Yahya Humayun

co-founder and CEO of Pattern App

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Yahya Humayun is the co-founder and CEO of Pattern Technologies / Pattern App. Humayun has run small businesses selling mobile accessories and mobile covers, and has gone to Dubai to look for jobs. His first job was at EY, which he describes as being about audit and tax in Pakistan.

Early life and background

Humayun was born in Multan in 1994. His family originally comes from Multan, and as a child he lived there with a joint family. He attended school in Multan up to grade 5. His father then moved to Lahore to expand a business in website development and maintenance. [1]

Education

Humayun attended one school for grades 6 and 7 and another from grade 7 until his A-levels, which he completed in 2013. He studied in an international program of the University of London. He completed a three-year university program in Lahore and a bachelor's degree in business management. He graduated in 2016. [1]

Early career

Humayun has run small businesses selling mobile accessories and mobile covers, and has gone to Dubai to look for jobs. His first job was at EY, which he describes as being about audit and tax in Pakistan. At EY he worked in performance and process improvement advisory, with clients including Lahore Transport Company, NTDC and WAPDA. He stayed there for a year and two months. He joined Bank Alfalah, where he worked as an in-house consultant on consumer experience design for about 10 months. [1]

AirLift and Byte

Humayun saw a LinkedIn post from AirLift hiring for a role called create your own role, and decided he wanted to be part of the team. He stayed at AirLift until COVID, when the mass transit operation had to close. He also accepted a job offer at Byte, which he describes as a cloud kitchen startup, and stayed with it for three months. [1]

Dastgyr

Humayun put his savings into Dastgyr to be associated with it, and worked there from September 2020 to February 2022. He says the company grew from 8 or 9 people to more than 250 during his time there. He also says it went on to become one of the most successful startups in the country and region. [1]

He describes the culture at Dastgyr as focused on creating the next wave of entrepreneurship. At Dastgyr he met his current Pattern co-founder. He calls leaving Dastgyr one of the most difficult and important decisions of his life. He says something clicked for him in February 2022. [1]

Pattern App

Humayun says the team decided to build Pattern for Pakistan's specific requirements. The team realised that on-premise customers need a motivation to visit a restaurant. He says a proposal of a 50 rupee fee on a 1000 rupee transaction made business sense to the team, and that the team was certain it would not get into delivery. [1]

He describes a flow in which a person can book before going to a restaurant, or order and pay to avoid waiting in line. He says about 100 pistachio lattes were sold in three days after people learned about the drink. He has said Pattern is already in talks with people doing well internationally in the POS space. He says partnerships are the most important part of the ecosystem. His technology team is housed at a company that is one of its earliest supporters. [1]

Humayun has said Pattern is live in one city, Lahore, and is expanding into two more cities soon. He says 100 restaurants is not yet a big number for Pattern. He says the vision is to be all over Pakistan and then take the product internationally. His team wants to take Pakistan to regional markets, if not global ones. [1]

Views

Humayun says 2020 to 2022 was a global boom cycle, and that due diligence often falls during boom cycles. He says the next three years will not be an easy ride. He believes the economy will fix itself through services, IT and exports, and that thousands of talented individuals are coming in. He is extremely optimistic about Pakistan's future and hopes Pakistan will be great by 2050. [1]

He says the dreams of a unicorn do not exist in Pakistan, and that a startup that survives in Pakistan could survive potentially anywhere in the world. He recommends being short-term paranoid and long-term optimistic. He says gut feeling is the most important guide. He also says LinkedIn lets people reach out to experienced professionals. [1]

Humayun thinks Multan has a lot of potential. He thinks the establishment of universities could catalyse its growth. [1]

Timeline

1994
Born in Multan.[1]
2013
Completed his A-levels.[1]
2016
Graduated.[1]
2020
Began working at Dastgyr in September.[1]
2022
Worked at Dastgyr until February.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2023-05-15 The startup building loyalty tech for restaurants Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Yahya Humayun?

Yahya Humayun is the co-founder and CEO of Pattern App. He was born in Multan in 1994.[1]

What does Yahya Humayun do?

Yahya Humayun is co-founder and CEO of Pattern App. He has said Pattern is live in one city, Lahore, and is expanding into two more cities soon.[1]

Where did Yahya Humayun study?

Yahya Humayun completed a three-year university program in Lahore and a bachelor's degree in business management. He also studied in an international program of the University of London. He graduated in 2016.[1]

Where is Yahya Humayun from?

Yahya Humayun was born in Multan in 1994, and his family originally comes from Multan. He attended school there up to grade 5 before his father moved to Lahore.[1]

Where has Yahya Humayun worked?

