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Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

How To Build A Multi-Million $ Dating App | Shahzad Younas Founder & CEO of Muzmatch

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Ali AbdaalhostShahzad Younasguest

Oct 11, 20211h 12mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Hinge ban, competitor research, and the crowded dating-app landscape
Ali Abdaal opens by asking why Shahzad Younas is banned from Hinge, which leads into how Shahzad researches other dating platforms. They discuss how many major dating apps exist and why understanding competitors matters when building in this space.
- •Shahzad explains he had multiple dating-app accounts largely for research, often with nonsense details and meme photos.
- •He believes Hinge likely banned him after recognizing who he was rather than just for the memes.
- •Ali and Shahzad discuss there being “too many” dating apps, with Shahzad estimating a handful of big players.
- •Shahzad describes how apps learn from each other and tackle similar problems in different ways.
From investment banking to Muzmatch: a side project becomes a real company
Shahzad recounts how Muzmatch began as banter at work, then grew from buying a domain into a simple website and eventually an app. He explains the moment he committed fully—quitting his job—and building the first version alone from his bedroom.
- •The name “Muzmatch” started as a joke among colleagues and prompted him to buy the domain.
- •He saw existing Muslim matchmaking sites as low-quality and outdated, motivating him to build something better.
- •Mobile usage data convinced him the product needed to be an app rather than a website.
- •He quit investment banking, taught himself what he needed, and built native iOS/Android plus the backend himself in about six months.
- •He frames the journey as a series of “accidents” that compounded into a clear direction.
How to come up with business ideas: make time to think and start with your own problems
Ali asks how beginners can find an idea, and Shahzad argues that modern distractions prevent people from thinking deeply. He suggests starting from personal problems and then exploring whether a broader market exists—even if others already do something similar.
- •Shahzad says free time is “under assault” from media and entertainment, reducing intentional thinking.
- •He recommends listing problems in your own life because you’ll understand them better than anyone else.
- •He walks through a deliberately silly “milk” example to show how problem exploration can lead to a business concept.
- •He argues most businesses are iterations, and competition doesn’t invalidate an idea.
- •The key is identifying your unique contribution that could make an approach work better.
Learning to code by building the hardest part first (and pushing through the pain)
Shahzad explains how he approached execution: he believed he needed to be technical to run a tech company and learned by doing. He describes designing early versions crudely, building real-time chat first, and enduring difficult technical problems without quitting.
- •He didn’t initially think Muzmatch would become a big company, but still felt he needed to be a “techie” founder.
- •He had a computer science degree and prior side projects, including an early academic social network that failed due to lack of execution.
- •He designed the first version in Microsoft Word, then learned app development by building a real-time chat system first.
- •He describes difficult hurdles like push notifications and a crash-causing memory leak that took weeks to solve.
- •He believes knowledge is widely available and that most people don’t know they ‘can’t code’ until they seriously try.
Early-stage grit: commitment, slow traction, and why entrepreneurship felt better than banking
Ali asks how Shahzad stayed motivated after quitting a high-paying job. Shahzad describes the psychological commitment of telling everyone he’d do it, the early days of tiny user numbers, and why control and autonomy mattered more than comfort.
- •He says quitting after announcing the plan would have made him feel like “the idiot,” so commitment helped him persist.
- •He believed timing trends were in his favor: app adoption rising, taboo decreasing, and infrastructure improving in Muslim countries.
- •Early traction was slow and demoralizing, until user emails about real marriages made the impact feel tangible.
- •He enjoyed being in control of his day despite extreme hours and little social life.
- •He connects this to not responding well to authority in banking and preferring outcomes that are directly “on you.”
Muzmatch at 10 years: scale, rebuilding the product, and reinvesting for growth
Shahzad shares current scale metrics and how the team thinks about product quality and iteration. He details multiple rebuilds of the app, a dramatic reset that forced users to recreate profiles, and a mindset of reinvesting revenue while feeling the business could still fail at any time.
- •He cites millions of members globally, hundreds of people leaving daily after meeting a partner, and a growing team size.
- •He emphasizes matching the quality bar set by major consumer apps like Instagram and Snapchat.
- •He describes rebuilding the app multiple times, including a full restart where users lost matches and had to recreate profiles.
- •He explains the decision to “take the pain” to move faster and because the new version was dramatically better.
- •He cannot share revenue, but notes strong growth and that earnings go back into product, team, and marketing while he still feels the company could “die” any day.
Managing creatives vs engineers: figuring out how to make marketing work
Shahzad contrasts product/engineering work—where specs and deliverables feel clearer—with marketing, where creativity and timing are harder to manage. He describes how his style initially frustrated marketers and how the company had to rethink team structure and collaboration.
