11 Things I Learned From TechJuice’s Meet-up with Haseeb Awan

The writer, Uzair Ahmed, is the founder and CEO of ActiveShehri.com 

Last month TechJuice organized a meet-up with Haseeb Awan, who is the founder of BitAccess and recently graduated from the US startup accelerator Y-Combinator. The meet-up was strictly a closed one and I was one of the few lucky ones who got shortlisted for the meet-up.

Events like these have been happening for a long time and since it was the first one by TechJuice, I had a bit of high hopes. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed; from the selection of venue, mentor and attendees, to the agenda of discussion: everything was very well organized and planned. I am happy that they shortlisted the best-suited people which turned out to be very good for everyone as it gave us a chance to meet and network with relevant, like-minded people from the industry, and I personally learned a lot from the event.

Here are my 11 takeaways from the meet-up:

1. Ping at least two customers daily, no matter what your current situation is. The best thing you can do is let your customers know that you care for them and you take them seriously.
2. If you aren’t confident about what you are doing, nobody else will feel confident about you. If you are doing something, the first thing is confidence and belief. The lack of both of things is a recipe for failure.
3. Startups are like new born babies. You nourish and feed the newborns for healthy growth, the same way your startup needs special attention in the early few years.
4. Startups are all about hustle bustle. As stagnant water causes stench after sometime, startup react the same way: if you will not add something new into it, it will rot very soon.
5. When pitching an investor, be confident and passionate: sell your dream and vision to him.
6. Your employees should feel the ownership of your product and the best thing you can do is sharing a bit of equity with the early employees of the startup.
7. You are nothing without your team. Take care of your team in the best possible way.
8. Take out time every week to help your fellow entrepreneurs, try to help them in every possible way.
9. Do arrange entrepreneurs’ hangout where you share your problem and issues with other founders to get some thorough insights.
10.  Help other entrepreneurs without any vested interest; their success will give you an awesome feeling.
11. Ideas have no worth unless they are executed. Share your ideas with others, get feedback and team up with like-minded people to execute them.