Yahya Humayun's first job was at EY, and he joined Bank Alfalah. He also stayed at AirLift until COVID, spent three months at Byte, and worked at Dastgyr.[1]

When did Yahya Humayun work at Dastgyr?

Yahya Humayun worked at Dastgyr from September 2020 to February 2022. He says the company grew from 8 or 9 people to more than 250 during his time there.[1]

References

  1. The startup building loyalty tech for restaurants . Thought Behind Things , 2023-05-15.
Show the source passages (69 statements)
  1. He is co-founder and CEO of Pattern App. Yahya Humayun is the Co-Founder & CEO of Pattern App.
  2. He was born in Multan in 1994. So, I was born in Multan, 1994.
  3. He attended school in Multan up to grade 5. Uske baad I grade 5 tak schooling Multan mein ki
  4. His father moved to Lahore to expand a business in website development and maintenance. Uske baad my father had to move to Lahore for expanding his business, which is essentially about website development and maintenance.
  5. He attended one school for grades 6 and 7. Grade 6 to 7 there was a school called I-CAS.
  6. He attended another school from grade 7 until his A-levels. Grade 7 to A-levels, there was another school called SISA.
  7. He completed his A-levels in 2013. A-levels kiya SISA se 2013 mein.
  8. He studied in an international program of the University of London. And then went to UCL. International program hai University of London ka.
  9. He completed a three-year university program in Lahore and a bachelor's degree in business management. Went to Lahore for university aur three-year program tha. Did my bachelors in business management.
  10. He graduated in 2016. Aur 16 mein graduate kiya. 16 mein graduate kiya.
  11. He lived with a joint family in Multan as a child. I used to live with a joint family.
  12. His family originally comes from Multan. Originally family Multan se.
  13. He thinks Multan has a lot of potential. I think Multan has a lot of potential, but wohi aapki university wali baat
  14. He thinks the establishment of universities could catalyse Multan's growth. ek cheez jo usko supercharge kar sakti hai, catalyze kar sakti hai, woh I think the establishment of university, universities actually.
  15. He ran small businesses selling mobile accessories and mobile covers. mobile accessories ka chota sa business kar liya, mobile covers ka business kar liya
  16. He went to Dubai to look for jobs. searched for jobs, actually went to Dubai.
  17. His first job was at EY, which he describes as being about audit and tax in Pakistan. Interestingly, my first job then was EY, which is essentially about audit and tax in Pakistan
  18. At EY he worked in performance and process improvement advisory. performance improvement or process improvement advisory service line thi.
  19. At EY his clients included Lahore Transport Company, NTDC and WAPDA. There was Lahore Transport Company was one of our clients, NTDC, WAPDA was one of our clients.
  20. He stayed at EY for a year and two months. So, I stayed there for a year and two months, I think.
  21. He joined Bank Alfalah. So, I was like let's let's join that. So, I joined, joined in.
  22. At Bank Alfalah he worked as an in-house consultant on consumer experience design. one of those roles was of of an in-house consultant sort of a role which would look at consumer experience design and actually make those changes.
  23. He stayed at Bank Alfalah for about 10 months. That was like 10 months.
  24. He saw a LinkedIn post from AirLift hiring for a role called create your own role. I saw a LinkedIn post that AirLift was hiring uh and the role was I think called create your own role
  25. He decided he wanted to be part of the AirLift team. I decided ke you know I I want to I really want to be a part of this team.
  26. He stayed at AirLift until COVID, when the mass transit operation had to close. So, I was there until COVID hit aur phir COVID mein it had to close down the mass transit operation
  27. He accepted a job offer at Byte. But hua yeh ke I had accepted a job offer at Byte.
  28. He describes Byte as a cloud kitchen startup. kyunke woh tha ek cloud kitchen startup
  29. He stayed with Byte for three months. Um three months I stayed with Byte.
  30. He put his savings into Dastgyr to be associated with it. I put in all my savings into uh Dastgyr uh just to somehow be associated with it.
  31. He worked at Dastgyr from September 2020 to February 2022. So I was there till from September 2020 se leke February of 2022 tak
  32. He says Dastgyr grew from 8 or 9 people to more than 250 during his time there. us waqt koi 8 se 9 log the uh aur jab when I left to phir hum koi 250 se zyada log ho gaye the.
  33. He says Dastgyr went on to become one of the most successful startups in the country and region. one of the most uh successful uh startups in the in the country in fact in the region.
  34. He describes Dastgyr's culture as focused on creating the next wave of entrepreneurship. the culture at Dastgyr and the emphasis on creating the next wave of entrepreneurship
  35. At Dastgyr he met his current Pattern co-founder. my current co-founder at Pattern I met he was the only person other than the founders on the team uh when I joined.
