Tech Entrepreneurs: 3 Actions to Ensure a Profitable Startup in Pakistan

The startup scene in Pakistan led by technology & digital media has been booming for the past few years and we have seen startups like Patari, Beauty Hooked and Zameen come up with innovative solutions to insightful consumer problems. As an aspiring entrepreneur and graduate student of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern Medill, I have found two articles that provide insights into the startup scene of Pakistan which can help budding entrepreneurs.

In his article Going Critical, Jawwad Farid presents the startup phenomenon in Pakistan. Mentor programs and technology incubators such as NEST IO & Plan9 have encouraged young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses which provide technology based solutions to consumers. There are now over 1,800 technology based startups in Pakistan, however these startups come with their own challenges of ever changing government policies and a somewhat primitive financial system. It should be interesting to see how young entrepreneurs emerge through these challenges. 

Image Source: TechFlier

Mehreen Omer’s article introduces us to Bilal Ather, a 26-year-old Pakistani who founded a multi- million dollar company. His startup Wifigen is a tool that gives free Wi-fi to consumers in exchange of their information.  Bilal’s story exemplifies the entrepreneurial mindset of today’s youth and the positive steps they can take to reach success.

Based on these two articles, here are 3 action items I want to suggest to young entrepreneurs who are hoping to start their own enterprise:

• Network with Experts: Find people that share your interests and passions, who are experts in the field and learn from them. Investing in a network will pay-off in today’s interconnected digital world.
• Learn from Failures: Realize that not all your ideas are going to be worth a million dollars and it’s okay to fail. Bilal’s first startup Ikhtira failed but he didn’t let that dissuade him. Learn from your failures, brush it off and move on.
• Be Consumer-centric: Research, research, research till you know your consumers and what their pain point are. Look at data, discover insights and win over investors with hard evidence.

If you are an aspiring Pakistani entrepreneur, consider these three points as you develop your start-up to ensure a better chance of success. 

Komal Ashfaq is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications with Medill at Northwestern University. She is interested in digital technologies, entrepreneurship and traveling. After graduating in December, 2017 she hopes to return to Pakistan and work with tech start-ups to which are working on creating sustainable solutions to consumer problems. You can follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Why So Few Women in Tech?

Too few women are employed in the technology field, whether it be software development or information technology. As a student at Northwestern University, I have been exposed to technology, and discovered two news articles that begin to tackle the question of, "Why so few women in tech?'

In "Technology, Man's Problem", New York Times writer Claire Cain Miller notes that lack of encouragement for women to pursue education is not the only culprit for the lack of women in tech. Instead, a sexist, alpha male culture seems to pervade, which makes many women feel like outsiders in their own profession. Many women face unwelcoming environments, harassment from male counterparts, and for one woman, even death threats.  Despite having the expertise to succeed, more than 50% of women leave tech by the middle of their career.

In a CNN article, "5 Reasons Technology World Needs More Geek Girls", Teo Kermeliotis and Jessica Ellis talked to Regina Agyare, one of Ghana's first female tech entrepreneurs about why girls should join the technology field. Agyare left a lucrative career in banking to found a software company, and understands the difficulties women face in blazing their own path. She outline these five reasons why tech needs more women: improving technical innovation, reducing social inequalities, teaching girls leadership skills and critical thinking, stopping the workforce exit, and the low numbers of women currently involved in tech. She sees technology as being a gateway for women to become stronger forces in society. 

After reviewing these two articles, I believe that the technology industry can support women further by taking these three actions:

• Eliminate Unwelcome Environments- Men and women alike, but especially men must work to create a welcoming environment for anyone interested and qualified to join tech.
• Support Women in Technology- Women currently in the field must encourage younger women to join the field and explain the diverse benefits, from high paying positions to networking opportunities.
• Create Benefits for Women to Stay in Tech- Too many women leave tech because it doesn't allow them to balance their professional and personal life, create incentives for women to stay. 

Technology is a diverse field with many disciplines, but the one common thread appears to be the lack of welcoming environments for women. Women must be encouraged to stay in the field through creation of safe work environments, support networks and incentives for longevity. 

Parul Kapoor is a senior Economics major and IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) student at Northwestern University from Saint Cloud, Minnesota. She will be joining Oracle Corporation in July 2014. To contact her, please email her at pkapoor@u.northwestern.edu or on Twitter @parkapoor. 

Tech Marketing Execs - Adapt the Hacker Spirit or Perish

As a tech marketing exec, you know the market growth is critical for both tech start-ups and large technology companies in new product launch. As a marketing graduate student in Northwestern University and a digital marketing analyst doing several entrepreneurial projects around internet products, I came across two interesting articles that let me know the importance of HACKER SPIRIT for tech marketers and for driving today’s market growth.

