In Pakistan’s growing and volatile startup marketplace, Muhammad Burhan Mirza, IT Tycoon, investor and mentor widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in Pakistan’s IT landscape has earned his reputation after counseling several IT businesses. The Co-founder of The Coach360 and Skills360 Pakistan – Muhammad Burhan Mirza has also invested in over 15 IT companies in Pakistan and UAE to boost tech and bridge the gap between two nations in terms of technological advancements.
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In a recent candid address, Burhan Mirza was asked what he’d look for in a founder. Based on Burhan’s experience in the IT industry serving as an investor and mentor, Burhan had several pointers to share that define a true founder capable of doing justice with capital investment and turning ideas into reality.
Drawing upon his personal ideology, Burhan Mirza stated the importance of having a clear and achievable vision that’ll lead the organisation towards collective success for the employees and the leadership.
“Everyone has emotions. I look for a vision.”
— Burhan Mirza
The most non-negotiable quality Burhan Mirza looks for is “clarity of vision.” because without a path it’s not possible to meet your destination. According to Burhan Mirza, most entrepreneurs confuse momentary spur with long-term clarity leading to unfulfilled missions and work satisfaction.
“Anyone you stop on the street and ask if they want to succeed will say yes,” he explains. “But the real question is: Where do you want to go — and why? If you don’t know that, I can’t back you.”
To Burhan Mirza, vision without direction is wasted effort in all acts without having an achievable goal. It’s about knowing the destination even if the path is unclear.
Burhan, continuing his thoughts about directionless vision stressed on the point about market need and the entrepreneur’s passion. In his candid address, Burhan Mirza made it clear that no product or service will sell if there aren’t buyers in the market, adding to his point regarding directionless vision.
“A great idea is useless if the market doesn’t need it.”
— Burhan Mirza
Market validation is the key step towards launching a business and investors need clarity from the founder whether they have the right product or service. Burhan added by addressing the importance of product trials and customer feedback highlighting the most underrated segment of business plans in Pakistan.
“Without a proper product trial, businesses have a 10% chance of success” Mirza said.
Continuing from market validation, Burhan Mirza talks about the importance of an honest and sincere plan, as it’s the first thing investors assess before making their mind. According to Burhan, an honest and sincere plan is based on three principles; achievable, modest and realistic.
“A good plan isn’t overly pessimistic — where you celebrate tiny wins — or blindly optimistic — where you overpromise and burn out,” he explains. “It’s based on actual numbers, actual effort, and actual understanding.”
Burhan Mirza advises against building castles in the air and stresses the importance of being grounded and true to business values and ethics.
“Don’t aim so high you freeze. Don’t aim so low you settle.”
— Burhan Mirza
Burhan Mirza strongly believes that goal setting is where most founders self sabotage their businesses by aiming too high and not being modest with their approach. While setting goals is crucial, it’s also important to be fair with yourself and your business while setting expectations. Based on Burhan’s principles, risking burnouts and being disappointed based on unachievable goals is destructive for founders looking to target growth. On the other hand, unrealistic promises shun investors, since the capital isn’t being injected to the business, it’s more focused on the founder.
Taking his point across, Burhan Mirza addresses the importance of the founder’s mindset and ideology.
“The pitch doesn’t win me over. The person does.”
— Burhan Mirza
In the end, what drives Muhammad Burhan Mirza to invest in a tech business is the founder’s mentality and thought process. Since the leader of an organisation is the founding brick in a business, it’s crucial for the founder to be flexible and firm on their belief concerning their venture. Burhan adds onto this by highlighting the fact that investors are there to provide capital and mentorship to the founder only if the visionary is on the right track, has a strong sense of business and firmly believes in their venture backed by data and product trials.
