Faizan Siddiqi Profile picture
Golf Simulators,AI,AML,AD-Tech,Media, 3PL B2B2C Ecom. Places, I've either IPO'd, scaled or failed ex-GE/Tyco/MCI/Afiniti/Jang/TCS/BV. Angel Investor & Operator
Apr 13, 2023 16 tweets 5 min read
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…
Mar 8, 2023 21 tweets 6 min read
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
Mar 7, 2023 16 tweets 3 min read
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.
Mar 6, 2023 16 tweets 5 min read
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
Sep 17, 2022 22 tweets 5 min read
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…
Jul 19, 2022 18 tweets 4 min read
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.
Jul 17, 2022 9 tweets 4 min read
Thank you every one for joining. Todays recording at
twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwGW…
Today we (@babushka99) spoke about Some Life Hacks..aka things to do vs keep thinking about doing things.we shared 5+ strategies each and frameworks to do better or at least get started. @babushka99 spoke about
1. Writing things down.
2. The journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step. 3. Everything takes time
4. You are entitled to nothing
5. One Major Task and Two Minor Tasks
6. Document your progress
7. Take time out to read.
Jul 14, 2022 16 tweets 5 min read
Have you ever wondered who 20697 is when you re-set a Google or FB or Binance Password?Who the message is getting delivered by & how?

Heres a 🧵on The Potential Hazards of UnLicensed Messaging, its National Security Challenges & a fairly quick MM$ Oppty for a Cash Starved Govt The Facts?

1. I am not a Telco Expert nor a Messaging Expert
2. The intent here is to share what I researched could fix the issue(s) at hand
3. As a citizen of 🇵🇰, contribute to its prosperity
4. If Ive gotten it wrong, then I am happy to get the right info
5. Images below
May 17, 2022 32 tweets 6 min read
(How to Hack) E-com Deliveries Pakistan Edition🧵

Problem Statement:
1)Poor Logistics Service
2)Pricing Wars/Service Level Disasters
3)Lack of real tech
4)Geographic spread
5)Double Sided Low Trust
6)Lack of Data/Transparency
7)Payments
8)Boomers
9)Hipsters
10)Outsiders The business of e-commerce is disproportionately about logistics. Look behind any online sale or e-commerce business & it's largely about missed deliveries, tracking, breakage/disputes. What Amazon got right was, "that it just arrives" no fuss, no issues. Easier said than done.
May 4, 2022 19 tweets 4 min read
How to monetize content & win against the WhatsApp Forwarding Generation🧵

Everywhere you go ppl are constantly consuming content via their smart phones

In our parts the ppl @ the top of the pyramid/boomers control/influence the outcomes of every one else

Lets break it down They are:

1. The Heads of household in joint family systems
2. At the helm in politics
3. The managers of bureaucracy
4. Running national & internal security
5. Leading incumbent organizations in every sphere (banks, education, telcos, national companies, airlines, regulators)
Apr 15, 2022 17 tweets 9 min read
"Unlocking about 300M$ in Foreign Exchange in 120 Days"🧵

Every Day Twitter Asks me "What's Happening"

Well a lot, only if we got our act together. Here are some suggestions for our New Government to collectively help the Pakistani Tech ecosystem do better & in turn Pakistan Here goes...
@rebootdude @Babarkj @babushka99 @raza_matin @fmsheik @Huk06 @mosharrafzaidi @sheryhydri @AribaShahid @MizNaQ @kalsoom82 @JDIQ @Ghias_K @MusadaqZ @AlmasHyder @badar76 @YusufJan @Atyab @TalhaIzhar @FaizaYousuf @asfandyarf @ZubairKhanPK @rogueonomist
Mar 16, 2022 13 tweets 3 min read
Pakistani Startups. A Great Equalizer & Opportunity Creator 🧵

We have seen much money being committed to PK origin startups & their thesis.

Why?

Besides boilerplate stats of a large population, the fact is, that incumbents in most industries did not invest ahead of the curve Based on GMV numbers we had 200M+ Plus funding allocated in some consumption led industries where there is little to no infrastructure.

