System Zero: Inside Mazlo’s Journey to Redefine Nonprofit Finance

Company Building Spotlight: Kian Alavi, Founder & CEO, Mazlo

When you meet Kian Alavi, there’s a calm, committed energy that drives him and the whole team towards his mission everyday. Kian’s commitment has been built from years of living inside the nonprofit world - solving, serving, and leading. Today, as Founder and CEO of Mazlo, Kian is building what he calls “a financial transformation engine for nonprofits,” powered by deep empathy, patient design, and a radical belief in honesty.

Q: Let’s start with Mazlo’s origin story.

"What was the moment it stopped being an idea and started being something you had to build?"

Kian: There wasn’t one lightning bolt moment. For me, I’d been locked on this problem for a long time, having  spent fifteen years building nonprofits from the ground up - merging them, taking on back offices, studying workflows with organizations such as The Good Samaritan Family Foundation. Post-Covid, I started recording those workflows, literally watching every tab, every click, and every transaction.

And after about 500 hours of this discovery, my team and I realized: this is a financial transaction problem. If we could get hold of the transaction itself, we could change everything downstream. That means all aspects such as managing payments, keeping track of donors and vendors to issue credit cards with controls. All automated with security and compliance rails. No more manual sheets and duct tape.

My co-founder Sean, responsible for the product, is a magic generalist. He looked at me and said, “We can do this.” Embedded finance was emerging. The infrastructure was ready. That was our inflection point,  realizing there was a way forward. Nonprofits deserve a better way to operate.

Q: Let's talk about the importance of "being patient" for Mazlo.

"One of your commitments to nonprofits is “being patient,” which stands out in a startup world that glorifies speed. How do you balance venture-backed momentum with meeting nonprofits at their own pace?"

Kian: Tom Chavez, Founding General Partner at super{set}, once said he looks for founders who are on longer time horizons - five, six, seven years - and I really took that to heart.

To build something meaningful, you need both momentum and patience. Every day you push forward, but you also have to know that transformation takes time. Especially in my nonprofit world where teams are under-resourced and over-committed. We have to meet each customer (actually, we call them partners) where they are. Some move fast; others need time and consensus. That’s not a weakness, that’s really how trust is built. And when you’re serving people who are literally holding their communities together, patience isn’t a strategy. It’s respect and collaboration.

Q: Both super{set} and Mazlo share a commitment to truth and transparency, say more.

...super{set} through Integrity, Mazlo through being Prioritized. In the nonprofit space, where there’s  a gap between what investors want and what orgs need, how has this shared value shaped Mazlo?

Kian: Transparency and honesty are everything. Nonprofit folks are heart-led people. They’re running the hardest economic organizations in existence, and they can smell misalignment a mile away. If they don’t believe your intentions are pure, they won’t let you in. So we approach every conversation with integrity - we share what we’re good at, what we’re strengthening, plus what we’re not yet ready for.

Our customers are our partners. They ask hard questions: Why are you here? What gives you the right to solve this problem? And I love that because it keeps us honest. At the end of the day, I tell my kids the same thing I tell my team: if you’re in a situation where you can’t be honest, you’re probably in the wrong situation.

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Q: How large is the nonprofit sector?

"Also, can you help us understand the scale of the problem Mazlo is tackling?"

Kian: The nonprofit sector in the U.S. alone moves about $3.1 trillion, and roughly 10% of the American workforce, around 20 million people. 85% of Americans are touched by a nonprofit every year, from the daycare that lets you go to work, to food programs, to land conservation orgs.

Nonprofits are the backbone of our country. When a crisis hits, it's nonprofits and faith institutions who are first on the ground, often on bikes or on foot, delivering food and funds. Capitalism needed a partner to care for its citizens. Nonprofits have always been that partner.

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Q: Every company needs its cultural anchors. Tell us about Harley and Jojo.

Kian: Harley and Jojo are essential members of the team. Harley is Sean’s dog, a rescue he found on the side of the road in college. She’s an old soul now, but she’s been part of Mazlo since our hacker-house days. Jojo’s our CTO, Chad’s cat - who also volunteers at a cat rescue every weekend.

These animals are reminders that we’re human. We love who we love. They bring calm in the chaos, joy in the grind. There’s no separation between life and work anymore - we are who we are. And if you can bring that whole self into what you do, that’s where the magic happens.

Q: You’ve built a company that’s both ambitious and grounded.

"What are some of the everyday things that really define how you work together?"

Kian: Culture starts with System Zero. That’s the founder’s energy, the baseline signal everything else gets built on. For me, this is almost a spiritual journey - empowering others to do good expands the good in me. That’s the engine. The way I show up every day - how I think, move, and handle pressure - that becomes the company’s operating rhythm.

We work hard, but we also communicate hard. Radical candor is real here. If you’re not having tough conversations all the time, you’re not building a startup. Feedback may sting in the moment, but it’s what helps us move faster and stay honest. I ask my team all the time: What did I do right? What did I do wrong? What could I do better? It disarms people. It creates humility and builds trust.

Kian’s journey is proof of that flow in action. Mazlo’s product may transform nonprofit finance, but its true innovation lies in how it’s being built: patiently, truthfully, and with heart.

For more info on team Mazlo, check out their site.

Check out the full video interview.
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