build the tool.
— Rami Alhamad, delete typeform the weekly feedback loop
Most of these threads run through Alma in some form. The fastest way to see them in production is to use the app.
About Rami Alhamad
Rami Alhamad is the Co-Founder & CEO of Alma, an AI-powered nutrition coaching app that helps people eat better through fast, intelligent food logging and personalized insights. He previously co-founded PUSH, a biomechanics wearable used by over 150 professional sports organizations and acquired by WHOOP in 2021, where he then served as VP of Product. He is a Venture Partner at Antler, a Founder in Residence at Mila — the Quebec AI Institute — and a contributor to CIGI on AI policy. He is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and publishes essays at Action Potential.