Hassan Ahmed is the co-founder and CTO of respond.io, which recently raised a $7M Series A. They're an all-in-one messaging platform between businesses and their customers that brings messages from chat apps, emails and web platforms into one dashboard.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

My job is simple: keep the tech team happy and motivated, whatever it takes to do so.

More specifically, my vocation as a CTO is making sure that all of my teams — whether it's frontend, backend, QA, or product even — are interfacing and coordinating well with each other. The idea is to help minimize their blockers on a regular basis.

My avocation is to read code and find new shiny development tools.

🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I started coding at the age of 12. The first language that I learned to code in was C. My first website was actually a "Hello Kitty" themed personal homepage hosted on Yahoo! GeoCities.

🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

The first time I went abroad was for a six-week internship in Hong Kong through a full-ride scholarship. I had basically stumbled upon that opportunity.

I consider this to be one of the major inflection points in my career.

🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

WhatsApp Cloud API and Google Business Messages API. Both have opened the doors for businesses to get approached directly by a huge user base via instant messaging.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

My advice is mostly toward young kids, such as my nieces, who are just setting out on their journey. I tell them this: Buy a book that will teach you programming — and not an online course or video tutorial. Read it religiously from start to finish. Everything that follows would be easier.

Also, adaptation is key.

🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Psychology and human behavior. I used to read and talk about religion a lot, but now, not as much. I still find spirituality highly interesting.

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Harry Potter. Black Mirror. And of course, Mr. Robot.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Chocolate