Notes from London, Dubai, and Mumbai
Three cities, three economies, three completely different operating systems. A field guide for founders deciding where to base.
I spend my year between London, Dubai, and Mumbai. People keep asking which city is “best” for a founder. The honest answer: it depends what you’re optimizing for. Each city is a different operating system.
London — credibility
London buys you legitimacy. The institutions are old, the regulators are taken seriously, and a British address on a deck still moves the needle with LPs in Singapore, the Gulf, and the US.
The trade-off is friction. Banking takes weeks. Hiring takes months. The culture defaults to cautious. London rewards the founder who plays the long, institutional game — not the one trying to move fast.
Best for: regulated businesses, capital-heavy plays, anything where trust beats speed.
Dubai — leverage
Dubai is the closest thing to a sandbox in the developed world. Capital is loose, regulation is light, and decisions get made over coffee. You can incorporate in a week, hire from 90 countries, and meet a family office at brunch.
The trade-off is depth. The senior talent pool is thinner than London or New York. The customer base is largely transient. Dubai rewards the founder running a global, asset-light business — not one trying to build a 500-person engineering org.
Best for: capital allocation, holdco structures, sales-led businesses with global customers.
Mumbai — velocity
Mumbai is execution speed. The talent is cheap, the hunger is real, and the same dollar that hires one mid-level engineer in London hires three in Mumbai. The market itself is enormous and underserved.
The trade-off is infrastructure. Power cuts, paperwork, payment rails that still rely on bank holidays. Mumbai rewards the founder who has the operating muscle to absorb that friction — and who recognizes that India in 2026 is the fastest-growing consumer market on earth.
Best for: engineering teams, services businesses, anything where unit economics matter more than gloss.
My setup
I run capital and credibility out of London. I run the holdco out of Dubai. I run the team out of Mumbai. Each city does what it’s best at. Nothing competes with anything.
If you’re trying to do all three in one city, you’re going to lose to whoever stops pretending and triangulates.