  36. He says something clicked for him in February 2022. February of 2022 ek something clicked and you know the click yeh hua ke humne dekha
  37. He calls leaving Dastgyr one of the most difficult and important decisions of his life. I think this was one of the most uh difficult decisions and also like one of the most important decisions in my life.
  38. He says the team decided to build Pattern for Pakistan's specific requirements. phir humne dekha ke Pakistan ki specific requirement kya hai aur phir us hisaab se we decided to build Pattern out
  39. He says the team realised on-premise customers need a motivation to visit a restaurant. So we realized ke acha on premise user ko store ke andar aane ke liye they need a motivation.
  40. He says a proposal of a 50 rupee fee on a 1000 rupee transaction made business sense to the team. yaar 1000 rupaye pe aap mere se 50 rupaye le lein. So we were like sahi hai. Makes business sense.
  41. He has said Pattern is live in one city, Lahore. Yeah, so so uh bilkul it's live in one city, Lahore.
  42. He has said Pattern is expanding into two more cities soon. we're now expanding into two more cities uh very very soon.
  43. He says 100 restaurants is not yet a big number for Pattern. kyunke 100 is not a big big number
  44. He has said Pattern is already in talks with people doing well internationally in the POS space. we are already in talks with people jo ke internationally bahut acha kar rahe hain in the POS space
  45. He says partnerships are the most important part of the ecosystem. But partnerships I think are are the most important part of the ecosystem.
  46. He says the team was certain it would not get into delivery. we were certain that we won't uh get into delivery
  47. He describes a flow in which a person can book before going to a restaurant, or order and pay to avoid waiting in line. Phir aap wahan ja sakte hain, wahan ja ke aap book bhi kar sakte hain, jane se pehle. Agar aap line mein nahi lagna chahte to aap order karke pay bhi kar sakte hain.
  48. He says his technology team is housed at a company that is one of its earliest supporters. our technology team um is housed at Arbisoft. Um they are one of our earliest supporters as well.
  49. He says about 100 pistachio lattes were sold in three days after people learned about the drink. Uske baad in the next uh three days I think we sold 100 drinks. Woh us pistachio latte because people then got to know
  50. He says the vision is to be all over Pakistan and then take the product internationally. the vision is to actually be all over Pakistan uh for sure and then take this product internationally as well.
  51. He says his team wants to take Pakistan to regional markets, if not global ones. Let's take Pakistan to the to the if not global at least to the regional markets
  52. He says Pattern's model is straightforward and profitable. Our our model is pretty uh straightforward and profitable.
  53. He says Pattern does not burn money on orders. It it we don't burn any money on orders.
  54. He says Pattern's costs do not rise exponentially as restaurants and users grow. costs don't exponentially scale so it's ready to scale uh at a at a massive scale.
  55. He says Pattern has a very safe runway. Alhamdulillah we have a very safe runway um as of now.
  56. He says Pattern is backed by strategic investors from across the world. we were lucky to be backed by very very strategic investors from across the world
  57. He says Pattern is raising a seed round and expects to announce it within this year. we are currently raising a seed round and uh InshaAllah we're we're expecting to announce within this year.
  58. He says the dreams of a unicorn do not exist in Pakistan. the dreams of a unicorn do not exist in Pakistan.
  59. He says a startup that survives in Pakistan could survive potentially anywhere in the world. If you survive in Pakistan, you can survive potentially anywhere in the world.
  60. He recommends being short-term paranoid and long-term optimistic. That is to be short-term paranoid and long-term optimistic.
  61. He says gut feeling is the most important guide. aapki gut feeling sabse important hoti hai
  62. He says 2020 to 2022 was a global boom cycle. 2020 to 2022 was a boom cycle jo ki puri duniya mein chal raha tha
  63. He says due diligence often falls during boom cycles. due diligence hoti hai na boom cycle mein woh more or more often than not kam ho jati hai
  64. He says the next three years will not be an easy ride. this is not going to be an easy ride for the next three years
  65. He believes the economy will fix itself through services, IT and exports. The economy is going to fix itself. We're going to find wealth creation ways services ke through, IT ke through, exports ke through
  66. He says thousands of talented individuals are coming in. there's thousands of talented individuals coming in
  67. He is extremely optimistic about Pakistan's future. So I think, so my answer would be extremely optimistic. I think there's there's absolutely great things about to happen in Pakistan.
  68. He hopes Pakistan will be great by 2050. So hopefully InshaAllah 2050 should be Great.
  69. He says LinkedIn lets people reach out to experienced professionals. LinkedIn is such a powerful platform that you can literally reach out to somebody who has like 20-25 years of experience