In a world where we consume interactive applications and content on our mobile devices, the technologies that enable this are often overlooked. Caching plays a significant role in facilitating low-latency interactive applications like live sports and streaming apps, serving as a crucial but often unglamorous piece of cloud infrastructure. Khawaja Shams, co-founder and CEO of Momento, is on a mission to revolutionize how developers interact with caching services, drawing on his background from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to Amazon Web Services.
Shams’ journey to cloud entrepreneurship began at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on image processing for Mars rovers and interplanetary missions. His introduction to Amazon Web Services (AWS) during this time led him to join Amazon, where he identified pain points in existing caching solutions that later inspired Momento. The company aims to simplify caching for developers by collapsing multiple components of a typical caching architecture into a single SaaS endpoint, allowing developers to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.
Initially, Momento struggled with a broad go-to-market strategy, targeting every vertical with their caching solution. However, the company has since refined its focus, honing in on industries with unpredictable and spiky workloads where outages can have a significant financial impact, such as media and entertainment, gaming, and certain areas of fintech. Shams emphasizes the importance of a customer-centric approach, drawing from his experience at Amazon to build a culture of customer obsession at Momento.
Looking ahead, while Momento is not positioning itself as an AI company, Shams sees opportunities in supporting the infrastructure needs of AI applications. By focusing on providing fast, real-time data access, the company aims to be a crucial enabler for the next generation of interactive AI-driven applications. Shams reflects on his journey as a first-time founder, emphasizing the critical importance of focus for early-stage startups. He advises founders to identify key goals and align their team around those objectives to drive success.
Momento raised a $15 million round led by Bain Capital Ventures earlier this year, signalling confidence in the company’s mission to revolutionize cloud caching and empower developers with a simplified, reliable solution. Shams shares insights into Momento’s origin, his journey from NASA to Amazon, and the lessons he’s learned as a first-time founder in a recent episode of the Startup Project podcast. As the world increasingly relies on interactive applications and content, technologies like caching play a vital role in enabling seamless, engaging user experiences on mobile devices.
