Former Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan makes a key hire for his online shopping startup

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Former Snap Inc. Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan.

• Former Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan is adding to the team behind his new, yet-to-be launched e-commerce startup.
• The startup has hired talent agent Paul Cazers as its VP of strategic partnerships, Business Insider has learned.
• It has also roped in former Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific chairman and WeWork board member Mark Schwartz to be on its board.

Former Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan is bolstering the team behind his e-commerce startup.

The still-unnamed startup, which hasn't launched and is funded primarily by Khan, has hired talent agent Paul Cazers as its VP of strategic partnerships, Business Insider has learned. Cazers was most recently at entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he helped build its influencer marketing department.

Cazers is seen as a pioneer in influencer marketing who helped bridge the gap between digital and traditional Hollywood talent. Before becoming an agent, Cazers was an entertainment law attorney at Morris Yorn in Los Angeles, representing actors, athletes, production companies and digital media startups.

Khan is building an e-commerce alternative to Amazon or Jet for brands to sell their goods, with a focus on particular product categories, Recode has reported. Khan sees social media influencers being an important source of traffic to the platform in addition to Google, and Cazer's role will be to build partnerships with influencers and brands, including direct-to-consumer ones, said a source familiar with the plans.

Khan, who is CEO of the new venture, has also roped in former Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific chairman and Softbank and WeWork board member Mark Schwartz to be on his board.

Other hires include Jason Bosco, Dollar Shave Club's VP of engineering, who was tapped in November to run engineering. The headcount of the startup is now around 20, said the source.

Khan was chief strategy officer at Snap for almost four years before announcing his departure in September. He helped usher Snap through its IPO in early 2017 and oversaw all of Snap's business efforts, including advertising. Prior to Snap, he spent a decade in banking with JPMorgan and Credit Suisse.