Maha Shahzad

founder and CEO of Buscaro

Compiled from 2 recorded interviews. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Maha Shahzad is the founder and CEO of Buscaro, a startup described as a tech-enabled bus-sharing company. Shahzad was born in Karachi. She previously worked at Careem, Foodpanda and SWVL.

Early life and background

Shahzad grew up moving between Karachi, the US, Europe and Japan. Karachi was her home base, though she was constantly travelling. Her mother was unwell during her childhood, and she travelled to the US often for treatment. [2]

Her grandmother lived in Karachi, and she was very close to her. She had few friends growing up, and her father was her best friend. She lived in the US for about ten years before moving to Pakistan in 2017. [2]

Education

Shahzad moved to the US for college. She was not eligible for financial aid because her family was well off. Instead of going to a fancy college, she chose to work odd jobs, and she says the long hours taught her a work ethic. [2]

She planned to return to school once she could afford it. She says that day did come, but by then she was busy with other work. She describes herself as a college dropout and has built a transport startup without a degree. She says her three-person founding team has no degrees. [2]

Career

Shahzad has said she was in the mobility sector for the past 10 years. She joined Foodpanda soon after it launched in Pakistan. She was hired for marketing there, though she had wanted a sales job. [1][2]

She sublet her apartment in New York, moved to Karachi and showed up at the Careem office. On paper, she led business development for Careem. She says she wanted more than business development work there, and that Careem did not think a woman without a degree could run P&L management. [2]

Swvl

Shahzad joined Swvl under a consultancy agreement, she says. She was given the Islamabad role at Swvl after three people rejected it. She says Islamabad became twice the size of Karachi for Swvl within a couple of months. [2]

She says she turned around Swvl's Islamabad operation after it was set to be shut down, and that she tripled its capacity overnight. At Swvl, she ran the B2C vertical, which was its main one. Swvl Pakistan had a few hundred people working there. [2]

She led Swvl Pakistan at the time the company shut down. She had to announce the shutdown to her team, and she then left Swvl. She says Swvl's problem was a price war rather than economics, and she believes it would have become profitable with one more year. [2]

Buscaro

Shahzad says she never wanted to be a founder. She says she made a first route after looking at some LinkedIn messages. She says two co-founders gave up within a few phone calls. [2]

The first funding took about five months to arrive. Her first investor cheque came after a two-hour operator-to-operator conversation. She says operators were more likely to write her a cheque than people chasing hype, and several investors who first declined later wrote cheques in her next rounds. Buscaro's seed round was 2 million, following a 1.5 million pre-seed. [2]

She says Buscaro started on equity, then took expensive debt to build a repayment record. She says much of the equity Buscaro raises is needed for working capital, and that banks have not given Buscaro a credit line, though they lend to transporters. [2]

Buscaro operates in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and has a team of about 70 people. Shahzad states its top line as 6.5 million, annualised, and says it has doubled its business in the last eight months. She says its monthly burn is about 15,000 dollars and its EBITDA is about negative 2%. She says profitability at unit level has never been a question for Buscaro. [2]

Buscaro rents vehicles from individual owners who do the driving. She says Buscaro trains drivers and runs operations, and that drivers follow the app. Drivers undergo background checks and gender sensitisation training, and all vehicles are constantly monitored. Buscaro has just launched a parent app that covers minors travelling, and each seat can be booked by only one person. [2]

She says women and children make up 70% of Buscaro's user base, and that Buscaro signs up school parents branch by branch. She says its B2B service helps organisations meet compliance requirements. Buscaro is trying to enter the B2G (business-to-government) space. She says Buscaro looks more expensive on a quote but is much cheaper in reality, and that a Buscaro ride costs about 20% of a Careem ride. [2]

Bus Karo

Shahzad is associated with the company Bus Karo, a Pakistani mobility startup. She has said she looked like a crazy person for saying she would run transport on profit. She has said Bus Karo has had profit since April, and that it makes an operating profit but not yet a net profit. [1]

