HABITAWARE Q&A

MESA sat down with Sameer Kumar, CEO of HabitAware,
to ask him about his experience working with MESA.
Tell us a bit about your background, your career history, and your business. What prompted you to get involved with MESA?

Though I have a technical undergraduate degree, my career was in management consulting and investment management prior to co-founding HabitAware. Starting HabitAware with co-founders with diversity of experience allowed us to cover most of the areas of expertise necessary to get the company off the ground. However, none of us had deep experience managing a technology company, and MESA’s mentors have that in spades.

What was your biggest business challenge before working with MESA?

We were able to execute on our goals when the team was very small and the goals were obvious, but as the team and our ambitions grew, it became difficult to remain aligned.

Has MESA been able to help you work through it, and if not, what happened instead?

Our MESA mentors were able to articulate proven strategies that we implemented to improve internal alignment. Very quickly the team was more in sync as the new strategies allowed us to have a clear line of sight to where we needed to go.

What, specifically, is your favorite part about working with MESA, and why?

The best part about working with MESA was the preparation for and the conversation during our monthly meetings. It was a very helpful activity to take a breath and step out of the day to day, to reflect on what we had done well and what we needed to keep working on.

If you were going to recommend MESA to a colleague, what would you say?

MESA will help you with the most critical needs of the business without getting in your way. They will lend their considerable experience and open up their vast network. It’s a no-brainer!

What three words would you use to describe your experience with MESA?

Objective Experienced Advice

Anything else you want us to know about your experience with MESA?

I can’t recommend the program enough and am so thankful to have developed relationships with our MESA mentors. Thank you all for paying it forward!