Faizan Siddiqi Profile picture
Sep 27, 2020 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
The future is not female. The present is. The wrong question to ask is "how to get more women in tech" that would imply that some how "men" are the ones giving women power. The ask cant be to have more women take (corp/exec/founder roles)esp with the current mental disposition
The view has to change first. In history no ones given up power by choice. Not much different for companies. Power has to be taken, it can be taken when we all as society/ecosystems amplify the work, women executives & founders are doing across industries. Wont happen over night.
But we have stop over-indexing on male founders. The disposition has to change from thinking women have to seek permission or join some 1 else's band wagon vs launching their own. This narrative changes with us, you dont need to give any one permission, only encouragement
Every thing revolves around a fair shot. Our country, our systems, our culture all are sadly mis aligned(almost in line with universal perception) every one thinks men are risk takers and women are not. Its actually not true. inc.com/jessica-stillm…
Women take more risks per capita in our system/society & ecosystems just because of the simple fact that $ for $ men have more opportunities.Translated to launching a startup,the miles covered & the journey under taken by female founders is already more complex then male founders
Some of the best founding teams and startups I have personally interacted with in PK are Female, no ones asking you to Pity Fund female tech.Far from it, just leave your misconceptions at home when you work with them.They have more grit, more logical understanding & a super power
That superpower is the ability for female led companies/startups to build for all vs building for 51.5% of the people. When your mind works on inclusion, your startup is better for it. When you increase the size of the addressable market, your outcomes improve by 48.5%.
From angel investors to male counterparts, to industry gurus to mentors wasting their time by being on Manels & mansplaining useless concepts.The better alternative is to learn fast & act fast if you wait, money being money, smart(er) money will fund female founders in ur markets
All you will have left, will be your mutual admiration club by funding the boys. Women are not raising as much as men, so here is an opportunity to make sure that changes, they have fewer opportunities to fail. Failure is part of the story.. Let's celebrate women led failure too
The best contribution we can make to the ecosystem is to have a safe space to fail, without being judgemental & making sure we are part of the solution vs being part of the problem.When evaluating startups investors tend to judge female founders based on Prevention vs Potential
Meaning their personal bias makes them think and ask questions in their mind, if not publicly as to what will prevent a female founder from succeeding vs taking a bet on their potential to do well. It is all around us, we only solve it by calling it out or not doing it ourselves
It’s not because women don’t have entrepreneurship talent or interest, nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s often because a lot of their startups die in the early stages without being given a fair chance.Startups are hard as it is now imagine being a female founder in PK
The constant feeling of doing everything right but not reaching the expected end state. Without going into the emotional toll it takes to constantly be underestimated, underfunded and compromising. All I continue to have is more respect for female founders in Pakistan
To all the women founders, don't settle for modest success, focus on massive success, be unapologetic, be fierce in your determination be ambitious beyond reason & dont hitch your success to male founders & their bandwagons. Build you own & inspire more women to choose this path
Tag Female founders/startups/dreamers/visionaries so we have more opportunities to win together as VCs, Angels, Mentors, Friends & Pakistanis. @jehan_ara @FaizaYousuf @CIRCLE2020 @SadaffeAbid @sophiaahmed @su_kaina @AnushaFatima_ @KheloKricket @SehatKahani @shamimrajani

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More from @faizansiddiqi

Apr 13, 2023
Every one Talks About Elite Capture in 🇵🇰 but most don't do any research to find out what it really means or where it started or how it impacts us daily

We are quick to blame

Lazy to action

Indifferent to learn from history

Heres a 🧵 an attempt with some facts & data points
The concentration of business ownership has been an interesting economic case study in 🇵🇰 ever since 1968 when Dr. Mahbub( then the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission) Named Pakistan’s 22 Families that dis proportionately controlled its economy.

web.archive.org/web/2013072200…
A report by KASB in 2018 stated the following with some in-accuracies. The top 11 family-controlled groups have 53 listed companies which have a collective market cap of $27bn, which means they account for around 35% of the market capitalization of Pakistan Stock Exchange. Image
Read 16 tweets
Mar 8, 2023
The Economic crisis & its impact explained in simple terms.A guide for Millennials & Gen Z.🧵

Boomers will tell you, they have been hearing since time immemorial that "the country is at the brink of disaster"
What they don't tell you:

1)Their lack of contribution to fix things

2)Their inability to call a spade a spade

3)Their lack of involvement in street level community building let alone national

4)Their lack of ownership from any thing that "didn't impact them" economically
They are right in one thing for sure. We didn't get here over night, their entire life was spent "hearing things are bad", but it was also spent ignoring that same message.

How many took any "action"?

Every one buried their head in sand and said "sanu ki" this too shall pass.
Read 21 tweets
Mar 7, 2023
Pakistan Inc. “Retiree Entrepreneurs, Saith-a-preneurs, Startups & Failure Dollars.”

Full Blog Post here:
blog.chinookstrategy.com/pakistan-inc/

TL;DR⬇️🧵
Despite years of poor governance, economic difficulties, security challenges, and internal issues, the average Pakistani remains optimistic that better days are coming. This response highlights the deep bond between man and his creator and the belief that things will improve.
Another possible explanation is the lack of education and access to understanding economic fallout. Because we have always "heard things are bad". But clearly things have continued to go on..
Read 16 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
I was today years old when I found out what a 'designer' "lawn" suit costs🧵

15-20k Price points for an outfit + cost of tailoring

Made me question my professional choices & of many other entrepreneurs

Perhaps the best thing to do is to build tech around lawn ..
For niche designers this is how the process works:

1)Call ahead
2)If you are an old customer(no deposit)
3)If you aren't well heeled then you may need to do a bank transfer to hold(with more niche designers albeit)
4)On the designated day show up
5)Avg cart size is 5 outfits
The name “lawn cloth” comes from the French city of Laon, which was where this textile was first woven. (says the internet)

At first, lawn cloth was primarily made with linen, which was more abundant in Europe at the time. material.
Read 16 tweets
Sep 17, 2022
YouTube Black Outs & Curious Case of Destroying Startup Value(ations) 🧵

Without the who/what/why of blocking,understand this,there is an other side to this saga that is slowly going to kill startups

What? Really?Let me take you & the powers be on a Journey of value destruction
Be it popular media, social media, political parties, influencers, opinion makers or the government it self. One thing is clear. Youtube outages happened (happening in🇵🇰).

What matters, It is happening since Aug 21st

netblocks.org/reports/youtub…
1. YouTube Runs on Googles Cloud Platform(GCP)

2. Some government body with the ability to do deep pack inspection goes in and decides to throttle YT

3. YouTube likely keeps shifting ip pools/being served from various locations of the GCP infrastructure as a redundancy measure
Read 22 tweets
Jul 19, 2022
The middle class is dead

Economic UnCertainty is not Joke. This is no longer a question of doing better, trying harder, working your way up.

If you were on the fringe of just making it, you likely crossed over to a dark place

Why?
💠Power/Gas/Fuel
💠Education
💠Healthcare
Inflation may be global, but the way we handled

💠Politics
💠Economic development
💠Geo Political Stability
💠Public Infrastructure
💠Health Care
💠Taxation
💠Defense Spending
💠Foreign policy

We have no one but our selves to blame.
Lets get some facts right:

Take a look at the attached Telecom Indicators, what they aren't a measure of:(contrary to what the govt/startups want you to believe)

💠Success
💠Productive Youth
💠Strong Consumer Market
💠Globally Competitive Workforce
Read 18 tweets

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