Beyond the Buzz: Pakistan’s most comprehensive startup report launched

Social Innovation Lab, a social enterprise incubator, today, has launched its report ‘Beyond the Buzz: A deep dive into Pakistan‘s entrepreneurial ecosystem’. The report claims to have data gathered from over 200 startups, 22 incubators, 41 industry experts and 7 investment groups across the country.

The research put into this report is unprecedented. Sure, there have been many impact reports or analysis published in the past but Beyond the Buzz, as the name suggests, claims to not just take anything at face value. The team lead by Maryam Mohiuddin, founder of Social Innovation Lab, was in search of a meaningful data, data that can help make meaningful decisions for academia, startups, investors and the government.

The 100-page report, which goes over each aspect of the IT industry in Pakistan section by section, provides a deeper understanding of how the startup space in Pakistan is laid out. With a point by point analysis of some key factors affecting the performance of startups in industry, it hopes to dissect and uncover the secret formula towards building a successful startup. From building teams of full-time employees to having a diverse founding team, ‘Beyond the Buzz: A deep dive into Pakistan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem’ analyzes the structure of a startup against its progress and matches it with how well it was able to cope with external and internal challenges. For any entrepreneur out there who is looking to launch their own startup, ‘Beyond the Buzz‘ can be a big help in deciding the first steps to take in the startup ecosystem.

The good thing about this report is that it does not confine itself as only a report for startups. It uses the data gathered through those 200 startups, 22 incubators, 41 industry experts and 7 investment groups to delve into what the incubators and investors look for in startups. It paints a wholesome picture of the whole entrepreneurial scene of Pakistan by touching all bases and providing a closer outlook towards how all these three pillars of startup ecosystems work together.

‘Beyond the Buzz‘ also goes one step further than just quoting statistics and numbers by also providing recommendations to the key players on areas they should be improving upon to further the growth and development of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. Through quotes from industry experts and their own observations from the extensive research they have conducted, the writers have listed down some key points for startups, incubators, investors, and the government to keep in view when making decisions to take the ecosystem to new heights.

Although I do wish that there were also a couple of success stories and case studies about startups who have made their mark on the industry, ‘Beyond the Buzz‘ is a commendable effort to analyze and quantify the startup scene in Pakistan. Despite its clear focus on statistical analysis of Pakistan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, it is certainly a very interesting read and is unmatched in its scope.

How to get the report?

‘Beyond the Buzz: A deep dive into Pakistan‘s entrepreneurial ecosystem’ is currently available to purchase from Daraz.pk. It will start shipping from next week, but if you want to get your hands on an early copy and avail a 20% discount during the process, you can attend and purchase a copy on any one of its three launch events happening in National Incubation Centers located in Peshawar (27th March), Lahore (30th March) and Islamabad (3rd April). You can follow this link to register for the launch events.