And one of the things that were discussing is should we have anyone do this culture test, right? : So would it be possible to get us a weekly calendar? Mudassir Sheikha: And then we would have some weekly check ins, sometimes even daily check ins. Even weekly is unusual, right? This is the culture that we want to build. Regulators are typically national. Its not even the country, right? And you have the features that they want, the payment methods that they want, the interfaces that they want. Mudassir Sheikha: The biggest learning and the biggest surprise has been around people leadership, right? And the idea was that Magnus and I would hold each other accountable to what we were supposed to do. Its an output of you doing all the right things, right? : And the second framework is if the function is not done at a city level, what role does the country or Dubai play for that activity, for that function. But our definition of big was different back then. At that point, we were a bit speechless because we felt that things would get better in two years from when we started the business. And family does suffer. And then you started looking at examples of things that happened before and then you start building conviction, right? And even if they find those local opportunities at the same time as us, were able to prioritize them much before them. And where weve had leaders that have not invested enough in people, weve actually seen growth over time slow down. And so the pressure on the top comes down a little bit. The 4000 Careem employees who had stock options included its pool of executives, developers, and engineers working across all locations of the ride-hailing companies for operations and R&D. Shikhar Ghosh: And then shes the one who has to think through all of the day to day things and build a team and do all these things. Mudassir then joined the founding team of mobile testing and monitoring startup, DeviceAnywhere, where among other things, he . An ever-expanding vision. So Saturday I catch up on things that have to be done that I didnt get a chance to do during the week, so Fridays off. Mudassir Sheikha: So the two things that I would do differently is one, more upfront. Mudassir Sheikha: This is not going to happen without you owning it and driving it. And the third one is theres some things that the country or Dubai needs to control, right? : So this product market fit is a continuous thing. Shikhar Ghosh: Because the context is so important, right? But rapid growth created internal strain. : So when we get a phone call and say hey, whats going in? Mudassir Sheikha: Yeah, because one thing you have to realize is there are some net worth effects in this business. Whats your sense of the trade off? They feel aligned and driven to make it happen. : And the competitions telling themselves the same thing, so its this constant movement. Mudassir Sheikha: Experience is an interesting one, right? And basically what that meant was every leader that came in started running their units in ways that made sense to them, based on what they had done prior. Careem expanded into the food delivery business with Careem Now in November 2018 and . Despite the myriad hurdles which arose at different geographic locations, Sheikha established a company-wide culture that helped Careem thrive during the chaos of meteoric growth. The task and the challenge of getting that right was not as I was nave on that front. So you always have to, so this is what we keep telling ourselves, we have to always be better than competition. Mudassir Sheikha: So, I think there is some Thats a great question. And so youre going to go through similar cycles of growth. : Youve been talking about the vision of slowly desegregating the pressure so it all doesnt come to the talk. If theres a super compelling reason for this thing to be done at the country level, then well do it at the country level otherwise well keep it at the city level. And if you were in a different industry, you might think about growth differently? How do you transfer that knowledge? We work on a daily cycle, so we improve 30 times as much, you know, within that same period of time. Mudassir Sheikha will lead the Careem business, which will report to its own board made up of three representatives from Uber and two representatives from Careem. This deck probably took a long time to build and Im sure it gets iterated every now and then. What does it mean? : But the way it manifests might be different in each of those cases. Ive got a company that Im working with that does annual. LinkedIn Mudassir Sheikha . So to the moon and beyond, be of service. So if your competition is a lot bigger than you, then . Mudassir Sheikha: Yeah, because one thing you have to realize is there are some net worth effects in this business. Default is city, but guess what? When [inaudible] was picking up a call and speaking to a customer, I could overhear [inaudible] because he was sitting next to me. So youve done it a hundred times, right? So we made some progress on it and if you think of our position, our strategic position vis a vis others in the industry, you know, we ar a local player that has to compete with someone that has more money. Now, when