Last weekend was one tech frenzy affair at Karachi’s popular Movenpick Hotel. The most celebrated names of the industry were present at #021Disrupt Conference sharing seats in the Main Conference Hall; busy in chatting, networking and socializing.
NEST I/O managed to pull off a remarkable event; the best speakers took the stage and offered the audience a delightful 15-minute doses of valuable advice on the do’s and don’ts for a startup.
The Sacred Bond
The tightly-knit investor-startup-incubator-customer relationship is something venerable indeed. CEO Sarmayacar, Rabeel Warraich says:
Startups should establish trust with investors. They expect investors to add value beyond capital and incentives so both should stick together through tough times and understand the limitations of one another.
Details matter
It takes two to tango and here the other party that is responsible to make sure the tango does not end in a fiasco – is the startup and it’s team, who should be mindful of the details that could end up in a distasteful experience.
Make sure the first impression is stunning. Be extraordinarily proficient when delivering your pitch; make the investor feel stupid, give an impression that you know more than they do and that you have done your homework well (which you should do.)
Once you’ve successfully managed to bag some finances, work like there is no tomorrow. Be vocal and communicate with your investors, share the good, the bad and the ugly. Respect and trust are the critical foundation of every relationship and likewise, either party should respect the space and role of the other and trust that all partners are working in the interest of all.
Rabeel Warraich recounts how a potential investor sent him audacious emails. One even turned up in a flashy car. A Ferrari to be precise. Warraich relates the whole experience in a negative light and was taken aback by the seemingly innocent yet a cheeky gesture.
Hyperscaling Basics
Who doesn’t want a startup to grow quickly? The desperate desire of flourishing keeps a startup team up at night.
When startups start gaining ground, they quickly become irrelevant as rival startups start giving them some competition. Consequently, startups that do not hyperscale, perish.
It’s all about the business model
says Monis Rahman, founder of Naseeb.com and Rozee.pk.
Business models should be scale friendly
Startups should be designed to be conducive to scale and should cater to increased or changing demands.
Rehman says it’s perfectly ok to launch an imperfect product. As the customers have a go at it, they themselves can evaluate what the product further needs to improve the whole experience. But it’s important to serve customers before hyperscaling a product; refine your product with feedback after handcrafting core consumer experience. To do so, you needs plans and an infinite supply of plan B’s.
Be Market Savvy
There are varying data points to invest yourself in. You just need to find the right market to do so. Research comes in handy here; a badly assessed market venture turns out to be disastrous.
Startups struggle but not the consumer based startups
says Faaris Naqvi, CEO of Bakery who stresses that startups must always be market-centric.
Startups are not about winning and saying “check”
To sum it all up, focus,adapt and change.
2017 is the best time to invest in startups; why? Because startups don’t face legacy issues and can start from a blank page. Reward your investors by disrupting your competitors; disruption is just a context in time and comes with a lot of hustle.
Take risks, fall fast and learn quickly. It’s completely okay to fail
