In the Line of Wire

Role playing makes learning so much easier. And it is a lot more fun too. So on Saturday when CEOs from IT companies decided to show young entrepreneurs and wannabes how to approach a customer and get his/her attention, it was indeed the place to be.

You will not be surprised to learn that even successful and accomplished entrepreneurs find their legs turning to jelly when faced with a customer as difficult and arrogrant as FQ decided to be that day.

Jawwad has written in great detail about the event so i shall try and just do a photo report.

Here’s someone just waiting to pounce on his next victim. Look at the expression - not to be missed that’s for sure!

Then there are those who look quite innocent but poor Rakesh didn’t know what hit him when Adnan (also known as Boat to his friends) started firing questions at him. But Rakesh won this round. Somehow he managed to get Adnan to agree to mentor him one-on-one and to give him a desk at PixSense where he could totter around and decide which of the 4 ideas in his head is worth pursuing. Hmmm … lucky kid!

See the photo Jawwad told me not to use - where FQ seems more drawn to his blackberry than to the interesting pitch emanating from JAF. But what is not in the picture, is what Jawwad said next, to suddenly draw Faisal away from his little gadget. All this is happening while Fawzia (wife and primary investor in Alchemy) watches indulgently.

It was nice to finally meeting Fariha Akhtar. She has finally taken the plunge - resigned from her job and decided that she is going to be an entrepreneur. Good for you girl! If you want to bounce ideas off any of us, feel free to do so anytime. Fariha is a smart cookie you know. She had brought along a friend whom she’s been trying to convince to join her in her new enterprise hoping that she too would be bitten by the entrepreneurship bug. And, you know something, I think she was.

And then there is young Talha who has been at several of our SI’s. He is ready to jump ship. I just know he is. He was there with a ready-made team eager, bright, possessing that special spark. Absolutely wonderful to see.

The mentoring sessions were so intense. This was the kind of follow-up event that was needed. We are bound to see some great ideas being nurtured through these events. These young people are headed for greatness. It will be great to watch them get there and to play a teeny weeny part in getting them started.

Thanks go out once again to Adnan Agboatwalla for providing the venue and to Yusuf Jan, Owais Zaidi, Imran Zia, Jawwad Farid and Faisal Qureshi for sharing. That’s the way to go guys!