we put that down we of course debated a lot internally. So that task was a surprise that in the role that Im playing now, you know, I can look at Magnus and look at Abdulla and say, look, you guys should play that role, even though they do that role but I feel now this is my responsibility now as the CEO of the business. And weve had these cases now where we have actually internally debated some of these principles and when we go and interview someone and we find someone that is amazing and very tempting to get that person on board, but not the right values fit, then we have the courage to make the call and say, look, were happy to keep on looking until we someone thats a values fit. Published Wed, Jun 16 2021 3:40 AM EDT. So youve done it a hundred times, right? Thats a very unusual thing. You could almost do any of the jobs yourself. Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO of Careem, one of the first unicorns in the Middle East, discovered this the hard way. Mudassir Sheikha LinkedIn. : So look at the Netflix deck, right, which most people respect. So I can tell you that Karachi has grown five point three percent from last week. : A certain relative scale to be competitive in the offering that youre providing, not in anything else. So focus on these two things and growth will happen. Do you have a demand issue, do you have a supply issue? Both ride-hailing companies will operate their respective regional services and independent brands. Shikhar Ghosh: So why every 15 minutes? This was a five-year business plan that was prepared in 2012. You cannot have the same level of person, quality, systems, all of that, at each local branch. Both on the captain side and the customer side. Shikhar Ghosh is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and Professor of Management Practice at HBS. The particular context that somebodys in. So these are experience KPIs that we look at that tell us what retention rates will be for customers on some longer term basis. With the new acquisition deal worth $3.1 billion, $1.4 billion will be paid in cash and $1.7 billion will be in convertible notes into Uber stock. Do you think this acquisition will positively affect Careems operations in Pakistan? Shikhar Ghosh: Also the size of the fall is much bigger. Or were we giving just people feedback on their delivery and their performance? So growth was a big, you know, weekly growth rate. You can test people on them. Turned out they were just false assumptions of the market. And one of the things that were discussing is should we have anyone do this culture test, right? I need to get responses in this time, Im going to pay this much money. And when KPIs would not be right or would be going up or going down too much, then we would get involved more and start fixing things. : You are serving people in different teams in different locations. Shikhar Ghosh: So last topic that I want to go through is as youve grown, the issue of you know, what do you keep in the central place that you can learn from everybody? How do you balance the tax that you place on yourself and therefore on your family, therefore on other choices that youre making. [10], In June 2017, Careem launched operations in Palestine as part of a commitment to create one million jobs in the MENA region by the end of 2018. But even at relatively high levels in that organization, you had no idea what a business was producing, right? Mudassir Sheikha is the co-founder and CEO of Careem, MENAs leading car booking service that is based out of Dubai and operates from Morocco to Pakistan. : But for example, if you have something that says that people who work for us should have opportunity. The service is popular for tailoring its features to match the socio-cultural norms of the countries it operates in. There will be some cultural nuances. July 2012 Careem is launched by co-founders Mudassir Sheikha and Magnus Olsson September 2013 Careem secures funding of $1.7 million in a round led by STC Ventures : Yeah, and you know, since we are closer to the cities and closer to the markets that we operate in than competition, we are in most cases able to find local opportunities before them. Like off the record, I can say the number, but I think it was quite a bit, almost twenty exact number, right? Because as we have said multiple times, smart and very capable people, they dont want to work at startups. He has an academic background in Computer Science and Economics from Stanford and USC. : Profitability then is an output, right? So its this thing of saying what are the central functions that you want everyone to do more or less the same way or following the same principles? Or do you think, like, well figure that out? and South Asia. You go through that deck, you know, I think in literally half an hour, you get a very good sense of what this organization stands for. They know what theyre doing and they are extremely driven and in line with the mission and vision of Careem. I would like to do this. And in the beginning, you know, I was spending a lot of time in these different markets, just making sure that I educate the people that are starting on how to run this business. You know, hiring people, putting them out