- •He identifies himself as deeply product-focused and heavily involved in UX and screen-by-screen decisions.
- •He says marketing can’t be managed like engineering because “deliverables” and deadlines work differently for creative work.
- •He gives an example of planning to film an ad before the concept felt ready, showing the tension between delivery and creative quality.
- •He admits his early management approach didn’t bring out the best in the marketing team and caused frustration.
- •He describes effectively rebuilding the marketing team and learning how different sub-teams (creative/brand/etc.) need different management.
The London Underground campaigns: viral halal puns and brand legitimacy
Ali asks about Muzmatch’s famous Tube ads, and Shahzad explains the creative approach and the tradeoff between direct response and brand building. He shares examples of the lines, how it went viral, and why it helped hiring and credibility even without immediate download spikes.
- •Shahzad lists several campaign lines built around “halal” puns and topical references, and says the lines were his.
- •He insists Tube campaigns must be genuinely funny and high-quality or they’re not worth doing.
- •He notes it didn’t directly generate a big surge in downloads, but built intangible brand awareness.
- •He recalls job candidates—especially non-Muslims—recognizing Muzmatch from the Tube campaign, signaling legitimacy.
- •He discusses approximate campaign cost and placement details from what he remembers at the time.
Creepy behavior, ghosting, and how Muzmatch tries to set the tone
Ali raises a common complaint: men behaving badly on the platform. Shahzad argues this is a broader industry problem, explores why online dynamics encourage disrespect and ghosting, and outlines product and policy choices Muzmatch uses to deter bad behavior.
- •Shahzad says he’s still pinpointing where the problem lies but concludes men’s behavior is often the main issue across apps.
- •He points to the low social cost of ending conversations online—especially ghosting—as a modern dynamic.
- •He describes platform features meant to promote better conduct, including censored bad language and tone-setting prompts like “Keep it halal.”
- •He explains religiously oriented features such as allowing a chaperone in chats and requiring users to accept an “oath” screen.
- •He says the company enforces standards through action, including large-scale blocking/banning of accounts.
Why Muslim men struggle on dating apps: segregation, lack of “relationship education,” and missing community guidance
Shahzad offers a theory for why many Muslim men are “socially illiterate” in dating contexts: they often grow up with limited interaction with women and then are suddenly expected to navigate marriage. Ali adds his own experience from university, and Shahzad argues the community hasn’t adequately addressed how to navigate online relationships.
- •Shahzad attributes difficulties partly to upbringing in more gender-segregated environments with fewer normal mixed-gender social settings.
- •He contrasts this with non-Muslims having earlier relationship experiences that function as education, including learning through failure.
- •Ali describes how not drinking and community norms limited social interaction at university and reinforced stigma around “free mixing.”
- •Shahzad says Muzmatch faced less religious pushback than expected because the need is real and unsolved by older systems.
- •He argues there’s a gap in practical guidance on navigating online matchmaking, and that platforms like Muzmatch have had to help fill it.
What Muslim women look for, how to avoid being “weird,” and when people are ready
Ali asks what Muslim women look for in men, and Shahzad discusses profession/income signals and a maturity gap he sees between Muslim women and men. They also dig into conversation quality, seriousness markers (like involving family), and Shahzad’s general view on readiness and age.
- •Shahzad says profession is a major factor and implies income matters, even if not stated directly.
- •He argues Muslim women are often academically and professionally ahead of Muslim men, creating mismatched expectations.
- •He describes “the art of conversation” and how overly “tick-box” questioning can feel too intense too early.
- •He says a key seriousness signal is being comfortable involving family early, and that delays can be a recurring frustration for women.
- •On readiness, he suggests men often mature later and shares his own sense of maturing more around the late 20s, while noting there are many exceptions.
Blurred photos, looks vs personality, and Muzmatch’s mission to transform Muslim marriage
Ali asks about the blurred photos feature, and Shahzad shares usage rates and what their data showed about match quality. They discuss the uncomfortable reality that looks matter, how Muzmatch is trying to represent personality more richly, and Shahzad reflects on the real-world impact of the app before closing with where to find him.
- •Shahzad shares approximate adoption rates for blurred photos and explains how the feature expanded beyond women to include men seeking privacy.
- •He says internal analysis showed blurred photos increased match likelihood but also increased immediate unmatching, reducing match quality.
- •He describes educating users about tradeoffs, which reduced the percentage of users choosing blur.
- •They discuss that attraction and looks matter, and Shahzad argues denying that reality is naive.
- •Shahzad describes expanding profile richness and exploring new ways to convey personality (including voice/video) while pursuing the mission of transforming how Muslims meet and marry, then ends with how to find Muzmatch and contact him.

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