She has said Bus Karo's annual top line is about 8.5 million dollars. She has said about 30,000 people use Bus Karo each day, which adds up to close to 60,000 bookings, and that its retention is about 99 percent. She has said it runs thousands of vehicles in three or four major cities. [1]

She has said she cannot find working capital lines in Pakistan, and that Pakistani banks do not lend to her because she has no house to put up as collateral. She has said withholding tax on invoice amounts takes more than 70 percent of her income, in a business with a margin of about 10 percent. She has said her model could work in many markets, but her focus today is Pakistan. [1]

Views

Shahzad says startups are one particular model, and that not everyone needs hyper growth. She says she told some founders they probably did not need venture capital. She has said profit means the business model is sustainable, and otherwise it is only a novelty. She has said investor interest means nothing until the company actually gets results. [1][2]

She has said AI is drawing in most of the available investment money, and that money for other kinds of companies is hard to raise right now, because nobody knows where the world is heading. She has said she does not think every Pakistani should start an AI company. She has said the AI products being built will serve other countries, and Pakistan is at least 50 years behind. She has said Pakistani investors need to start putting money into Pakistani companies. [1]

She says Pakistan is not a good hyper-scale market, and has said that, in her view, unless you are a magician, you should not build a business for Pakistan. She says Uber, rather than Careem, exited Pakistan, and that fuel is over 70% of operating cost in Pakistan. [1][2]

She has said that when the subsidy is traced to who benefits, it does not look like a subsidy. She has said public transport is a government responsibility, and her company operates in the private sector. She has said subsidies need to come from the public sector, and says government and the private sector must work together for scalable mobility solutions. [1][2]

Personal life

Shahzad says she learned an early startup lesson about the terms set with cap table holders. She did not want her father on her cap table because she wanted to own her destiny and financial freedom. She says her father is now her best friend. [2]

Timeline

2017
Moved to Pakistan after about ten years in the US[2]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2026-10-06 Maha Shahzad: Bus Karo is profitable, and the taxman takes 70% Thought Behind Things
2025-11-03 The bus startup no VC wanted now runs 900 vehicles Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Maha Shahzad?

Maha Shahzad is the founder and CEO of Buscaro, a startup described as a tech-enabled bus-sharing company. She was born in Karachi. She previously worked at Careem, Foodpanda and SWVL.[2]

What does Maha Shahzad do?

Maha Shahzad is the founder and CEO of Buscaro. Buscaro operates in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. It rents vehicles from individual owners who do the driving, and Shahzad says it trains drivers and runs operations.[2]

Where is Maha Shahzad from?

Maha Shahzad was born in Karachi. She grew up moving between Karachi, the US, Europe and Japan, and Karachi was her home base. She lived in the US for about ten years before moving to Pakistan in 2017.[2]

Where did Maha Shahzad study?

Maha Shahzad moved to the US for college, but she describes herself as a college dropout. Instead of going to a fancy college, she chose to work odd jobs. She says she planned to return to school once she could afford it.[2]

What company did Maha Shahzad found?

Maha Shahzad is the founder and CEO of Buscaro, a startup described as a tech-enabled bus-sharing company. She says its seed round was 2 million, following a 1.5 million pre-seed. She says the company has a team of about 70 people.[2]

Which companies has Maha Shahzad worked for?

Maha Shahzad worked at Careem, Foodpanda and SWVL. She says she led Swvl Pakistan at the time the company shut down. She is now the founder and CEO of Buscaro.[2]

What is Maha Shahzad known for?

