1. Hasnat - February 24, 2008

   Some positives of yesterday’s Startup Insiders – though it was not the most congenial of discussions

   The session proved one thing quite clearly: we all need to learn a lot about one another: the entrepreneurs, the corporate world, the institutions, and the academia. The onus is on organizations with a history of hierarchical models of innovation. Or, in the long run, they WILL lose, I am pretty sure.

   As the book Wikinomics put it, “Though it is unlikely that hierarchies will disappear in the foreseeable future, a new form of horizontal organization is emerging that rivals the hierarchical firm in its capacity to create information-based products and services,and in some case, physical things.”

   “Billions of connected individuals can now actively participate in innovation, wealth creation, and social devlopment in ways we once only dreamed of…Companies that engage with these exploding Web-enabled communities are already discovering the true dividends of collective capability and genius.”

   That dialogue on mass-collaboration/innovation is happening across the world and it might just have started explosively (confusedly and unexpectedly) yesterday in serene, little Islamabad.

   At the end, we are all part of the innovation ecosystem, feel passionately about our role, and have something to offer. Only intense debates will bring us out in the open. The worst we can do now is to break down communication.

   Let’s not.

2. Jawwad - February 25, 2008

   Hasnat you are missing the point.

   For the record Telenor didn’t start any debate or dialogue. All you did was stage manage an event that didn’t need to be managed.

   Feel free to debate as much as you want and on whatever topics you want, where ever you want but not on our time or using our brand. You get enough face time with Peter at work, have a conversation with him at work.

   Telenor and the National ICT R&D Fund effectively hijacked an event that in 5 out of 6 occassions made an enormous difference in the lives of young and to be entrepreneurs in 3 cities. The one event where we failed to do that was SI 5. Why is that? Was it the magic behind Telenor name?

   And stop quoting irrelevant passages from Wikinomics.

   Update: My uncoditional apology to Hasnat for quoting something that I should have fact checked. The offensive statement has been removed. (I may be an angry ass, but I try to be an honorable one.)

    

3. Hasnat - February 25, 2008

   Ok, you can think what you want but do stick to the facts:

   “SMSing questions to your event manager so that he could massage the ego of your guest of honor, tsk, tsk; what will you think of next?).”

   Are you kidding me:

   THIS IS BLATANTLY UNTRUE.

   Check around. Ask your friends. This never happened.

4. Mohtashim - February 25, 2008

   Apparently cellphone service and customer support are not the only the only things Telenor’s people seem to be messing up.Everything they touch sort of degenerates automatically :/

5. Muhammad Asif Razzaque - February 25, 2008

   So far complaints, bad experiences, disconnect on approaches, heartfelt dismays etc. Pretty much indicative of a de-stress room. I await participating in how to improve SI interactions while keeping intact the wider fabric of stakeholders like entrepreneurs, regulators, policy makers, funding bodies, corps, acamedia and analysts. It will actually and effectively help the cause of sustainable and accelerated pace of entrepreneurship.

6. Osama A. - February 25, 2008

   I agree with Jawwad. Whether that was intended or not is besides the point.

   So is trying to find ways of looking at the positive sides of things..

   Things are black and white – the SI platform is meant for one thing… and everyone just seems to be confirming that no one really cared about the young guys at that event… it was more for collaborative discourse between industry leaders it seems.

7. Osama A. - February 25, 2008

   Asif, you’re missing the point too So please stop writing justifications because its only making Telenor look worse.

8. Muhammad Asif Razzaque - February 25, 2008

   ……zippppp…..

9. Jawwad - February 25, 2008

   Hasnat, once again, my apologies. Post updated.

   Asif…Thank you for zippping up.

10. Syed Talha Izhar - February 26, 2008

    I hope to see more of you in Karachi Jawwad …though I don’t know what exactly happened but I certainly want more SIs….thats wat my frndzz want whom I had asked to attend the fourth session….They all liked it and we are waiting for the seventh one…

11. Muhammad Asif Razzaque - February 26, 2008

    I want a SI 7 or SI 8 here in isloo with Jawwad, Jehan Ara, Faisal Qureshi, Osama and all the other moderators who were not so vocal top of the mind recall!

Leave a Reply