Today's guest is Shinaz Navas, Founder and CEO of Niyyah and former EdTech VC investor.
Shinaz shared his journey from investor to founder, driven by a passion to help Muslims elevate their learning and build a better relationship with the Qur'an.
From fundraising challenges, early pivots and iterations, to his strong belief on why VC funding is the only way to go when it comes to building a start-up, checkout this latest episode of Muslim Money Talk!
This podcast is powered by Kestrl. Kestrl is an app that helps Muslim to grow their wealth without compromising their beliefs
Kestrl - The Muslim Money App
https://kestrl.io/
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
03:10 - Uni and Career overview
07:02 - Moving to VC
09:35 - What VC's look for in early stage start-ups
12:06 - Start-up patterns and potential biases
15:04 - Is VC the only way to go?
16:50 - The VC power law
20:01 - Does VC mean Growth at all costs?
23:33 - Inspiration behind Niyyah (India to the UK)
26:44 - UK schooling is broken
30:45 - What does Niyyah do?
32:22 - Early Pivots in Niyyah's journey
38:40 - Drawing inspiration from Noom & Duolingo
41:08 - Finding a technical co-founder
44:02 - Raising the 1st funding round Niyyah vs. Kestrl
47:50- Pivoting to focus on Qur'an
50:57- Becoming VC backable
53:09 - Current focus on product-market fit and future plans.
54:49 - Key metrics to track
59:26 - Key growth channels & strategies
1:02:03 - What's next for Niyyah and rapid fire questions
