LUMS and Pakistan thrashed by VCs at TES – thanks TIE Lahore
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At TES2007, the TIE Khudee final competition the following judges were asked to evaluate the final three pitches:
- Kanwal Rekhi – Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners, USA
- Dr. Akram Chowdry – Managing General Partner – Hi-Tech Venture Capital Fund, USA / Malaysia
- Omar Lodhi – Executive Director, Abraaj Capital, UAE
- Ali J. Siddiqui – Managing Partner – JS Private Equity, Pakistan
- Ayaz-ul-Haq – Managing Director – ePlanet Ventures, USA (investors in Skype, Alibaba.com, Baidu)
I’ve already expressed my deep disappointment that TIE Lahore chose to waste the one opportunity that some of the most promising startup companies in PK (even people I know about but haven’t covered at G&W because they asked for confidence) could have had at getting some immediate attention or access to VC funds from the valley.
But it was even worse that those VCs (3 of them) chose to politely slap our industry after the competition to show their disappointment.
Dr. Akram Chowdry said in no uncertain terms the even though We Care They Care was selected as a winner, the judges were not pleased at shortlisting any one for the job.
He said that none of the entries showed any insight in marketing or distribution, and that “even most of the mentors had no idea about distribution”.
Thank you TIE Lahore – thank you very much. You got your little pictures in the press and you were able to show how active you are, but you failed to actually help entrepreneurs in the industry.
If you dont think so, try to survey the 5-10 person shops with some promising ideas in mobile application platforms, shipping management systems, and other useful products that were roaming the hallways outside your conference.
11:22 pm
Osama
I am not sure how this happened but I can guess. IBA in Karachi did a similar event, less high profile but with similar intent and ended up as just as big a disaster.
Some one I know was asked to join as a sponsor and a judge at the IBA event and asked a simple question. What is IBA doing to support the winning companies post the event. He was politely told that as per IBA’s policy, no full time student is encouraged to run a business side by side with his studies. IBA is an educational institution, not an incubator.
Ken Morse and Bill Aulet ran MITCEF in a completely different fashion. In addition to providing access to mentors from the industry they ran three workshops in Karachi over a six month period that did the ground work for the competition. Ken was also very blunt in his assessment and went on record to state that he would not look at a plan unless and until it met certain basic criterias. And he pushed mentors to ensure that those criterias were met.
I was not at the TIE affair but I think one of the primary issues at the event may have been ground work and preparation on part of the partcipating groups. We have all seen how much impact preparation and practice makes at APICTA in Thailand, Macau and Singapore. The other may have been the selection criteria and the quality of entreprenurial education at the participating institutes. I know that Zia Imran used to teach an outstanding course on entreprenurial practice at FAST. I am not sure who does that at LUMS, IBA, CBM or FAST Karachi.
Maybe we can learn from our mis steps next year and do a better job at the next business plan competition.
J
3:20 am
>But it was even worse that those VCs (3 of them) chose to politely slap our industry after the competition to show their disappointment.
>Dr. Akram Chowdry said in no uncertain terms the even though We Care They Care was selected as a winner, the judges were not pleased at shortlisting any one for the job.
Man if i were them, I would have done even worse. These finalists were total crap and waste of time! for them time is* important! I dont think any reasonable person with atleast some business sense would be pleased with these finalists. Akram chawdry is a giant! all of these people are giants! You expect them to show a promising face for these BPs? Honestly if they did, i would have told myself they are all nothing but a bunch of artificial crapholes making fun of us! But akram chawdry said the right thing.
>He said that none of the entries showed any insight in marketing or distribution, and that “even most of the mentors had no idea about distributionâ€Â.
i think these mentors had no idea about business, or they think in terms of their text books. i highly doubt we care day care had a mentor. if they do,…..oh well!