I recently went one on one with Maurice Harary, founder and CEO of Fluz.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Maurice: Ever since I was 10 years old, I was always into video games: from Batman, to Mario Kart and the Ninja Turtles, so I think the tech industry made sense for me to get into. I started building a career in e-commerce in 2007 and everything else stemmed from that. Fluz started out a means to promote financial inclusion and it just kept growing. We learned quickly that we were really in financial services and not just e-commerce. In the beginning I was so focused on building the business that I neglected to establish the company’s values. I’ve learned that creating a nurturing environment for the team is just as important as hitting financial benchmarks. Building a team that cares about the same values that I do. Having a solid foundation of surrounding myself with people who care more for others than they do themselves. Today, I dedicate an hour to an hour and a half with each new employee, discussing our company culture and its core values. 

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Maurice: We began developing Fluz in 2016 based on the moral obligation to give opportunity to people who do not have access to payment rewards products. There was a ton of money going into reward programs and referral programs, but at the end of the day, the execution was very individualistic. Historically it’s always been between the retailer and customer, and the customer never walked away with anything substantial. We played a nice game of math to determine how to build a collective of people that shops together and give them even more cash back. Through Fluz, we collect users' spending and create not only more value for the people actually spending the money, but also for the retailers, the banks, for everyone who's participating. For anyone who is trying to come up with a great idea, I advise you to try answering a problem that you see needs to be solved collectively. 

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Maurice: It's funny because Fluz was a side project to my main business at the time and at a certain point I was faced with a tough decision of: remain Fluz as a side project or focus and build more on it? I think what excited me most was how it was an innovative way to do something that's already happening, and discovering new value for every stakeholder. But it wasn’t until Nike signed on that I knew Fluz had real legs. Retailers started falling in one at a time after that. We had all this volume and could offer them so much business. Companies were doing anything they could do to take business away from their big competitor, and with that, we went out and we got a humongous catalog. At that point I knew we had a shot and knew we were going to be in business. For those looking to test their own business idea, I’d say launch quickly, but thoroughly.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Maurice: Be hyper focused on team and culture. Make sure you really build a solid team around you and continue to reinforce that, especially early on. You really live by the team; it's that core group that's going to set the tone as more and more people come into the organization. Secondly, be relentless in perfecting your product. “Good enough” is the nemesis of something that's truly amazing. Be brutally honest with yourself, and say “is this truly the best possible thing I could be putting in the market.” My advice to others is work really hard— it's not hard work if you love what you do and are open to success. 

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Maurice: Most people think exposure to the product will solve their problem, but really, the problem lies with the fact that the product is not that good. When we were trying to launch Fluz, it made a lot of sense in our minds, but we kept looking at it from different angles and continued to improve it. When Fluz finally launched on September 24th, 2019, we launched with a heavy marketing push. We definitely had to target the right people who could talk about the product for us. The app is quite complex, so having people who can easily understand the product to communicate it effectively was a win. Since then, we continue to evolve almost every single month. We're growing anywhere from 5% to 10% compound, but even now with all of our success, we keep asking ourselves what we can do to make it better? Something that became very clear to me very fast in this business is that it’s a constant commitment. It's never done. It’s never enough. It always needs to be refined. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Maurice: Being comfortable with accepting accountability is a very important quality. Beyond that, focus on small wins and executing and delivering quickly. Don't focus on building this massive beast. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Maurice: Focus on the culture. Throughout my career, I can definitively say that company culture has to be the most important thing in building a business. A positive environment is imperative and you need to constantly check back in on that. It requires streamlined communication between teams and education across all departments. Better communication builds a better work environment, and that’s going to breed more success.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Maurice: Resilience, commitment, and refinement. One of the big lessons I've learned in launching this business was the immense amount of time it takes to launch your own business; to build something from scratch and the flexibility to understand that. The path to success is anything but a sprint. It really is a matter of constant commitment, polishing, improvement, while being relentless in trying to get there.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Maurice: If anyone thinks there's one answer, then they've never had a true mentor.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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