Archive for February, 2008

MIT BAP, Ken Morse, TAN and Pakistan

The setting was a small conference room at the Marriot in the year that was 2006. We had heard Ken Morse was making a brief stopover in town on his way to Isloo and Nida my MIT sister had managed to pick up four invitations from the MIT Club in Karachi. We were a very [...]

February 29, 2008   Posted in: Desi Back to Desh, Desi Startup, Education, Ken Morse, MIT BAP, PASHA, Pakistan, Sales guys in suits, Startup, Training, entrepreneurs, new ventures, small business  5 Comments

SI 6 – LUMS

I think the magic formula that binds us together is that we are all a bit mad. The team that stands and speak. The lads that sit down and listen. The women who walk in and stay. The children who keep on dreaming. Some time it takes just two of us, half a generation apart, [...]

February 27, 2008   Posted in: Desi Startup, Pakistan, Startup, Startup Insiders  2 Comments

Road trip

They say the only way to really know anyone is to travel with them. One part 400 kilometer motorway One part steady driving at the speed limit for 4 hours And one part three crazy individuals in the back seat! One crazier than the others….      

February 26, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Zafar Khan

You heard it here first. There will come a day in all of your lives when you will say, I know Zafar Khan, I shook his hand and I wear his T-Shirts. A lucky few will say, I heard him speak at LUMS. Fewer still will declare, I lost to Zafar, one fine day in [...]

February 26, 2008   Posted in: Desi Startup, MIT BAP, Pakistan, Startup, Uncategorized  6 Comments

Music in your soul

If the technology industry in Pakistan ever went looking for a face to represent it, I would suggest Fahd. With my eyes closed. To begin with, you can’t buy the sufi rock star look. You may fake it, but if there is no music in your soul, or wisdom in your words, it shows. Then [...]

February 26, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Callisto…

If you read one book this week, make sure it is Callisto. Forrest Gump, meets Raymond Chandler in the background of the war on terror and the American Midwest. If you like dark comedies/fiction, Callisto is as dark as it gets. Torsten Krol introduces himself as “Krol is a writer, nothing further is know about [...]

February 26, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

SI 5 – Highlights

Enough said.

February 24, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

How not to do an event with the National ICT R&D Fund, or sadly, SI 5

The national ICT R&D Fund clearly showed yesterday where their priorities lay at the SI 5 event – wrt to ICT, R&D and Funding. In hearing themselves speak.    

February 24, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

How not to do an event with Telenor (TP) or, sadly, SI #5?

Startup Insiders # 5, location, Planet X, Islamabad Five words! Oops. A thousand apologies (we %$#*@! up royally) Never again. Or as Telenor CTO, Peter, the Desi, said, that is more than five words. For SI Fans who showed up it was a disaster. An event that was meant to inspire and motivate, turned into [...]

February 24, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  9 Comments

Startup Insiders: Islamabad and Lahore

SI #5 and #6 are here. The series initiated by Green White and PASHA now marks two events each in three cities in less than two months. The Islamabad event scheduled for this Saturday afternoon 3 – 6pm. The Lahore event scheduled at LUMS on this Sunday afternoon 3 – 6pm. Details on Osama and [...]

February 22, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

A penny for your thoughts, pretty woman, or the myth about raising capital

“What follows may be considered as rated material in some parts of the world. If you are juvenile masquerading as an adult this is about the right time for you to move on to the other unrated posts.” There is no easy way to say what I am going to say. Please forgive me. It [...]

February 15, 2008   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Desi Back to Desh, Desi Startup, Education, Failure, PASHA, Pakistan, Sales guys in suits, Startup, entrepreneurs, new ventures, small business  One Comment

On Hamlet, Horatios and Shakespearean mythology…

Did Hamlet have a death wish? “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”      “Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;    For he was likely, had he been put on,       To have proved most royally:   And, for his [...]

February 15, 2008   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Desi Startup, Failure, Sales guys in suits, Startup, entrepreneurs, new ventures, small business  3 Comments

Teaching at SP Jain, Singapore

Here is to a wold which is so much smaller and closer than the one I grew up in – where it is perfectly normal for a Pakitani practitioner to teach at an Indian University in Singapore. The program, Global and Executive MBA run by SP Jain Institute of Management and Research. The Instiute is [...]

February 13, 2008   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Education, Training  No Comments

The entrepreneurs’ prayer

Posted this long time back on the blogger blog. Here it is again.   O God! Behold, I ask of Thee the good through Thy knowledge, and ability through Thy power and beg (Thy favours) out of Thine infinite bounty. For behold Thou hast power; I have none. Thou Knowest, I know not; and Thou [...]

February 12, 2008   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Failure, Startup, entrepreneurs, life style, new ventures, small business  4 Comments

The myth of a unique idea – one

How important is it to start off with an idea that no one has ever thought of before. Something absolutely unique, different and able to stand up on its own. A concept that would win you grudging respect from your friends, colleagues, class mates and neighbors. “That is one smart dude” they’d whisper as they [...]

February 12, 2008   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Desi Startup, Failure, Startup, Training, entrepreneurs, new ventures, small business  6 Comments