Maha Shahzad is known as the founder and CEO of Buscaro. She has built a transport startup without a degree. She says her three-person founding team has no degrees.[2]

References

  1. Maha Shahzad: Bus Karo is profitable, and the taxman takes 70% . Thought Behind Things , 2026-10-06.
  2. The bus startup no VC wanted now runs 900 vehicles . Thought Behind Things , 2025-11-03.
Show the source passages (110 statements)
  1. Maha Shahzad is associated with the company Bus Karo. Maha from Bus Karo returns to share the untold reality of surviving Pakistan’s brutal public transport graveyard
  2. Bus Karo is a Pakistani mobility startup. How did a Pakistani mobility startup achieve profitability in a sector that destroyed giants like Airlift, Uber, and Swvl?
  3. Maha has said Bus Karo has had profit since April. ہمیں منافع ہے جو اب اپریل سے ہے۔
  4. Maha has said Bus Karo makes an operating profit but not yet a net profit. ہمارا آپریٹنگ منافع ہے۔ Az آج ہمارا خالص منافع نہیں ہے۔
  5. Maha has said Bus Karo's annual top line is about 8.5 million dollars. ویسے، ہم اپنے سال کی ٹاپ لائن کرتے ہیں۔ اس کی بنیاد یہ ہے کہ یہ تقریباً 8.5 ملین ہے۔ ڈالرز
  6. Maha has said about 30,000 people use Bus Karo each day, which adds up to close to 60,000 bookings. روزانہ کی بنیاد پر تقریباً 30 ہزاروں افراد اس کا استعمال کرتے ہیں جو بن جاتا ہے۔ 60 ہزار کے قریب بکنگ
  7. Maha has said Bus Karo's retention is about 99 percent. تو ہمارے تقریباً 99 فیصد برقراری ہے۔ تو یہ بنیادی طور پر رہا ہے
  8. Maha has said Bus Karo runs thousands of vehicles in three or four major cities. تین چار میجر پر ہزاروں گاڑیاں شہر۔ تو وہ کچھ فوری نمبر ہیں
  9. Maha has said she cannot find working capital lines in Pakistan. مجھے پاکستان میں نہیں ملتا ورکنگ کیپٹل لائنز
  10. Maha has said Pakistani banks do not lend to her because she has no house to put up as collateral. اور بینک مجھے قرض نہیں دیتے کیونکہ میرا میرے پاس گروی رکھنے کے لیے کوئی گھر نہیں ہے
  11. Maha has said withholding tax on invoice amounts takes more than 70 percent of her income, in a business with a margin of about 10 percent. انوائس کی رقم پر ودہولڈنگ ٹیکس انوائس کی رقم ایک کاروبار ہے جس میں تقریبا a 10% مارجن ہم جس کا مطلب ہے کہ آپ نے 70 پلس لیا ہے۔ میری آمدنی میں سے اور اسے ٹیکس میں دیا
  12. Maha has said she was in the mobility sector for the past 10 years. میں پچھلے 10 سالوں سے نقل و حرکت میں تھا
  13. Maha has said she looked like a crazy person for saying she would run transport on profit. میں ایک پاگل کی طرح لگ رہا تھا وہ خواتین جو عوام میں بہت کچھ کہتی ہیں۔ میں ٹرانسپورٹ کو منافع سے چلاؤں گا
  14. Maha has said her model could work in many markets, but her focus today is Pakistan. یہ ماڈل بہت سے بازاروں میں کام کر سکتا ہے۔ آج میری توجہ پاکستان ہے۔
  15. Maha has said that when the subsidy is traced to who benefits, it does not look like a subsidy. جب آپ دیکھتے ہیں کہ یہ سبسڈی کہاں جاتی ہے۔ اور اس کا فائدہ کس کو ہوگا؟ پھر یہ واقعی سبسڈی کی طرح نہیں لگتا ہے
  16. Maha has said public transport is a government responsibility, and her company operates in the private sector. پبلک ٹرانسپورٹ بھی حکومت کے زیر انتظام ہے۔ کا کام ہے۔ ہم پرائیویٹ سیکٹر سے بیٹھے ہیں۔
  17. Maha has said subsidies need to come from the public sector. مجھے لگتا ہے کہ سبسڈیز واقعی کرتے ہیں۔ حاصل کرنے کے لیے پبلک سیکٹر سے آنے کی ضرورت ہے
  18. Maha has said investor interest means nothing until the company actually gets results. تو جب تک ہم اصل میں کچھ حاصل نہیں کرتے آپ کی دلچسپی کا کوئی مطلب نہیں ہے
  19. Maha has said AI is drawing in most of the available investment money. سرمایہ کاری اور AI سے آگے کچھ نہیں۔ بلکہ AI تمام رقم جمع کر رہا ہے
  20. Maha has said money for other kinds of companies is hard to raise right now, because nobody knows where the world is heading. ابھی مشکل ہے۔ کیونکہ کوئی نہیں جانیں کہ دنیا کہاں جا رہی ہے۔ اور تو میں سوچو کہ پیسہ وہاں سپر فوکس ہے۔ ختم دوسری چیزوں کے لیے رقم حاصل کرنا مشکل ہے
  21. Maha has said she does not think every Pakistani should start an AI company. یہ کہا جا رہا ہے، میں نہیں سوچتا کہ ہر ایک پاکستانی اٹھیں اور اے آئی شروع کریں کمپنی
  22. Maha has said the AI products being built will serve other countries, and Pakistan is at least 50 years behind. یہ دوسرے ممالک کے لیے ہوگا۔ اور ہم ہیں۔ کم از کم 50 سال پیچھے
