From Silicon Valley to Silicon Forest

My path to Portland began long before I heard the phrase “Silicon Forest.” I grew up in Abha, Saudi Arabia, moved to Egypt at 18, and later came to the United States. I studied industrial engineering in Alexandria and earned an MBA in information systems in the Bay Area. Along the way, I learned to make a life across different places and cultures.

I’ve often felt like an outsider in the places I call home. In Saudi Arabia, I wasn’t seen as Saudi. In Egypt, I wasn’t seen as Egyptian. In America, I’m not always seen as American. That experience made me curious about how people find belonging—and how much we can build together when we make room for different perspectives.

The Bay Area gave me a close view of a culture built around possibility. People were willing to imagine a company where there had only been a rough idea. I carried that energy into my own work. In 2017, I started the studio that became Inova, helping founders turn ideas into working software. I learned that small teams could test a real product before they had the resources of a large company.

That was an important lesson, but shipping quickly was never the whole story. A product has to solve a problem someone actually has. It takes listening, hard choices, and the patience to keep learning after launch. As my work expanded into software engineering and AI, that part stayed constant.

Today I live in Portland with my family. People call this region the Silicon Forest. I like the name, though I’m less interested in measuring one technology community against another than in asking what kind of community we can create here. I want to know the founders, makers, and neighbors around me. I value genuine human connections, whether they begin over coffee or across a screen.

At Inova Studio, I’ve helped bring dozens of products to life across different industries. I’m also building products of my own, including FlowCP. The questions that keep me going are practical: Can a small team build something useful? What should we understand before we automate it? How do we give an idea a fair test without losing sight of the people it serves?

AI makes those questions more urgent. The tools can help us move faster, but they don’t decide what matters. That judgment comes from knowing a problem, caring about the outcome, and staying close to the people who use what we make.

From Silicon Valley to Silicon Forest, I’m still a builder and still an immigrant learning what it means to belong. I don’t need one place to define me. I’d rather keep building useful things, share what I learn, and make room for the connections that turn a place into a community.