Hi, I'm Murtaza — one of the founders of Heartbeat.

I was the Head of Community at Georgia Tech's accelerator, Create-X. At +70 companies and +200 founders per cohort, it's the largest accelerator on the east coast — during my time there, I helped our companies raise over $10 million in funding.

It takes a village to accomplish something massive. So I wanted to build a strong community of founders, who were deeply connected by genuine, personal friendships instead of shallow, business relationships.

We started with Slack. Added in Notion. Then Airtable. And a Wordpress site. A small affair with Microsoft Teams. A wink at Discord. And so many others.

But with each new tool, it became more and more obvious — these tools weren't made for us. New tools became a distraction. The more tools I used, the less my community responded. I was at the mercy of my tools, not empowered by them.

So good news, the magic’s still there. Through all the video calls with grandma, virtual proposals, and family group texts we've experienced over the last year, it's clear just how much good technology can bring us together. It's just buried under a mess of bad habits & neglect.

Communities deserve a leap forward. Updated for the way we live and learn and connect in 2021.

At Heartbeat, we're doing just that: building everything from first principles and handing you the keys.

Murtaza Bambot
Founder, Heartbeat