HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background. I started working in the IT field as an intern for a company back when I was doing my undergraduate studies. I was offered a full-time job right away, and that's how my journey has been going ever since then. I have worked for some prestigious tech companies for years before venturing into entrepreneurship and launching a startup back in 2014. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? We named our startup InvoZone (A zone full of innovative people). It is more than just one man's passion project: this full-fledged development team has taken cybersecurity as their core service! For the last seven years, we've been leading innovators in web and mobile development by applying new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Science, Artificial Intelligence. What is the origin story? The origin story of InvoZone is quite interesting, actually. In an unexpected turn of events in 2014, my credit card was charged with a fraudulent payment of $10,000. Yes, I became the victim of credit card fraud and the whole ordeal shook me up, I thought to myself, ‘I need to stop this loophole’. So to minimize attacks on payment systems due to their weak cybersecurity measures, such as lack of security protocols or unprotected networks, I strategically planned and started my own company that would protect people from scams through robust security solutions. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? It’s the passion and innovative ideas that everyone brings to the table. Since our motto is innovation, I admire that my team fully understands this and ensures that every project we do at InvoZone is taken as a delightful challenge. The secret to our innovation and creativity is that I let my team take the front seat by taking complete ownership of a project, encouraging them through allowing their ideas to be heard in brainstorming sessions- enabling us all to work as one as we push for our ultimate goal; finding the best solution possible for the client's product. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? The thing about entrepreneurship is that when you have a great idea and people are willing to invest in the business, there's this lovely feeling of being "on to something". It's hard for me to imagine doing anything other than working on machine learning, big data, analytics algorithms and building my company out. When I force myself to think about it, though, I expect on the weekends I could have been spending time with my family or surfing or playing the guitar, but those activities just don't make me feel as good :) At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? For me, success means making a difference in the world. I benchmark it as to whether or not you can be remarkable. If your work is extraordinary enough to stand out from everything else going on around us congratulations! You've found what's successful for you. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? The most exciting thing about InvoZone’s traction to date is the elimination of scalability issues for a lot of businesses. The number of successful businesses we’ve supported has been phenomenal. We’ve been able to make formerly unscalable companies scalable with our software development services, and they are now reaching new heights powering their company growth. Our customers know that when something is difficult for them to scale, it shouldn't be impossible for others! What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? I am excited about anything involving technology that can be beneficial for humanity. I am most worried about any technologies that are harmful to the environment and society. Some technologies such as blockchain, neuromorphic chips, and autonomous cars will have a huge impact on future society. However, there are some things we should not allow the dark side of human nature to have access to like genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? I was drawn to HackerNoon because of the variety and depth of the content. It's clear that the contributors take such care with their writing - each article is well-written, well-researched, and conveys meaningful information about technology. There are many things I like about your platform. The articles are timely and concise. They're beautifully formatted for digital consumption on a mobile device or browser, while still providing useful links just below the text for reference sources and related reading materials. The topical curation by subject area provides an intuitive way to get an overview on any topic from programming to design & development techniques, job offers, tools & code snippets and even startup advice. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? There are many things that I missed and would like to pass on if given the chance. Loyalty in hiring is paramount, prepare for surprises, stay tough-skinned - it's not always easy! You can't start until you know what your goal is; starting up a company isn’t just about work, but also how much of yourself goes into this lifestyle choice. With business partners, make sure there's an equilibrium between passion, commitment, ambition, and willingness/ability to manage stress because when one diminishes, so does the other, which is disastrous for your team. What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? I often find myself wondering how I can contribute even better than before - and then it hits me! If adding something that already exists will help make my work easier or more efficient for other people, why not do so whenever possible while still maintaining a positive attitude about everything else too (i.e., don't let negativity get the best of you). VOTE FOR INVOZONE FOR STARTUP OF THE YEAR https://startups.hackernoon.com/canada-and-central-america/mississauga-canada

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"Success means making a difference in the world", says Furqan Aziz, CEO of InvoZone

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