there, designing the part. So at that point, we rolled down what we called a family contract. So just like the buses that we had in the subcontinent where you open a thing, it tells you this is the nearest bus station, go ahead walk to that bus station, the bus will be there at this time. This was a five-year business plan that was prepared in 2012. Mudassir Sheikha: So when we get a phone call and say hey, whats going in? And people get exhausted and they work really hard. Theres a lot of learning that happens across all these markets thats common, even though theres differences. [40] : Yes, of course. [4] In 2020 Uber purchased Careem for $3.1 billion USD. Or for that matter, engineering. And the more I get into it, the more I realize that if you just get this right, then this thing will start running like a machine. And now we had five different ways of running Careem because these five different leaders were not working in a consistent, coherent way. Mudassir Sheikha: Then we realized that we should become the public transport system for our cities because the public transportation systems were not existent like they were in Europe and the U.S and elsewhere. And then you started looking at examples of things that happened before and then you start building conviction, right? July 22, 2022. Share a story with me, asra@techjuice.pk, India Expects Apple to Triple Investments and Exports Over the Next Few Years, Snapchat Explores Newer Ways to Make Money While Sticking to its Roots, Twitter Goes into Meme Mode as Babar Azam, Virat Kohli, Cristiano Ronaldo Lose Blue Ticks, 10 Ways To Make Money Through Virtual Reality, At Auto Shanghai 2023, Honda Unveils Three Electric Vehicles, the Uber acquisition deal worth $3.1 billion, WhatsApps Exclusive Feature For iOS Users:Not For The Android Users, Employees Secretly Using ChatGPT-AI: Threat For Tech Leaders, Potential Of Cryptocurrencies To Accelerate E-Commerce Growth In Pakistan. Mudassir Sheikha is the co-founder and CEO of Careem, MENA's leading car booking service that is based out of Dubai and operates from Morocco to Pakistan. They feel aligned and driven to make it happen. And then we regressed. And when you make the hard choice, you know, I can get more revenue by doing this, you know, heres this person who is our best salesperson, but hes a jerk to all the employees. Have you actually started working less as a result of that? : What did you expect it was going to be when you first started? Mudassir Sheikha: When you start thinking of this a bit more, the more you think of these things and the more that you discuss these things, you start building more conviction behind them as well. So this was something that she, being from Egypt, understood the opportunity, understood that there was a need for it. So if your competition is a lot bigger than you, then youre not even providing a competitive service to the customer or the captain. : So this real-time nature of the real time transparency allowed us to catch any issues a lot faster and then react to them. And now in the next couple of weeks, were launching buses in Egypt. So the way a manager behaves in Egypt or Pakistan might be completely different. You understood the business completely. And when KPIs would not be right or would be going up or going down too much, then we would get involved more and start fixing things. Six months later, competition does the same thing. Or a formal recruiting process? So thats what the definition of tough maybe was in the early days. And the third one is theres some things that the country or Dubai needs to control, right? So the first two years we bought, and I think somewhere in the second or third year, and it coincided with me having twins and I think there was something happening in Magnuss life as well, where I think the wives forced a discussion on us. And that seemed like a big business in the Middle East back then, right? We were providing a 24/7 transportation service. I enjoy driving commercial strategy. : Yeah, they dont change immediately but weve actually been pleasantly surprised that our colleague NPS, strongly correlates with our growth numbers. And what have you learned about that? Its an output of you doing all the right things, right? This thing will start driving and incentivizing people the right way. Check out professional insights posted by Mudassir Sheikha, Join now; Sign in; Mudassir Sheikha. If its a necessary part of it, but its the customer service, its the on time, you know, its all of those things. So how will we win against someone like that? I get this question all the time from people-. You and the founders. So you have to work through other people. Then you have to sort of make sure that it gets embedded in every aspect of the organization. Thats the default one. And on the customer side, for example, experience is a function of, you know, when you open the app, is a car available? But there was no sight of things getting better. So the kids I generally see on the weekends. Well win by having much better people and by having a culture that drives a certain mission and vision type of behavior. : So the companies that come closest are the companies in China like Tencent or Alibaba in