Grand AF!

30th April, 2023.

I get a call from Syed Imamuddin at dot 11 AM, and I'm like damn! Mohammed Ateeq Uddin was right why didn't I sleep last night? How could I sleep tho, the legacy of Head Campus Lead was passed onto me! Thank you Sumaiya Mohammad Fasiuddin and Meraj Faheem for T&T (Trust & Team).

Now back to the call, I've got "sessions" to attend, what do I do now?! Miss out on it, just because I might be a bit late. Hell no, Miss. Perfectionist! I have to be there no matter what! And yep, grabbed some cheesecake (thank you Hamdaan!), booked an auto and reached EdVenture Park 's Hardware Incubator for Builders' Sunday.

Builders' Sunday.

Syed Imamuddin , Mohammed Ateeq Uddin and Hamza Bin Abdul Mujeeb handled it like the heroes they are! Best part, super diverse audience and no blank faces! Hamza Bin Abdul Mujeeb introduces me to the crowd, I'm like whyyyy??!!! Head Campus Lead, Head Founders' Friday Lead, Executive Team Member at EdVenture Park ; the only thing that goes in my mind is "bas kardo bhai, naiiiii" BUT. Their super proud faces while introducing me, made me feel all melted and blessed. Beautiful team! Super grateful, now and forever!

A23 Orientation

Now, I get a call from Maaz Ahmed Khan stating, "Please come to HQ ASAP - Meraj Faheem ", I was like you are gone Miss. Simrah Munaza Ikram , be ready! Reached there to find out that the X-Team was introducing itself to the Cohort-A23. And I was like okay relax, my turn and I started spilling out the beans, " HCL, HFFL, AND, I am the most confused person out here, can hide my anxiety very well" - Seriously Simrah Munaza Ikram ?! Of all the things, is this what you had to tell? Cool!

Vision & Mission

Sat down, forgot my crappy intro, took out the laptop, started enjoying the session! Damn, what a vibe it was! Z BEST! Thinking if I should insert my "documented" notes? Yes, Mohammed Ateeq Uddin I wrote it all down :) I am 100% notepad girl, word and docs aren't my thing! I like it all raw, original and my way!

Coding Bootcamp --> Superpower --> The ability to create anything you thin
India --> manufacturing, service-based economy
If nobody else is doing it, I have to do it!
DNA -- identify, explore dig deeper, the one thing you can do like no one else
experiment with yourself --> luxury of time in college
doing what others say you are good at it -- bills dependency
the right ones, will not rest, the wrong ones will rest, sleep and done
sense of urgency -- 50 hours of work in 24 hours
bad enough, desperately, bad enough, obsessed
pre incubation -- north star -- direction setting
FYI -- not-based on idea -- good founders
good founders can find good ideas, but good ideas don't always find good founders
not the founder material we would like to work with
good founder -- bare minimum -- good human being
do not get married to your ideas
range -- bad to very bad
open to change
experimental, iterative, be on your toes
best time of your life -- P0 -- not a weekend project -- friend nahi, best friend
honest over being nice
room for adjustments, understanding
it takes time to get into the groove and it's fine!
give our best shot, making your parents proud
parents -- mean the best for you, but probably don't know what
do not keep them out -- help them understand -- journey becomes a lot easier
gaining their trust -- involve them genuinely
show them "your" office -- 3 offices -- HQ. CFI. SUKH.
no-invite place -- never invited, always welcomed.
_____________________________

"Vinod Khosla on How to Build the Future" (34:32)

Vision -- the everest -- to reach
CFI -- Code Literacy
THS -- a coder in every house

vision -- quantifiable
make the world a better place to live -- very vague and ambiguous
mission -- what you do to execute your vision

vision -- "ability to see"

Google -- 97, 98
First investor in google -- ram shri ram
it has potential -- quantifiable nahi hai
intuition -- backing your gut with data to validate it
strong foresight -- enhanced quality of vision
you get to imagine the "future" by living in the "future"
data point -- college project --?
microsoft's vision -- give every home a personal computer?
personal computer -- OS -- Microsoft (vs) Apple

Pirates of Silicon Valley
PARC:?
Most important attribute: "curiosity" -- always looking for answers
look for things that doesn't make sense
question everything

The chairman said, "You want xerox to consider something called mouse?!" -- changed the history for good
xerox rejected mouse -- GUI -- because that guy lacked vision -- apple took it up (+ google + microsoft)

