Once a Founder Always a Founder

In this edition of Founder’s Hustle, we dive into the journey of Ramzi Chahin—a founder who transitioned from architecture to tech entrepreneurship, navigating the highs and lows of building a startup in MENA. From launching Birdhouce, an ambitious digital-first furniture brand, to ultimately shutting it down and pivoting to a new venture, Ramzi’s story is one of resilience, adaptability, and hard-won lessons. 

Background
Born in Syria to Palestinian parents, Ramzi’s early life was shaped by constant change. His childhood spanned Tunisia, where he lived for 10 years, followed by a move to Canada. High school took him to Saudi Arabia before he returned to Canada to study aerospace engineering. He later moved to Jordan, where he studied architecture for five years.

Constantly adapting to new cultures and environments, he learned to see challenges as opportunities. “It wasn’t the typical path,” he admits, but the variety of experiences shaped his ability to navigate uncertainty—a skill that would later serve him well as an entrepreneur.

Architecture became a passion for Ramzi. “It combines both science and art,” he says. The creative process of designing in 3D and bringing beautiful spaces to life captivated him. After graduating, Ramzi eventually moved back to Tunisia, pursuing an architecture career and gaining hands-on experience that sharpened his eye for design and functionality.

From Architect to Entrepreneur
Ramzi’s shift to entrepreneurship began when he was introduced to Malik Nouira. Malik was the founder of Prefabulous and was innovating in the construction space with prefabricated modular homes built from wood. Intrigued by the concept of faster, scalable housing solutions, Ramzi worked alongside Malik for about a year and a half. This experience opened his eyes to the startup world, but at the time, he didn’t see himself becoming a founder anytime soon. “I thought maybe when I’m 40 years old, I’ll start my own company,” he recalls.

Recognizing Ramzi’s entrepreneurial potential, Malik encouraged him to join the Founder Institute, an incubator for aspiring founders. The four-month program was a turning point for Ramzi. Ramzi learned to shift from “employee to employer,” as he recalls, gaining the skills to craft investor decks, validate ideas, and refine his business model. It was during this time that Birdhouce was born. 

Although the idea changed a few times, Birdhouce was built around a simple premise: a digital-first storage furniture brand that eliminated the need to ship physical products across countries. The designs were all made digitally, in CAD (Computer Aided Design), and were sent to local manufacturers across the MENA region. The manufacturers used CNC machines to produce the furniture based on these digital blueprints. This approach made distribution smoother, faster, and more scalable as it cut out the need for centralized production. Ramzi describes this as “productized” or “on-demand” furniture.

At the heart of Birdhouce’s innovation was its 3D configurator—an interactive tool that let customers take full control of their furniture designs. Using Augmented Reality, they could tweak dimensions, add features, swap materials, and personalize every detail in real time. Once the design was finalized, production files were automatically generated and sent to a local manufacturer, making the entire process—from design to manufacturing—100% digital. Birdhouce was both a furniture brand on the front end and a technology company on the backend.

From “Undergrad” to “Grad” School
Shortly after completing the FI program, Ramzi joined Flat6Labs in Tunisia, a program focused on helping entrepreneurs beyond the ideation phase. As Ramzi put it, “Founder Institute was like undergrad, and Flat6Labs was like graduate school for entrepreneurs”.

His pitch for Birdhouce resonated with the program’s investors, leading to his first funding milestone. It was a breakthrough moment as it reaffirmed he was heading in the right direction.

Another pivotal early moment was when he secured a manufacturing partner in Tunisia. This partner not only believed in the vision—he wanted to invest in Birdhouce. 

The Onset of Challenges

While building his startup, Ramzi closely tracked two key companies—one in Europe and one in Brazil—that were leading similar business models. “If anybody asked me, ‘What do you see in two years?’ I could just say, ‘Check these guys out. This is where we need to be,’” he says. 

Gaining validation from investors, and manufacturing partners, and observing competition in other markets gave Ramzi the confidence to scale Birdhouce. With this conviction, he set his sights on expanding across the MENA region. He targeted major markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where demand for high-quality, customizable furniture was growing. But despite his determination and a small but dedicated team of five, Birdhouce struggled to gain sustainable traction and additional funding. 

The difficulty in securing additional funding boiled down to perception. Investors saw Birdhouce as a furniture brand rather than a technology company. “Some VCs told me, ‘The technology you’re using—that’s what we invest in. But you’re a brand using it.’” 

While VCs suggested focusing solely on the tech platform and licensing it to existing brands, Ramzi had a different vision. "The architect and designer in me, really wanted to have his own brand," he admits. His goal wasn’t just to create a white-label solution—it was to blend technology with a direct-to-consumer model, building an integrated brand that could stand on its own.

