200M People & Zero Unicorns
Building the next great startup in Pakistan
Over the last few months, I have been able to spend a significant amount of time in Pakistan — accounting for the largest continuous period I’ve spent in the country in the past 15 years. I took the opportunity to learn more about the emerging startup ecosystem here and wanted to jot down my thoughts on what I’ve learned after speaking to dozens of founders, operators, and investors over the last 4 months.
Firstly, I’m very encouraged by the excitement around technology companies in Pakistan and none of what follows should take away from that. It’s not uncommon now to sit next to a passionate group of founders discussing the problems of the day at a coffee shop in Karachi or Lahore. Startup focused events seem to be popping up everywhere, too. I was at 021Disrupt in November and found it to be well attended, with thoughtful speakers and engaged participants. Even the government is getting behind the idea, although much of that is still to materialize (I wouldn’t hold my breath).
It’s important to state that my thoughts are naturally biased because of my experiences founding or operating early stage companies in Toronto and Singapore during periods when the ecosystem was on a rapid upswing. Each country was unique and had its own localized challenges, but there are still patterns that emerged which I feel Pakistan can learn from.
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