Lever - PARC - xerox rejected (1)
HP -?
GOOGLE -?
MICROSFT - help ke naam par copied apple ka gui (designed by xerox)
APPLE - acquired (2)

investments by virtue are risky
100k to billion dollars?
positive -- google -- ram shri ram
negative -- xerox -- the guy lacked vision, futuristic & future-proof, transporting & analyzing yourself
you have to be on toes -- things are changing rapidly
how do you do it without failing, experimenting, people laughing at you, ideas that don't make sense

moral: somebody's loss was somebody's gain

apple (vs) microsoft
did apple?and microsft do it all right?

life is easy when you have someone to blame -- picaso -- copying quote

people being wrong about themselves and the nature / universe saving them
failing, making mistakes -- fine!
not having a quantifiable vision -- not fine!

LACK OF VISION:

Yahoo - $125 B

1998 - $1 M -- yahoo rejected?
2002 - $3 B | $ 5 B -- yahoo | google -- two stupid people
yahoo would have taken for 5, google would never have counter offered
2008 - Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo (a sinking ship) for $40 B -- two stupid people again

vision has to be dynamic
grand af!
small visions don't inspire people to get up and come to office

EdVENTURE PARK's vision -- "Incubating India"
initial vision -- Raising Unicorns for India

it's mandatory to change your vision over time
as you go forward, you will know more, get better
eg: google's vision?
if the vision isn't getting bigger, you are doing something wrong

Grameen Bank -- microfinance -- Md. Younus
banks -- collateral | poor -- moneylenders -- 54% - 112% / 114% -- else - bonded labour

Md. Younus -- US - Bangladesh -- entire village could not pay back $24?
when banks rejected him as well | microfinance -- interest-free -- collateral free | helping poor help themselves

Book

Microfinance can end poverty

Vikram's approach -- India's first MFI (microfinance institution) -- 17% - 22%
more than $5B given in loans?
The only microfinance in the world that raised funding

same ps -- two different people -- two different visions
falling in love with your ps

vision -- ability to see is the literal meaning of "vision"
what is ability to "see"?

Ice Cream ki bandi?
Vision 1: DIY -- rich & creamy ice creams (crapy)

vision: big -- grand, futuristic, clear, concise
Nike's vision statement -- We see a world where everybody is an athelete?

Ratnadeep -- chocolate example?
vision -- you might not see it right now -- but you have to be that crazy
to live in the future, you have to imagine it
Primary goal -- VISION OF THE FOUNDER
"Startups fail, founders don't!"

Airport example?
ratnadeep -- airport -- US -- NASA -- Neptune
if you don't go to ratnadeep you can't reach?

NIKE:
to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world (1998) --> we see a world where everybody is an athlete (present)
Build things way bigger than you -- think way ahead of you

vision: crisp and clear, short and concise

NASA:
janitor -- I help NASA launch rockets -- I am X, and I am janitor here

great people attract great people

GOOGLE: $100 B -- if every single person in the team is not alligned, Google won't reach the goal
? ? ? ? $125 B -- reached target
? ? ? ? $278.13 B -- current

bandi to 1000 crore company -- iD -- PC Mustafa
obsessed and crazy

money is a by-product

Ice Cream ki bandi?
Vision 2: to inculcate the creamy cusine in every dish (okaish)
Vision 3: ice cream for ice-breaker conversations (GTG)

how big you think, decides who you want to be

Difference between IITians and us -- type of conversations

Why Stanford?
India -- giving advices, negatives, etc.

Silicon / Stanford -- What you are building is great, how can I help you?

Difference -- Change the conversations

EdVENTURE PARK (vs) other incubators?
Brand ambassodors of each other -- sell for each other -- if we don't then who?

"CONVERSATIONS"

Quick Recap

Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs

Research what was discussed today

Live in the future, this is how you start!

Be good and fast now, you can be perfect later!
Never chase perfection!

Great people attract great people! -- you attract people like you
you are mediocre and average - that's why you are not able to find great people

be proud and tell the entire world what you are working on!
document it - let the entire world know.

over time, the dreamer in you starts?fading off
do it for yourself
not for validation, not for likes, comments and shares

by the end of night, put up your post on how it went
details - keep it very very natural - a natural tone
how did it start - how did it feel - what are you going to do about it

FUN -- you will be left with no energy -- enjoy what you are doing -- peaceful & relaxed environement

moral: HAVE LOT OF FUN!

8th cohort
very important part of the story
we are going to reach 200+ startups milestone

make proud -- community, state evetually country
the only way to go from here is "north"

anything worth doing -- friction & resistance -- maza aata!

