Umar, I liked your article in Washington Post. Just like Silicon Valley, Indus Valley is ready to enage in a full fight for its own identity, viability, and success in a competitive ecosystem on a global scale.
I am pretty positive about the future of Indus Valley. It boils down to spotting opportunities for innovative, producing products/services to generate cash, using its unique strengths and waeknesses (yes, weaknesses can be used as strengths if you are smart) to give the Indus Valley an advantage over other valleys, and then, delivering on its promises.
Don't look for Silicon Valley VCs funding SMS startups. Find some local VCs - guess what, they don't exist. Don't you think it is about time to create a local VC firm to fund local projects to address local needs.
Call me on my cell phoen in Pakistan (0324-417-1160) if you are interested in talking to me about building a new VC firm. FYI I've been building a new product in Pakistan since April 2011 with 10 engineers in stealth mode after spending two thirds of my life in Silicon Valley.
Indus Valley is here to stay. Talent is great. People are hard working. They are also trainable. Money is not an issue. Global money is ready to flow to the Indus Valley given proper conditions, good returns, and a good PR strategy/execution.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [pakgrid] My article for Washington Post on tech startups
From: Amir Wain <
awain@i2cinc.com>
Date: Sat, June 09, 2012 7:11 am
To:
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com Cc: Umar Saif <
umar@lums.edu.pk>
Umar you write well and I agree with some of your comments. I however have a slightly different view.
In my opinion what most entrepreneurs lack is the business acumen. Developing a good product and building a profitable business are two different animals. Filling this gap is the biggest role VCs play in many cases. They bring in management teams and provide governance at the board level to keep things on track.
The funding requirements have changed tremendously too. With itunes and android stores the sales and marketing infrastructure is available at no cost. With Amazon cloud and other pay as you go services, processing infrastructure can be available at no to minimal upfront investment.
~best
Amir
On 6/9/2012 12:19 AM, Umar Saif wrote:
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