However, positioning Birdhouce as a furniture brand on the frontend and a tech company on the backend proved complicated. Ultimately, Birdhouce couldn’t bridge that gap. After three years of building, Ramzi made the difficult decision to shut it down.

Pulling the Plug

The decision to shut down Birdhouce didn’t come suddenly for Ramzi. It was the result of months of grappling with challenges that were difficult to overcome.

One of the biggest challenges was market readiness. Ramzi was trying to convince people in Tunisia to order furniture online and use augmented reality for visualization, but the concept wasn’t catching on. “Consumers in Tunisia and many other arab countries are more likely to go to the local carpenter and show them a Pinterest photo asking, ‘How much for this?’” Ramzi explains.

Another significant challenge was finding the right co-founder, particularly in marketing. While there were many marketers available, Ramzi was looking for someone with experience building a brand from the ground up. “40 to 45% of the money I raised was going to marketing. Without a CMO, I had to teach myself brand marketing on weekends and apply it during the week,” he recalls. This lack of key expertise led to inefficiencies and difficulties in executing his vision and marketing his product.

As the capital ran low, the pressure increased, and Ramzi began exploring unconventional strategies to make sales and reach new customers. For example, doing B2B instead of D2C and partnering with co-working spaces in an attempt to showcase his products in public places at a reduced cost.

However, these efforts didn’t generate enough traction. After months of trying everything, Ramzi realized it was time to pull the plug. “It wasn’t as soon as I ran out of money that I decided to quit—it took another six months of trying unconventional ideas. But at some point, it just drains you, and you know it’s time,” he shares.

In the end, the combination of market misalignment, lack of key expertise, and difficulty in securing investment led to the decision to shut down Birdhouce.

While the experience was tough, it left him with a deeper understanding of product-market fit, scalability, and investor expectations.      

The Untapped Potential of Custom Furniture

Ramzi’s vision for Birdhouse was to fill a gap—offering furniture that’s not as expensive or exclusive as high-end custom work but more tailored than off-the-shelf designs. Interestingly, others have seen the potential in Birdhouce’s model. “After I shut it down, two architects from the UK reached out. They were interested in doing something similar and asked if I was still in the space,” Ramzi recalls. 

A furniture company in Jordan also expressed interest. “The founder reached out and wanted to explore working with the files I had created,” Ramzi says. “He even offered to buy the IP. We had a few conversations, but he was waiting on funding that didn’t come through.”

Despite these missed opportunities, Ramzi remains hopeful that someone will crack the code, “I’d love to see someone succeed where I couldn’t.” According to Ramzi, the key is striking the right balance—offering customization while remaining more affordable than hiring a professional designer, yet distinct enough from mass-market options like IKEA to stand out.

Ramzi’s new venture

After reflecting on his Birdhouce journey, Ramzi has shifted gears and is now focused on a completely different business model. He’s applying the lessons learned from his previous venture to tackle challenges in talent outsourcing and recruitment through his new company, VentureCopilot.

Ramzi realized that B2C wasn’t the right fit for him. “I wanted a business model that’s scalable and sustainable, without the constant pressure of chasing after customers.” Rather than offering low-cost, one-off products, his focus now is on high-ticket services that generate repeat income over time.

With VentureCopilot, Ramzi matches clients with the right talent and provides ongoing training and support to ensure the success and growth of those professionals.“I’m not just placing talent—I’m helping them grow along with your business,” he says. “Clients pay for access to top-tier professionals, and I make sure they continue to evolve as the business evolves.”

Ramzi is also not looking to build a tech and VC-backable business, but rather a service company. “I’m not focused on building technology or looking for a CTO. There are plenty of SaaS startups and tech founders, but that’s not where I see myself,” he shares. 

As a second time founder, his path has evolved from his first venture to a new phase, “I don’t want to be stuck in one industry for 30 or 40 years. Life’s too short for that,” he says. For him, the goal isn’t just to build another company—it’s about solving big problems in the world, regardless of the industry.  And that starts with tackling the smaller challenges of the big problem in a bottom-up approach.. “You don’t need to stick to one thing. There’s so much to explore and so many people to meet. That’s what drives me.”

Ramzi’s philosophy

Ramzi’s approach to sharing his entrepreneurial journey is anything but conventional. While many founders hesitate to discuss their failures, Ramzi has built a reputation for being candid about both the successes and setbacks of his career, particularly when it comes to his decision to shut down Birdhouce.

"The reality is, your first company might not be the one that succeeds, and that’s okay. If I kept holding on to Birdhouce, I was just pushing my potential success with the next venture further away. I needed to let go and move on to the next idea, to stay focused on what truly mattered."

For Ramzi, being open about failure is a crucial part of growth—both personally and professionally. He views entrepreneurship as an evolving journey, "I'm going to build multiple companies. Some will succeed, others won’t. That’s part of the game," he says.

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