Co-founder and CEO of Careem
Mudassir Sheikha is the co-founder and CEO of Careem, a leading car booking service that is based out of Dubai and operates throughout the Middle East and North African (MENA).
Sheikha earned degrees in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Southern California and a Master of Science from Stanford University. He spent a decade in the Silicon Valley building technology startups, where he co-founded of DeviceAnywhere, which was eventually acquired by Keynote Systems. In 2008, he became an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, United Arab Emirates, where he advised clients on strategy and business building
During scaling, the role of CEO differs dramatically from that of an early-stage startup. Your focus will shift from proving your idea works, building your product, and getting others on board, to hiring a competent leadership team, creating processes, and being the face of your startup’s mission and culture.
As you scale, the strengths and habits that enabled you to launch—visionary thinking, working nonstop, or making decisions based on experiential knowledge—can become liabilities that damage your startup’s capacity for long-term growth and have serious negative consequences. In an interview with Shikhar Ghosh, Careem's co-founders Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdulla Elyas reflect on their meteoric growth from 2012-2014. Candidly sharing the mistakes they made, they identify the consequences of rapid scaling and share practical advice for other founders.
Reflecting on Careem's meteoric growth from 2012-2014, Careem's co-founders Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdulla Elyas share why creating a company culture was the key to scaling Careem.
Growing at a rate of nearly 30 percent per month turned Careem, a mobile-based ride-hailing service, into the first unicorn of the Middle East. But rapid growth created internal strain. Co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha shares how creating a distinct culture helped Careem navigate the challenges of scaling.
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