One thing is certain: Umair Masoom knows how to spot a trend early. He is also not averse to risk; some would say he courts it.

The instinct seems rooted in a curious restlessness that his outward calm does not betray. The same restlessness carried him through 12 jobs in as many years; it also secured him $3 million in seed funding within two weeks of his pitch.

That idea, now myco, is a Web3 streaming platform where users can co-own content. By 2024, the company was valued at $80 million, following a $10 million Series A round. It has also secured multi-million dollar deals for territorial streaming rights to ICC events and the English Premier League in Pakistan.

Twelve jobs, one failed start-up and a move to Dubai later, Umair Masoom is betting Pakistan’s streaming future on myco — and on his own inability to sit still

LEARNING THE HUSTLE

Born and raised in the measured quiet of Islamabad, Masoom moved with his family to frenetic Karachi in 2003. After missing the admission deadline for his first-choice university, he enrolled at the College of Business Management (CBM, now the Institute of Business Management). He scored a 4.0 GPA in his first semester and remained a high achiever throughout his four-year degree. He was also on the college football team.

In his fourth semester, Umair joined an automotive industry magazine, visiting showrooms and even mechanic workshops to secure advertisements. By graduation in 2007, he had spent 18 months at the ARY Group. “Juggling classes with work while managing grades was very tough,” he recalls. “But at the end of it, I was interviewing people, including my batchmates, as they applied for jobs.”

This practical experience, says Umair, not only gave him an edge over his peers but also taught him the art of the hustle.

NO STRAIGHT LINES

Masoom completed his MBA over weekends while working for marketing and sales at major TV channels. “But there was no digital media at that time, only broadcast, so it became boring,” he tells Eos.

He spent stints in banking and broadcasting across nearly a decade, moving between institutions including Faysal Bank, PTV, and Burj Bank. “It wasn’t the traditional career trajectory,” Masoom acknowledges, possible only because his former employers were keen to regain his services.

In 2017, he launched his first start-up idea, Cricket Junooni, ahead of the Pakistan Super League. It included fan packages to travel with teams and dine and interact with players. It went belly up within eight months. “I learned a lot from the failure. I realised it’s not just about a great idea,” he says. “There were mistakes — financial ones, structural issues and errors in hiring the team…”

EVERYTHING IN PLACE

At the end of 2019, he received a call from his former boss at Burj Bank, Ahmed Khizar Khan, who was now with the Gargash Group — a major conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates. The head of that group had also served on the board of Burj Bank and was acquainted with Masoom.

Khan offered Masoom a marketing role at Daman Services, the group’s financial services arm. This was a pivotal moment, reveals Umair, as he was professionally successful and well-known in the local broadcasting industry, with key relationships in place.

Masoom’s two siblings were already in the UAE. His mother wanted her three children to be in the same city, especially after the passing of Masoom’s father — venerated broadcast journalist Masoom Usmani — in 2017.

His move to Dubai was followed by the coronavirus, but he remained a stellar performer and was soon elevated to the position of chief marketing officer for the entire group. “I was making great money, driving the best car, and everything seemed ideal, but then the restlessness reared its head,” he says.

ALL IN

During this time, Masoom kept a keen eye on the evolution of media platforms, particularly over-the-top (OTT) platforms in India and Turkey. “I saw a huge opportunity to build a large-scale video streaming platform, which I know will be the cable-cord cutter,” he says. “TV consumption is shifting from cable to OTT,” he adds.

Masoom started discussing the idea with colleagues and friends, including Sumair Rizvi — his college friend and a leader in the local advertising industry. They focused on the intersection of technology, media and e-commerce, and also launched a token for content creators.

The initial success convinced Masoom to go all in. In December 2023, he shared his plans with his employers. To his surprise, they decided to back him. But the investment also brought with it the pressure of delivering results, says Masoom. “We had to repay their trust.”

It resulted in extreme highs and major lows, including days when deals fell through or investors backtracked. “For instance, weeks after cracking the biggest deal of your career, you find out you don’t even have enough money for salaries,” says Umair.

Meanwhile, with tokenisation still awaiting regulatory approval in the UAE — Masoom expects it to happen over the next two to five years — myco had to pivot. Currently, myco is focusing on the freemium model, blending SVOD (subscription video on demand) and AVOD (ad-supported video on demand); some content is free with ads, while premium content is ad-free behind a paywall.

Umair believes that such a service will be Pakistan’s next unicorn and myco could lead the way. “But it will be an aggregation and consolidation of multiple entities, believing in the vision of having a billion-dollar plus video streaming entity,” he says. “That’s the Pakistani vision.”

At the same time, myco is building audiences in the MENA region, having offices in Egypt and UAE along with penetration across the globe. Their Pakistan team has grown to 120 people from a handful three years ago. In January, it moved the team to their new office in a state-of-the-art building.

BUILDING THE MOAT

When I met Masoom on Christmas day, he told me that myco had 40 million registered users and over 10 million active users monthly — a number set to rise during the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup, for which myco has exclusive Pakistan rights.

At the same time, it has mastered the art of creating synergy with their competitors, such as the Tamasha app, convincing them on collective bids for streaming rights, bringing down their individual costs and averting pricey bidding wars. Ad revenue is similarly divided, with the same ads running across platforms.

Some major challenges remain, adds Masoom, such as piracy, where local cable providers illegally show channels airing EPL matches or ICC events. “We pay millions of dollars for a marquee asset, while cable operators land an illegal feed and distribute it, he says, adding that the regulator, Pemra, does support them from time to time. This explains why popular international sports channels go missing from local cable during high-profile events.

THE NEXT BET

Masoom’s days remain hectic — calls, investor updates for backers in Silicon Valley and New York, and projects spanning multiple countries — but he has made deliberate room for what he once neglected.

Mornings begin with his seven-month-old. An hour goes to the gym. He has elevated five team members to co-founder status and is actively stepping back from the micromanagement that defined his earlier years.

The restlessness, though, hasn’t gone anywhere. He is already an angel investor in a number of new start-ups, and a new e-commerce venture he is co-founder in, BuyPass, has secured its first funding. For someone who once cycled through 12 jobs before finding his footing, that probably isn’t surprising.

“Keep exploring,” he says. “The right idea reveals itself along the way.”

The writer is a member of staff.
X: @hydada83

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 1st, 2026