Your announcement to the world:
"Hello World!
We have arrived!"

Leaders tell managers what to do!
Leaders - wear whatever they want
Managers - wear suits
Why be a manager when you can be a leader!

intellectual humility -- read -- people who have been there, done that -- will never know how it's supposed to be done
learn to absorb and assimilate all of that within you

accidental collisions -- there are no accidents?
This is not happening by chance

book: vikram akula        

Beautiful session Meraj Faheem , Ilyas Shah Khan and Syed Fawaz Ali ! Not lying, this was by far my best session that I attended at EdVenture Park ! Every moment that I sat in the session, I was only thanking God for choosing me to be here! How high are the stakes? Over 1.4 billion people in India, and yet God chose me to be there! Like Meraj Faheem keeps saying, "There are no accidents!"

Hey Buddy!

All the X-Team gathers around Meraj Faheem , it's time for buddies now! Didn't go there, sat in that corner thinking that do I even deserve that yet, honestly nope, I didn't. Then comes Siddiqua Begum , she tells - just come and stand there. Didn't feel like, but why not? Went and stood, only to see my name in that list! I was like what? Wow! So, relax Simrah Munaza Ikram , that's a lot of self-judgement for a day. And Siddiqua Begum was like, told ya! ANNOUNCEMENT TIME! Syeda Nishath Hussaini from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University , gonna learn a lot from you! Welcome to the new beginnings! (All good, but why the salute Meraj Faheem , everyone's giving me a salute now, whyyyyyyy!!!)

Surprise Time...!

The sessions are now over. Have to wait one more week for the next exciting one! Spoke my heart out with my Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology buddies Nuzhath Unnisa and SHAIK AFREEN , and then was waiting for Aliya Noorain to complete some unknown task, that she didn't want anyone to know. Even after having a 20-min long conversation with Mama, I still find her doing something over a paper. Best part - I am not allowed to look at it! So dumb of me, I couldn't guess it. Even after my prayer alongside Rabiya Nooreen , Aliya Noorain is still doing something in Mohammed Issam 's notebook. And now she joins with shabbir Jodhpurwala , damn what are they upto?! Now I went to the board room to find some fresh breath. Why are everyone saluting me?!! Finally, Aliya Noorain comes back. We both go to the co-working and she gives me a gift - Whyyyy Aliya Noorain , why shabbir Jodhpurwala ??!!! Thank you sooo muchhhhh!!!! That letter and jar of Ferrero Nutella will always be my favorite! These guys right, why are they so good? Ask Meraj Faheem , and he'll say - "Meri team hai :)"

FYI - For Your Information

We all get back to work quickly, the UI of FYI - For Your Information needs to be fixed! Syed Fawaz Ali for the rescue! He came, sat, understood how perplexed we were, took a pen, and started explaining the fundamentals on how to choose a brand color! Because when we went to Meraj Faheem to ask him one, he had sarcastically said, "white", and now when we asked him again; he asked, " Simrah Munaza Ikram , do you know why I like working with smart people?" - "Because I don't have to tell them what to do!" YO, gotcha!

Highlights.

Ilyas Shah Khan got an extra dabba of laddus today. Siddiqua Begum , Aliya Noorain , Huda Hajira and I, went to eat ice-cream at 麦当劳 today, my first time in India. Syed Fawaz Ali 's joke was the highlight of the day, never laughed so much in quite a long time. Aliya Noorain got me more sweet stuff to eat.

Aspiring Homepreneur.

I was telling Mama (my mom) that if EdVenture Park would have existed when she was young, Nannu (my nani) would definitely scold her for being late to home! Because so is the place, and so is the vibe! Now, the Simrah Munaza Ikram in me, can't wait until I tell my mom and brother at least something about the session! And guess what, my Mama could tell what VISION is! But how?! I also made her do the activity that Syed Fawaz Ali made Zainab Mohammed and ABDUL RAHMAN JAMEEL AHMED perform today! I was so happy to see mom enjoying it all as she listened to it! Mad respect for Mama and Hamdaan (my brother) for bearing with me all the way!

U-Nani-Mous!

Rain, rain come again, Nani and I have to visit Cafe Niloufer And Bakers again! All the way round, we were discussing our schedules and how our day went! Told her about what I do at EdVenture Park , and guess what it turned out to be U-Nani-Mous!

Morals

"Startups die, founders don't!" - Syed Fawaz Ali

"Great people attract great people!" - Meraj Faheem