the way they sort of became the platform that others are built on top of, and they provide a lot of the enabling infrastructure for internet commerce. In December, it raised US$350 million from superstar investors such as . So weve all been saying values are important. : So this particular thing is driven a lot by the industry that youre in? And make that real. But the question is why minutes and not hours or days, right? Can we help you with anything? : And this would have been your job. : Right. Mudassir Sheikha: I think 15 minutes or 30 minutes is within the same range. They need to be rallied and they need to be encouraged and they need to be inspired. Mudassir Sheikha: Yeah, they dont change immediately but weve actually been pleasantly surprised that our colleague NPS, strongly correlates with our growth numbers. Which is speak up, take initiative, see things through impact, be frugal, and make sure to be collaborative with each other. What is the quality of customers that were giving him which is measured by the ratings that he gives to the customers. : So in the Careem operating system, one of the principles is invest in experience to get growth. How do you transfer that, then? Youre constantly thinking of whats happening in the business or Its actually even more frustrating for them because youre there, but youre not there. So we tried that. : Right. [37] So the thing that we have done is weve defined a very clear vision of where we want to be in 2030, right? : When we raised our CVC, we actually promised ourselves that we will get away from that mindset, that were not going to keep patching things because that whole debt was starting to catch up to us. : I think that the thing that was most surprising for me was around people and culture. And then things would break again and wed buy another six months and then things would break again. I profile people and startups contributing to the Pakistani technology entrepreneurial ecosystem. Even when youre there, youre not present. We want to be the platform that enables internet commerce in this region. And then our families could raise the flag as well and say you guys are not abiding to the contract that you signed with us. And focusing on people is not just focus on individuals, but focus on the culture-. [26][27], On 26 March 2019, Uber agreed to acquire the company for US$3.1 billion, including US$1.4 billion in cash and US$1.7 billion in convertible notes,[28] making Careem the first unicorn startup company in the Middle East outside of Israel. Shikhar Ghosh: And then youve got to have some process or approach by which you can even judge whether the person is a values fit or not. Mudassir Sheikha: Yeah. : Its an investment for sure, right? So these are the experience KPIs both for the captain and customers. "Sure you can open a retail store, but it's going to be difficult to make it into a large business - a billion-dollar . : So, yes. Mudassir Sheikha: If you are constantly looking at these numbers and chasing people when numbers are low, then after a certain point, people start looking at these numbers proactively. So thats when Magnus and I would have to be a lot more involved in the business. And drive engagement for your people and thats going to drive growth. When Sheikha and Olsson decided to build a solution for this often ignored segment of the population, their business found a purpose. But guess what happens? Shikhar Ghosh: Yeah, so it wasnt really that you said, oh, if were going to be this many people, we need all these processes, lets design the process. He offers tips on how to prepare for the changes in the CEOs role by sharing how he adapted as processes broke and he struggled to balance family obligations. And that will be true of product and itll be true of markets, itll be true of this thing. Shikhar Ghosh: Two years ago. So it takes them longer to prioritize. When did you shift or start shifting towards the input rather than the output metric? : So the day looks like start at four. [50], Careem has been a supporter of Cricket for a Cause and has supported the league's efforts to raise funds for children in developing nations. Its Karachi should do something, Lahore should do something and the people that are running those cities need to be empowered to do those things. So these are the experience KPIs both for the captain and customers. : where I think the burden becomes higher is sort of to reinvent yourself. Shikhar Ghosh: And at that point, investors are expecting a certain degree of formality and all of that. And that will be true of product and itll be true of markets, itll be true of this thing. : Theres no fixed time but generally nine, ten p.m. : The kids are asleep. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. And then become a lot more involved in the hiring and the onboarding process. Now, I dont know how long we followed that contract, which was sort of the sad part. Did you have it or did your wives have it? Theres always something thats going right and wrong with different markets. Mudassir Sheikha: Yeah, for us it was we will figure it out. So people are working really, really hard. So scale is important. : And the second thing which has happened, and you know, we had a conversation six months ago where I think you said something very interesting. You became the CEO of this company somewhat reluctantly in the sense that you had the founders and then you all got together and this was what? Where things were fine, we didnt bother. Shikhar Ghosh: And were going to fix it only enough until the next time it breaks. Even people that werent hands-on in the beginning, after six months, theyre forced to be hands-on because thats the expectation the organization has because we started doing everything ourselves and thats how we built this. Mudassir Sheikha is the CEO and co-founder of Careem. The task at hand was to find a meaningful purpose for the business they wanted to build. And automatically are starting to get absorbed in what the system does, versus what people do. So amazing experiences. You could drive growth differently and probably the healthier way if you target lesser, lower growth rates because then you can focus on the right things, which might take a little bit longer to put in place, but theyll bring healthy growth. : So if you compared that vision to any existing company, whos the closest analog? Congratulations on Careem's First Decade. Certain aspects of the brand are part of it, but for the most part, we want to empower the front line and have them drive the decisions and only support them as an advisor versus become service providers or controllers. You've reached your 2 free content limit for the month. It requires some implementation. But obviously, changing from six countries to the whole Middle East has all kinds of implications on the organization, how you need to organize, who the people are, how big its going to be. So if your competition is a lot bigger than you, then youre not even providing a competitive service to the customer or the captain. Mudassir Sheikha: And our answer is that we will win by being more local than them. Mudassir Sheikha: The second type of role that a country or Dubai can play is a service provider. The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship is the champion for entrepreneurship education and training for Harvard Business School. Or the systems that have to run, you know, like a railway thing. So we were very hands-on and theres a culture of being hands-on at Careem. Thank you very much. Shikhar Ghosh: You know, why not 10% a month? And in the beginning, we were not able to hire a lot of senior people that would proactively see that things would not work and reinvent proactively. We just thought get the right people in place and they will figure out what to do. And now we think we should become the internet platform of the Middle East. : If you are constantly looking at these numbers and chasing people when numbers are low, then after a certain point, people start looking at these numbers proactively. This is something that you as the CEO need to own. Mudassir Sheikha: So we just need to now build that operating system, we call it the Careem operating system, thats going to enable us to build this thing and realize the vision. So if some opportunity comes up in Riyadh, we will prioritize it above anything else in the world, right? Both companies apps will also continue to operate under separate brands. So thats the way we are approaching those things which require more scientific planning, thinking, and doing. : But there was a process, right, where we were even testing people on values. The company, which was valued at over US$2 billion in 2018, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber after being acquired for $3.1 billion in January 2020. Theres questions that you ask and then, you know, based on the responses that you get, you can get a feel for it, right? You dont know when those plays run out, right? Mudassir Sheikha: But we unfortunately are in an industry that is-. I get on the phone and I ask for a bus and a bus comes? Then after that, we said why just, you know, passenger transport? But for you, it feels like its more that this is what you have to do to be competitive, but from a pure sort of market share and all of that perspective. And what is it that the local market has to adapt for its own thing? [9] In 2017, the company announced a program to extend maternity leave and hire more women. [8] He is known for his philanthropic work in Pakistan, particularly in the areas of education and healthcare.[9]. : Well, so you have to institutionalize it, right? Its not a subjective thing. Mudassir Sheikha: The people processes, the structure. I think some of these things are tested locally as well. Legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction, "Careem eyes potential expansion to 250 cities in MENA", "Mideast ride-hailing app Careem raises $200 million to expand, expects more funds", "Uber buys rival Careem in $3.1 billion deal to dominate ride-hailing in Middle East", "Careem NOW: Engineering a robust and scalable food delivery application", "Careem Pay launches digital wallet for money transfers, withdrawals in UAE", "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem", "Meet Careem: The Uber of The Middle East", "Uber-clone vows safe, affordable ride.
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