  23. Maha has said Pakistani investors need to start putting money into Pakistani companies. پاکستانی کمپنی کے لیے پیسے حاصل کریں کہ پاکستان کے عوام کو فائدہ پہنچتا ہے۔ پاکستانی سرمایہ کاروں کو اٹھنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ کرنا شروع کریں
  24. Maha has said profit means the business model is sustainable, and otherwise it is only a novelty. منافع کا مطلب یہ ہے کہ آپ کی کاروباری ماڈل پائیدار ہے۔ دوسری صورت میں یہ ایک ہے نیاپن
  25. Maha has said that, in her view, unless you are a magician, you should not build a business for Pakistan. میرے خیال میں اگر آپ جادوگر نہیں ہیں تو آپ کو کرنا چاہیے۔ پاکستان کے لیے کاروبار نہ بنائیں
  26. She is the founder and CEO of Buscaro. the founder & CEO of Buscaro
  27. Buscaro is described as a tech-enabled bus-sharing startup. tech-enabled bus-sharing startup
  28. She worked at Careem, Foodpanda and SWVL. her experiences at Careem, Foodpanda, and SWVL
  29. She has built a transport startup without a degree. building a profitable transport startup without a degree
  30. She describes herself as a college dropout. I'm a college dropout.
  31. She was born in Karachi. I was born in Karachi, grew up between here, US, Europe, Japan
  32. She grew up moving between Karachi, the US, Europe and Japan. grew up between here, US, Europe, Japan, kind of all over the place
  33. Her mother was unwell during her childhood, and she travelled to the US often for treatment. my mom was unwell when I was growing up. Toh unke liye ilaaj ke liye we had to go to the US constantly
  34. Her grandmother lived in Karachi, and she was very close to her. my nani used to live here. I was extremely close to her
  35. Karachi was her home base, though she was constantly travelling. home base was Karachi but constantly getting on a flight
  36. She had few friends growing up, and her father was her best friend. I had no friends. My dad was my best friend
  37. Instead of going to a fancy college, she chose to work odd jobs. instead of going to a fancy college, I chose to work odd jobs
  38. She moved to the US for college. when it was time for college, I moved to the US
  39. She was not eligible for financial aid because her family was well off. because I come from a well off family, I was never eligible for financial aid
  40. She planned to return to school once she could afford it. figuring out that I will go back to school when I can afford it
  41. She says she could later afford to return to school, but by then she was busy with other work. Very happy to report that that day did come but by the time it did I was very busy doing other things
  42. She says she learned an early startup lesson about the terms set with cap table holders. be very careful of the terms you set with people who are on your cap table
  43. She did not want her father on her cap table because she wanted to own her destiny and financial freedom. I did not want my dad on my cap table at that point in time. I wanted to own my destiny and I wanted my financial freedom
  44. She says her father is now her best friend. He is my best friend. We are inseparable
  45. She says working long hours in odd jobs taught her a work ethic. because I had to work ridiculous hours, I picked up a work ethic
  46. She joined Foodpanda soon after it launched in Pakistan. That company turned out to be Foodpanda just when it had launched
  47. She was hired for marketing at Foodpanda, though she had wanted a sales job. When I went to Foodpanda, I was hired for marketing. I wanted a job in sales
  48. She sublet her apartment in New York, moved to Karachi and showed up at the Careem office. I sublet my apartment in New York, moved to Karachi and showed up at the Careem office
  49. On paper, she led business development for Careem. On paper I was I was leading business development for Careem
  50. She says she wanted more than business development work at Careem. I needed to be able to do more than business development
  51. She says Careem did not think a woman without a degree could run P&L management. they didn't think that a woman with no degree can do P&L management
