Told ‘No’ at the Start - Heard ‘Yes’ at Apple

A neuroscientist’s invisible HR engine and a music-ID moonshot, grown with grants, grit and day-one App Store timing.

Hey Startup Leapers 👋

Hope you’ve had a brilliant week.

Quick TSL world update: we’ve been busy arming founders.

Maria joined The Tech Bros Accelerator online session with no-fluff fundraising advice read the round-up here.

And don’t miss the Forward Faster Accelerator: a fully funded 6-month sprint giving 100 female founders the capital, connections and mentorship to scale - championed by pod guest Louise Hill.

Now, onto this week’s deep-dive: two founders, two paths, same grit.

Two founders. Two paths. Same grit.

This week we’re sitting down with Riham Sati (MeVitae) a neuroscientist turned founder fixing fairness at work and Dheeraj, co-founder of Shazam, who helped build one of the world’s first music-recognition apps and exited to Apple.

It’s a masterclass in starting from scratch, raising in hard markets, selling to enterprises, and staying true to your mission when the “easy” option compromises your values.

Let’s get into it 👇

🎧 Dheeraj (Shazam) - Distribution Trade-offs That Saved the Company (and Set Up the Apple Exit)

Dheeraj wanted to be a founder - he just didn’t have an idea.

After months of brainstorming, one audacious bet stuck: identify music over a phone.

He quit his job the week the Nasdaq peaked in 2000. Then the market crashed.

They scraped together ~$1m from angels, and in 2001 (peak dot-com carnage) ground out an $8.5m Series A after pitching every VC in London and across Europe.

When consumer revenue couldn’t cover costs, they added a B2B line just to survive.

Pre-iPhone, mobile operators controlled distribution.

Shazam accepted operator-branded, tightly controlled partnerships because there was no other way to reach users.

When the App Store launched, they were there on day one. Apple asked, “What do you want to call it?” - “Shazam.”

In 2018, after a decade-long operating relationship, Apple acquired the company.

How Dheeraj Navigated the Challenge

  1. Distribution is destiny - make pragmatic trade-offs early, then earn control back

    Pre-iPhone, operators were the only route.

    Shazam accepted operator branding and UX constraints to reach users; later, with the App Store, they reclaimed brand unity and experience.

    — Early stage: optimise for reach and learning (even at the cost of control).
    — Write reversibility into deals where you can (time-boxed rights, brand presence on at least some surfaces, data access).
    — Watch for platform shifts (e.g., App Store moments) and be day-one ready to consolidate brand and UX.

  2. Building teams that scale by evolving your own role

    The founding org started as three MBAs + one genius scientist.

    Dheeraj’s “product manager” job description quickly proved useless; he became the cross-functional glue - coordinating teams, instituting lightweight process, and filling gaps.

    Key takeaways?

    — Don’t cling to a title; fill the biggest current gap.
    — Install simple rhythms early (weekly goals, decision logs, crisp owner → deadline mapping) so hyper-growth doesn’t melt the org.
    — Expect roles to morph every 6–12 months; formalise changes so authority keeps pace with reality.

  3. Think exit early, build value daily

    Shazam’s Apple acquisition was the outcome of a long operating relationship: distribution → deep collaboration → acquisition.

    Bankers created options, but relationship fit won.

    — Make a shortlist of plausible acquirers by product adjacency and data synergy; begin working relationships years in advance.
    — Track “strategic fit” metrics (users you serve that they don’t, data they value, tech you can plug in).
    — Run a real process when the time comes, but understand the favourite will usually be the partner who already trusts you.

  4. Survive the personal game to win the long one

    In founder mode, Dheeraj was single-minded - no hobbies, no balance.

    Later he learned to trade off intensity for sustainability.

    — Pace is a strategy: you can’t compound if you burn out.
    — Build redundancy in leadership so the company isn’t one person deep.
    — Decide what you’ll let slip by design (email latency, meeting count) to protect deep work and recovery.

🎧Riham Sati (MeVitae) - From “Accidental Founder” to an Integrations-First B2B Engine

Riham didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur.

A neuroscientist by training, she was helping a friend stand out to Microsoft by turning his CV into a Windows Store app.

Microsoft rejected it.

So they opened it to others. It quietly blew up ~50,000 downloads in weeks and Microsoft emailed to say it was topping the store.

Fresh out of uni with only weeks of personal runway, she wrote a grant application “like a novel” (day after day) because she knew turning up to investors with no product and no traction would be a slog.

The grant landed (six figures).

She moved into the European Space Agency campus at Oxford, bought equipment, hired lean, and started shipping.

Only after pilots and revenue did she raise her first round in 2018 (c. £500k), with believers like Shazam co-founder Dheeraj investing and joining the board.

From there, MeVitae evolved into a data and integrations layer that sits behind existing HR systems to flag risks (e.g. compliance, bias, workforce trends) and recommend fixes.

How Riham Built Momentum (without giving up control):

  1. Turning “no UI” into an enterprise superpower

    Selling an invisible product is hard in a pitch, easy in procurement.

    MeVitae integrates into lots of HR systems, so buyers keep their workflows and change-management risk collapses.

    To make this work, she shifted the story from “demo” to measurable outcomes: compliance incidents avoided, time-to-hire reduced, NRR/churn, and time-to-value.

  2. Rewiring the founder mindset (from academic precision to entrepreneurial momentum)

    Academia trains you to perfect before you publish; startups demand that you jump and build the parachute on the way down.

    Riham adopted F.A.I.L. = First Attempt In Learning, and built a rhythm: commute from Reading, collect “no’s”, iterate the deck/data room, go again tomorrow.

    You only need one yes.

  3. Kill what doesn’t move the needle

    A “sales engineer” layer sounded great on paper; in practice it added complexity without lifting conversions.

    Riham cut it and doubled down on partners + Customer Success-led delivery.

    If a motion doesn’t move win rate, cycle time, or deal size, retire it quickly.

  4. Keep believers close

    Riham met Dheeraj in 2018; he invested early and joined the board.

    That “believers first” approach meant advice, pattern recognition and calm during choppy cycles (COVID included).

📚 Interesting Reads & Resources

  1. BVCA: Venture capital in the UK 2025

  2. Venture Café: London Summer Party

  3. {Tech: Europe}: London AI Hack

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