The first article is written by Andrew Chen, a famous tech blogger in Silicon Valley. In this article called Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing, he introduced a concept, which has been a hot topic recently within Silicon Valley, called “Growth Hacker”.  According to Andrew, the new job title of “Growth Hacker” is integrating itself into Silicon Valley’s culture, emphasizing that coding and technical chops are now an essential part of being a great marketer. Growth hackers are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of “How do I get customers for my product?” and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph. 

Source: Ryan Holiday

Another great article called Rational Growth written by Andrew Chen about the specific tactics for driving rational growth around internet product. All the tactics he introduced are using “engineering” thinking to do web analytics for the growth of your users. It is possible to grow user signups via data and marketing analytics. Andrew introduced in the article some latest methods to do web quantitative measurement, scenario modeling via spreadsheets, and a lot of database queries to know the consumers’ signing up decision journey, which can later optimize the marketing efforts for growing the consumer base.

Based on these two articles, I have developed 3 action items you should consider.  They are: 

1.    Develop the Hacker Spirit

Different from CPG/retailing or other traditional marketing areas, marketing around internet products require strong insights for the product developing philosophy especially when the marketers are doing new product launch. Try your best to deeply understand the logic and designing thoughts behind the tons of codes. Learn coding if possible.

2.    Use Consumer Insights

Marketing professionals may not easily achieve the same level of coding in a short time as developers from Computer Science background. But our solid insights in consumer’s painpoints, enchantment can really be an added-value for both the product market-fit process and its rational growth. 

3.   Get an edge using analytics

Web analytics can be another way to sharpen your edge for entering this industry. Data-savvy analytical thinking accompanied by strong ability to understand consumers can help corporations maximize the marketing investments’ effects and optimize the product.

To sum up, we should get a hacker spirit or to say, entrepreneurship if we want to be a tech-savvy marketer in the future. But one may ask, for start-ups these may be valuable, then how about the big tech companies. In my view, these two are the same. The technology industry is transforming in an amazing speed every day. No one can predict who will be a star/ giant company in the next year. So in such a fierce market, the only way to survive is keeping the hack spirit inside the corporate culture. So for the tech marketers, let’s all go for the GROWTH HACKER!

Tracy is a digital marketing analyst, who has great passion for technology industry and digital analytics. She got 2-year experience in both telecommunication/IT and consulting industry in China, including working for Qualcomm and Bain&Comany. 

Tracy completed a Bachelor of Science in Economics and is now pursuing a master's degree of Integrated Marketing Communication in Northwestern University.

Follow her on twitter: @TracyWang0215
LinkedIn: Tracy-Guanchun Wang

Ready to Grab Your Share in the Wearable Era?

We almost are sure that wearable technology is the next big thing. Projects like Google Glasses are providing you with an opportunity to make unique impacts on your high value markets. As a graduate student in Northwestern's Medill IMC marketing program, I’ve been exploring the new wearable era and its potential for business.

I found two compelling articles about what users want from wearable technologies and made three suggestions for anyone who wants to grab a share in this highly promising market.

Engadget: Wearable Computing Should Constantly Monitor Its Surroundings

Photo from engadget: [link].

By the end of last year, engadget put up a great article by  Donald Melanson and Michael Gorman: Our augmented selves: The promise of wearable computing. It summarized our shared vision of wearable technologies: thin and flexible, ability to simulate other devices, and constantly monitor its surroundings. With wearable technologies, we are shifting our focus from making “smarter things”, to become “smart people.”

All Things D: The Interfaces Are Melting

Photo from Misfit Shine: [link].

This spring, All Things D put up another inspirational article by  Liz Gannes talking about the disappearing interface. It argued that instead of all-purpose, full-focus devices, we might have a set of new tools, migrating outward, on and around our bodies, to our fingers and heads and wrists and ears, and even feet. Those interfaces melt so both inputs and outputs can adapt and be more accessible.

3 Suggestions for Investors in Wearable Technologies

From my analysis of these two articles any my work at Northwestern, here are three active items you need to consider in the wearable era.

1. Try New Sensors
   Users don't want to "key-in" all the information by themselves with wearable technology. Both sensors that collect data about the environment and sensors that enable better voice control, gesture control, and brain control have the potential to be game changers. You definitely should try new sensors when consider investing in the wearable gadgets.
2. Own a Category
   Users want their wearable devices to be as strong as our mobile phone, but as light as a clip. And instead of just one device, users will end up having a set of devices, blended in their lives. Choose one category and own it and you will have your place in the future of wearable technologies.
3. Invest in Building Blocks
   Batteries and new materials will always be critical to wearable devices. Be sure to keep an eye on those building blocks. 

Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps argued "in three years, wearables would matter to every product strategist" and Juniper Study predicted it would be a $1.5 billion business by 2014. So grab your share in the wearable market today before someone else steals it.

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Samantha Zhang is a grad student at Northwestern University studying Integrated Marketing Communications, specialized in technology startups. Prior to grad school, she worked with several startups in China and hit No.7 in the educational section in Chinese App Store. Now she’s working on a revolutionary note-taking app: Chisel. You can get connected with her @moyicat.