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FS Letter: New Businesses, Changing Markets, and Lessons from Builders

Hello everyone,

Welcome to another edition of Future Startup Letter. I’m Ruhul, and FS Letter is our weekly selection of stories, ideas, and conversations about business, entrepreneurship, technology, and the people building in Bangladesh and beyond. You can read past issues here and subscribe here. 

Here are five of our latest stories, along with two conversations from the Future Startup archive worth revisiting.

This Week at Future Startup

1. Inside iDEAN’s iMBA

What happens when experienced professionals reach the limits of learning by experience alone? We look inside iDEAN’s iMBA and its approach to strategy, execution, negotiation, and AI-assisted learning. Read the story →

2. Vector Plinth and the Making of a Modern Architecture Practice

Vector Plinth has spent nine years developing an architectural practice in Bangladesh. Its founders talk about design, business discipline, the Feni Memorial, and building with a long-term view. Read the story →

3. GEEKY AIQ and the New Era of Brand Discovery

As AI changes how people discover companies, GEEKY Social is building a tool to track how AI systems see, mention, and recommend brands. It could change how companies think about visibility.

Read the story →

4. How biniyog Serves Businesses on Both Ends of the Market

Biniyog has built a financing model for businesses that traditional lending often struggles to serve. We look at how the model works, what businesses need, and why they use it. Read the story →

5. Four Companies We’re Watching in September

Our Startups to Watch series is back after nearly two years. This edition looks at four young companies across education, logistics, deep tech, and e-commerce, each taking a different path.

Read the story →


From the Archive

6. Building JoulesLabs: A Conversation with Arifur Rahman Naim

Arifur Rahman Naim built JoulesLabs from freelance work into an engineering company serving clients in Bangladesh and abroad. He talks about partnerships, mistakes, leadership, and building a sustainable services business.

Read the interview →

7. Building Adroit Education: A Conversation with Shahreer Zahan

Shahreer Zahan built Adroit around a simple idea: help talented Bangladeshi students access the world’s best universities. He talks about mission, differentiation, quality, growth, and building without outside funding. Read the interview →


From Future Startup

Build a stronger company narrative

Your company has a story. The challenge is making it clear.

Future Startup’s Narrative Studio helps companies develop positioning, founder narratives, company stories, research, thought leadership, websites, and strategic content.

We work with companies that want to explain what they do better, build credibility, and become easier to understand and remember.

Explore Future Startup’s Narrative Studio →


P.S. I love to hear from our readers. Please feel free to share your thoughts, feedback, and ideas by replying to this email. I read every reply and respond as soon as I can. You can also follow us on LinkedIn and FB. 

Until next week,

Ruhul

On behalf of Future Startup Team
Ideas, people, and companies shaping Bangladesh’s future.

Mohammad Ruhul Kader is a Dhaka-based entrepreneur and writer. He founded Future Startup, a digital publication covering the startup and technology scene in Dhaka with an ambition to transform Bangladesh through entrepreneurship and innovation. He writes about internet business, strategy, technology, and society. He is the author of Rethinking Failure. His writings have been published in almost all major national dailies in Bangladesh including DT, FE, etc. Prior to FS, he worked for a local conglomerate where he helped start a social enterprise. Ruhul is a 2022 winner of Emergent Ventures, a fellowship and grant program from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He can be reached at [email protected]

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