When i entered, i thought i had made a mistake.. it didn’t look as funfilled as the last one in isb. Boy was i wrong, once the QnA session took off, it was anything but!

Faisal Qureshi and Jawwad Farid, with their off-the-cuff remarks and ways of finding humor in every statement was just the right catalyst to put people at ease.

And the startup stories from giants like SI3 and Netsol really got the adrenaline flowing (atleast in me) and the ideas rolling. If they can do it, why not us.

I can safely say, that by the end of the session, i had found two new people to idolize in our IT industry. Saleem Ghauri (netsol) and Amer Hashmi (Si3). Both of them showed the basic ingredients needed (i believe) to startup and run a successful business. Passion, values and above all.. patriotism!! When both these gentlemen were talking, the passion and patriotism in their voices was obvious!

All in all, a very motivating event! Went on for FOUR hours but it was worth every minute!

I’m a bit late, but I’d like to say something regarding the Lahore SI. Great work done Osama and everybody else. But what Nash has pointed out in a post somewhere, were my sentiments exactly. Dumb questions don’t deserve time. And where all i see at greenwhite is a call for more and more people to join in at these events, i think on the contrary it should be much more exclusive. You guys are having great publicity no doubt, and it has its pleasures, but you are’nt really serving the startups by these events. I’ll give you an example:

I have a startup, started building it almost two years ago, been struggling ever since. I ask for advice and help a lot from my friends like Nash and others, and I would’ve loved to talk to you or some other experienced guys about all the problems, dos and don’ts and future prospects of my product. In a very casual environment. But at the SI session in lahore, it was more like a classroom where there were them and us. Most people were too young or too student-like to be entrepreneurs at that session. The volume was too low, i could’nt hear half the things being said. I could’nt find a chair. And I left early before the coffee break cause I was’nt there for a lecture but rather a casual session, where 1 entrepreneur is helping or advising a junior one. This has to be one on one, casual and discreet. I might not want to discuss my product and problems in front of a 100 people.

I hope you guys see my post and give your views on it. The way I see it, it should be in a way where an entrepreneur gives a briefing about what he does or wants to do, whether already having a startup or thinking about launching one, and then he is invited to these sessions. Where everybody knows everybody else. Like Nash pointed out that success stories are important, the problems and how the senior guys overcame them is much more inspirational, cause when young people are having so much problems, they want to hear that they are not alone.

Regards.
Ahmed Sadozai
B4bid.com

Would it be possible for you to post it on Youtube as well as google. The tube does not allow you to download the video, save it and share it offline.

Jawwad

Ah.. i am pretty bad at Camera Handling, had to learn some lessons from Tahir