Amir Moussavian : A Visionary leveraging Technology to make people’s lives better

The Foundation stone of any organization begins with finding a solution to a problem. A similar instance occurred in the life of Amir Moussavian, Founder, Executive Chairman & CEO of Eturi Corp. Amir who is a father of two saw the need to manage screen time from a very personal perspective. Sharing the instance, Amir utters, “Back in 2014, I would come home after long days at the office and be excited to spend quality time with my family. The problem was that my children weren’t ‘present’ — they were texting at the dinner table and scrolling through Instagram during conversations. It felt like every family moment was being hijacked by screens, or by arguments about screens.”

It stands true that the majority of the population are heavy users of gadgets—irrespective of the reason. Amir’s family time being hijacked with screens motivated him to write up a ‘pact’ that positioned device use as a privilege and outlined expectations for that privilege to continue: no screens during family meals, for an hour before bed, during homework time. No more arguments. In theory. While his kids made great progress, the system still lacked accountability. However, the eureka moment occurred when he caught himself looking at the contracts taped to the refrigerator. Right then, he realized that technology is the problem, but it can also be the solution. From that day, he set out to develop an app that would help families limit screen time, without the arguments. This was the day when OurPact was born.

Incepted in 2014, Eturi Corp is an expert in remote management software. With the vision of Amir, the company started its flagship app, OurPact, which started the category and is the top-rated screen time parental control app in the market. Since the launch of OurPact the parental screen time market has developed. Alongside, his visionary approach and innovation have led the company to enter in SMB market.

A vision to solve the problem

COVID-19 pandemic has further pushed us towards a digital era and we are surrounded by screens. The pandemic has completely restructured work practices globally. Amir realized that this new decentralized way of working has impacted several leaders’ lifestyles and that they are seeking ways to evaluate the activities of their team. Offering a solution to this issue, Amir and his team developed the Motiv app. With reporting focusing on team collaboration, Eturi developed the app to ensure the highest level of employee privacy.

Motiv is the corner-office view into today’s distributed workforce and is the first productivity app built for CEOs and Business leaders of distributed teams. Today, no company has been exempted from the impacts – both in terms of immediate responses and looking forward/making plans for the future. The requirement of productivity is also necessary when the entire workforce is undergoing numerous changes and the Motiv app meets the demand.

Tackling the remote working issues

Fortunately, the impact on the mobile app industry was less as compared to other industries. Similarly, Eturi’s several platforms are versatile and easily loan themselves to remote collaborative work. Also, during the same time, tech companies signal their modernity through open, public support for long-term work policies. This pushed a new model of work where the remote teams are allowed for top talent acquisition and retention. Amir is expecting this new model to stay even beyond pandemic.

Under the leadership of Amir, the company has done extensive R&D into practical business applications. The new remote working environment demands a change in the attitude of the leaders, workers along the entire organization. An executive can no longer walk around an open-concept office space to get a feel for the pulse of their organization – who is talking to who, general productivity, and so on. Eturi is looking at ways to replicate this perspective within a remote organization.

Zest for Innovation

The definition of leadership changes as the requirement from the business change. A leader needs to constantly adapt to the environment to survive in the longer run. Amir acts to fit in the definition of a modern-day leader. He inspires, motivates, challenges, and leads his team effectively to drive company success. Throughout the pandemic, he has ensured the success of the company while always putting his team first.

The credit also goes to the kind of work culture and environment a company offers. Since the beginning, Amir has been constantly motivating the team by ensuring to build a strong work culture and inject the company with the right talent. This allows the talented individuals to be surrounded by other talented individuals. Eturi also ensures that they have constant ongoing training. Furthermore, the company empowers the employees to drive the vision, strategy, and product that the company develops. This provides the employee to have every opportunity to innovate and, importantly, recognition of their achievements.

Another important factor that a leader needs to consider while motivating his team is his own motivation. As aforementioned, Amir is motivated by every opportunity to solve problems using the best technology possible. “I’ve always been wired to think about how technology can tackle problems and inefficiencies. So, where the technology does not exist, break the barrier and develop it! Being able to help people with their everyday challenges – knowing what we’ve developed makes people’s lives easier/better/more fulfilled – that is what motivates me,” states Amir. Along with solving problems, Amir gets motivated, when he sees developing talent. To see an individual, thrive, watch as teams come together to brilliantly solve challenges; that’s what makes him wake up every day, excited for the next opportunity.

Leave No Room for Error

The pandemic was one of its kind situation that demanded a new approach of leadership. As a leader, Amir helms the two rare traits of being a visionary and incredibly grounded in financials. These unique skills have helped Eturi Corp to sustain amidst the challenging landscape of the pandemic. As Amir has always been enthusiastic about innovations and technology, his vision for Eturi’s new product was a guiding beacon for the entire team to focus on throughout the year. Gradually, the companies adapted to the new normal and remote working hence further augmented the essentiality of the new app. This gave rise to brainstorming sessions and energized the team. Moreover, alongside the CFO, Amir ensured an even higher standard of fiscal responsibility while still ensuring the teams’ work-from-home needs were covered.

Amir and his team continually strived to deliver excellence. He ensures that Eturi never compromises on quality and does not rush the product to the market. If there is a legitimate need for your product and an urgent market gap, one can ship a product—even before it is ready. The catch here is the quality directly reflects the effectiveness of that organization’s process and can also stain the reputation. “Negative press and brand impressions are difficult to come back from — much harder than the temporary disappointment from missing an internal deadline or not rising to investors’ satisfaction. Always cross your T’s and dot your I’s,” advised Amir.

Roadmap to Growth

Stemming from the efforts of the team, Eturi’s products have always performed beyond customer expectations. Parents who have used the flagship OnePact app have continually praised it and have stated that the app has changed their family dynamics and given them their children back. Moreover, the Motiv app is also helping the small business owners and enabling them to give their teams the flexibility they need, so the team can work the way they best function. Receiving such amazing testimonials always inspires the team to push beyond limits.

Eturi team has outlined an aggressive growth plan for Motiv. The app will be upgraded with new features that will work in lock-step with the needs of the users, providing frequent releases to meet and exceed their needs. The already incredible app OurPact will also be receiving additional innovative features. In 2021, team Eturi will continue to be poised for short and long-term success. Amir concludes, “I am always keeping an eye out for the next new opportunity to use technology to make people’s lives better!”

Key takeaway: “Failures are definitely part of the entrepreneurial journey and while they are frustrating, they offer up a great opportunity to learn.”