2. Entrepreneurship
What is an Entrepreneur..?
What Makes Them Unique?
Where Does It Start From..?
What is it Going to Take for you to Join the Club?
3. “Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as
survival, but that's exactly what it is and what
nurtures creative thinking”
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
6. What Makes Them Unique
………. Some changed their country……
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people
who have the habit of making excuses..”
George Washington
………………. an entrepreneur that changed his country
7. What Makes Them Unique
………. Some revolutionized transportation…made it
Affordable to middle class people……
“ you can do anything if you have enthusiasm..”
Henry Ford
………………. an Industrial entrepreneur
8. What Makes Them Unique
………. Some changed the world……
“ Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling
sugared water or do you want the chance to
change the world..”
Steve Jobs
………………. an commercial entrepreneur
9. What Makes Them Unique
………. Some changed how we network with one another
“By giving people the power to share, we're making the
world more transparent “
Mark Zuckerberg
………………. an start-up entrepreneur
10. What Makes Them Unique
…………… some entrepreneurs changed the world
20,000 –abandoned babies were saved
40,000 - qualified nurses were trained
50,000 - orphans are housed in his homes
1 million- babies have been delivered
Sattar Edhi
………………. A social entrepreneur
11. Where Does It Start From..?
…………… trying to make a difference in the way education
And training is consumed globally
My experience as
start up
entrepreneur
………………. A start up entrepreneur
12. What is it going to take for you to join the club
Build a sense of meaning and purpose………..
Define Success
Be ready for hard work
Innovate- product or process
Build a team
Create barriers of entry
Have a plan
Just do something about it………
Editor's Notes
Today’s presentation is my way of giving some thing back to the community where I partially grew up…….share what I’ve learned and how I’ve evolved as a professional and as a human beingShare some of the mistakes that I’ve made so that people make the least amount of mistakes ( reference the art of war for executives)My coach always says- your life is based on a handful of key decisions so my ultimate objective in these 45 minutes is to augment Dr. Qureshi’steacings and touch you in a way that some of the key points can guide you when you are making critical decisions your life.
So let’s start with a quote from……It kinda resonates with me …. One of my advisory board member used to say “ When your back is against the wall, you always come up with creative solutionsWell, to me if there exists no possibility of failure or a thought process of survival, then victory is meaningless………
I’d prefer to make the discussion a bit interactive, but for now, I can live with you raising your handsHave you taken risks before in your personal life or professional lifeHave you created value in anything you’ve done in life- either professional, volunteer or personal?Have you caught yourself thinking about an idea and implemented an idea?Have you thought about innovating- either at a product level or process level or new customer segments, new markets etc..?Have you ever empowered any one?How many of you like to win..?Have you ever come up with a problem a s solution and actually got the issue fixed?Have you failed at anything , learned from it and then tried to pursue the issue from a different angle?Have you ever made a decision based on gut and instincts?If the answer is yes to most of them, then you are an entrepreneur……you just don’t know it ….thisis exactly what Entrepreneurship is all about.
Most of you in this room are entrepreneurs ……….Entrepreneurship is not just about getting taking risks and starting a company or a businessI believe there are different type of entrepreneurs in different entrepreneur echo systems– You’re an entrepreneur of your house hold,You can be an entrepreneur of your departmentYour can be an entrepreneur of the university that you teach inYou can be an entrepreneur of your NGO You are an entrepreneur of your cricket team It is all about applying traditional entrepreneurial skills and elements and applying those to solve many of the grand challenges facing us in the world today with a very clear purpose Being an entrepreneur means being different kinds of things at different moments, butI have a very simple definition which I find my repeating over and over again…..A person who sees a problem is a Human Being; a person who finds a solution is visionary; and the person who goes out and does something about it is an entrepreneur
I have to admit that entrepreneurs are a unique breed……….They usually make a huge impact on our economy….some are willing but not capable, some are capable, but not willing So let’s go over examples of what make entrepreneurs uniqueHere is an example of entrepreneur that changed is country…His quote resonates with my philosophy as an entrepreneur…..I usually tell the leaders in our company- I need to excuse leadership- the buck stops at you. If they come up with an excuse, my response is “ What are you going to do about it..?”The moral of the quote is that entrepreneurs don’t make excuses- they just get things done
Process Innovation- As a key initiator of the moving assembly line, the company mass-produced cars faster and cheaper than other companies.I love his quote- it is very simple…….. To me what this means is if your passionate about something, you can do anything…It resonates with teachings of Jim Collins- have you read his book good to great..?
It is interesting how he shares the purpose and meaning of what he does in this quote
What you just heard is different type of entrepreneurs in different echo systems…….who had two things in common1. A Purpose / Vision and 2. They did something about.
It starts from a mind set of “that good is not enough……..you have to be great “ ..So I will tell you my story about travelling back and forth from USLesson 1. So there was a high degree of ambiguity in my house hold- so very early on life, I had build a tolerance for ambiguityLesson 2. I bought a car from some one. She did not have the title to the car so I gave her check, got the car but did not have the money in the bank- - I guess this when I learned in formally at the age of 18 what floating the funds means and importance of market researchLesson3 - I bought another car Honda accord- assuming it would not run ( that is when I understood just do a little bit of homework, take the risk and expect for the net would be there ..what I learned is to take risks and hedge your betsLesson 4- Then I wanted to purchase a duplex ..borrowing money from a friend ( I learned is how to gain someone’s trust)…5 years later I sold him that fourplex for around $100KLesson 5- my meaning and purpose in life was to hit $1MIL in net assets at the age of 25 which I did ( so very early on life , I learned a lesson of having some sort of a goal)Lesson- 6 I started two ecommerce companies before 360training and 360training took off as successful start up to a grown up company- this is when I learned sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure-7- we started with 360 with zero revenue, three employees, and three interns and passion to really make a difference in how training and education is being consumed - team work, focus and getting things done pays offLesson 7- made investments in several start ups, failed and then was able to taste success with 360training….so this victory was way more meaningful after couple of painful losses ( what I learned was persistence, focus hard work is very critical to success)Lesson 8- after 12 years of being the founder / CEO of 360training, I’ve not evolved, but I feel like I’ve revolved ….one of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned as you mature as professional and human being, that your perception and the way you see the world changes….my sense of purpose has completely changed from making more money to a much stronger purpose – “ is to develop people” to do that externally through business model and internally to 360 team members.It is a great exhilarating feeling when you see new ventures take off and how people are being developed
Now the question is what does it take to join the club….You have to be self aware of your natural talents and leverage them…..don’t try to be something you are not capable of.Speaking of Meaning and Purpose- Steve jobs said I build bicycles for the mind- it was not about money to himYou have to Define Success- Success is not about how much money we have in the bank but it’s about how many peoples’ lives we will impact. Success can be about experiencing and doing things which have never been done before……Heavy workload – you have to come up with a quick formula of what you want to optimize and what you want to compromise on People some times tell me that you are very lucky- although timing and luck plays a role, but I tell them the hard you work the luckier you get.Innovate- it is very easy to do that these days in the business world- it is boundary less …Make sure you have a plan otherwise you will get planned……………It’s all about execution ……… it is a state of mind. Again, I like to remind everyone that ………A person who sees a problem is a Human Being; a person who finds a solution is visionary; and the person who goes out and does something about it is an entrepreneur.When you come to a critical juncture in your life- you will have to decide if you are going to just come up with excuses or come up with a purpose in life and more importantly do something about it…..nike style -------------------------------------------------------------------------------There is a fine line between Leadership and Entrepreneurship- May that is some thing we can talk about next time when I am visiting Karachi.
