After some very successful SI (startup insider) events with the inaugural one in Karachi, then ISB and then Lahore, the next

SI meet will be happening this Friday (tomorrow) at the Marriot at 6pm. Managed by P@SHA, and hosted by Alchemy (the company I work for incidentally), we will have Jawwad, Yusuf, Adnan, Jehan, Amer (si3)and a host of others entrepreneurs to talk about startups and answer questions.

Full details are on Jehan’s Blog. This time, due to such high demand, you have to register, and there is a more planned out format.

So, be there and bring your demos, business cards, friends, etc. the more the merrier

Venue: Marriott Hotel, Karachi
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Date: February 8, 2008

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Just a small mention here, Pakistan seems to be appearing more and more on the US tech blog/community radar…in a positive way. Here is another small example of this pattern I keep seeing alot now in the blogosphere:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/06/a-look-at-outsourcing-through-odesks-eyes/ 

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Things have been quite active here in Karachi. With the amount of innovation and amazing stuff happening here I think we should now start calling Karachi’s (and/or Lahore+ISB’s) IT hubs as Silicon Gali ( ‘Gali’ means narrow street in Urdu, also can be spelt as “gulee” ). So you have Karachi’s Silicon Gali, Lahore’s Silicon Gali, ISB’s, etc

I think it would surely do justice to the term. After the one IT mecca, Silicon Valley, New York has a “Silicon Alley”, Austin has “Silicon Hills”. I think its time we gave our own hubs a cool name to identify them by. We want  your suggestions and comments, and the new poll that is up has some suggestions for a branding term for the it hubs here, so please vote your for your favourite. I , though, am sticking to Silicon Gali

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Seems like Pakistani enterprises are finally realizing what everyone has known for years : that online is an equal or even better medium than print for marketing and building mindshare on several services, such as credit cards, cellphones, cell phone service, broadband, etc.

In the world of static billboards and quarter page newspaper ads, there are a few companies that have set aside some part of the advertising budget for building an online presence. Some names are HBL, Wateen Mobilink, Ufone, Nokia Pakistan. Mostly they advertise on Yahoo (Google they do, but less), Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Facebook, and the like. Sure, these are massive companies with huge budgets, but then you also have innovative smaller shops, such as lootmaar advertising on Facebook on and off. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ve done posts on this topic before, and here I go again. Presentation skills generally in the IT industry are deplorable. Aside from very few (3-5) companies, the other 900 or so really need their human resources to come upto par with presentation, brand skill and overall polish. If you want to win a multi-million dollar contract, you need to look like you can handle a multi-million dollar contract. You need to be able to explain complex technology and why the CEO across the table (who does not give a $#$# if its java or php ) should trust you to solve his problem. In short, YOU are the company at that point in time. (hmmm no pressure now..) and you need to look like a star.

Well, if you think can hack it with the best of them, here is your chance : There is a P@sha sponsored workshop coming up here and this half day workshop is on the following days:

Karachi - January 26, 2008 - 2 pm to 5 pm - Marriott Hotel

Lahore - January 28, 2008 - 2 pm to 5 pm

Seat are limited, full details are on Jehan’s blog. Costs are just 4,000 per person, and on the top of some learning, its a great networking event too.

( Btw I’m not being paid to say all this in case you thought I sold out! I will be attending the workshop as well, ping me if you come . )

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The first “Startup Insiders” session has been a resounding success, and seems to be a foundation for a brimming social network, along the lines of the Silicon Valley Barcamp model (foobar? remember anyone? ) or the OpenCoffeeClub model.

The Insiders session was created to encourage entrepreneurs, developers,students and (potential) investors to attend organized, informal gatherings and to learn from those who run tech shops, to chat,to network and most of all, to grow.

Read the rest of this entry »

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First it was just customers, professionals and software firms. Now one hears the same thing from the horse’s mouth. Gartner, one of the few authorities in IT globally has gone ahead and agreed that Pakistan should be ranked as a tier 1 country for outsourcing. This means what? That despite image problems, Pakistan has a credible delivery record with solid resources and acceptable costs. So there is substance, there should now be no doubt.

Expect this and the recent study that is about to be released to increase the interest in the industry as it grows even larger. Now, what do we do about the image misperception problem? That seems to be the only problem actually….hmmmm

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C01%5C05%5Cstory_5-1-2008_pg5_10

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For those who do not know of Amir Husain, Amir is the CTO of Clearcube, and has won several accolades for software designed by Clearcube (Austin,Texas) and local firm Five Rivers under his direction. Amir is known for his expertise in virtualization, a field of computing that is just starting to emerge as a major component of most corporate IT structures. Amir also has several patents in the field to his name.

Amir’s recent article has been featured as the cover story on Virtual Strategy Magazine, a vertical dedicated website+magazine for enterprise scale virtualization. This is significant because it highlights that Pakistan can and does make an important and noted impact on the US and international tech market, and our individuals are recognized for it. Read the rest of this entry »

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Well, congratulations to the Mulazamat.com team.

They got acquired by a foreign firm for “more than Rs 2 million”. Whee! break out the treat and kudos…You guys just gave away the -BEST- darn idea I have seen for the job site market for quite awhile. And for what ? 2 million rupees (or more as the blog post says). How much more ? 6 million? Thats just about a 100,000 USD. Thats a pittance. Chump change. A rounding off error for a VC. No idea yet on the buyer’s name but they got one sweet deal I must say. I’d love to know who did… One could turn this idea around for atleast 20-30 million USD in the global market. Quick question for Ali : Did Rozee/ Naseeb Networks buy it ?

Hotswap is another startup run by some young tech students in the US, and its a similar idea for used cars instead. Wonder what the valuation is? More than a million USD already? You betcha. The web makes us equal, so why why still agree to sell so low and so early ? Read the rest of this entry »

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It was as surprising as it was welcome. 2 Pakistani firms, Netsol and Pixsense won the regional Apicta awards in Singapore. Apicta can be termed as the CES of Asia. Over 30 countries, lots of mature software firms, and amazing products and services were showcast. Kudos to Netsol and Pixsense for building products that hold their own against these odds. Read the rest of this entry »

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