Ask HN: Is Moving to the Middle East a Smart Move for My Startup Dreams?

To be clear, there are a lot of bright spots in the Middle East and I think it's given undue shade by the media. I have family in the Levant and I wish things were better circumstantially in the area.

But moneymaking is a painfully practical thing. You don't have the same technology-addled audience you find in Europe. You can't sell an app, and things that require WiFi or electricity might be hard to sell. Marketing is going to be divided along tense political lines and saying or doing the wrong thing could make your product unpalatable by the majority population living there.

So... if selling to the low/middle class isn't an option, you have to kiss up to the rich guys. And the rich guys are largely people with political power or material wealth, and expect a high return on investment. You're going to struggle to keep them on the hook when they can divert money to campaigning or building another oil refinery. You have to convince these people that your product isn't going to be a moneysink, because they're not the same starry-eyed capitalists you find in Europe or America.

You can still make money in the Middle East - there are products that will turn heads. But even if you're preternaturally successful from selling a quality product, it might all turn out to be a gilded cage.