At the Abu Dhabi Media Summit last month, Ihsan Jawad of Honeybee Tech Ventures discusses how to move forward after failure, how to know the right time to launch or pivot, and how to effectively monetize. “I’m trying very hard not to be afraid of failure…the fact of the matter is that people are,” he says.

“To reduce our chances of failure…you’re either going to be really big, or you stick with a specific niche and have a local edge,” he explains. Most businesses won’t go global, so it is important to find that niche and offer something different than anyone else.

Honeybee Tech Ventures has a majority stake in startups Laimoon and RoundMenu and Jawad explains that Laimoon is realizing that users prefer a service that focuses on them, instead of just on job recruiters; a pivot in their strategy.

Jawad also discusses the success of Zawya, a business news and information provider he founded in 2000, and how they effectively monetized and launched at the right moment, constantly monitoring consumer response and being attentive to users.