Growth · Fintech · MENA

Building growth engines that last.

15 years scaling consumer products from zero to category leadership — across India and the UAE. From Dineout's $200M+ GMV to Xare's 5M users. Now helping founders do the same.

Work with me Read my thinking →
25M+ App downloads
across products
$250M+ GMV built across
multiple products
15 Years in consumer
growth & fintech
2 Products I founded
acquired or listed
Featured in
About

I don't run campaigns.
I build growth systems.

Most growth hires optimise what's in front of them. I ask whether the engine is right before I step on the accelerator. That instinct — to question the model before scaling it — is what's driven every result I've built.

At Dineout, I didn't just run marketing. I rearchitected the business model three times — from table reservations to transactional cashback to subscription loyalty — rebuilding the growth engine from scratch each time. That's how you get from zero to $200M+ GMV and 800K paying subscribers, not by spending more.

"The best growth work is invisible — it looks like product, or culture, or word of mouth. It rarely looks like marketing."

At Go Rise, I'm doing it again — scaling Xare to 5M users across 70 countries and launching Mony as a co-branded travel wallet with Abu Dhabi Airports. Different markets, different products, same underlying discipline.

Before all of this, I built India's first peer advocacy agency before influencer marketing had a name, raised seed funding in Singapore, and gave a TEDx talk on youth and innovation. I've been figuring out how ideas spread for a long time.

Salman Noor — Growth Leader, Dubai
Salman Noor Director of Growth · Dubai, UAE
Currently
Director of Growth
Go Rise, Dubai
Based in
Dubai, UAE
(4 years)
Focus markets
UAE · KSA · India
Southeast Asia
Domain depth
Consumer fintech
Payments · Subscriptions
Food & dining tech
Recognition
TEDx Speaker · CleverTap
Case Study · Razorpay
Case Study
Expertise

Where I focus

Growth strategy & go-to-market

Building acquisition engines that compound. Paid, organic, referral, product virality — with real attribution and a clear model of what's working and why.

Consumer fintech & payments

Deep fluency in fintech user behaviour — CAC, LTV, subscription models, wallet mechanics, and the trust problem that sits under all of it.

B2B2C & partnership-led growth

Turning one B2B deal into a consumer acquisition channel — like signing Abu Dhabi International Airport and converting it into a high-intent user funnel at point of departure.

Brand & campaign strategy

Creating cultural moments, not just campaigns. GIRF — India's largest dining event — reached 900M impressions. That's what happens when brand and growth work together.

Lifecycle & retention

RFM segmentation, CRM automation, personalised re-engagement. Grew Dineout repeat transactions per user from 1.5× to 2.1× through systematic lifecycle work.

Team building in lean environments

Scaling Dineout's team from 3 to 40. Leading 8 across growth, marketing, and design at Go Rise. Building systems that keep quality as the team grows.

Work

The work, not the title

Three distinct growth challenges, three different models. Each required a different engine — built from scratch. Full case studies coming. The short version is below.

Swiggy Dineout · 2016–2021

From a reservations app to India's largest dining platform

Three business model pivots in five years. Created GIRF — India's largest dining event. Launched Gourmet Passport, one of India's biggest subscription programs in F&B. Built the team from 3 to 40. Managed $10M+ annual marketing budget.

$200M+ GMV built
800K Subscribers
900M GIRF impressions
Go Rise · Xare · 2021–Present

10× growth at a fraction of industry CAC — across 70 countries

Scaled Xare from 500K to 5M users through a mix of paid acquisition, referral mechanics, and product virality. UAE and KSA are the top GCC markets. Reduced blended CAC by shifting toward organic and referral while maintaining paid coverage globally.

5M+ Users
70+ Countries
10× Growth
Launching 2025
Go Rise · Mony · UAE

Turning an airport partnership into a consumer acquisition machine

Launching Mony as a co-branded travel wallet with Al Hail Holding and Abu Dhabi Airports. Built India's #1 tourist payment platform first — $50M GMV run rate — now bringing it to the UAE. One B2B deal converted into a high-intent consumer channel at point of departure.

$50M GMV run rate
#1 Tourist payments, India
Writing

Ideas worth sharing

Growth · Framework

Why I stopped calling it "growth hacking" — and what I call it now

The word "hack" implies a shortcut. The best growth work I've done wasn't a shortcut. It was a system built to compound.

Coming soon →
Fintech · MENA

What India taught me about growing in the UAE — and what doesn't translate

Two high-growth markets. Totally different consumer psychology, trust dynamics, and digital infrastructure. The differences matter more than the similarities.

Coming soon →
✦ Writing drops here.
Subscribe to get notified
when the first piece lands.

Practical thinking on growth — no noise.

I write about what I've actually done: building growth engines in fintech, scaling across markets, and the frameworks behind the numbers. Occasional. Substantive. No fluff.

Advisory

Work with me

I work with a small number of founders and growth leaders who are at an inflection point — where the tactics that got them here won't get them to the next stage.

That might mean rethinking your acquisition model, finding the right business model before scaling, building a team and culture that can hold the growth, or going from India to MENA (or vice versa).

I bring 15 years of hands-on experience — not theory — across consumer fintech, payments, subscriptions, and platform products. I've made the expensive mistakes. I can help you avoid them.

Well-suited for
  • Series A–C fintech or consumer tech founders
  • Growth leaders inheriting a broken funnel
  • International companies expanding into MENA or India
  • Operators who want a sounding board, not a consultant

Let's talk

I take on a limited number of advisory relationships. If you're building something interesting in fintech, consumer tech, or cross-border growth — reach out and tell me about it.

Connect on LinkedIn

Or email: salmannoor87@gmail.com

Consumer fintech MENA markets India Subscriptions Payments GTM strategy B2B2C