Finally decided to take some more time off (ah the joys of working for oneself) and redo the book again based on the all the feedback received. Here is the new cover, once again a great job by Jehan and Nida at Enabling Technologies. If that potter woman can do 7 books in 7 years,…
Have fire, will travel or Why you should listen to your heart
It is bad enough that I have been asked to stay inside my room by my team, that Osama Hashmi at Green and white and I are playing tag, that I am not playing by the rules, now Adnan Haider (lootmaar.com) is jumping in to this debate to turn this into a threesome. For those…
Dissing Standard Chartered Bank
And while we are at dissing Standard Chartered, let me state for the record that their new Islamic Banking campaign, Sadiq, is incredibly absurd. While they are in the process of firing their call center team, they should also fire their agency and who ever approved the Sadiq campaign internally. When UBL launched Ameen, it…
Why customers say no or How to turn your customers into repeat buyers?
(This is a continuation of my series for itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie, mom and pop tech shops in Pakistan) I am an individual. I appreciate sales calls that focus on my needs as an individual. Sales Call: Is this Jawwad Moa: Yes Scenario 1: Sales Call: I am calling from Standard Chartered Bank to inquire…
Strategy and tactics redux or Winning for itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie, little Pakistani mom and pop tech shops.
Here are my hard earned qualifications that allow me to speak on strategy. I have never been rich or famous (infamy is separate classification) or successful. Of the last four of my ventures, three were dismal failures. I have been teaching since a crazy afternoon in 1995, when I was asked to substitute for a…
My loverly (not a typo) team or the secret behind the spike in my posting frequency
We shipped the first release of our ultra secret, classified, eyes only, touch this and die, product yesterday. The parallel run has been on for the last 10 days. Yesterday we finished configuring our client’s server, packed the box, delivered it to the client site and turned it on. Monday morning, July 2nd, we will…
Cadbury Pakistan does fruit and nuts
And hazel nuts and roasted almonds. The only thing missing now are the 500g and 1Kg super bars and there won’t be a reason for me to stop at Dubai duty free anymore. Good show guys. It took you ten years to figure out the chocolate market in Pakistan but you finally did it.
The Alchemy Story or How I became rude, mean and abusive
Osama Hashmi at Green and White did a post on support for entrepreneurs and I thought it would be worthwhile to share our story with the community to add to the points I made on his blog. Here is my story. Year One. On 1st January 2003, I came back home to Karachi. I had…
Marc Andreessen does a blog
Marc, the Netscape founder does a series on the only thing you ever needed to learn to run your startup. Great validation for the Blue screen of Death.
Strategy for Technology companies – Part I or THE RANT
This is my second post on the technology scene in Pakistan. The series got triggered by a request on a report card for the industry in Pakistan. Strategy for technology companies is something that has never really been discussed threadbare in Pakistan. Most technology discussions start with a quick comparison with India (look how big…