  52. She joined a company and set up its business in Islamabad and Karachi. I went to Cheetay. I set up their business in Islamabad and Karachi
  53. At that company she was responsible for business development, operations and P&L. we agreed that I would solve business development and in addition, I would also be looking after operations and P&L
  54. She says her team made Karachi bigger than Lahore for that company within a few weeks. very quickly we made Karachi bigger than Lahore. It was a matter of a few weeks
  55. She joined Swvl under a consultancy agreement, she says. snuck in with sort of a consultancy agreement
  56. She was given the Islamabad role at Swvl after three people rejected it. Islamabad, three people rejected the job
  57. She says Islamabad became twice the size of Karachi for Swvl within a couple of months. Islamabad became twice the size of Karachi in the next couple of months
  58. She led Swvl Pakistan at the time the company shut down. I was leading Swvl Pakistan at that time
  59. She says she turned around Swvl's Islamabad operation after it was set to be shut down. they were shutting that city down. I didn't let that city get shut down
  60. She tripled Swvl Islamabad's capacity overnight. I just tripled capacity overnight
  61. Swvl Pakistan had a few hundred people working there. It was a few hundred people that were working there
  62. At Swvl, she ran the B2C vertical, which was its main one. B2C was their main vertical, which is what I ran
  63. She then left Swvl. So I said okay, um and I left
  64. She had to announce the shutdown to her team. I had to go into the office the next day and um make that announcement
  65. She says Swvl's problem was a price war rather than economics. economics ke bajaye it's actually a price war issue
  66. She believes Swvl would have become profitable with one more year. agar company ko ek saal aur mil jata, woh profitable ho jaati
  67. She says she never wanted to be a founder. I am not someone who ever wanted to be a founder
  68. She says she made a first route after looking at some LinkedIn messages. literally I looked at some of these LinkedIn messages and usse maine ek pehla route bana diya
  69. The first funding took about five months to arrive. it took like five months for that first bit of funding to come in
  70. She says two co-founders gave up within a few phone calls. I went through two co-founders. Both gave up within a few phone calls
  71. Her first investor cheque came after a two-hour operator-to-operator conversation. we had this two-hour plus operator-to-operator conversation
  72. She says operators were more likely to write her a cheque than people chasing hype. people who are operators are a lot more likely to write me a check versus people who are chasing FOMO
  73. Several investors who first declined later wrote cheques in her next rounds. a lot of those people who said no to me early on are the investors that wrote the checks for my next round
  74. Buscaro's seed round was 2 million, following a 1.5 million pre-seed. our seed round, which was 2 million, and in the past we did 1.5 million in pre-seed
  75. She says much of the equity Buscaro raises is needed for working capital. woh actually humein toh sirf working capital ki zaroorat hoti hai
  76. She says banks have not given Buscaro a credit line, though they lend to transporters. Banks are not giving me lines though they'll give a transporter a line
  77. She says Buscaro started on equity, then took expensive debt to build a repayment record. We started with taking literally just equity, starting our business with that, then getting expensive debt
  78. She says Buscaro's monthly burn is about 15,000 dollars. my burn is you know, $15,000 a month
  79. She says Buscaro's EBITDA is about negative 2%. we have a little bit of a burn which we're at about negative 2% on an EBITDA level
  80. She states Buscaro's top line is 6.5 million, annualised as of the interview. 6 and a half million is our top line, um, annualized as of today
  81. She says Buscaro has doubled its business in the last eight months. we've doubled our business in the last eight months
