Shahzad Younas is the founder and CEO of Muzz, a Muslim dating and marriage app.
Muzz says it has 10 million members globally and that more than half a million people have married after meeting on the app since its launch a decade ago.
The London-headquartered company was the first Muslim-centric startup to be backed by Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.
It has raised more than $9m in investment, with backers including FJ Labs and Luxor Capital Group.
Formerly known as Muzmatch, Muzz is now available in 14 countries.
It recently launched Muzz Social, a social media platform for Muslims to connect. It has launched first in the UK, Muzz’s largest market, and will launch in the US next.
In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A, the Younas unpacks the gamble of making your first expensive senior hire, shares how he’s using transparency about company performance to motivate his team, and why he thinks the world would be better off without dating apps.
1. Which role was the most important early hire you made?
Shahzad Younas: The first high-quality expensive senior. It was a gamble for a young company and one at the time I wasn’t sure we could afford, but one key hire can be instrumental in the growth of your business in terms of dealing with technical and product challenges, and also being a great example for future hires to look up to.
They help you set the tone of your business and what you expect from others. One of our early hires is still with us today and has grown in role and responsibility with the company.
2. How do you motivate your team?
SY: Be transparent – internally we are very transparent about our data, growth and finances. Everyone at the company has options in the firm, so it is crucial for me to share the state of the business, what is going well, and what isn’t going so well.
It helps people to relate to our challenges during stressful times but also helps them celebrate wins and growth in seeing the fruits of their labour show in the metrics.
3. How do you prevent burnout?
SY: Somehow I manage to handle crazy workloads every day. My calendar is nearly always packed with barely enough space to breathe. This can be overwhelming – but the best way to deal with this is to make sure you look after your health. Over the years I’ve paid more attention to what I eat, how I sleep and the amount of exercise I do.
It’s been really quite transformative – I cycle to work regularly and have managed to stay in good shape, being rarely ill for a very long time. All of this helps ensure that during your work day, you’re alert and feeling good within yourself to be able to tackle high workloads. Cold showers help too!
4. Is there a technology that the world would be better without?
SY: Dating apps! No, hear me out! Whilst I love the power of dating apps and technology in bringing people of completely different backgrounds and geographies together, the knock-on consequences worry me. I do worry about the transactional nature of dating apps and how it has affected the dynamic between the sexes – with many struggling to approach and introduce themselves to someone in person for fear of offence.
We’re social creatures – so this cannot be a good thing. I hope one day we will get closer to the right answer of how to meaningfully help people date and find amazing partners in a way that reduces a lot of the negativity and emotional heartache that can come with the way things are being done online today.
5. What’s a common mistake that you see founders make?
SY: A common mistake I’ve seen is some founders thinking they can outsource work and ‘manage’ it themselves to get their idea going. This has such a high probability of failure – no one will care as much as you – especially in the early days. Your product will likely change a lot based on feedback and traction.
You need to be in the weeds – building. Don’t shy away. Everything can be learned – it is all on YouTube. All these skills will help make you a more polished founder who has an insight into all aspects of your business and the pain points that are holding you back.
Founder in Five – a UKTN Q&A series with the entrepreneurs behind the UK’s innovative tech startups, scaleups and unicorns – is published every Friday.
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