Dig in Right Direction — Startup Survival 101
Mr. Jahanzeb Burana CEO of Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT) addressing NATIONAL CHAMPIONS PITCH COMPETITION — shared Avalanche Survival Technique story — that resonates to startup life — and I want to share it with wider startup Community in Pakistan & beyond.
Startups from all over Pakistan (including 3 CGI Startups from Lahore) participated in Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) NCPC at CM House Lahore on 21st Jan 2020. AIM is organized by Ministry of Economy UAE and in Pakistan was organized by PBIT & NSpire-NETSOL.
Mr Burana shared a great story — about Avalanche Survival Technique. Mr Burana builds that since you can’t outrun an Avalanche so prepare to mitigate it. Take-off your skis and let the snow roll you. Cover your face by putting your hands like a mask. Once you are static under the snow, you need to spit so you know which direction earth is. Next up is to dig yourself out in direction opposite to earth. Usually there’s a 1 to 2 minutes of time to dig out. One needs to dig fast but more important is to — Dig in Right Direction. Often after Avalanche accidents, people buried under 1 or 2 feet of snow were found dead because they were digging in wrong direction.
Being an Entrepreneur — I just can’t stop relating to this story. Being an entrepreneur you already have hit the Avalanche — your STARTUP, you’r are under the snow, don’t know your orientation (market positioning) — you need to figure that out quickly — find your Right Direction — and then Dig fast (Startup Hustle). Being part of Pakistani startup ecosystem, on daily basis, I observe brilliant entrepreneurs hustling and digging fast — Sadly enough in — wrong Direction & moving fast towards death. Direction First fellows!
Startups or established businesses live a life of product S-Curves. Moving from S-Curve to next S-Curve is the growth trajectory. So planning a right S-Curve after the current is the real business Challenge. Once you are on Wrong Direction, literally nothing can save you — Direction First fellows! Or what James C. Collins says in book ‘Good to Great’ — First Who, Then What.
It was a great experience attending Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) NCPC at CM House Lahore. 3 CGI Startups from Lahore also participated. Brilliant work by teams of PBIT & NSpire-NETSOL.
About the Author: Imran Jattala is Co-Founder of Center for Global Innovators (CGI) — Innovation Consulting — Design of IDEO, Innovation of Strategyzer & Strategy of McKinsey. With a mission to build Knowledge Economy & to make Pakistan Top-50 Innovative Nation. He tweets at: @ImJattala