  82. Buscaro has a team of about 70 people. We are a team of about 70 people
  83. She says profitability at unit level has never been a question for Buscaro. that profitability on a unit level was never a question for us
  84. Buscaro operates in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. we are in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad
  85. She says Buscaro is trying to enter the B2G (business-to-government) space. the third for us that we're trying to get into is the B2G space
  86. She says Buscaro's B2B service helps organisations meet compliance requirements. unki jo requirements hain from a compliance perspective, woh finally meet ho rahi hain
  87. She says Buscaro looks more expensive on a quote but is much cheaper in reality. ek quotation mein I will look more expensive. In reality, I am much cheaper
  88. She says women and children make up 70% of Buscaro's user base. especially with women and children which is 70% of our user base
  89. She says Buscaro signs up school parents branch by branch. parents start to sign up and so on and so forth on a branch level
  90. She says drivers undergo background checks and gender sensitisation training. uspe background check run hota hai, gender sensitization training hoti hai
  91. She says all vehicles are constantly monitored. All vehicles are constantly monitored
  92. She says Buscaro has just launched a parent app that covers minors travelling. We just actually launched a parent app as well now so that when minors are traveling
  93. She says each seat can be booked by only one person. ek seat mein ek hi insaan ki booking ho sakti hai
  94. She says she does not believe in luck and that luck favours the brave. I don't believe in luck. I believe that luck favors the brave
  95. She says she never thought she was the smartest person in the room. I never thought I was the smartest person in the room
  96. She says she always believed she could outwork her peers. I always thought I could outwork any of these guys
  97. She says she has refused to be boxed in. I have refused to be boxed
  98. She says her three-person founding team has no degrees. my entire founding team has no degrees. That's three of us
  99. She says startups are one particular model, and not everyone needs hyper growth. Startups are great, but startups are a particular model. Um, hyper growth is great, but that's a particular model. Everybody doesn't need to do that
  100. She says she told some founders they probably did not need venture capital. you probably don't need to go to a VC
  101. She says Pakistan is not a good hyper-scale market. Pakistan in my opinion is not a good hyper scale market
  102. She says Uber, rather than Careem, exited Pakistan. Careem didn't exit Pakistan, Uber did
  103. She says a Buscaro ride costs about 20% of a Careem ride. So I am I cost about 20% of a Careem ride
  104. She says fuel is over 70% of operating cost in Pakistan. Jab aap Pakistan ki baat karte hain, aapki 70 plus percent cost actually fuel hai
  105. Buscaro rents vehicles from individual owners who do the driving. hum rent, basically we work with an individual jiski gaadi and the driving is their responsibility
  106. She says Buscaro trains drivers and runs operations, and drivers follow the app. We train them, we run the operations, we tell them exactly what to do, they just have to follow the app
  107. She says her five-year goal is to solve affordability and safety as basic rights. if affordability and safety as far as your basic rights are concerned, we want to have solved that
  108. She says government and the private sector must work together for scalable mobility solutions. the government and the private sector is going to have to work together if we want real scalable solutions
  109. She expects Pakistan to have figured out its challenges within 25 years. as a country we will have figured this out in 25 years
  110. She lived in the US for about ten years before moving to Pakistan in 2017. spent 10 odd years there, family is based there and then moved to Pakistan in 2017