Five Minutes With…Owais Shaikh, Founder & CTO, Lutebox

What is your company focusing on this year?

This year for Lutebox we are focused on building our user base and gaining awareness for our app. We hope that by the end of the year we are recognised as one of the leading picture messaging apps and are ranking highly in both the App Store and Google Play Store.

What are the growth areas currently for your industry?

Recently there has been a very strong shift towards private messaging, especially in the photo-sharing category. People now prefer the personal engagement of private chatting and picture messaging apps versus the broadcast and public nature of social networks. Another huge growth area for our industry is video sharing of short 5-10 second videos, which we are also introducing in Lutebox.

Are you launching any new products or services this year?

Yes we are releasing our Android app very soon. We will also be introducing premium add-ons such as sticker packs and sound effects, which can be used to enhance your conversations on Lutebox.

What advice would you give wannabe entrepreneurs?

Ideas are nothing without execution. Start-ups are incredibly hard work, be prepared to dedicate your life to making your company a success.

What’s your leadership style?

Lead by example.

What makes the perfect employee?

Someone who takes ownership and loves what they do, and is motivated intrinsically.

Define success in five words…
Success is defined by most people in the same five words but the order of them just changes, for me, it’s: happiness, recognition, fame, respect, and then money.

Three tips for becoming the boss…
Try not to act like a boss, rather give credit where credit is due and foster a company culture where people love to work.

When I’m not at work I like to…
Work. But it changes to work at the beach instead.