Hussein Momtaz, co-founder and CEO of Koinz: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Hussein Momtaz, co-founder and CEO of Koinz (LinkedIn), used by more than 1.5k restaurants to collect and manage data, attract and retain customers, and promote their businesses.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

My name is Hussein Momtaz, I am the co-founder and CEO of Koinz. After graduating from computer engineering from Al Azhar University, I decided to build a software house with one of my friends. In the three years that followed, we experimented with different ideas and did a few projects in the Gulf region until we found something promising enough to give it our full attention. This is when we launched Koinz in 2018 and shut down our software house.

Koinz aims to reinvent food platforms: We designed an experience that allows walk-in customers to become online users through Koinz. Ever since I was a kid, I became passionate about design; you feel these two backgrounds collide at Koinz, from the tech perspective of the product to the psychology of the UX design. We used a lot of psychology in order for this experience to become successful.

I have two morning routines: One that I have control over and one that I don’t. In my normal routine I wake up at 8 am to finish some chores during my golden hour or what I call “focus hours.” This is the time when I get everything that requires a lot of focus done. I also get things done during my commute because I do a lot of reading and catching up.

Then there’s the other, more chaotic. Routine. I sometimes stay up until 4-5 am working, which means that I won’t wake up until 10 am. I do my best to keep to my normal routine and avoid late nights though. Sleep deprivation is never in anyone’s interest and inevitably affects performance.

When I’m close to burning out, I try to head to Sahel even for just one day to switch off. I don’t do it very often though, maybe once every 5-6 months. But it’s something that I definitely want to do more often because it helps keep me sane.

Since the onset of the pandemic, people are being expected to be available 24/7. The concept of going back home and just switching off no longer exists. I think there are many distractions at the office and WFH is a great way to boost your concentration. On the other hand, it is hard for people to connect on a personal level from home and struggle to get to know each other. Therefore, I really believe in the hybrid model because I just don’t think working remotely full time is suitable for our culture.

Keeping a structured schedule as a CEO can be a challenge and this is something I learned the hard way. You need to work somewhere that is not entirely accessible, somewhere you can work on your own otherwise you’ll have so many distractions and you’ll struggle to keep a structured schedule and a proper work-life balance. The worst scenario is when you’re not concentrating 100% and you’re not giving yourself a break either. You can work for 14 hours straight, while the quality hours that you’ve actually worked could be only five hours.

I watch the most dim-witted TV shows to completely switch off when I get home. I am a big fan of anime, I am currently watching Psychic. My favorite is Hunter X Hunter. I am also watching Monk, The Simpsons. I’m also into epic fantasies such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. My favorite movie is About Time. I am currently reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Hard Things About Hard Things.

The biggest challenge the Egyptian tech industry is facing is finding talent. There’s a serious skills shortage in the country, and this is a major problem for the sector and for our company. We’re trying to level up our hiring process big time. We’ve improved our salaries’ to be more competitive, with more stock options and incentives, and we’re even trying to attract foreign talent.

Startups are dead by default not alive, so you have to do everything in your power to make it work, because statistically, startups fail by default. So if there’s someone a little out of budget for the company but will transform your business, you need to go out there and hire them.

Sometimes we lose the meaning in what we do and we need to remind ourselves of our goals. I wouldn’t want to be Steve Jobs if I don't have a good influence on others. There’s a great quote by Elon Musk that really resonates with me. “Do your dishes.”