What this tells me is that this is indictment of the incumbents in

Banking
3PL
Last-Mile
Distribution
Warehousing
FMCG
+Old Guard at Large
Mar 14, 2022 22 tweets 8 min read
When Digital Transformation Works 🧵

Every 1 likes to talk about e-commerce + payments + deliveries

E-commerce Logistics are hard when you consider that a sale happens virtually but has to be delivered physically to customers who don't bank/transact digitally. COD is not a bug, it's a feature in a country where there is a trust deficit.

Heres a break-down of the what/why e-commerce deliveries are broken at large but a great opportunity



Once you have read this, you will see the remedies
Mar 9, 2022 19 tweets 4 min read
We are going through a self fashioned hype cycle of "training free lancers" to bring in FX.

Let's break this down a bit.🧵

What does the government mean & want? 1 School of thought in Govt
Free Lancing = Ecom = Selling on Amazon

2nd School of thought in Govt
Free Lancing = Doing some thing online
Feb 16, 2022 32 tweets 6 min read
Foreign E-commerce Companies & Pakistan 🧵

We literally have no 1 who understands technology or its impact + revenues & taxation in relation to E-commerce

We need laws aimed at providing legal guidelines for the country’s e-commerce industry.(Specifically for foreign entities) Why?

Because before you tax some thing you have to have a frame work.

Before you have a framework you must have a definition of what constitutes those who fall under its ambit.

So should we not define what e-commerce is first? Yes we need to have a starting position 100%
Feb 11, 2022 24 tweets 5 min read
Why Government/Governance is Broken in Pakistan🧵

😢Every one loves to complain but does nothing to fix the issues

🏦We dont understand how this country is run and who runs it

⁉️We love conspiracies & have no first principles thinking

🦸The real power is in the PMO not the PM 😢Every one loves to complain but does nothing to fix the issues

This is because most people who are privileged are also beneficiaries of the broken system.Whilst it may make for good banter at dinner parties, said dinner parties are built on the exploitation of the common man
Feb 10, 2022 25 tweets 5 min read
E-Commerce Deliveries are broken in Pakistan.🧵

1)Different People Expect the same things from Delivery Cos (DCs)

2)Different DCs have different ambitions

3)Most of the DCs have never handled @ scale digital commerce

4)DCs cant un-learn & shed their technical debt 🚚Different People Expect the same things from Delivery Cos (DCs)

@ the higher end of the value chain(4-8K PKR Basket Size) people expect their deliveries to arrive within 2-3 days.

@ the lower end of the value chain(400-1K PKR)they have the same expectation

DCs cant do this
Nov 25, 2021 10 tweets 3 min read
Dysfunctional economics when some one is happy to pay avg 250k$ for a starter and 600k$ for a larger house, where you bring your own: water, gas, power, security,trash collection svcs. It makes sense only if viewed as transactions between 'rentseekers'. This is neither a reality nor a sound financial investment for most. There is little to no value that can be extracted post investment into the asset till u sell. For the non rent seekers/privilege club members this money should be put to productive use

zameen.com/blog/popular-a…
Oct 6, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read
EI/EQ for the Win.

Emotional intelligence in business, or the ability to understand your emotions and others, is crucial regardless of what industry you operate in.

Emotional intelligence represents the intersection of emotions and general mental ability. We generally suck at it in our business ecosystem. Hence the emotional well being and work cultures are rigid, boring, toxic, political and lack empathy. Impacting our national output, lowering productivity and self satisfaction.

How many people do you know that love their job?
Oct 5, 2021 8 tweets 3 min read
FOMO is real.

You will be History:
1) If you are in a business that still uses a fax machine
2) If you are in a business that has no price transparency
3) If you are an incumbent only because no one will compete with you
4) If you have scale & winning only due to legacy scale So how does FOMO become real.

Foreign Origin Money Orchestration. (WTF?)

The min Foreign Money comes to our shores as it is now

1) Incumbents will feel the pain & die
2) Labour force will be disrupted for the worse(short term)
3) Scale effects will be 100x
4) Weeks not Years
Oct 5, 2021 5 tweets 3 min read
For every solopreneur or CEO, manager, worker bee that complains that they are drowned in stuff. You cant fix what you cant measure. Heres a simple thing to do, during the day or day end measure your effort vs roi across activities
1)Planned
2) Unplanned
3) Outside the box/1off List down the things that you plan on doing during that day before hand or as they happen. For things just show up on your schedule, put them in the unplanned box, things that you think are out of the box/one offs capture them too. Do a day end Roi on the time u spent vs output