About the author: Erica Wassinger is principal of erw public relations, a boutique firm based in Omaha. She works with a handful of e-commerce startups and venture capitalists. She also is a mentor for Straight Shot, Omaha’s first tech accelerator program.
Omaha-based startup BuyNow recently announced a publisher partnership with ALH Publications, Inc. and metroMAGAZINE, which are also based in Omaha.
BuyNow is a mobile commerce application that allows consumers to instantly purchase an item pictured in an advertisement by texting a keyword provided within the ad. Shaz Khan, founder and CEO of BuyNow, will be debuting the technology at Straight Shot’s inaugural Demo Day on Oct. 3.
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metroMAGAZINE—a monthly philanthropic lifestyle publication from ALH Publications—will feature BuyNow technology in its upcoming issues, including a Black Friday and Holiday Shopping Guide in its December edition.
“We’re pleased and excited to offer the benefits of direct, instant purchasing through BuyNow with nothing more than a simple text message,” said Rob Killmer, vice president of ALH Publications, Inc. “It’s an added value that’s a real winner for both our readers and advertisers.”
Print and online campaigns informing consumers about the upgraded shopping experience available through BuyNow also will begin appearing in the October and November issues of metroMAGAZINE and on SpiritofOmaha.com, ALHP’s robust community-centered website.
“In less than 90 days, Straight Shot really accelerated BuyNow’s business—partnerships like the one with metroMAGAZINE would not have happened without the strong mentor system and keen advisors,” Khan said. “More importantly, it’s the love and continuous support of family and friends that matter the most. You cannot do it alone.”
Worldwide career points founder back to the Silicon Prairie
When Khan first came to Nebraska he had hopes of becoming tennis’ next Andy Roddick—an athlete who is, coincidentally, also from Omaha.
A brief stint on the high school tennis scene led Khan to decide that maybe he didn’t have Roddick’s right-handed talent, and he decided to finish schooling in his home country of Pakistan. When he returned to Omaha to attend the Peter Kiewit Institute at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, he double-majored in computer engineering and mathematics.
Khan caught the travel bug as soon as graduation hit and—after hand-delivering resumes across Omaha and emailing his credentials to companies in England, Singapore, China and beyond—Khan joined ACI Worldwide as a software consultant. The job required extensive traveling, most of which was international.
For the next several years, Khan would travel across much of the world. Brief hiatuses from ACI included time spent working at Fortune 500 companies, including working for MasterCard in Washington D.C., Connecticut, St. Louis and Florida.
But Omaha kept drawing him back. In 2007, Khan was offered the opportunity to help launch ACI On-Demand, a business unit that would eventually grow from three employees and one client to more than 50 clients, $44 million in revenue and more than 150 employees. He left that position just two days before joining Straight Shot’s inaugural class.
Khan says that going from a stable position to focusing full-time on BuyNow has been exhilarating. To date, Khan has wooed Silicon Alley heavyweights like Kelly Hoey—co-founder of Women Innovate Mobile—who was named by Forbes as one of five women changing the world of entrepreneurship. Hoey serves as an advisor for BuyNow alongside Nidal Babar, a global technology leader on Wall Street. Locally Khan is advised closely by Clay Cox, principal of Sovereign Investments, and the team at Treetop Ventures.
Credits: Video from YouTube.
