Feb. 12, 2024

Deep Dive: Find the right co-founder and idea with Mo El Mahallawy, CTO and co-founder of Shepherd

Deep Dive: Find the right co-founder and idea with Mo El Mahallawy, CTO and co-founder of Shepherd

Discussion focused on finding your co-founder and navigating the idea maze.

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

Today we’re chatting with Mo El Mahallawy, CTO and co-founder of Shepherd.

Shepherd is all in one commercial insurance platform focused on high hazard industries. The company is on an absolute tear and this month they announced a $13.5M series A.

Mo and I decided to sit down and record a conversation because the journey of Shepherd will resonate with many potential founders who are try to find those two key missing pieces: who might I start a company with and what might we build together?

Right as the world was shutting down due to COVID, Mo joined ODF3 where he met one of his co-founders at Shepherd — Justin Levine. Mo and Justin soon embarked on a journey to determine what they could build together that had potential to solve a real customer problem.

After pivoting through several ideas across a variety of sectors, they honed in on an area where one of them had a unique insight — construction insurance.

This is an instructive story about how to find co-founders and how to build a great business together. Enjoy!

Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that!

ODF has helped 1k companies like Shepherd (ODF3) find their co-founders, get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our IRL cohorts in San Francisco are now open. Learn more and apply at beondeck.com