About

Hi! I'm Mahmoud Abdelkader (pronounced mæħˈmuːd æbdəlkeɪdər), but, online, I usually go by the nickname mahmoudimus. I build companies and I take software apart to see how it works.

Background

I am an entrepreneur and a software engineer. I am the co-founder of VGS (formerly known as Very Good Security), where I served as CEO from 2016 until 2023 before stepping back into an advisory role. Before that, I was the CTO and co-founder of Balanced Payments, a graduate of Y Combinator's Winter 2011 class, which exited to Stripe in 2015.

I dabbled in e-commerce as an early employee at Milo.com, which was acquired by eBay in 2010 to power their eBay Local initiative.

What I care about

I'm passionate about fintech, payments, reverse engineering, and data security — the places where money, trust, and low-level systems meet. These days I'm experimenting with AI and writing about the things I take apart along the way.

Investments

I'm an active investor with investments in Ramp, Vercel, Alloy, Envoy, Mercury, Stytch, and a bunch more. If you're building in a space where you think I might add value, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Contact

You can email me at m(AT-NOSPAM)mahmoudimus(DOT)com.