500+ long-form conversations with the people building the future.https://muzamilhasan.com/en-ushttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-space-economys-real-wealth-is-in-the-startups-under-spacex/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-space-economys-real-wealth-is-in-the-startups-under-spacex/Muzamil reads the space-tech decade through one variable: the falling cost of reaching orbit. As that number drops, hundreds of companies and millions of jobs open up beneath the headline names.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTspacespacexstartupsinvestingcareersdeflationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/spacexs-ipo-is-a-pump-the-space-industry-is-real/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/spacexs-ipo-is-a-pump-the-space-industry-is-real/Muzamil reads the SpaceX IPO line by line: a 2 trillion dollar valuation on 18 billion in revenue and a 5 billion dollar loss, the index-fund rule that forces the buy, and why the real value is the hundred startups underneath.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTspacexipoelon-muskai-bubblestock-marketpakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-asad-mehmood-landed-mattermost-from-pakistan-before-a-levels/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-asad-mehmood-landed-mattermost-from-pakistan-before-a-levels/Asad Mehmood walked into Mattermost before he had A levels, crossed two million dollars on Upwork, and now runs a design agency from Pakistan. He sat with Muzamil to lay out the framework underneath it: become undeniably good, then become visible, then sell outcomes.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTremote-workfreelancingdesignupworkpersonal-brandaihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-illusion-of-islamic-finance-and-a-2m-ceo/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-illusion-of-islamic-finance-and-a-2m-ceo/Muzamil unpacks Pakistan's pre-budget mood — IMF pressure, a salaried class taxed five-fold in five years, freelancers in the crosshairs, and a 'shariah-compliant' bank paying its CEO two million dollars a year off the back of fiat rupees.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistanbudgetislamic-financefreelancerstaxfiathttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-22-year-old-pakistanis-road-map-to-space-by-2050/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-22-year-old-pakistanis-road-map-to-space-by-2050/Hassan Mossin, a 22-year-old Pakistani astrophysicist training with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, walks Muzamil through the next twenty-five years of space — commercial stations by 2030, a lunar base by 2032, and why the bottleneck isn't food or oxygen, it's energy.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTspaceastrophysicsfuture-of-workpakistanlunar-basespace-policyartemishttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-youtubeification-of-software/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-youtubeification-of-software/Muzamil Hasan on why AI is doing to software what YouTube did to media — deflating costs, removing gatekeepers, and shifting the moat to ideas, taste, and distribution.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTyoutubeificationaisoftwarea16zdemocratizationpersonal-branddistributionmediahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/penetrate-dont-apply-a-pakistanis-path-to-a-remote-us-job/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/penetrate-dont-apply-a-pakistanis-path-to-a-remote-us-job/Ghalib Hassam went from an unemployed electrical engineer in Nowshera to head of content at Darkroom by refusing to apply for jobs. He cold-messaged founders, worked for free, documented everything, and let the conversation move on its own.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTremote-workpakistancareer-strategylinkedinfreelancingclaudepersonal-brandmarketing-careershttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ai-is-a-highway-not-a-slot-machine-stop-trading-the-noise/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ai-is-a-highway-not-a-slot-machine-stop-trading-the-noise/A solo essay on why the 'AI is a bubble' vs 'AI changes everything' debate is a false choice — and what the railway mania, the 1929 crash, and the dot-com bust actually teach about timelines, fear, and where the real wealth gets built.Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTaitech bubbleshistoryoverseas pakistanisattention economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-giga-factory-bets-on-a-new-kind-of-rider/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-giga-factory-bets-on-a-new-kind-of-rider/EVEE CEO Saad Farrukh on why he refuses to compete with the Honda CD 70, what 50,000 scooters on Pakistani roads have taught him about batteries and after-sales, and why a 250,000-unit giga factory in Karachi is a pitch to Chinese component makers as much as it is to consumers.Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTelectric vehiclespakistan economymanufacturingenergytransportationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-startup-space-has-become-practically-meaningless/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-startup-space-has-become-practically-meaningless/Mutaher Khan, founder of Data Darbar, joins Muzamil to dissect why Pakistan's startup narrative collapsed, what VCs got wrong, why local business journalism never matured, and where AI leaves an emerging-market services economy.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan startupsventure capitalai disruptionbusiness journalismit serviceshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-ran-a-fiscal-surplus-on-petrol-not-policy/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-ran-a-fiscal-surplus-on-petrol-not-policy/Radio host and finance commentator Adeel Azhar joins Muzamil to unpack the gap between the government's headline numbers and what life actually feels like in Pakistan — the petroleum development levy as a hidden tax, the squeezing of the middle class, the eighteenth amendment, Karachi's red line, and why a younger generation no longer feels the emotional bonding to Pakistan that his did.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyfiscal policypetroleum development levyeighteenth amendmentkarachihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/solar-is-no-longer-a-novelty-in-pakistan-it-is-a-compulsion/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/solar-is-no-longer-a-novelty-in-pakistan-it-is-a-compulsion/Daniyal Siddiqui, founder and CEO of DS Group, walks through the real economics of solar in Pakistan — why industrial ROIs sit at two and a half years, what the shift from net metering to net billing actually changed, and why 2027 will be the year batteries break open the residential market.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTsolarpakistan energybatteriesnet meteringindustrial policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-rs-415-petrol-price-is-not-an-international-problem/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-rs-415-petrol-price-is-not-an-international-problem/Muzamil walks through the actual breakdown of Pakistan's Rs. 415 petrol price — why most of the latest hike is levy rather than international crude, which sectors are being shielded from tax, and why the only rational defence is to move savings into dollarised assets like solar and electric bikes.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economypetrol pricesfuel levyimfnfc awardhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-real-estate-pump-is-coming-and-its-engineered/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-real-estate-pump-is-coming-and-its-engineered/Muzamil walks through the killing of Section 7E, the IMF agreement that preceded it, and the cheap-loan scheme being pumped in alongside it — three levers converging on a real estate pump that, in his reading, will price the average Pakistani further out of land while the asset owners offload.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyreal estatetaxationimfpolicyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-country-is-energy-labor-intelligence-and-raw-material/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-country-is-energy-labor-intelligence-and-raw-material/Muzamil lays out the four-component framework he uses to read any country — energy, labor, intelligence, and raw material — and runs Pakistan, India, China, and the US through it, number by number.Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economymacroeconomicsenergyeducationraw materialshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-hybrid-system-has-run-out-of-foreign-rent/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-hybrid-system-has-run-out-of-foreign-rent/Analyst Yasir Ahmed walks Muzamil through the global re-ordering reshaping Pakistan's options — why American patronage is thinning, why Arab money is no longer free, why the hybrid regime cannot be sustained by hard power alone, and what realistically happens to the federation by 2030.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan politicsgeopoliticshybrid regimepolitical economyestablishmenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-us-iran-war-is-an-energy-war-not-an-ideological-one/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-us-iran-war-is-an-energy-war-not-an-ideological-one/Muzamil Hasan argues that the US-Iran conflict, like most great-power wars of the last fifty years, is fundamentally about energy — pipelines, oil prices, and a solar tipping point that threatens to hand China the next century.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticsenergyus-iranchinarenewable energyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-oil-price-on-your-screen-is-not-the-price-pakistan-pays/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-oil-price-on-your-screen-is-not-the-price-pakistan-pays/Energy markets analyst Osama unpacks why the headline oil price is a paper number, why Pakistan is paying a $30-40 premium on physical barrels, and why even a ceasefire will not undo the six-to-eight-month supply disruption already baked into the global system.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTenergy marketsoil pricespakistan economystrait of hormuzgeopoliticshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-im-done-pretending-to-be-apolitical-about-pakistan/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-im-done-pretending-to-be-apolitical-about-pakistan/A solo episode where Muzamil explains the two-year transition behind the camera, why he has effectively depoliticised himself, what he still believes about Imran Khan, and how he plans to cover Pakistan's politics from here on.Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistanimran khanmediapersonal brandaihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-energy-abundant-it-just-runs-a-distribution-problem/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-energy-abundant-it-just-runs-a-distribution-problem/Profit magazine's Farooq Tirmizi returns to argue that Pakistan's biggest businesses are sitting on capital with nowhere to deploy it, that the load shedding story is now distribution rather than supply, that the world is drifting into a US-versus-China war that will hit Pakistan through China's import flows, and that India-Pakistan round two is, sadly, more likely than not.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economygeopoliticsenergyus china rivalryindustrialisationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-finally-has-leverage-can-it-actually-use-it/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-finally-has-leverage-can-it-actually-use-it/Economic journalist Ali Khizar walks Muzamil through the Islamabad accord moment — why Pakistan's brokering role between Iran and the United States is different from 1971, what middle-power status actually requires, and the worst-case scenario if the talks collapse.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticspakistan economymiddle poweriranchinahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-as-a-middle-power-in-the-new-world-order/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-as-a-middle-power-in-the-new-world-order/Venture capitalist Faisal Aftab returns for a third conversation on geopolitics, walking through the fissure inside the Western alliance, the merger of the financial-technology and military-industrial complexes, and why he believes a Turkey-Pakistan-Saudi block is the most likely middle-power outcome of this cycle.Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticspakistan economymiddle powermonetary systemdigitizationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-goes-crisis-to-crisis-because-it-keeps-printing-money/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-goes-crisis-to-crisis-because-it-keeps-printing-money/Hours after the US-Iran ceasefire breaks, Yusuf M Farooq joins Muzamil to unpack what the Islamabad Accord means for Pakistan's markets, the rupee, the structural drag on growth, and why fixing Karachi is not optional.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyus iran ceasefirestock marketrupeekarachihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pessimists-sound-smart-optimists-make-money/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pessimists-sound-smart-optimists-make-money/Abdul Rehman Najam, CEO of ARN Financial Advisors, argues the worst of the oil shock is already priced into the Pakistan Stock Exchange — provided the government doesn't repeat its one historical mistake: subsidising oil through the crisis.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyoil shockstock marketinvestingmacrohttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-dollar-at-350-is-not-the-end-of-the-market/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-dollar-at-350-is-not-the-end-of-the-market/Sarmaaya founder Laeeq Ahmed joins Muzamil to unpack the $4.8 billion repayment month, why a 22.5% rupee devaluation could be bullish for 60% of KSE-100 earnings, and which Pakistani companies actually win when oil spikes, solar scales, and the grid fails.Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economystock marketinvestingenergy transitiongeopoliticshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-strait-of-hormuz-toll-is-good-politics-bad-law/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-strait-of-hormuz-toll-is-good-politics-bad-law/Yasir Abbas returns to Thought Behind Things to read the Iran-Israel-US conflict from the inside of international law: why the war has already expanded economically, why Iran's Hormuz toll plan won't survive a courtroom, why Pakistan's awkward middle position was actually played well, and why the UN is past repair.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticsiraninternational lawpakistan foreign policyunited nationshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-elite-never-had-to-deliver-thats-about-to-change/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-elite-never-had-to-deliver-thats-about-to-change/Javed Hassan returns from Fudan University to argue that Pakistan's real problem was never the absence of a civilizational past or the absence of foreign money. It was a vassal elite that never needed a social contract with its own people — and the Iran war may be the crisis that finally forces one.Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economychinamultipolar worldiran warpolitical economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-cant-build-the-llm-it-has-to-build-the-application-layer/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-cant-build-the-llm-it-has-to-build-the-application-layer/Dr. Naveed Iftikhar on why the freelancer-sweatshop model is dead, what it actually takes to keep Pakistani founders building from Pakistan, and the lie the local tech ecosystem keeps telling itself about its talent pool.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTaipakistanpolicyeducationstartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/culture-eats-ai-for-breakfast-pakistans-real-education-fix/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/culture-eats-ai-for-breakfast-pakistans-real-education-fix/Kamil Majeed, principal of Nordic International School in Lahore, on why curiosity is the prerequisite for using AI well, why Pakistan's schools reward reproduction over creation, and why values — not technology — are the scarce resource in a post-AI world.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTeducationpakistanai in educationvaluescuriosityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-21-year-old-chef-breaking-instagrams-boy-girl-ceiling/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-21-year-old-chef-breaking-instagrams-boy-girl-ceiling/Muhammad Danial — a 21-year-old chef with 1.2 million Instagram followers and videos that average two to two-and-a-half million views — talks to Muzamil about OCD, an army-family childhood, the moment he stopped posting poetry and started filming food, the cafe he is preparing to open, and why his content quietly refuses to perform activism.Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTcontent creationfoodinstagrammental healthpakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-daari-mooch-turned-a-beard-oil-bottle-into-a-3m-brand-499-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-daari-mooch-turned-a-beard-oil-bottle-into-a-3m-brand-499-tbt/Ibrahim Shaukat, founder of Daari Mooch, walks through how a Faisalabad business kid started a beard-oil brand from a UK dorm, survived a near-fatal agency hire, restructured the company, hired a CEO, and is now opening salons and pushing into 2,000 trade shops.Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTconsumer brandsd2cpakistan startupsmen's groomingretailhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-west-sold-us-a-lie-pakistan-is-the-real-opportunity-ft-asfandyar-waraich-497-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-west-sold-us-a-lie-pakistan-is-the-real-opportunity-ft-asfandyar-waraich-497-tbt/Long-form write-up coming soon. Listen in the meantime.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/six-billion-dollars-a-year-already-runs-through-salesflo-491-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/six-billion-dollars-a-year-already-runs-through-salesflo-491-tbt/Yasir Suleman Memon, founder of Salesflo, on growing up in Sindh's university towns, eight years inside Unilever, the shutter-shop garage where the company started, the closure of Jugnu, why pricing isn't the moat in enterprise SaaS, and why he is convinced Pakistan can produce a hundred-million-dollar SaaS company.Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTenterprise saasfmcgbootstrapped startuppakistan techsindhhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-kickstart-stopped-buying-buildings-and-let-landlords-pay-instead-473-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-kickstart-stopped-buying-buildings-and-let-landlords-pay-instead-473-tbt/Saad Riaz on how Kickstart went from forty desks in a scrappy room to over six thousand desks across three cities, why the entire growth model now runs on landlord partnerships, and why corporates — not startups — are the customer that built this industry.Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTcoworkingreal estatepakistan businessmanaged officeslandlord partnershipshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dipitt-got-onto-shelves-in-33-countries-467-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dipitt-got-onto-shelves-in-33-countries-467-tbt/Dipitt founder Syed Zeeshan Haider walks Muzamil through leaving Philip Morris on a hunch, selling out at Karachi Eat, building a national sauce brand from a Karachi kitchen, and using the COVID supply-chain gap to land Dipitt in Tesco, Asda and 33 other export markets.Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTconsumer brandspakistan exportsfood and beverageentrepreneurshipendeavor pakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dayyan-atif-lost-10000-indian-followers-in-one-day-465-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dayyan-atif-lost-10000-indian-followers-in-one-day-465-tbt/At sixteen, Dayyan Atif has done what Pakistani comedy has struggled to do for a decade: sell out a cinema, mainstream a stand-up brand, and survive a one-post loss of 10,000 Indian followers without softening his voice.Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTcomedystand-uppakistancreator economygen zhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-stock-market-will-double-but-the-onboarding-is-broken-464-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-stock-market-will-double-but-the-onboarding-is-broken-464-tbt/Ali Farid Khwaja, chairman of KTrade, returns to TBT to explain why Pakistan's stock market is the best-performing in the region, why only 400,000 Pakistanis are invested in it, and why the journey to open a brokerage account still takes a week.Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTpakistan stock marketktradecapital formationipostartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-sannan-saleh-left-paramount-to-make-reels-in-lahore-463-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-sannan-saleh-left-paramount-to-make-reels-in-lahore-463-tbt/Filmmaker and creator Sannan Saleh on why he walked away from a Paramount job in LA, why Pakistan's drama industry is solving the wrong bottleneck, and why a phone in a small room can now do what a Mercedes-only production house cannot.Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTfilmmakingcontent creatorspakistani mediainstagram reelsstorytellinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-actors-cant-pay-rent-on-a-drama-paycheck-462-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-actors-cant-pay-rent-on-a-drama-paycheck-462-tbt/Sikandar and Moiz Nawaz walk Muzamil through a path from Androon Lahore to NCA, the madrassa years, the actual economics of Pakistani drama, the Instagram playbook that built their following, and why the brothers refuse to treat reels as an end state.Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTpakistani entertainmentdrama industrycontent creationinstagram reelsncahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-next-unicorn-ships-from-a-warehouse-not-a-website-461-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-next-unicorn-ships-from-a-warehouse-not-a-website-461-tbt/Arif Iqbal, founder and CEO of LAM, returns to break down how a Pakistani fashion marketplace ships to 7,500 cities in 100 countries — and why the real product underneath is logistics, warehousing, and an e-commerce infrastructure called Octane that any small Pakistani business can plug into.Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTe-commercelogisticsexportspakistan startupsmarketplaceshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/abbas-bukhari-comedy-cant-be-learned-youre-born-with-it-460-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/abbas-bukhari-comedy-cant-be-learned-youre-born-with-it-460-tbt/Comedian and content creator Abbas Bukhari on growing up in Jhang as the only son among three sisters, unlearning entitlement through parliamentary debate, building a 718,000-strong reels audience by accident, and why he is now willing to take a revenue hit to put his real bet on stand-up.Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTcomedystand-upcontent creationpakistancreator economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/if-youre-mega-ambitious-stay-home-and-build-459-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/if-youre-mega-ambitious-stay-home-and-build-459-tbt/Colabs CEO Omar Shah on why coworking quietly works in Pakistan even as WeWork collapsed globally, what Abraaj actually taught him about scaling, why Saudi is now the bigger prize, and where the local consumer wall really sits.Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTcoworkingpakistan startupssaudi arabiaweworkreal estatehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-western-wear-market-is-the-next-5b-prize-458-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-western-wear-market-is-the-next-5b-prize-458-tbt/Fitted founder Muneeb Zafar walks through eight years of bootstrapping a dress-shirt brand from a 500,000-rupee start to 1,500 products a day — and why the western wear market in Pakistan is about to do something it has never done before.Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTfashionpakistan economyecommercebootstrapped businessretailhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-can-add-9-8-billion-to-agri-exports-without-leaving-home-457-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-can-add-9-8-billion-to-agri-exports-without-leaving-home-457-tbt/Jawwad of AgriLift and Salar of FFC sit down with Muzamil to dismantle the easy story about Pakistani agriculture: water isn't really the problem, the ārhti isn't really the villain, and the gap between what Pakistan grows and what its best farmers already grow is worth roughly $9.8 billion a year in additional exports.Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTagriculturepakistan economyagritechendeavor pakistanfertilizerhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-electric-scooter-winner-isnt-selling-to-bike-owners-456-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-electric-scooter-winner-isnt-selling-to-bike-owners-456-tbt/Saad Farrukh, CEO of Evee, walks Muzamil through the journey from a 200-square-foot McLeod Road spare-parts shop to leading Pakistan's electric two-wheeler market — why scooters and not bikes, why women and the elderly are the real growth, and why every major VC in the country said no.Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTelectric vehiclespakistan startupsmanufacturingeveeendeavor pakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-a-sahiwal-kid-built-pakistans-largest-e-commerce-logistics-company-455-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-a-sahiwal-kid-built-pakistans-largest-e-commerce-logistics-company-455-tbt/PostEx co-founder Omer Khan walks Muzamil through the chartered-accountancy-to-Dubai-sales journey that led to PostEx, why the company runs its own logistics rather than outsourcing, how its hybrid fintech model actually works, and why he refuses to set a ceiling at "regional leader".Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTlogisticsfintechpakistan startupse-commercefounder journeyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-priceoye-sells-you-a-500-phone-before-a-5-t-shirt-454-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-priceoye-sells-you-a-500-phone-before-a-5-t-shirt-454-tbt/PriceOye co-founder Adnan Shaffi on selling web hosting in the seventh grade, why e-commerce in Pakistan had to start with the hardest category, what a managed marketplace actually fixes, and why he is still building on a Pakistani passport.Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTe-commercepakistan startupspriceoyeconsumer internetventure capitalhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-yango-bet-on-pakistan-when-everyone-else-was-leaving-452-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-yango-bet-on-pakistan-when-everyone-else-was-leaving-452-tbt/Miral Sharif, general manager of Yango Pakistan, on launching a ride-hailing business two days before May 9, why sustainable growth from day one was the brief, and how mobility quietly stopped being a luxury and became infrastructure.Mon, 08 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTride hailingpakistan startupsyangomobilitywomen in leadershiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-needs-an-inclusive-university-not-another-elite-one-451-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-needs-an-inclusive-university-not-another-elite-one-451-tbt/Jahanzeb Burana, co-founder of the National Institute of Technology — Pakistan's first university powered by Arizona State University — on why higher education here has been chasing the wrong model, what it actually takes to bring an American university to Pakistan, and why mindset will matter more than content in an AI-shaped job market.Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThigher educationpakistanarizona state universityai and educationservices exportshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-two-real-university-problems-are-governance-and-quality-450-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-two-real-university-problems-are-governance-and-quality-450-tbt/HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed walks Muzamil through the real numbers behind Pakistan's higher education system — where access stands, how gender parity flipped, why he refuses to blame money, and what the shift from impact factor to impact looks like inside the universities.Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThigher educationpakistan educationhecresearch policygender parityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-netflix-isnt-really-competing-for-pakistan-449-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-netflix-isnt-really-competing-for-pakistan-449-tbt/Jonathan Mark, co-founder of begin.watch, explains why the big global streamers have left Pakistan as a dark market, how he locked premium Hollywood deals at a tenth of the price, and why sports — not dramas — is the wedge to build a streaming business in a piracy-heavy economy.Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTstreamingpakistan mediasports rightspiracystartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-croatian-chief-people-officer-learned-about-pakistani-talent-448-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-croatian-chief-people-officer-learned-about-pakistani-talent-448-tbt/Ivana Bajamic, chief people officer at National Foods, on running HR for a fifty-five-year-old Pakistani exporter from Dubai — what the local talent actually has, what it is missing, and why the future is decided one talent-review conversation at a time.Wed, 25 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTpakistani talenthr leadershipnational foodsexportsbrain drainhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/punjabs-budget-is-finally-spending-on-people-not-just-roads-447-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/punjabs-budget-is-finally-spending-on-people-not-just-roads-447-tbt/Punjab senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb walks Muzamil through the 2025-26 provincial budget — why the headline number sits on health and education for the first time, how the eighteenth amendment changed what a province is allowed to do, and what it took to keep Pakistan out of default in 2023.Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTpunjab budgetpublic policyeducationhealthclimatehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-stock-market-is-the-wealth-engine-no-one-trusts-446-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-stock-market-is-the-wealth-engine-no-one-trusts-446-tbt/Abdul Rehman Najam, founder of ARN Financials, walks Muzamil through a decade of teaching himself how to invest the Warren Buffett way in Pakistan — why the local stock market has outperformed almost every other asset class, why nobody believes it, and how an ordinary saver can actually use it.Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTinvestingpakistan stock exchangepersonal financevalue investingwealth buildinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistanis-think-too-small-and-the-language-barrier-is-the-smallest-part-445-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistanis-think-too-small-and-the-language-barrier-is-the-smallest-part-445-tbt/Qumber Hussain, founder of Virtue Solutions, walks Muzamil through how a mass-communication graduate with no money and no business background built a 175-person marketing-technology company servicing Saudi, the US, Canada and Europe — and why the real barrier for Pakistani talent going global is not English, it is the size of the pond they were raised in.Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTservices exportspakistan economyentrepreneurshipmarketingmentorshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-byd-priced-its-pakistan-launch-under-the-hybrid-competition-444-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-byd-priced-its-pakistan-launch-under-the-hybrid-competition-444-tbt/Danish Khaliq, VP of sales and strategy at Mega Motor Company, explains why BYD launched in Pakistan at 8.99 million rupees as a fully imported unit, what that does to the running-cost math against a petrol SUV, and the policy turbulence sitting on the horizon.Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTelectric vehiclesbydpakistan auto industryenergy policyfuel importshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/half-the-price-of-a-fortuner-in-pakistan-is-tax-443-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/half-the-price-of-a-fortuner-in-pakistan-is-tax-443-tbt/Ali Asghar Jamali, CEO of Indus Motor Company, walks through the real cost structure of a car built in Pakistan — what the government takes, what gets localised, why auto financing collapsed, and why electric vehicles are not the macroeconomic silver bullet most people assume they are.Fri, 23 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyautomotive industrytaxationindustrial policyelectric vehicleshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/south-asia-will-spearhead-the-next-era-if-it-learns-to-communicate-442-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/south-asia-will-spearhead-the-next-era-if-it-learns-to-communicate-442-tbt/Adelaide-based cybersecurity strategist Shahyan Shabbir on why data — not AI — is the real wedge, why South Asian talent will lead the next era of services, and what an Australian client actually needs to see before they wire money to Pakistan.Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTit exportscybersecuritydata and aiaustraliaservices exportshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ai-will-not-kill-jobs-it-will-kill-the-people-who-dont-use-ai-441-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ai-will-not-kill-jobs-it-will-kill-the-people-who-dont-use-ai-441-tbt/Software agency founder Zeeshan Sikandar walks Muzamil through the climb from a 6,000-rupee filing job to a million-dollar ARR services company — and why the next leg requires sitting in San Francisco, not refreshing Fiverr.Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTpakistan techsoftware agencyai toolingfreelancinggenerative aihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-shajee-aijazi-left-autodesk-to-start-a-design-consultancy-440-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-shajee-aijazi-left-autodesk-to-start-a-design-consultancy-440-tbt/Shajee Aijazi spent a decade in UX design, most recently as a senior lead designer on Maya at Autodesk. Three weeks before this conversation he walked away to start his own consultancy. He and Muzamil work through what UX actually is, what AI is and isn't replacing, how a non-technical Pakistani should break in, and why he's spent close to eighty thousand dollars on his own learning.Thu, 08 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTux designcareersai and workpakistan techfreelancinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/out-of-100-applicants-ibex-hires-two-and-that-is-the-problem-439-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/out-of-100-applicants-ibex-hires-two-and-that-is-the-problem-439-tbt/Yasir Rafiq, head of recruitment at Ibex — Pakistan's largest BPO — walks Muzamil through why fifty lakh young Pakistanis enter the job market every year and almost none of them can hold a conversation in English, why COVID was the boom that finally cracked the country open to global clients, and what India did in the nineties that Pakistan still has not done.Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTbpopakistan economyservices exportibexyouth employmenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-ronins-founder-bet-on-a-pakistan-built-consumer-brand-438-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-ronins-founder-bet-on-a-pakistan-built-consumer-brand-438-tbt/Jahangir Munawar, founder and CEO of Ronin, walks Muzamil through the journey from a CA dropout running a mobile shop to manufacturing six million consumer electronics devices a year in Pakistan — and why he refuses to move the business abroad.Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTmanufacturingpakistan economyconsumer electronicsentrepreneurshipbootstrappinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-businesses-are-one-exploit-away-from-going-to-zero-437-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-businesses-are-one-exploit-away-from-going-to-zero-437-tbt/Muhammad Zayn — one of the youngest CISSP-certified professionals in Pakistan — walks through what cybersecurity actually means for small and medium enterprises, why on-premise data storage often beats the cloud on cost, and what really happens when a production house loses years of work to a corrupted firmware.Fri, 07 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTcybersecuritydata storagepakistan smessynologyransomwarehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-bat-wont-just-stop-selling-cigarettes-436-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-bat-wont-just-stop-selling-cigarettes-436-tbt/BAT's Chief Operating Officer Johann van der Muilen sits down with Muzamil to explain the company's smokeless transformation, why pulling cigarettes off the shelf would hand the market to illicit traders, and what Pakistan stands to gain from a more regulated, less risky nicotine industry.Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTtobacco harm reductionpakistan economymultinationals in pakistanillicit tradeexportshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-students-can-read-english-they-cannot-speak-it-435-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-students-can-read-english-they-cannot-speak-it-435-tbt/Dr. Sonia Irum, who teaches English literature at the International Islamic University and heads its alumni department, on why Pakistani graduates can read and write English but freeze when asked to speak it, what five years in the UK actually changes, and why a real book-reading culture in Pakistan will need to be packaged through influencers before it lands with the masses.Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTeducationenglish languagepakistani graduatesinternational exposurealumni networkshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-nstp-is-the-only-science-park-in-pakistan-that-actually-works-434-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-nstp-is-the-only-science-park-in-pakistan-that-actually-works-434-tbt/Yaruq Nadeem of the National Science and Technology Park at NUST explains what a science park actually is, why it is different from an incubator or an IT park, the startups inside that are scaling internationally, and where Pakistani founders consistently fail at commercialisation.Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTstartupspakistan techinnovationnstpcommercialisationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-most-pakistani-real-estate-is-a-dead-investment-433-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-most-pakistani-real-estate-is-a-dead-investment-433-tbt/Fahad Lone is building Pakistan's first large-scale resort in the Galyat. He walks Muzamil through why horizontal land plots are not productive real estate, how he engineered heating and water systems for a building that has to work in snowfall, and the financial model that pays apartment owners off the entire pool of revenue — not just room rent.Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTreal estatetourismpakistan economynorthern areashousing policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-brick-and-mortar-will-never-bank-pakistans-other-100-million-432-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-brick-and-mortar-will-never-bank-pakistans-other-100-million-432-tbt/EasyPaisa chairman Irfan Wahab Khan joins Muzamil to explain why traditional banks cannot close Pakistan's 100-million-person banking gap, what changes now that EasyPaisa holds a digital retail banking licence, and where credit scoring, cross-border wallets and tokenisation actually fit in.Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTfintechdigital bankingeasypaisafinancial inclusionpakistan economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-iffi-wala-is-killing-the-bpo-model-for-pakistani-talent-431-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-iffi-wala-is-killing-the-bpo-model-for-pakistani-talent-431-tbt/Iffi Wala, founder of Edge, sits down with Muzamil to walk through how a non-tech hiring platform built in Northern California ended up creating close to a thousand jobs in Pakistan, why he refuses to call any of it outsourcing, and what 14 million dollars of salary inflow actually does on the ground.Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTremote workglobal hiringpakistan economynon-tech talentbrain drainhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/if-you-dont-shackle-the-leviathan-it-eats-you-up-430-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/if-you-dont-shackle-the-leviathan-it-eats-you-up-430-tbt/Economist and legal-reform researcher Sultan Mehmood walks through Pakistan's 26th amendment, the real history of the lawyers' movement, why repression is a sign of weakness, and what a focal point for change actually looks like.Thu, 09 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTjudiciary26th amendmentlawyers movementpakistan politicsrule of lawhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dubai-is-not-banning-pakistanis-pakistanis-are-getting-themselves-banned-429-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dubai-is-not-banning-pakistanis-pakistanis-are-getting-themselves-banned-429-tbt/Dubai-based business setup and immigration consultant Asim Swati walks Muzamil through what is actually happening to Pakistani visas in the UAE — why there is no formal ban, why families are getting rejected, why agents are 80 percent of the problem, and why the long-term fix sits inside Pakistani homes rather than inside UAE policy.Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTuaedubaiimmigrationpakistan economylabour migrationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-banking-in-pakistan-is-mostly-a-rebrand-428-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-banking-in-pakistan-is-mostly-a-rebrand-428-tbt/Chartered accountant Qanit Khalilullah sits down with Muzamil to argue that Pakistan's push toward Islamic banking by 2028 is largely a rebrand, and to walk through what an actually Islamic economy would look like — zakat and ushr as the primary fiscal tools, cash transfers to the poor instead of bloated ministries, and a full-reserve banking system that takes money creation away from private banks.Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTislamic financeislamic bankingpakistan economyzakatfull reserve bankinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/faisal-aftab-the-1971-system-is-over-and-pakistan-is-mispriced-427-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/faisal-aftab-the-1971-system-is-over-and-pakistan-is-mispriced-427-tbt/Venture capitalist and Shark Tank Pakistan judge Faisal Aftab on why the post-1971 monetary order ended in 2021, why entrepreneurship has stopped being optional, and why the next decade rewards the people willing to throw out their parents' playbook.Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTventure capitalpakistan economyshark tank pakistanai disruptionbitcoinhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/inside-bangladeshs-revolution-told-by-a-dhaka-university-student-426-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/inside-bangladeshs-revolution-told-by-a-dhaka-university-student-426-tbt/Mamunur Rashid, a 22-year-old psychology student at Dhaka University, walks Muzamil through the summer of 2024 in Bangladesh — from a quota reform protest to a one-point demand, an internet shutdown, an army that refused to fire, and the morning Sheikh Hasina left the country.Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTbangladeshsouth asiastudent movementsheikh hasinapakistan bangladeshhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-uae-stopped-giving-pakistanis-visas-425-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-uae-stopped-giving-pakistanis-visas-425-tbt/Dubai-based business setup consultant Owais Barlas explains why UAE visa approvals for Pakistanis have collapsed — banned cities, the azaad visa myth, agent-driven scams — and turns the conversation into something larger: why the people who could leave never even try.Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMTuaedubaiimmigrationoverseas pakistanisvisa policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-still-stuck-in-primary-school-on-its-economy-424-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-still-stuck-in-primary-school-on-its-economy-424-tbt/Muhammad Ali Tabba, chairman of Lucky Cement and one of the senior figures behind the Lucky Group, walks Muzamil through how a 1962 trading house in Karachi became one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Pakistan, and why he thinks the country's economic problems are simple but politically uncomfortable to fix.Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economylucky groupmanufacturingfamily businessexportshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-system-isnt-broken-it-was-built-to-extract-423-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-system-isnt-broken-it-was-built-to-extract-423-tbt/Energy researcher and systems thinker Saeed Afridi argues that Pakistan's governing apparatus is doing exactly what it was designed to do: extract. Calling it a democracy doesn't change the colonial wiring underneath.Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistangovernancepolitical economycolonialismsystems thinkinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-exports-wont-scale-on-cheap-labour-anymore-422-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-exports-wont-scale-on-cheap-labour-anymore-422-tbt/Sy Ventures managing partner Ahsan Jamil on why Pakistan's first startup wave broke on weak technology foundations, why his fund invests local rupee capital into export-focused B2B companies, and why the path to scaling IT exports runs through Fortune 1,000 problem-solving, not headcount arbitrage.Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyit exportsventure capitalaistartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-army-finally-lost-pakistans-middle-class-421-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-army-finally-lost-pakistans-middle-class-421-tbt/Political economist Niaz Murtaza walks Muzamil through the rupture that has broken the old order in Pakistan — the end of the American aid model, the breakdown of PPP–PMLN patronage, and the moment the middle class stopped supporting the establishment.Fri, 11 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan politicspolitical economycivil military relationsmiddle classjudicial reformhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-identity-is-not-a-product-of-our-organic-history-420-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-identity-is-not-a-product-of-our-organic-history-420-tbt/Shershah Khan returns to Thought Behind Things to argue that the modern Pakistani identity was imposed on us, that the 1950s constitutional debate was the country's most productive intellectual moment, and that the country's real problem is the organising power of the modern state itself.Wed, 09 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistani identitymuslim modernismnation stateislamic philosophyhistoryhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-on-a-knife-edge-and-a-planned-default-beats-a-forced-one-419-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-on-a-knife-edge-and-a-planned-default-beats-a-forced-one-419-tbt/Former World Bank lead economist Sanjay Kathuria argues Pakistan's debt arithmetic does not add up, that an orderly restructuring is the least painful path left, and that the crisis is the only window in which the country's elite capture can be broken.Sat, 05 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydebt restructuringimfsouth asiasri lankahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-stuck-in-cotton-while-the-world-has-moved-on-418-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-stuck-in-cotton-while-the-world-has-moved-on-418-tbt/Interloop chairman Mussadiq Zulqarnain on raising 9.35 million rupees in 1992 to start a socks factory, becoming the world's number one sock manufacturer, why Pakistan confuses textiles with apparel, and what a deindustrialising country still has going for it.Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTtextilesexportspakistan economyindustrialisationenergy policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/zulfi-bukhari-pakistan-is-under-a-soft-martial-law-417-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/zulfi-bukhari-pakistan-is-under-a-soft-martial-law-417-tbt/Former minister and PTI international affairs lead Zulfi Bukhari argues Pakistan is being run as a soft martial law behind a thin democratic veneer, breaks down why the February election outcome was structurally — not marginally — incorrect, and explains why the only negotiation PTI will sit at is one that begins with fresh elections.Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan politicsptiimran khancivil-military relationselection 2024https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-and-conventional-banks-have-the-same-bottom-line-416-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-and-conventional-banks-have-the-same-bottom-line-416-tbt/Dr Humayon Dar walks through the architecture of Islamic banking — what a Shariah board actually does, why the products are economically identical to conventional ones, why fiat is not the villain, and where the line between integration and surrender sits.Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTislamic financeislamic bankingribapakistan economyfiat currencyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/russia-china-and-the-world-pakistan-keeps-misreading-415-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/russia-china-and-the-world-pakistan-keeps-misreading-415-tbt/Dr. Muhammad Ali Ehsan, joining from Russia, walks Muzamil through a changing world order — the resurgence of Russia, the long bet of China, the erosion of American moral credibility, and why Pakistan keeps choosing the worst seat at every table.Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticsrussiachinapakistan foreign policybricshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-sliding-into-chaos-the-only-exit-is-a-third-republic-414-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-sliding-into-chaos-the-only-exit-is-a-third-republic-414-tbt/Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Zubair — former chief economist of Pakistan's Planning Commission and a twenty-two-year lead economist at the Islamic Development Bank — argues that Pakistan is trapped in a deepening chaotic system, and that the only sustainable exit is a third republic built on debt restructuring, a competitive market economy, and a renegotiated social contract.Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydebt restructuringmacroeconomicsthird republicstructural reformshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-banking-is-an-oxymoron-says-harris-irfan-413-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-banking-is-an-oxymoron-says-harris-irfan-413-tbt/Former Deutsche Bank Islamic finance head Harris Irfan tells Muzamil why Islamic banking is a contradiction in terms, why fiat money is the great evil of the modern era, and why he now considers Bitcoin the most ethical form of money ever invented.Fri, 13 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTislamic financebitcoinfiat moneypakistan economyribahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-problem-isnt-debt-its-that-the-inflows-have-dried-up-412-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-problem-isnt-debt-its-that-the-inflows-have-dried-up-412-tbt/Muzammil Aslam — adviser to the KP chief minister on finance and inter-provincial coordination — sits with Muzamil to argue that Pakistan's economy is not failing because the debt stock is too large. It is failing because the receipts that used to service that debt have stopped arriving. The diagnosis is unsentimental, and the prescriptions are uncomfortable for the federal government he is criticising.Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydebtimfkp financeippshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-selling-its-crown-jewels-at-throwaway-prices-411-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-selling-its-crown-jewels-at-throwaway-prices-411-tbt/Finance journalist Ali Khizar walks through Pakistan's debt trap, the IMF stalemate, why China and Saudi Arabia have gone quiet, and the cost of trading Reko Diq copper for short-term dollars.Fri, 06 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydebt restructuringimfreko diqippshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/we-have-killed-hope-the-nishat-ceo-on-pakistans-broken-engine-410-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/we-have-killed-hope-the-nishat-ceo-on-pakistans-broken-engine-410-tbt/Shahzad Saleem — founder and CEO of Nishat Chunian Limited, Pakistan's fourth-largest textile group — argues that the current mix of a 20 percent policy rate, a controlled rupee, revenue-based taxation and a vilified IPP sector has pushed many Pakistani businesses into irreversible decline, and that the only way out begins with simplifying tax, shrinking government, restructuring debt and giving the ninety percent a fighting chance at education.Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economytextile industryipp contractstax reforminterest rateshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-economics-is-the-polar-opposite-of-capitalism-409-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/islamic-economics-is-the-polar-opposite-of-capitalism-409-tbt/Dr Asad Zaman returns to argue that Islamic economics is not a shaded version of capitalism but its polar opposite — built on community rather than the individual, service rather than profit, and self-sufficiency rather than dependence.Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTislamic economicscapitalismpakistan economycurrencycommunityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-will-outgrow-its-government-not-be-saved-by-it-408-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-will-outgrow-its-government-not-be-saved-by-it-408-tbt/Farooq Tirmizi argues Pakistan's bull case does not depend on a perfect leader, foreign bailouts, or structural reform — the math is already in motion through demographics, literacy, and household savings. Muzamil pushes back on every link in the chain.Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydemographicsbull casemacroliteracyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-ruling-system-has-fire-under-its-feet-407-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-ruling-system-has-fire-under-its-feet-407-tbt/Oxford political economist Adeel Malik unpacks why Pakistan's elite-capture system is finally cracking — the geopolitical squeeze that keeps it on a leash, the social contract that never got written, and the eastward shift the country keeps refusing to own.Fri, 09 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTpolitical economypakistangeopoliticselite capturesocial contracthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/default-is-a-choice-inside-pakistans-26-billion-debt-squeeze-406-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/default-is-a-choice-inside-pakistans-26-billion-debt-squeeze-406-tbt/Economist Ahmed Jamal Pirzada walks Muzamil through the arithmetic of Pakistan's external debt — why the rollover game can only run for so long, why default is a policy choice rather than an accident, and why the country has to pick between choking the economy and changing what it produces.Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyexternal debtimfmonetary policyreformhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-avanceon-now-charges-a-premium-for-being-in-pakistan-405-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-avanceon-now-charges-a-premium-for-being-in-pakistan-405-tbt/Bakhtiar Wain, founder and CEO of Avanceon, walks Muzamil through thirty years of building a Pakistani industrial automation business — from importing IBM-compatible computers in the late eighties to a $100 million order target across Pakistan, the Middle East, Africa, and the US.Fri, 02 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTindustrial automationpakistan industryfounder storyipocloudhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-will-outgrow-its-government-not-fix-it-404-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-will-outgrow-its-government-not-fix-it-404-tbt/Farooq Tirmizi argues Pakistan's bull case rests on indicators the government cannot break — falling fertility, rising literacy, and a banking system that will eventually refinance the foreign debt in rupees.Mon, 08 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economycapacity paymentsdemographicsfiscal deficitemigrationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-in-coercive-economic-diplomacy-and-the-elite-has-no-foresight-403-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-in-coercive-economic-diplomacy-and-the-elite-has-no-foresight-403-tbt/Oxford political economist Adeel Malik sits with Muzamil to map the cracks in Pakistan's ruling system — why the old indirect-rule structure is breaking, why the country is being held in strategic suspension, and why the most important failure is intellectual, not economic.Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistanpolitical economygeopoliticselite capturesocial contracthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/default-is-a-choice-and-pakistan-keeps-choosing-to-choke-instead-402-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/default-is-a-choice-and-pakistan-keeps-choosing-to-choke-instead-402-tbt/Bristol economist Ahmad Jamal Pirzada walks through the arithmetic of Pakistan's external debt, why restructuring is effectively default with better optics, why three decades of similar reforms left Pakistan, India and Bangladesh on three different trajectories, and why the IMF's growth projections keep flattering the books.Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economydebt restructuringimfmonetary policyproductivityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-exports-lose-at-the-shelf-not-the-field-401-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-exports-lose-at-the-shelf-not-the-field-401-tbt/MacPac Films managing director Ehtesham Maqbool Elahi on a forty-year packaging journey, surviving a fire that wiped out thirty years of work, the patent that killed bioplastic, and why Pakistani exports keep losing on the shelf instead of the field.Fri, 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyexportsmanufacturingpackagingfamily businesshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-400-episodes-taught-me-about-pakistans-podcast-peak/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-400-episodes-taught-me-about-pakistans-podcast-peak/A solo 400th episode where Muzamil closes out season four — the numbers behind the show, the McDonaldisation of podcast production, why the Imran Khan episode was both a blessing and a curse, and why he thinks Pakistani podcasting already hit its peak in December 2023.Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTpodcastingpakistan mediathought behind thingscreator economyseason finalehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-banker-of-twenty-years-built-a-landscaping-company-and-a-fashion-label/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-banker-of-twenty-years-built-a-landscaping-company-and-a-fashion-label/After two decades in investment and hardcore banking, Mohsin Ahsan runs a Dubai-based landscaping and swimming-pool construction business and a Lahore-born fashion label called Nooriya. He explains why he refused the easy path of advisory, why he keeps building for Pakistan from Dubai, and why customer trust is the only moat that matters.Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshipfashionbankingdubaipakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/nobody-had-ever-displaced-a-number-one-in-classifieds/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/nobody-had-ever-displaced-a-number-one-in-classifieds/Dubizzle Group CEO Haider Ali Khan on coming home from fifteen years of hardware engineering in Austin, walking into a three-person Bayut office while Dubizzle owned the market, why Zameen had to build a logistics business before it could build a classifieds business, and why he believes the next decade in this region looks like a hockey-stick — not a capital flight.Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTdubizzlebayutzameenclassifiedspakistan startupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-creators-cant-afford-to-take-a-risk/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-creators-cant-afford-to-take-a-risk/Bekaar Films co-founder Ghazanfer Jaffery on growing up in North Carolina, coming back to Karachi, the move to Dubai, raising a son in public, and the real reason Pakistan has no web-series industry.Fri, 12 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTbekaar filmspakistani creatorsweb seriesdiasporadubaihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-web-series-cant-get-past-the-campaign-cycle/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-web-series-cant-get-past-the-campaign-cycle/Bekaar Films co-founder Sami Rehman on the medical-to-film detour, why a Ferrell Williams cover got them their first viral hit before the wines did, what brands keep getting wrong about long-form content, and why 2022–2023 was a free fall for the Pakistani creator economy.Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistani contentweb seriesbekaar filmscreator economymedia industryhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-growth-is-flatlining-and-the-policy-is-making-it-worse/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-growth-is-flatlining-and-the-policy-is-making-it-worse/Syed Ahmad returns to TBT — recorded at the Dubai studio — to walk through what the IT industry actually looks like from the inside: flat growth, a brain drain the country can't yet replace, a tax regime that punishes the companies trying to do things right, and a special technology zones programme he helped design that he now believes is being quietly hollowed out.Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistan it industryit exportstechnology policyspecial technology zonesbrain drainhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-creators-are-competing-with-each-other-not-the-world/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistani-creators-are-competing-with-each-other-not-the-world/Ali Sufian Wasif — one of Pakistan's oldest internet creators, now based in Dubai — on the army-public-school childhood across four countries, what it took to move countries alone at twenty, why he killed his sketch-comedy persona for a deadpan podcast format, and the long arc of Pakistani content that competes only with itself.Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTpakistani internetcreator economycomedydiasporadubaihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-does-not-have-240-million-customers-and-we-made-that-number-up/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-does-not-have-240-million-customers-and-we-made-that-number-up/Raza Matin — founder of PayPro, Brandverse, and Chikoo, and the man who helped get YouTube unbanned in Pakistan — on why the 240 million people pitch was deliberately constructed at Google, why technology in Pakistan is mostly parasitic, and what it actually takes to digitize a small retailer's business.Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistan startupsfintechecommerceretail digitizationgooglehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-youth-is-in-a-stubborn-rage-and-thats-dangerous/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-youth-is-in-a-stubborn-rage-and-thats-dangerous/Nabeel Qadeer returns to TBT after a year on the road — eighty-plus universities, skill centres across Pakistan, and an unvarnished read on what the country's twenty-two-year-olds are actually feeling. The conversation is honest about hopelessness, sharp on why the startup-and-VC story is the wrong story for Pakistan, and ends with a case for going out, learning, and coming back.Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyyouthbrain drainstartupsvocational traininghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/most-seo-in-pakistan-is-quackery-and-ai-will-expose-it/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/most-seo-in-pakistan-is-quackery-and-ai-will-expose-it/Salman Baig — head of SEO for Daraz across five South Asian markets and a thirteen-year veteran of the industry — explains why most SEO advice is quackery, how Google actually reads a page, and why the AI shift will wipe out the people who only know the checklist.Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTseosearch enginesai and searchnatural language processingecommercehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/mina-salman-built-bagallery-from-her-couch-then-learned-how-funding-really-works/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/mina-salman-built-bagallery-from-her-couch-then-learned-how-funding-really-works/Bagallery founder Mina Salman walks through the unglamorous middle of her story — a Wix site she calls pathetic, a one-day exhibition that lost money, two funding rounds totalling five million dollars, and the moment the Pakistani startup bubble burst and forced her to relearn what a business is for.Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTstartupsventure capitale-commercepakistanbeauty and fashionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/nabeel-durrani-my-mother-told-me-if-you-fail-dont-come-back-389-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/nabeel-durrani-my-mother-told-me-if-you-fail-dont-come-back-389-tbt/Nabeel Durrani left Peshawar for Australia in 2009 with a sealed envelope, no contacts, and one semester of fees paid. Fifteen years later he holds a PhD in AI and works on autonomous drones for the Australian Defence Force. He tells the story straight.Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTmigrationoverseas pakistanisartificial intelligenceaustraliacareerhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/zafar-masud-the-life-i-am-living-now-is-a-borrowed-heaven-388-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/zafar-masud-the-life-i-am-living-now-is-a-borrowed-heaven-388-tbt/Bank of Punjab president Zafar Masud sits down with Muzamil for a three-hour conversation that moves from a Lahore middle-class childhood, to running Barclays Southern Africa at 37, to the PIA crash he survived in Karachi, and finally to a precise, sector-by-sector account of why Pakistan's fiscal problem — not its dollar problem — is the one that has to be fixed.Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economybankingfiscal policyprivatizationtaxationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-founders-glamorise-the-wrong-half-of-a-startup-387-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-founders-glamorise-the-wrong-half-of-a-startup-387-tbt/Awais Shafique sold his Munich startup Precise to Meta — the first Pakistani-founded acquisition for the company, and the seed of its German engineering hub. He walks Muzamil through a viral Stanford win that ended in depression, a borrowed plane ticket to Germany, the institute that gave him his co-founders, and why he thinks Pakistan's startup scene keeps optimising for the wrong things.Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMTstartupspakistani foundersmeta acquisitionproduct market fitgermanyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-jaffer-haider-never-took-the-vc-money-for-postermywall/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-jaffer-haider-never-took-the-vc-money-for-postermywall/Jaffer Haider, founder of PosterMyWall, on building a profitable product company out of Lahore that serves 20 million users globally — without venture capital, without an iOS app for years, and without ever leaving the city he grew up in.Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTproduct companiesbootstrapped startupspakistan techsaaspostermywallhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/israel-is-no-longer-untouchable-and-the-world-order-knows-it/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/israel-is-no-longer-untouchable-and-the-world-order-knows-it/Geopolitics analyst Jehad Zafar joins Muzamil to read the war on Gaza as a symptom of a larger shift: the American-led order is straining, a multipolar one is rising, and Pakistan's old establishment instinct to bet on Washington is colliding with the new map.Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTgeopoliticspalestinemultipolar worldpakistan foreign policybricshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-only-startups-worth-funding-solve-a-problem-that-already-exists-384-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-only-startups-worth-funding-solve-a-problem-that-already-exists-384-tbt/Aleena Nadeem left Goldman and London venture capital to build Edufy, Pakistan's first student-loan fintech, after a decade of family charity work convinced her giving money away would never scale. She explains why a startup only fails when there's no real demand, and why education credit is the one product she'd bet the country on.Wed, 22 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTfintechstudent loansedufypakistani foundersventure capitalcredit scoringhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-10000-dollar-grant-and-why-women-are-pakistans-missing-half-383-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-10000-dollar-grant-and-why-women-are-pakistans-missing-half-383-tbt/Visa's Umar Khan and Safepay's Iman Urooj walk Muzamil through Pakistan's slow digital-payments shift, the new She's Next grant for women-led businesses, and the unglamorous case that leaving half the economy on the sidelines is the most expensive mistake the country keeps making.Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTfintechdigital paymentswomen in businessvisapakistanfinancial inclusionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-smart-money-came-into-pakistani-startups-when-everyone-left-382-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-smart-money-came-into-pakistani-startups-when-everyone-left-382-tbt/Faisal Aftab closed a large foreign-backed round into Pakistani startups at the exact moment the ecosystem was being written off as dead. He walks Muzamil through why he went bearish in early 2022, why he thinks April–June 2023 was the bottom, and why the next cycle won't look like the 2021 bubble.Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTventure capitalpakistani startupsfintechdemonetizationmonetary policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-logistics-of-getting-aid-into-gaza-and-flood-pakistan-381-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-logistics-of-getting-aid-into-gaza-and-flood-pakistan-381-tbt/Prof. Dr. Hafiz ur Rehman, president of Al Khidmat Foundation, walks Muzamil through the exact mechanics of moving relief into Gaza while the border stays shut — and the slower, harder work of rehabilitating the 33 million Pakistanis the 2022 floods left behind.Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTal khidmatgazapakistan floodshumanitarian aidrehabilitationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-she-left-a-global-cisco-role-to-rebuild-pakistani-charity-380-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-she-left-a-global-cisco-role-to-rebuild-pakistani-charity-380-tbt/Kanwal Cheema spent sixteen years climbing Cisco — the only woman engineer in its Middle East and Africa region, then a global account director. She tells Muzamil why she left, moved back to Pakistan, and built My Impact Meter to put traceability behind every rupee of charity.Wed, 08 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTsocial impactcharity techciscowomen in techpakistanpovertyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-built-the-power-and-cannot-deliver-it-379-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-built-the-power-and-cannot-deliver-it-379-tbt/Naeem Shafique spent four decades inside General Electric — from commissioning Tarbela's turbines as a fresh graduate to running GE's power business in Pakistan. He walks Muzamil through how the country ended up with surplus generation it can't deliver, a circular-debt trap of its own making, and the unglamorous fix nobody wants to fund.Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTenergypakistanelectricitycircular debtpower policyinfrastructurehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/from-copy-pasted-kindle-books-to-a-16-5-million-amazon-exit-378-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/from-copy-pasted-kindle-books-to-a-16-5-million-amazon-exit-378-tbt/Naeem Sikandar built well over $30 million selling and flipping Amazon brands — but he started by copy-pasting recipes into Kindle books from a one-room house in Peshawar. He walks Muzamil through the whole arc, then defends and dismantles Pakistan's Amazon-course industry.Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTamazon fbapakistani founderskindle publishinge-commerceonline courseshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-metric-pass-businessman-taught-a-phd-about-education-377-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-metric-pass-businessman-taught-a-phd-about-education-377-tbt/Dr. Shahid Qureshi spent five degrees memorising answers before a businessman with no college admission taught him what education was for. He walks Muzamil through Taxila, Bangkok, a British power plant, LUMS, a German PhD, and twelve years at IBA — and lands on a quieter case for entrepreneurship than the one Pakistan keeps importing.Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTeducationentrepreneurshipeffectuationpakistanuniversitiesmicro-entrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-tecno-built-pakistans-largest-phone-factory-376-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-tecno-built-pakistans-largest-phone-factory-376-tbt/Tecno's head of sales and head of marketing explain how a brand most of upper-class Pakistan had never heard of put up the country's first smartphone factory, took a quarter of the market, and now wants a slice of a $120 billion export trade.Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTmanufacturingsmartphonestecnoexportsimport substitutionindustrial policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-shaukat-khanum-built-world-class-cancer-care-from-nothing-375-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-shaukat-khanum-built-world-class-cancer-care-from-nothing-375-tbt/Dr Aasim Yusuf has run the medicine at Shaukat Khanum for thirty years — from a hospital that opened in a wheat field with no electricity to the first charitable hospital in Pakistan to win US-grade accreditation. He walks Muzamil through how you build an institution that treats most patients for free, why it turns away two thirds of the people who come to it, and what the brain drain is doing to the staff who keep it running.Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThealthcarecancershaukat khanuminstitution buildingbrain drainhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-the-west-actually-rose-and-why-the-muslim-decline-is-a-myth-374-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-the-west-actually-rose-and-why-the-muslim-decline-is-a-myth-374-tbt/Shershah Khan, a 20-year-old from North Waziristan who reads three to four hours a day, walks Muzamil through the books that dismantle two of Pakistan's favourite stories — that the Muslim intellectual tradition died with Al-Ghazali, and that the West rose because it was simply smarter.Wed, 18 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTislamic historyrise of the westeducationdecline narrativegeopoliticshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-healthcare-crisis-is-really-a-pricing-problem-373-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-healthcare-crisis-is-really-a-pricing-problem-373-tbt/Dr. Muhammad Saleem Khan has spent nearly forty years inside Pakistani medicine, from the army to building Kulsum International Hospital. He walks Muzamil through the unglamorous economics underneath the country's healthcare — why care is underpriced, why young doctors leave, and why a 500-bed medical city only makes sense if you can wait eight years for the payback.Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThealthcarepakistanhealth insurancehospitalsbrain drainhealth economicshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-electric-car-policy-pakistans-auto-mafia-killed-372-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-electric-car-policy-pakistans-auto-mafia-killed-372-tbt/Malik Amin Aslam, Pakistan's former climate adviser, walks Muzamil through the 2019 EV policy that promised a regional head start — and the car cartel that buried it from inside government. Plus the IPP debt trap, the billion-tree project, and why water is the issue no one prices.Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTenergy policyelectric vehiclespakistanclimate changewaterippshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-anger-that-built-a-dubai-hospitality-business-371-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-anger-that-built-a-dubai-hospitality-business-371-tbt/Mahwussh Alam went from a single Airbnb unit in Dubai Marina to managing hundreds of properties under One Perfect Group. She walks Muzamil through a Karachi childhood, a computer science degree she took without ever having touched a computer, a 2008 layoff, the lonely identity-loss of new motherhood, and the science she now applies to Dubai real estate.Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTdubai real estatealternate hospitalityairbnbwomen foundersbootstrappinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-facebook-engineer-left-seattle-to-digitise-pakistani-fashion-370-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-facebook-engineer-left-seattle-to-digitise-pakistani-fashion-370-tbt/Arif Iqbal spent fifteen years building recommendation engines at Microsoft Bing, eBay, Pinterest and Facebook — then left a comfortable Seattle life to start LAAM, a fashion marketplace shipping Pakistani clothing to a hundred countries. He explains why South Asian fashion is a multi-billion-dollar export hiding behind broken logistics.Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTfashion-techpakistani startupslogisticsmarketplacesexportsbig techhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-seventy-good-years-might-have-been-the-aberration-369-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-seventy-good-years-might-have-been-the-aberration-369-tbt/Zaigham Haque — investment banker turned founder of Dubai's first serious culinary school — walks Muzamil through a 1960s London childhood, Pakistan's vanished sporting and banking glory, and why he fears the kind, fair world he lived in was a historical accident his grandchildren won't inherit.Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistandemocracygeopoliticsfascismdubaihttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-engineer-who-became-one-of-pakistans-biggest-singers-368-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-engineer-who-became-one-of-pakistans-biggest-singers-368-tbt/Abdul Hannan released his first song with zero followers, expecting two hundred listens. It went to two million monthly listeners and a Spotify number one — and he still codes full-time for an Amsterdam company. He talks Muzamil through the dual life, why Pakistan's live-music industry is broken at the fundamentals, and why he's scared for the country.Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTmusicpakistani artistsspotifylive eventsai musiccreator economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-brand-is-a-story-you-agree-to-believe-367-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-brand-is-a-story-you-agree-to-believe-367-tbt/Atiya Zaidi runs BBDO Pakistan — Pepsi, Shan, MG Motors — and a Cannes Lion to show for it. She walks Muzamil through what advertising actually does, a father who survived 80% burns, a path into the industry she only ever stumbled into, and why Pakistani brands keep mistaking risk-aversion for strategy.Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTadvertisingbrandingstorytellingpakistancreativitymarketinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-live-energy-reading-found-inside-muzamil-366-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-a-live-energy-reading-found-inside-muzamil-366-tbt/Muzamil hands the microphone to an energy reader and asks to be read on camera. Muhammad Ammad walks his unconscious for ninety minutes — surfacing a fear of failing as a provider, a wound around being misunderstood, and a shift toward submission that Muzamil says nobody outside his marriage knew about.Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTspiritualityenergy readingshadow worktawakkulmental healthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-honest-case-for-leaving-pakistan-on-your-skills-365-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-honest-case-for-leaving-pakistan-on-your-skills-365-tbt/Adil Ismail has processed more than 16,000 immigration cases over twenty years. He walks Muzamil through what skill-based migration to Canada, Australia, the US and Europe actually requires — and why most Pakistanis chase the hardest doors while easier ones stay empty.Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTimmigrationskilled migrationcanada express entryfreelancerspakistan economyeurope visashttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ai-scientist-who-says-fundamental-science-already-ended-364-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ai-scientist-who-says-fundamental-science-already-ended-364-tbt/Dr. Nasir Ahsan went from a rebellious teenager in Saudi Arabia to the founder of Abyss Solutions, a robotics company whose perception software inspects the world's hardest-to-reach infrastructure. He makes an unfashionable case: most of what we call AI is glorified pattern recognition, and fundamental science largely stopped in the 1950s.Wed, 13 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTroboticsartificial intelligencemachine learningpakistani foundersoil and gasdeep techhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-solar-is-a-dollar-pegged-investment-most-pakistanis-can-buy-363-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-solar-is-a-dollar-pegged-investment-most-pakistanis-can-buy-363-tbt/Bilal Naeem of Beyond Green Solar walks Muzamil through the economics of taking a Pakistani electricity bill to zero — why a rooftop system pays back in three years, how net metering actually settles, and why solar is the closest thing most households have to a dollar-denominated asset.Fri, 08 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTsolarnet meteringenergypakistan economyexportsinflationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-ai-does-to-law-and-the-courts-too-slow-to-notice-362-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-ai-does-to-law-and-the-courts-too-slow-to-notice-362-tbt/Adam Jabbar wrote a book of 101 ChatGPT prompts for lawyers and watched it sell worldwide. He and Muzamil work through whether AI can clear Pakistan's case backlog, who owns AI-generated content, and why a data-privacy bill written by copy-paste could push the next founder out of the country.Wed, 06 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTai lawpakistandata privacyjustice systemregulationweb3https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-pakistanis-get-wrong-about-saving-and-investing-361-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-pakistanis-get-wrong-about-saving-and-investing-361-tbt/Wali Khan is an RF engineer by day and a personal-finance creator by night. He walks Muzamil through why Pakistan's savings rate is half of India's, why every graduate pumps the same broken real-estate market, and why the FIRE number that works in the West falls apart the moment the rupee devalues.Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMTpersonal financesavingsinvestingpakistan economyinflationreal estatehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dawlance-became-a-pakistani-engineering-story-360-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dawlance-became-a-pakistani-engineering-story-360-tbt/Umar Ahsan Khan walked into Dawlance's head office for a two-and-a-half-hour meeting and never really left. He tells Muzamil how a local fridge brand built from scratch in 1980 was sold to a Turkish giant on one condition — keep the name — and what it takes to actually manufacture, not just assemble, in Pakistan.Wed, 30 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTmanufacturingdawlancepakistan economyexportsengineeringacquisitionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/from-it-help-desk-to-cto-of-the-middle-easts-top-coffee-app-359-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/from-it-help-desk-to-cto-of-the-middle-easts-top-coffee-app-359-tbt/Shahood Siddiqui took an IT help-desk job in Saudi Arabia — the bottom of the food chain for a CS graduate — and six years later left as group CTO. From a Dubai studio he walks Muzamil through digitalising a forty-year-old kitchen-equipment business, building the Middle East's number-one coffee pickup app, and the uncomfortable reasons Pakistani engineers keep getting left out of the region's boom.Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTsaudi arabiadubaifreelancingit exportsstartupspakistani talenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/buying-a-second-passport-is-legal-and-a-crisis-doubles-the-line-358-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/buying-a-second-passport-is-legal-and-a-crisis-doubles-the-line-358-tbt/Talha Bin Saleem buys citizenship for the world's wealthiest for a living. He walks Muzamil through the legal mechanics of a second passport — Caribbean, Turkey, Portugal, EB-5 — why every world crisis doubles his inquiries, and how a boy who touted taxis outside a London nightclub ended up selling nationalities.Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTsecond passportcitizenship by investmentdubaiimmigrationhigh net worthmiddle easthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-can-fix-its-own-fundamentals-the-reason-it-wont-357-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-can-fix-its-own-fundamentals-the-reason-it-wont-357-tbt/Junaid Iqbal — ex-MD of Careem Pakistan and Careem Pay — walks Muzamil through Pakistan's actual fiscal arithmetic: a $50bn federal budget that spends $38bn just to stay alive, and four structural fixes nobody with a vote bank will touch.Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyfiscal reformtaxationagricultureenergymiddle easthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-price-caps-are-quietly-strangling-pakistans-farms-356-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-price-caps-are-quietly-strangling-pakistans-farms-356-tbt/Zeeshan Hasib Baig left a partner-track Deloitte salary in dollars to run Careem Pakistan, then walked into agriculture knowing nothing about it. He makes the case that Pakistan's $70 billion farm sector is being held back less by soil or water than by price caps, missing strategy, and capital that never reaches rural land.Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTagriculturepakistan economyderegulationcareemsyngentawaterhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-doesnt-have-a-water-problem-it-has-a-soil-problem-355-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-doesnt-have-a-water-problem-it-has-a-soil-problem-355-tbt/Taimur Malik traces his path from a Lahore spinning mill to regenerative agriculture, and makes the case that Pakistan's water crisis, nutrient collapse, and broken farm economics are all downstream of one neglected asset — dead soil — and that fixing it is a national security priority, not a luxury.Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTagricultureregenerative farmingwater crisisclimate changesoil healthpakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-cheap-data-and-a-small-mindset-keep-pakistan-offline-354-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-cheap-data-and-a-small-mindset-keep-pakistan-offline-354-tbt/Taimur Nawaz has built telecom careers across Telenor, China Mobile, Qualcomm and now Transworld's fixed broadband and submarine cable business. He walks Muzamil through why Pakistan keeps arriving late to every network generation, why the cheapest data market in the world has no reason to lay fibre, and why the real ceiling on the country's best businesses is mindset, not potential.Wed, 09 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTtelecombroadbandfintechpakistan economymanufacturing5ghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-web3-actually-means-once-you-strip-out-the-money-353-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-web3-actually-means-once-you-strip-out-the-money-353-tbt/Talha Bin Afzal runs a Pakistani web3 services studio building on Unity and Unreal. He takes Muzamil past the NFT hype to the part that lasts — ownership — and then explains why Pakistan keeps reskinning games instead of building them.Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTweb3metaversegame developmentblockchainpakistan techhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-dollar-isnt-going-anywhere-and-pakistan-isnt-defaulting-352-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-dollar-isnt-going-anywhere-and-pakistan-isnt-defaulting-352-tbt/Farooq Tirmizi — former managing editor of Profit and founder of Elphinstone — walks Muzamil through why Pakistan keeps refusing to default, why the rupee can't do what the dollar does, and why he is structuring his whole life as a one-way bet on Pakistan by 2050.Wed, 26 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyus dollarbricsdefaultinvestingpensionshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-makes-billions-of-panadol-tablets-but-cant-make-the-powder-351-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-makes-billions-of-panadol-tablets-but-cant-make-the-powder-351-tbt/Farhan Haroon runs Haleon Pakistan — maker of Panadol, CAC-1000 and Sensodyne. He walks Muzamil through a triple-qualification sprint out of a humble Karachi home, the GSK demerger, and the uncomfortable economics of a pharma industry that mixes the tablet here but imports the molecule, and exports $200 million a year against India's $24 billion.Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTpharmaceutical industrypakistan economyhealthcareprice controlmanufacturingexportshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-global-degree-most-pakistani-students-never-consider-350-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-global-degree-most-pakistani-students-never-consider-350-tbt/Shanza N. Khan spent 22 years in development economics before she started counselling families one at a time. She walks Muzamil through why Pakistani students fixate on a handful of American universities, how to negotiate a scholarship, why the education system is flawed rather than merely inefficient, and a live mock counselling session built around a 2.3 GPA.Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTeducationstudying abroadscholarshipsstudent loansdevelopment economicspakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-ai-rewards-problem-solvers-and-could-bring-women-back-349-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-ai-rewards-problem-solvers-and-could-bring-women-back-349-tbt/Mahe Zehra Husain runs one of the few woman-led tech firms Muzamil has come across in Pakistan. She argues the age of AI will erase mediocrity and reward ideas, problem solving and storytelling — and that it could finally pull Pakistani women back into the workforce.Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTaiwomen in techit serviceseducationpakistanproblem solvinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/asad-umar-secretary-general-pti-structural-reforms-elections-the-future-of-pti-3-309-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/asad-umar-secretary-general-pti-structural-reforms-elections-the-future-of-pti-3-309-tbt/Asad Umar joins Muzamil to argue that Pakistan's economic crisis is structural, not a bad ten months: real estate as a black-money sink, an import bill larger than its exports can ever retire, and reforms the country's most powerful interests keep blocking.Fri, 10 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTasad umarpakistan economystructural reformimran khanptienergy policyimfhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/imran-khan-imf-elections-conspiracies-economy-hope-special-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/imran-khan-imf-elections-conspiracies-economy-hope-special-tbt/A special sit-down with former Prime Minister Imran Khan, recorded from the room he was confined to after his leg injury. He lays out his account of the cipher and his removal, contrasts Pakistan's economic indicators ten months apart, and argues that rule of law, not a single genius economic plan, is the only reform that matters.Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTimran khanpakistan politicspakistan economyrule of lawelectionshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-thought-behind-pakistani-media-politics-ft-syed-muzammil-shah-293-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-thought-behind-pakistani-media-politics-ft-syed-muzammil-shah-293-tbt/Political commentator Syed Muzammil Shah explains why he entered Pakistani television to acquire power rather than tell the truth, why the ratings model guarantees shallow news, and why he believes real change in Pakistan can only come from outside parliament.Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistanmediapoliticspopulismpolitical theoryimran khanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/abdul-razak-dawood-founder-descon-bard-foundation-columbia-university-lawrencepu-288-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/abdul-razak-dawood-founder-descon-bard-foundation-columbia-university-lawrencepu-288-tbt/Abdul Razak Dawood traces a life from a Memon village with no electricity to Columbia, the Lawrencepur mill, the loss of East Pakistan, and the founding of DESCON, then explains his bet on Africa, exports, and sports.Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMTdesconpakistan-industryexportsfamily-businessafricasportslumspartitionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-build-a-successful-university-with-100-million-ft--dr--aftab-maroof-247-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-build-a-successful-university-with-100-million-ft--dr--aftab-maroof-247-tbt/Dr. Aftab Maroof, Rector of FAST-NUCES, traces the university's unlikely origin — a single donation from Aga Khan in 1986 — and explains how dedication, zero politics, and one rupee at a time built five campuses, 14,000 students, and a research culture from scratch.Wed, 22 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTfast-nuceshigher educationpakistan techinstitution buildingit workforcescholarshipshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-farming-worth-investing-in-ft--muhammed-bukhari-246-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-farming-worth-investing-in-ft--muhammed-bukhari-246-tbt/Muhammed Bukhari left a GM role at British Telecom to build Farmdar, a GeoAI startup using satellite imagery to fix Pakistan's agriculture from the inside. The conversation covers why supply chain is not the answer, how 21 bands of light can replace soil sensors, and why Pakistan's unfair advantage is farming.Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTagriculturesatellite-imagerypakistandeep-techfood-securityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-ever-google-developer-expert-ft--saad-hamid-245-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-ever-google-developer-expert-ft--saad-hamid-245-tbt/Saad Hamid — Google's Regional Lead for Developer Community Programs and Pakistan's first Google Developer Expert — traces a winding path from a cadet college in Skardu to Singapore, through blogging, nonprofits, accelerators, and a career app called Jadu. The conversation covers discipline, curiosity, Pakistan's IT talent gap, and what coherence would actually take.Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistan techcareer developmentit exportsgoogletalent gapstartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ceo-jazz-aamir-ibrahim-executive-director-dastgyr-saif-ali-244-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ceo-jazz-aamir-ibrahim-executive-director-dastgyr-saif-ali-244-tbt/Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, and Saif Ali of Dastgyr join Muzamil to unpack Pakistan's largest Series A equity round, the real barriers to fintech adoption, and why the telecom industry may be heading toward digital dark ages if ARPU doesn't rise.Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTjazzfintechdastgyr5gpakistan-startupsdigital-bankinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/which-socio-economic-class-are-you-from-ft--kashif-hafeez-siddiqui-243-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/which-socio-economic-class-are-you-from-ft--kashif-hafeez-siddiqui-243-tbt/Kashif Hafeez Siddiqui, CEO of Pulse Consultant, breaks down how Pakistan is divided into 16 cultural belts, why only 2.5% of the country is truly upper class, and what media and marketing get wrong about the society they claim to understand.Mon, 13 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTsocioeconomic classmarket researchpakistan societymediamarketingconsumer insighthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-market-sell-your-product-ft--haseeb-khan-242-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-market-sell-your-product-ft--haseeb-khan-242-tbt/Designer, photographer, and mytype.store founder Haseeb S Khan on leaving fashion shoots behind, building a quality-first product brand in Pakistan, and why every business needs to price in at least 20% for marketing.Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTe-commerceproduct-branddesignphotographypakistanpricinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-are-startups-laying-off-employees-ft--haziq-ahmed-241-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-are-startups-laying-off-employees-ft--haziq-ahmed-241-tbt/Haziq Ahmed, COO of Krave Mart, traces a winding path from Karachi's army schools to Manchester's textile program to food delivery logistics — and explains why quick commerce's real product is warehousing infrastructure, not groceries.Wed, 08 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTquick commercelogisticspakistan startupsgig economyretailhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/directing-a-spiderman-fan-film-ft--saboor-akram-240-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/directing-a-spiderman-fan-film-ft--saboor-akram-240-tbt/Saboor Akram made a thirteen-minute Spider-Man fan film on a shoestring budget, got it past the censor board, and screened it in a cinema — all before finishing his A levels. He talks about how it happened, where Pakistan's film industry actually fails, and why he chose Turkey over New York as his next step.Mon, 06 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTfilmmakingpakistancreative industryyouthstorytellinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-edtech-reshaping-pakistans-educational-landscape-ft--fahad-tanveer-239-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-edtech-reshaping-pakistans-educational-landscape-ft--fahad-tanveer-239-tbt/Muhammad Fahad Tanveer walked away from a brand manager role at Nestle, followed his wife to the US on a Fulbright, and came back to build Edkasa — a high school edtech platform trying to reach the one crore Pakistani students sitting board exams every year.Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTedtechpakistaneducationfoundersstartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-make-money-through-graphic-designing-ft--areeb-tariq-238-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-make-money-through-graphic-designing-ft--areeb-tariq-238-tbt/Areeb Tariq grew up in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, studied design in North Cyprus, and came back to Pakistan with no blueprint and no job plan. Now he runs a brand studio, a fashion collective, and an e-learning platform — and he has a clear theory about why most Pakistani designers stay stuck at five-dollar logos.Mon, 30 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTdesignfreelancinge-learningpakistangen-zcreative-economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/who-destroyed-karachi-ft--ameer-jamaat-e-islami-khi---hafiz-naeem-ur-rehman-237-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/who-destroyed-karachi-ft--ameer-jamaat-e-islami-khi---hafiz-naeem-ur-rehman-237-tbt/Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi, walks through the structural failures behind the city's decline — from a rigged census and gutted transport to water shortages and a feudal mindset that has outlasted the feudal countryside.Fri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTkarachilocal-bodiesurban-infrastructurewater-crisiscensusstudent-politicshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-pakistan-going-bankrupt-ft--javed-hassan-236-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-pakistan-going-bankrupt-ft--javed-hassan-236-tbt/Economist Javed Hassan walks through Pakistan's reserve crisis, the structural flaws that keep producing balance-of-payments emergencies, and why the country's only real path out is to stop protecting industries that have never learned to compete.Mon, 23 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economysovereign defaultimfstructural reformelite capturebalance of paymentshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-save-money-in-a-dying-economy-ft--syed-muhammad-faraz-235-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-save-money-in-a-dying-economy-ft--syed-muhammad-faraz-235-tbt/Syed Muhammad Faraz went from losing millions in leveraged stock trades to winning a $20,000 forex contest — and then building Pakistan's most rigorous retail trading training. He sits down with Muzamil to talk about what most Pakistanis get wrong about money, why the stock market is still bearish, and why youth is Pakistan's most wasted asset.Fri, 20 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTinvestingstock-markettradingpakistan-economypersonal-financehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/candid-with-my-brother-ft--syed-muneeb-hasan-zaidi-234-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/candid-with-my-brother-ft--syed-muneeb-hasan-zaidi-234-tbt/Syed Muneeb Hasan Zaidi grew up in Saudi Arabia, scraped through FAST with a 2.74 GPA, and built a career spanning Belgium, Dubai, Qatar, South Africa, and Switzerland before settling in Atlanta. Then, alone in a Los Angeles hotel room, his heart nearly stopped — and what he saw changed everything.Mon, 16 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistancareerspiritualityfast-islamabadimmigrationnear-death-experiencehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/raising-1000000-for-ezbike-ft--mohammad-hadi-233-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/raising-1000000-for-ezbike-ft--mohammad-hadi-233-tbt/Mohammad Hadi left fifteen years at Credit Suisse and Citibank to return to Pakistan and build EzBike — the country's first electric scooter-sharing startup. He talks about Wall Street's cowboy culture, why ride-hailing is fundamentally broken, and what it will take to put 22 million motorcycles on electric power.Fri, 13 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTelectric vehiclesstartupspakistanmobilityinvestment bankinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-pashto-rap-pioneer-ft--mustafa-kamal-khan-232-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-pashto-rap-pioneer-ft--mustafa-kamal-khan-232-tbt/Mustafa Kamal Khan of Fortitude traces how he and two schoolmates created Pashto rap from scratch — no reference, no template — and why KP's resistance to change is the very reason the genre should have exploded there first.Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMTpashto rapkp culturepakistan musicdiasporaregional identityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/chief-process-outsourcing-officer-systems-limited-ft--salman-wajid-230-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/chief-process-outsourcing-officer-systems-limited-ft--salman-wajid-230-tbt/Salman Wajid Mian, Chief Process Outsourcing Officer at Systems Limited, traces his journey from genetic engineering at Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to building 2,700-seat contact centers — and explains why Pakistan's BPO sector squandered its early lead while India and the Philippines pulled ahead.Fri, 29 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTbpoit-exportspakistan-techoutsourcingsystems-limitedhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-earn-50000-through-pubg-ft--khan-pubg-229-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-earn-50000-through-pubg-ft--khan-pubg-229-tbt/Khan PUBG walked away from first-class honours, scholarship offers from Germany and Norway, and a clear path into the foreign service — to become a professional PUBG Mobile athlete. This is the story of how he got there, and what the esports industry in Pakistan actually looks like from the inside.Wed, 27 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTesportsgamingpakistancareerpubgyouthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/cxo-easypaisa-ceo-pinkribbon-co-founder-rizq-228-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/cxo-easypaisa-ceo-pinkribbon-co-founder-rizq-228-tbt/Omar Moeen Malik of Easypaisa, Omar Aftab of Pink Ribbon, and Huzaifa Ahmed of RIZQ sit down with Muzamil to talk mobile wallets, breast cancer taboos, food wastage, and why Pakistan's next decade might be its most transformative.Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTfintechmobile-moneysocial-enterprisecharitypakistan-economydigital-paymentshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-leading-ed-tech-platform-ft--nearpeer-227-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-leading-ed-tech-platform-ft--nearpeer-227-tbt/Ammar Ali Ayub, co-founder of Nearpeer, traces a winding path from failing class three at Beaconhouse to building Pakistan's largest online CSS and CA prep platform — and explains why the country's youth bulge is either its greatest asset or its greatest liability.Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTedtechpakistan educationfoundersnearpeerstartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/killing-cancer-kindly-ft--dr--mohammad-muneeb-khan-226-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/killing-cancer-kindly-ft--dr--mohammad-muneeb-khan-226-tbt/Dr. Mohammad Muneeb Khan left Pakistan with a British passport, worked warehouse shifts in London, and spent two decades becoming a clinical oncologist in the NHS. Now he wants to use everything he learned to stop cancer before it starts — and he thinks Pakistanis are uniquely positioned to lead that fight.Wed, 20 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTcancerpreventiononcologyhealthpakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/to-be-honest-with-tabish-hashmi-225-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/to-be-honest-with-tabish-hashmi-225-tbt/Tabish Hashmi traces the full arc — from a family that migrated from India in 1984, to engineering, to supply chain at Maersk and 3M, to stand-up comedy, to TBH, to quitting TBH for prime-time television on Geo. A rare, unguarded account of how someone builds a career by waiting for the right moment.Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTcomedymediacareerpakistantelevisionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/senior-vice-president-systems-limited-kashif-manzoor-224-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/senior-vice-president-systems-limited-kashif-manzoor-224-tbt/Kashif Manzoor — SVP at Systems Limited and former head of Confiz — traces a career that ran from Schlumberger oil fields in Qatar to setting up an offshore center in Beijing, and explains why Pakistan's IT services boom could stall without a credible second player.Fri, 15 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTit-servicessystems-limitedpakistan-techexportsstartupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-flexible-co-working-space-ft--kickstart-223-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-flexible-co-working-space-ft--kickstart-223-tbt/Saad Riaz didn't set out to build Pakistan's first flexible coworking network. He just needed somewhere to put five people. Eight years and ten locations later, the accident has a name: Kickstart.Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTcoworkingreal-estatepakistan-startupsfounderslahorehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-plan-your-wedding-in-three-minutes-ft--shadiyana-222-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-plan-your-wedding-in-three-minutes-ft--shadiyana-222-tbt/Izzah Zaman and Neelam Shreyas, co-founders of Shadiyana, walk through how two software engineers turned 300 brainstormed ideas into a wedding vendor marketplace — and why they chose subscriptions over commissions.Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTwomen in techmarketplacewedding industrypakistan startupsbootstrappedhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ceo-of-datics-ai-founder-of-tech-nation-umair-majeed-221-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ceo-of-datics-ai-founder-of-tech-nation-umair-majeed-221-tbt/Umair Majeed Rana went from a small city in South Punjab to founding Datics AI and Tech Nation. This conversation traces that journey — and makes a sharp argument about why Pakistan's IT ambitions are structurally broken.Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistan techsoftware foundersit exportsupworkaitech nationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-food-youtuber-who-started-with-a-phone-and-no-camera-220-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-food-youtuber-who-started-with-a-phone-and-no-camera-220-tbt/Rana Hamza Saif grew up in Bahawal Nagar, weighed 140 kg in school, and built Pakistan's most recognisable food YouTube channel with nothing but an iPhone and a drone. He talks about the slow grind from 8,000 subscribers to viral millions, why he refuses to let YouTube be his only business, and what he saw in Pakistan's north that worried him.Wed, 06 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTyoutubefoodcontent-creationpakistantravelcreator-economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakwheels-wasnt-revenue-positive-until-2022-219-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakwheels-wasnt-revenue-positive-until-2022-219-tbt/Suneel Munj built Pakistan's dominant automotive marketplace over nearly two decades without turning a profit — and he's fine with that. A conversation about classified platforms, car inspections, electric vehicles, and what success actually means.Mon, 04 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakwheelsautomotivepakistan startupselectric vehiclesclassifiedshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-coo-who-keeps-coming-back-to-pakistan-218-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-coo-who-keeps-coming-back-to-pakistan-218-tbt/Asif Akram built a career across IBM and PwC spanning the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Dubai, and Islamabad — and kept choosing to come home. Now as COO of Systems Limited, he's trying to build Pakistan's first 25,000-person tech company.Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTsystems limitedpakistan ittechnology careersoutsourcingtalent developmenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-society-keeps-mothers-stuck-at-home-217-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-society-keeps-mothers-stuck-at-home-217-tbt/Humna Raza returns to Thought Behind Things to talk about the first year of motherhood, the mental load on working women, postpartum depression, and why Pakistan's infrastructure — from malls to hospitals — is built as if mothers don't exist.Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTmotherhoodworking womendouble incomepakistanparentingmental loadhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-rap-scene-has-peaked-commercially-not-creatively-216-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-rap-scene-has-peaked-commercially-not-creatively-216-tbt/At 18, Umair Tahir is already one of Pakistan's most in-demand music producers. In this conversation, he traces how he taught himself production through YouTube tutorials, why hip hop emerged from Karachi's streets, and what's still missing from Pakistan's music industry.Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTmusic productionhip-hoppakistankarachiyoung stunnersmusic industryhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-lock-in-your-throat-isnt-about-english-215-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-lock-in-your-throat-isnt-about-english-215-tbt/Noman Abid went from a small town in Sohawa to becoming Pakistan's National Champion of Public Speaking. The real story is what happened in between — an army dream, a red stamp marked 'unfit', and the discovery that communication is a survival skill, not a soft one.Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTcommunicationpublic speakingsoft skillstoastmasterspakistancareerhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-coo-who-took-a-85-pay-cut-to-join-careem-214-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-coo-who-took-a-85-pay-cut-to-join-careem-214-tbt/Fatima Mazhar went from earning 40,000 dirhams a month to 6,000 to join a startup with no app and no funding. That bet defined everything that followed — Careem, KeepTruckin, a very public cofounder failure, and eventually COLABS.Wed, 23 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTcareemcoworkingpakistan startupsoperationskeeptruckinwomen in techhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-pakistan-actually-wants-from-the-oic-conference-213-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-pakistan-actually-wants-from-the-oic-conference-213-tbt/Days before the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers convenes in Islamabad, Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesperson and Permanent Representative to the OIC lay out what is at stake — from Kashmir and Islamophobia to Afghanistan's economic collapse and a rogue Indian missile.Mon, 21 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMToicpakistan foreign policykashmirislamophobiaafghanistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-meenah-tariq-raised-exactly-900000-not-more-212-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-meenah-tariq-raised-exactly-900000-not-more-212-tbt/Meenah Tariq and Omar Parvez Khan return to TBT to talk about Metric, their new accounting app for SMEs, a $900,000 pre-seed raise, and why Pakistan's startup boom may have already tipped into frenzy.Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTfintechsmeaccountingpakistan startupsfundraisinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-doctor-who-built-pakistans-largest-free-hospital-211-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-doctor-who-built-pakistans-largest-free-hospital-211-tbt/Dr. Abdul Bari Khan built Pakistan's first large-scale, free-of-cost tertiary care hospital from scratch — starting with a student-run blood bank in 1980 and a dream sketched outside a bomb-blast casualty ward in 1987. Today, Indus Hospital and Health Network runs 14 hospitals, serves 4.5 to 5 lakh patients a month, and operates on a 34-billion-rupee annual budget — all without a single cash counter.Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThealthcarephilanthropypakistanpublic healthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-100-state-funded-health-insurance-210-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-100-state-funded-health-insurance-210-tbt/Arshad Qaim Khani, CEO of the Prime Minister's Sehat Sahulat Program, explains how Pakistan is building what may be the world's first cent-percent state-funded national health insurance — and why the hardest problem isn't money, it's dignity.Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThealth insurancesehat cardpublic policypakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-digital-road-to-property-ownership-in-pakistan-209-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-digital-road-to-property-ownership-in-pakistan-209-tbt/Jawad Nayyar and Abdullah Khan of DAO PropTech walk through why Pakistan's real estate market is broken, how blockchain can fix it, and what it actually costs to buy a flat through their platform.Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTreal estateblockchainproptechpakistaninvestinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ebay-trainer-building-pakistans-e-commerce-future-from-multan-208-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ebay-trainer-building-pakistans-e-commerce-future-from-multan-208-tbt/Qasim Sana Ramay built Pakistan's largest eBay-focused training organisation not from Karachi or Lahore, but from Multan — and his students generated over one billion rupees in sales in 2021 alone.Wed, 09 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTe-commerceebaypakistanentrepreneurshipfreelancinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-photographer-who-moved-to-hunza-to-actually-live-207-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-photographer-who-moved-to-hunza-to-actually-live-207-tbt/Feroza Gulzar grew up in Quetta, studied fine arts in Karachi, did an art residency in Nepal, and eventually moved to Hunza with her husband. This is the story of how each small step made the next one possible.Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTtravelphotographyhunzacreative careerspakistanwomenhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-corporate-burnout-that-led-zarina-tariq-to-coaching-206-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-corporate-burnout-that-led-zarina-tariq-to-coaching-206-tbt/Zarina Tariq left a brand manager role covering all of Middle East at Reckitt to become an empowerment coach. She talks about the childhood wound that drove her overachievement, why a partner can't fix you, and what NLP actually means.Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTcoachingcareer-pivotself-awarenessnlpburnouthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-payment-gateway-wants-to-kill-cod-205-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-payment-gateway-wants-to-kill-cod-205-tbt/Adnan Ali left a 16-year banking career — including a stint as EVP at 35 — to build PayFast, Pakistan's first State Bank-licensed digital payment gateway. In this conversation, he explains why 85% of e-commerce still runs on cash-on-delivery, what Raast actually changes, and what Pakistan's youth bulge means for the country's economic future.Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMTfintechpaymentse-commercepakistandigital-economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-it-stock-listing-isnt-really-an-ipo-204-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-first-it-stock-listing-isnt-really-an-ipo-204-tbt/Ali Naqi Shaheen, co-founder of Coeus Solutions, walks through the company's journey from a Lahore frat house to a GEM board listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange — and explains why market cap, not capital, was the real reason to go public.Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistan stock exchangegem boardit servicessaasentrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-pakistani-startup-designing-evs-from-scratch-203-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-pakistani-startup-designing-evs-from-scratch-203-tbt/Shah Talha and Syed Najeebullah of Mode Mobility sit down with Muzamil to explain why they chose to design and manufacture electric two-wheelers in Pakistan rather than slap a local brand on a Chinese OEM — and what it will take to make EVs accessible to the half of the population that currently has no viable way to get around.Fri, 25 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMTelectric vehiclespakistan startupsproduct designsustainable mobilityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-coke-studio-happened-for-seemab-saqib-khan-202-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-coke-studio-happened-for-seemab-saqib-khan-202-tbt/Seemab Saqib Khan traces a path from a difficult childhood in Lahore to working as a creative associate on Coke Studio — through a film nobody expected would be the connection.Wed, 23 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMTphotographyfilmmakingcoke studiopakistan mediawomen in creative industrieshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ceo-who-took-a-demotion-to-join-unilever-201-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-ceo-who-took-a-demotion-to-join-unilever-201-tbt/Amir Paracha, CEO of Unilever Pakistan, traces a winding path from a failed air force medical, a ditched engineering degree, and a deliberate step down in title to eventually leading one of Pakistan's largest companies through its first weeks of COVID-19.Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMTcorporate leadershippakistan economyconsumer goodscareersustainabilityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-psychologist-refuses-to-look-at-one-problem-through-one-lens-200-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-a-psychologist-refuses-to-look-at-one-problem-through-one-lens-200-tbt/For the 200th episode and Season 2 finale, clinical psychologist Ali returns to the show to talk about building a practice in a field Pakistan barely recognises, the neuromarketing work he is doing inside Icon Seven, why forensic psychology has no home here yet, and the case against black-and-white thinking.Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMTpsychologyneuromarketingforensic psychologyinterdisciplinarypakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-designers-chase-technique-and-skip-the-idea-199-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistani-designers-chase-technique-and-skip-the-idea-199-tbt/Motion designer Sarmad Ahsan on the long detour from accountancy to CSS to motion graphics, why Pakistani creative work over-indexes on execution at the cost of the idea, and what freelancers should actually be learning if they want to survive the next wave of automation.Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTmotion designgraphic designfreelancingpakistan creative industryproductivityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-state-is-not-a-political-party-and-its-digital-media-shouldnt-be-either-198-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-state-is-not-a-political-party-and-its-digital-media-shouldnt-be-either-198-tbt/Shahbaz Khan walks through the path from FAST CS to Lall Studios to Ericsson to Teradata to running the government's digital media wing — and why the conflation of state communication with party politics is the most stubborn misunderstanding in Pakistani public life.Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTdigital mediagovernment communicationpakistaninfotainmentcareerhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-financial-burden-on-pakistani-men-nobody-wants-to-discuss-197-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-financial-burden-on-pakistani-men-nobody-wants-to-discuss-197-tbt/Data engineer Saad Khalid joins Muzamil for a long conversation about why marriage in Pakistan has been made so structurally hard, the silent financial pressure that builds on men long before the wedding, and what an honest reading of revolutions, fascism, and the Pakistani state actually looks like.Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTmarriagemen's mental healthpakistan societygovernancerevolutionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/gilgit-baltistan-is-the-only-region-fighting-to-integrate-196-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/gilgit-baltistan-is-the-only-region-fighting-to-integrate-196-tbt/Yasir Abbas, coordinator to the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, traces his path from a village called Yaseen to a Chevening LLM at Sussex, and lays out why the region's provincial status is a matter of months — not years — and what genuine integration would mean.Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTgilgit-baltistanpakistan politicsfederationtourismpolicyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-four-salesperson-cloud-bet-that-became-aws-195-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-four-salesperson-cloud-bet-that-became-aws-195-tbt/Taimur Rashid joined AWS in 2008 as its fourth salesperson, walked away from a Stanford master's to do it, and spent ten years inside the hyper-growth phase. He talks through cloud's three disruptions, why Pakistan's talent pipeline still has no catcher, and what changes when borders stop deciding who gets hired.Fri, 21 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTcloud computingawspakistan techstartupsremote workhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-problem-is-disconnection-not-potential-194-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-it-problem-is-disconnection-not-potential-194-tbt/Mashroor Hussain, founder of CXO Global Forum and Dynamic Folio, sits with Muzamil to dissect why Pakistan's IT exports keep missing their targets — the institutional disconnection at the top, the talent pipeline that does not exist at the bottom, and the self-centric mindset that stops good ideas from scaling.Wed, 19 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTpakistan itit exportsease of doing businesstalent pipelinecxo global forumhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-an-ex-morgan-stanley-pm-left-new-york-to-build-abhi-in-karachi-193-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-an-ex-morgan-stanley-pm-left-new-york-to-build-abhi-in-karachi-193-tbt/Omair Ansari, CEO of Abhi, on growing up in nine countries, watching emerging-market banks miss financial inclusion, leaving a Morgan Stanley portfolio manager seat for Karachi, and why his real competition is not other fintechs — it's cash.Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTfintechpakistanemerging marketsfinancial inclusionearned wage accesshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/reporting-from-inside-the-warzone-with-sumaira-khan-192-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/reporting-from-inside-the-warzone-with-sumaira-khan-192-tbt/Sumaira Khan — embedded journalist in North Waziristan at 18, first reporter on site at the Marriott blast, only Pakistani journalist inside Kabul on August 15 — walks through eighteen years of covering Pakistan and Afghanistan from the ground.Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTafghanistanwar journalismtalibanpakistan securitydrone strikeshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-freelancers-will-be-dead-in-three-years-if-they-dont-transform-191-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-freelancers-will-be-dead-in-three-years-if-they-dont-transform-191-tbt/Syed Arsalan Ali Shah, the founder of Connected Pakistan and the only Pakistani featured as a success story on Payoneer, talks through how he built a 70-person freelancing agency from four lakh rupees, why he believes freelancers will be dead in three years if they don't upskill, and where the conversation between freelancers, software houses, startups, and the government keeps breaking down.Wed, 12 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTfreelancingpakistan digital economyconnected pakistanentrepreneurshiptech policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-bug-bounty-culture-is-destroying-our-cyber-youth-190-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-bug-bounty-culture-is-destroying-our-cyber-youth-190-tbt/Cybersecurity researcher Etizaz Mohsin — the only Pakistani holding the OSWE certification — walks through how he taught himself the craft from a borrowed PC in 1997, what the OSCP/OSCE/OSEE certifications actually mean, how Pegasus really works, and why Pakistan's obsession with bug bounties is hollowing out the country's next generation of security researchers.Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTcybersecuritypakistanpegasuszero daybug bountyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-has-1200-publishers-for-200-million-people-189-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-has-1200-publishers-for-200-million-people-189-tbt/Syed Umar Ameer, founder of Dastaan, walks Muzamil through a decade of trying to revive Pakistan's publishing industry: from a banned magazine chapter and a rejected meeting with literary heads, to a self-publishing platform, a content business, and a print operation built because no one else would do the quality control.Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTpublishingstartupspakistanself-publishingliteraturehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-factories-still-push-when-the-world-has-moved-to-pull-187-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-factories-still-push-when-the-world-has-moved-to-pull-187-tbt/Badar Khushnood — Bramerz co-founder, P@SHA chairman, and an architect of Pakistan's first national e-commerce policy — walks Muzamil through the country's first B2B portal in 2002, the nine years he spent building Google's Pakistan presence, why Fishry is built around brand-conscious SMEs, and why a $4B domestic e-commerce market still struggles to export.Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTe-commercepakistan policysmesit exportsdigital paymentshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/stock-market-is-not-a-casino-treat-it-like-a-business-186-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/stock-market-is-not-a-casino-treat-it-like-a-business-186-tbt/On the last episode of 2021, Laeeq Ahmad returns for a third appearance to walk through his journey from Teradata to founding Sarmaaya, the Avanceon trade that funded a startup, and why most Pakistanis lose money in the market for the same reason every time: they treat it as a lottery, not a business.Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTstock marketinvestingfinancial literacypakistan economymutual fundshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/success-without-fulfilment-is-the-ultimate-failure-185-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/success-without-fulfilment-is-the-ultimate-failure-185-tbt/Pakistani-Canadian entrepreneur Fahad Khan, CEO of Canada Prime Marketing, on selling credit cards in minus-40 weather, getting stiffed on commissions, why 98% of people shouldn't be entrepreneurs, and the line he wrote with Tony Robbins that reset his definition of winning.Wed, 29 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshipsalesyouth empowermentpakistan economypersonal developmenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/luck-favours-the-brave-how-shayan-mahmud-built-three-companies-184-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/luck-favours-the-brave-how-shayan-mahmud-built-three-companies-184-tbt/Shayan Mahmud runs a creative agency, Alibaba's Pakistan channel partner, and a publishing house with a million-plus readers. He talks to Muzamil about luck, timing, frugal monetisation, and why Pakistan's exporters are sitting on a goldmine they refuse to talk about.Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshippakistan businessadvertisingalibabapublishinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-farmland-is-a-science-problem-not-a-land-problem-183-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-farmland-is-a-science-problem-not-a-land-problem-183-tbt/Saad Tamman — actuarial scientist turned farmer turned PM's strategic reforms unit lead — walks Muzamil through how a tomato farm went bankrupt because of a one-day price control, why 70% of agricultural technology is the seed itself, and what really happened inside the room when PTI's hundred-day plan was being written.Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTagriculturepakistan economypublic policypti governmentreformhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bookme-quietly-digitised-pakistans-bus-market-182-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bookme-quietly-digitised-pakistans-bus-market-182-tbt/Faizan Aslam, founder and CEO of Bookme.pk, walks Muzamil through the eight-year arc of building Pakistan's ticketing infrastructure — from a Sahiwal software house to winning the PSL contract — and explains why he hid the bus business behind a cinema front for three full years.Wed, 22 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistani startupse-ticketingcategory creationpslplan9https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-has-the-largest-muslim-diaspora-in-silicon-valley-181-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-has-the-largest-muslim-diaspora-in-silicon-valley-181-tbt/Arzish Azam — CEO of Ijad Labs and country manager for Startup Grind — on why a software engineer is worth more to Pakistan than a textile worker, the case for a national emergency on digital skills, and why remote work, not freelancing, is the wave the country cannot afford to miss.Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan techsilicon valleystartup grindremote workfreelancinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/freelancing-is-a-business-not-a-passive-income-180-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/freelancing-is-a-business-not-a-passive-income-180-tbt/Qasim Umer walks through the path from five Fs in first year to 10,000 dollars a month — and argues that freelancers who treat their work like a passive gig will burn out by 40 unless they build a product on top of it.Fri, 17 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTfreelancinge-commercepaid mediapakistan economyentrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistanis-dont-care-about-their-own-data-179-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistanis-dont-care-about-their-own-data-179-tbt/Senior security consultant Mirza Burhan Baig walks through bug bounties, the social-engineering attacks that actually work on Pakistani banks, why iPhones are harder to hack than Androids, and what made the Pegasus exploit a state-grade weapon.Wed, 15 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTcyber securityethical hackingpakistan banksbug bountysocial engineeringhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-insurance-penetration-is-less-than-1-of-gdp-178-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-insurance-penetration-is-less-than-1-of-gdp-178-tbt/Siftain Jiwani and Hunain Kabaria, the CEO and CTO of Smart Choice, walk through how Pakistan's insurance value chain is broken — from claims and OPD coverage to product design — and what they are building to fix it.Mon, 13 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTinsurtechpakistan fintechhealth insurancestartupssmart choicehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-19-year-old-freelancers-case-for-skipping-the-government-job-177-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-19-year-old-freelancers-case-for-skipping-the-government-job-177-tbt/Sheryar Baloch grew up in Kharan, Balochistan, where a grade-four government peon's job sells for fifteen lakh rupees. At nineteen, he is an Amazon consultant earning in dollars from a desert town with patchy electricity and intermittent internet — and he has a plan for what to do about the people around him who still don't believe it is possible.Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTfreelancingamazon fbabalochistanpakistan economyyouthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-lums-bubble-empathy-burgers-and-life-after-the-gate-176-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-lums-bubble-empathy-burgers-and-life-after-the-gate-176-tbt/Storyteller Muhammad Saim Rehman talks about the academic pressure of his third year at LUMS, the burger-versus-Karachi-DHA fault lines, the empathy the university quietly teaches, and the moment his Instagram series Milwaate Hain Aapko stopped being a hobby.Wed, 08 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTlumseducationcontent creationempathypakistani youthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/hip-hop-is-a-culture-you-have-to-live-not-a-sound-you-can-copy-175-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/hip-hop-is-a-culture-you-have-to-live-not-a-sound-you-can-copy-175-tbt/Xpolymer Dar — one of the oldest rappers in Pakistan and a founding member of Rap Engineers — sits down with Muzamil to talk about why most local rap is still phase one of hip hop, what an MC actually is, why he keeps disappearing from the spotlight, and what an artist owes to the local flavour.Fri, 03 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistani raphip hopmusic industryrap engineersbattle raphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/my-father-on-lahore-in-the-sixties-raising-six-kids-and-pakistans-drift-174-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/my-father-on-lahore-in-the-sixties-raising-six-kids-and-pakistans-drift-174-tbt/Muzamil's father, Syed Hasan Sajjad, sits down for a conversation that runs from a 1947 birth in Lahore through a career in banking across Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the financial arithmetic of raising six children, and what he thinks went wrong with the country he was born into.Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMTfamilypakistan historybankingpartition generationlahorehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-saves-seven-rupees-out-of-a-hundred-india-saves-thirty-173-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-saves-seven-rupees-out-of-a-hundred-india-saves-thirty-173-tbt/Al Meezan Investments CEO Mohammad Shoaib walks through the actual menu of investment products available to a Pakistani saver — mutual funds, pension funds, ETFs — and the structural reasons most people never use any of them.Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyinvestingmutual fundspension fundsetfshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/talha-ahad-on-building-asias-first-video-only-newsroom-172-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/talha-ahad-on-building-asias-first-video-only-newsroom-172-tbt/Talha Ahad, founder and CEO of The Centrum Media, talks to Muzamil about building a video-first newsroom in Pakistan with no funding, the line between journalism and activism, and why he refuses to take political money to push a narrative.Fri, 26 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTjournalismmediapakistanvideoentrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/boys-can-be-men-men-are-respectful-boys-at-times-are-not-171-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/boys-can-be-men-men-are-respectful-boys-at-times-are-not-171-tbt/Content creator Ayla Adnan on accidental TikTok virality, growing up in a non-typical family, menstrual hygiene awareness in Pakistan, toxic local debate culture, and why the conversation on respect has to start in the room with the boys.Thu, 25 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTcreator economywomen in pakistanmenstrual hygienemetoodebate culturehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-retailo-is-betting-on-maksud-bhai-instead-of-dark-stores-170-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-retailo-is-betting-on-maksud-bhai-instead-of-dark-stores-170-tbt/Retailo co-founder Naukhez Sarwar on going from boarding school in Hasan Abdal to a $10M seed round, what's actually broken in Pakistan's agriculture supply chain, and why empowering the corner shop is a better long-term bet than building dark stores on top of it.Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTretail techb2b commercepakistan startupssupply chainride hailinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-obvious-is-the-hardest-thing-to-discover-in-pakistans-economy-169-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-obvious-is-the-hardest-thing-to-discover-in-pakistans-economy-169-tbt/Muzzammil Aslam, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, walks through what the rupee, the auto sector, the agriculture base, and Pakistan's habit of protecting the wrong people actually mean — and why the policies that hurt today are the ones that stop a bigger fall in 2023.Fri, 19 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyinflationrupeemonetary policyministry of financehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/twelve-years-of-grace-how-the-idiots-stayed-grounded-168-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/twelve-years-of-grace-how-the-idiots-stayed-grounded-168-tbt/Muhammad Kashan of The Idiots on twelve years of skits, the day Pakistan's YouTube ban lifted, why he finally quit his job, and what content creation in Pakistan still has to grow into.Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTcreator economyyoutube pakistanthe idiotscontent creationhumilityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-influencer-industry-is-stuck-on-the-frame-167-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-influencer-industry-is-stuck-on-the-frame-167-tbt/Hemayal Attique on starting on Instagram before influencers had a name for it, why brands here still demand A-to-Z control of the post, what the LSA hate cycle actually felt like, and why a TikTok-trained generation will move past the frame whether the industry is ready or not.Mon, 15 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTcreator economypakistan influencersinstagramtiktokfashion industryhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/uzair-jaswal-if-im-not-on-stage-where-do-i-belong-166-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/uzair-jaswal-if-im-not-on-stage-where-do-i-belong-166-tbt/Uzair Jaswal on the year live music disappeared, how Tere Bin got a second and third life, why the Islamabad underground was special, and what a Pakistani musician actually needs from a label.Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTmusicpakistani musicislamabadcoke studioindependent artistshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-an-artist-with-a-national-audience-has-no-right-to-emotion-165-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-an-artist-with-a-national-audience-has-no-right-to-emotion-165-tbt/Storyteller, painter and education-policy consultant Abdal Mufti joins Muzamil for a long conversation about how art came to him through depression, why a murdered student changed what he paints, and what happened when one of his pieces became the centrepiece of a national pile-on.Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTartmental healthcancel culturesocial mediapakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-the-largest-underserved-retail-market-in-the-world-164-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-is-the-largest-underserved-retail-market-in-the-world-164-tbt/Kamran Shaukat walks through a career that ran from Alcatel and McDonald's to Shell, Walmart and finally EZBuy Pakistan — and explains why a former global sourcing director walked away from corporate security to bet on a country with 220 million underserved consumers.Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTe-commerceretailsupply chainpakistan economychina pakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-import-duties-are-in-effect-export-taxes-163-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-import-duties-are-in-effect-export-taxes-163-tbt/World Bank senior economist Gonzalo Varela walks Muzamil through why Pakistan's export sector has eroded for two decades — a real exchange rate held artificially strong, one of the world's most protected tariff structures, and a policy posture that quietly punishes anyone who tries to sell abroad.Wed, 03 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyexportsexchange ratetariffsworld bankhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-own-a-piece-of-an-f-6-plot-for-one-lakh-rupees-162-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-own-a-piece-of-an-f-6-plot-for-one-lakh-rupees-162-tbt/The co-founders of Xstate explain how fractional ownership and an in-house property exchange could let an average Pakistani buy into premium Islamabad real estate, why the holding problem matters more than the price problem, and why blockchain is on the roadmap but not yet.Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTreal estatefractional ownershipfintechpakistan startupscrowdfundinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-syed-owais-ali-moved-back-to-pakistan-at-28-161-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-syed-owais-ali-moved-back-to-pakistan-at-28-161-tbt/Filmmaker and YouTuber Syed Owais Ali on growing up in the Gulf, an Al Jazeera documentary at 23, walking away from a dream job in Qatar, and why Pakistan's digital media space is nowhere near saturated.Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMToverseas pakistanisfilmmakingyoutubemedia freedompakistan economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-biggest-meme-page-is-run-by-a-district-medical-officer-160-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-biggest-meme-page-is-run-by-a-district-medical-officer-160-tbt/Dr Naseer Ahsan, the doctor behind Pendu Productions, talks about running one of Pakistan's largest meme pages on the side while serving as a district medical officer — and what the meme industry has quietly become.Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTmeme pagespakistan creator economysehat cardsocial mediapublic healthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-next-world-order-will-be-won-on-economy-not-military-159-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-next-world-order-will-be-won-on-economy-not-military-159-tbt/Hamza, vice president of macro rates sales at Goldman Sachs and founder of the clean-water charity Bondh e Shams, walks Muzamil through the pivots that have shaped the global political economy since 9/11 — and why Pakistan's path forward is internal, not external.Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTmacroeconomicsglobal political economypakistan economychina risegoldman sachshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-monis-rahman-wont-charge-sellers-on-dukan-158-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-monis-rahman-wont-charge-sellers-on-dukan-158-tbt/Monis Rahman walks through the arc from Intel and the dot-com boom to Rozee, Finja, and Dukan — and explains why he will never charge a transaction fee to the small sellers his new platform is built for.Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTmsmese-commercefintechpakistan startupsdukanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-hashim-nawaz-tells-aspiring-rappers-not-to-obsess-over-rap-157-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-hashim-nawaz-tells-aspiring-rappers-not-to-obsess-over-rap-157-tbt/Pindi rapper Hashim Nawaz walks Muzamil through the desi route into rap — copying Eminem instrumentals as a kid, a piano-playing father who passed too soon, three years writing in silence before his first cipher, the Goky Records crew, and why he keeps telling younger rappers to enjoy the process and not make rap their whole identity.Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistani raphip hoppindimusic industrycreative processhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/usman-mukhtar-the-actor-who-still-wants-to-be-a-filmmaker-156-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/usman-mukhtar-the-actor-who-still-wants-to-be-a-filmmaker-156-tbt/Usman Mukhtar on growing up in the Kuch Khaas era, why Pakistani dramas still rotate the same four plots, what shooting a song for thirty-six hours straight does to you, and why he turned down scripts when he had no money in the bank.Fri, 15 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistani dramafilm industrykuch khaasactingsocial mediahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-only-0-1-of-pakistan-invests-in-stocks-155-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-only-0-1-of-pakistan-invests-in-stocks-155-tbt/Ali Farid Khwaja, chairman of KTrade and a former top-ranked European technology analyst, explains why Pakistan's capital markets were built for institutions and the rich, what it takes to open up that game to the rest of the country, and why he treats unregulated crypto as his real competition.Wed, 13 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTcapital marketspakistan stock exchangektradepassive incomefintechhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-startup-boom-is-a-watershed-not-a-victory-lap-154-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-startup-boom-is-a-watershed-not-a-victory-lap-154-tbt/Dastgyr's co-founder returns to Thought Behind Things to explain why September 2021 is an inflection point for Pakistan's startup ecosystem, why fintech and B2B commerce are absorbing most of the venture dollars, and why the real product everyone is racing to build is a credit score.Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan startupsventure capitalb2b commercefintechcredit scoringhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-zara-dar-topped-acca-and-still-wants-her-own-firm-153-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-zara-dar-topped-acca-and-still-wants-her-own-firm-153-tbt/ACCA global prize winner Zara Dar talks about a military childhood across Pakistan, why she chose ACCA over CA, what it felt like to go viral on an academic achievement, and why she wants to build a female-led accounting firm of her own.Fri, 08 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTaccaaccountancywomen in financepakistan educationpersonal brandinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-danish-hasan-dropped-out-in-his-final-semester-152-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-danish-hasan-dropped-out-in-his-final-semester-152-tbt/Filmmaker and content creator Danish Hasan on walking away from his engineering degree in the eighth semester, why he treats Pakistani universities as a broken system, how Bros Meets the World ran its course, and what a bike accident in Karachi taught him about who he actually wants to talk to.Wed, 06 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTcontent creationfilmmakingeducationyoutube pakistancreative careershttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-man-who-made-podcasting-mainstream-in-pakistan-151-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-man-who-made-podcasting-mainstream-in-pakistan-151-tbt/Junaid Akram traces his path from flipping burgers in Karachi to pioneering long-form podcasting in Pakistan — and explains why the country's biggest export is human capital it keeps driving away.Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTpodcastingdigital mediapakistancontent creationkarachiyouthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-umama-ismail-refuses-to-pick-just-one-thing-150-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-umama-ismail-refuses-to-pick-just-one-thing-150-tbt/Umama Ismail — trainee clinical psychologist, singer, painter, makeup studio owner — on a small-town school that taught itself co-curriculars, losing her grandmother while she was alone in Turkey, and why she tells everyone, especially the boys, to cry.Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTpsychologygriefsmall town pakistanart and classmental healthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-internet-is-an-ocean-most-pakistanis-are-still-wading-in-149-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-internet-is-an-ocean-most-pakistanis-are-still-wading-in-149-tbt/OSINT consultant Zaki Khalid on what open-source intelligence actually is, how to take your information off Google, why dark web myths are mostly noise, and how Pakistan's online discourse will need another decade to grow up.Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTosintdigital privacydisinformationpakistan internetinformation warfarehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-shehzeen-siddique-started-freelancing-at-15-in-secret-148-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-shehzeen-siddique-started-freelancing-at-15-in-secret-148-tbt/Shehzeen Siddique started freelancing at 15, got scammed seven times learning the trade, lost her first social media manager job, and built Learn to Earn into a course for Pakistani students. She talks about average grades, online hate, and why she now teaches mostly girls.Mon, 27 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTfreelancingonline educationwomen and workpakistan youthonline scamshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-footballs-problem-is-the-management-not-the-players-147-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-footballs-problem-is-the-management-not-the-players-147-tbt/Faizan Sameer on running 18's football initiative, why FIFA suspended Pakistan, why the auto-sponsored Premier League era is dying, how Global Soccer Ventures could change everything, and what it's like to build a public life alongside Aaliyah.Sat, 25 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan footballsports administrationfifamedia industryhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/one-year-of-tbt-muzamil-on-hope-slow-growth-and-the-fear-of-going-bitter-146-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/one-year-of-tbt-muzamil-on-hope-slow-growth-and-the-fear-of-going-bitter-146-tbt/On the one-year mark of Thought Behind Things, Humna Raza turns the mic on Muzamil. They cover why he turned down every sponsor, why his favourite conversation broke his stereotypes, and the single fear that sits underneath everything he does.Wed, 22 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTpodcastingpersonal brandhopeslow growthcreator economyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-mobile-phone-that-ended-a-pma-career-and-started-bedaar-144-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-mobile-phone-that-ended-a-pma-career-and-started-bedaar-144-tbt/Ijlal Khattak walks through the disciplinary lapse that cost him an army commission, the call-centre and football years that followed, the King Edwards trip that lost three and a half lakh rupees, and the contrarian quality bet that built Bedaar Travels into one of Pakistan's better-known tour operators.Wed, 15 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTtourismentrepreneurshippakistan travelmilitarysmall businesshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistans-10-billion-is-being-held-by-the-country-that-signed-its-peace-deal-143-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistans-10-billion-is-being-held-by-the-country-that-signed-its-peace-deal-143-tbt/Raoof Hasan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, walks through the Taliban interim cabinet, the $10 billion in frozen Afghan reserves, the contradiction at the heart of America's legitimacy demand, and why the region — not the West — will have to shoulder Afghanistan's recovery.Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTafghanistantalibangeopoliticspakistan foreign policychinahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-regulations-are-built-to-punish-not-to-enable-142-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-regulations-are-built-to-punish-not-to-enable-142-tbt/Karandaaz Chief Risk Officer Ammar Habib Khan walks through what risk management actually means in Pakistan, why financial inclusion stalls at the mindset layer, what Raast could unlock if banks let it, and the only two scenarios he sees for the country in 2050.Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTfinancial inclusionpakistan economyfintechraastenergy policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/do-civil-servants-really-serve-an-ac-answers-honestly-141-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/do-civil-servants-really-serve-an-ac-answers-honestly-141-tbt/AC Ibrahim Arbab, currently posted at Model Town Lahore, walks through what an assistant commissioner actually does — from land revenue to polio teams to weekend protests — and answers the question that follows civil servants everywhere on Twitter.Wed, 08 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTcivil servicecsspakistan bureaucracydistrict administrationlahorehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-two-sisters-in-thatta-built-a-global-audience-on-a-one-hour-dial-up-140-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-two-sisters-in-thatta-built-a-global-audience-on-a-one-hour-dial-up-140-tbt/Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui talk about starting blogs as schoolgirls in Thatta, selling $5 banners through an uncle's PayPal in Saudi, getting published by Penguin Random House, and refusing to drop their Pakistani identity to grow a Western audience.Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTcreative careerspublishinginstagrampakistani artidentityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-finja-lends-to-the-kiryana-store-the-banks-wont-touch-139-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-finja-lends-to-the-kiryana-store-the-banks-wont-touch-139-tbt/Finja's Umer Munawar and Zain Bhatti walk through how a fintech licensed three times over decided that the most underserved part of Pakistan's economy was not the unbanked saver but the kiryana store with no access to credit — and how a co-lending model with banks scales that bet.Fri, 03 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTfintechpakistan startupsventure capitallendingfinancial inclusionhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-bluff-that-turned-dj-toshi-into-a-producer-138-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-bluff-that-turned-dj-toshi-into-a-producer-138-tbt/DJ Toshi on bluffing his way into a friend's house party with a YouTube tutorial, why localising EDM with sitar and tabla matters, the making of BIBA with Farasat and Umair, and why producers in Pakistan still get buried in the credits.Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMTmusicedmpakistan music industryproducersbibahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/daktar-saab-on-why-a-doctors-absence-in-pakistan-matters-137-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/daktar-saab-on-why-a-doctors-absence-in-pakistan-matters-137-tbt/Dr. Asad Khan — Daktar Saab — on impostor syndrome after medical school, why USMLEs are an escape route, the standardisation fight inside Pakistani medicine, the kink of staying fixated on a problem, and why the opposite of conservative is progressive, not liberal.Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMThealthcarebrain drainmedical educationcontent creationpoliticshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistan-is-a-once-in-a-generation-realignment-not-a-news-cycle-136-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistan-is-a-once-in-a-generation-realignment-not-a-news-cycle-136-tbt/Arsalan Khan of The Wide Side joins Muzamil days after the Taliban takeover to argue that Afghanistan is a paradigm-shift event on the scale of Partition, that the real twenty-first-century battle is economic rather than military, and that India is the one regional player still pushing for instability.Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTafghanistangeopoliticspakistan foreign policychinayoutubehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-raising-a-son-well-is-the-harder-job-135-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-raising-a-son-well-is-the-harder-job-135-tbt/Zenab Rauf and Hassaan Tayab — a Faisalabad couple navigating YouTube, a restaurant, and first-time parenting through a COVID lockdown — talk to Muzamil about gender-sensitive parenting, the cultural script that lets boys off the hook, and why the first five years are where the work actually happens.Wed, 25 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTparentinggenderpakistanyoutubefaisalabadhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-kiryana-dukan-is-the-real-disruption-opportunity-134-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-kiryana-dukan-is-the-real-disruption-opportunity-134-tbt/Saif Ali walks through a winding decade in agencies, a long argument with brand teams about TikTok and data, and the B2B e-commerce thesis behind Dastgyr — empowering two million underserved kiryana retailers who quietly run Pakistan's economy.Mon, 23 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTretailb2b ecommerceinfluencer marketingtiktokpakistan startupshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-flight-training-in-pakistan-is-a-waste-of-money/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-flight-training-in-pakistan-is-a-waste-of-money/Drone photographer Wasif and eighteen-year-old aviation photographer Salman Tareen walk Muzamil through plane spotting in Pakistan, the economics of becoming a pilot, runway categories, the politics of who gets hired by Gulf carriers, and why a niche hobby keeps running into a national security wall.Fri, 20 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTaviationphotographypakistandronepilotshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-taliban-took-afghanistan-in-days-not-months/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-taliban-took-afghanistan-in-days-not-months/Recorded the weekend Kabul fell, Hussain Nadim walks through why the Taliban swept Afghanistan so quickly, why Washington's analysts missed it, what the #SanctionPakistan trend actually was, and what comes next for Pakistan.Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTafghanistantalibanpakistanus foreign policygeopoliticshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-builds-boring-buildings-and-how-danyal-shiekh-wants-to-fix-it-130-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-builds-boring-buildings-and-how-danyal-shiekh-wants-to-fix-it-130-tbt/Danyal Shiekh on leaving a family textile business to build an experiential-living apartment project on the Murree Expressway, why 3D-printed homes belong to the middle class, and why Pakistani real estate keeps mistaking ninety percent for one hundred.Fri, 13 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTreal estateconstructionpakistan economyentrepreneurship3d printinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-mustafa-babar-wants-to-be-an-actor-not-an-influencer-129-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-mustafa-babar-wants-to-be-an-actor-not-an-influencer-129-tbt/Mustafa Babar talks about leaving a 30,000-subscriber YouTube channel from scratch, why he wants out of the influencer bracket, the Midsummer Chaos backlash, and why call-out culture rarely leaves room for anyone to actually improve.Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistani entertainmentyoutube to actingmidsummer chaoscancel culturesocial mediahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-127-episodes-of-tbt-did-to-muzamil-hasan-128-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-127-episodes-of-tbt-did-to-muzamil-hasan-128-tbt/Yusra takes the host seat and turns the microphone around. Muzamil Hasan talks about how Thought Behind Things rebuilt his confidence, why he predicted the podcast boom, how becoming a father reorganised his priorities, and what he wants Pakistan Now to do that Bollywood did for India.Mon, 09 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTpodcastingcontent strategyfatherhoodpakistan nowhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-drew-a-border-around-technology-127-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistan-drew-a-border-around-technology-127-tbt/Hamza Saeed, Director of Planning at Pakistan's Special Technology Zones Authority, walks through how China's Shenzhen model is being adapted for Pakistan's knowledge workers — and why this time the incentives are written into law instead of an SRO that can be cancelled overnight.Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTspecial technology zonespakistan economycpecknowledge economytechnology policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistan-the-taliban-and-the-cost-of-seeing-each-other-through-state-eyes-126-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistan-the-taliban-and-the-cost-of-seeing-each-other-through-state-eyes-126-tbt/Shahrzad Kofi and Asad Khosha join Muzamil from Kabul to talk through the Taliban resurgence, the failure of the Afghan state to deliver, why Pakistan and Afghanistan keep misreading each other, and what the worst case actually looks like.Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-umara-and-kashaf-refused-to-chase-tiktok-125-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-umara-and-kashaf-refused-to-chase-tiktok-125-tbt/Fashion bloggers Umara and Kashaf on starting a blog at sixteen, why they walked away from TikTok-style transition videos, the gap between Pakistani fashion's roots and its current output, and what changes when an entire generation refuses to inherit the silences of the last one.Mon, 02 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTfashioncontent creatorspakistaninstagramtiktokhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-debt-cycle-quietly-blocks-you-from-investing-124-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-pakistans-debt-cycle-quietly-blocks-you-from-investing-124-tbt/Laeeq Ahmad returns to Thought Behind Things to break down why ordinary Pakistanis aren't investing — and how the government's own borrowing makes it rational for banks to ignore small businesses, why brokers won't guide you, and what a working investment platform should actually do.Fri, 30 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistan economyinvestingstock marketmutual fundsfinancial literacyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-youtuber-who-got-into-12-universities-and-said-yes-to-all-123-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-youtuber-who-got-into-12-universities-and-said-yes-to-all-123-tbt/Zainab Fatima built a 200,000-subscriber YouTube channel while navigating a school that told her she couldn't join the sports team because of her hijab, a counselor who said the US was out of reach, and a family that needed convincing. Then she got into twelve universities. All twelve gave her scholarships.Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTyoutubecontent creationstudying abroadpakistanwomenhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-american-who-moved-to-pakistan-to-build-a-unicorn-122-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-american-who-moved-to-pakistan-to-build-a-unicorn-122-tbt/Jordan Olivas grew up poor in New Mexico, sold candy at school to make pocket money, and ended up as VP of Sales at a buy now, pay later company worth $45 billion. Then he moved to Pakistan to build the country's first BNPL platform — and he thinks it could be Pakistan's first homegrown unicorn.Mon, 26 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTfintechpakistanbuy-now-pay-laterstartupsconsumer-credithttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-man-who-built-pakistans-insect-community-from-scratch-121-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-man-who-built-pakistans-insect-community-from-scratch-121-tbt/Azaz Ahmad founded Keero Ki Dunya with 200 members and grew it to 87,000 — not through marketing, but through the stubborn belief that Pakistanis could identify, document, and care about their own insects.Fri, 23 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTentomologycitizen sciencepakistanbiodiversityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-doesnt-have-career-counsellors-so-she-built-an-ai-one-120-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistan-doesnt-have-career-counsellors-so-she-built-an-ai-one-120-tbt/Dr. Zunaira Saqib, founder of Merafuture.pk, explains why aptitude testing in Pakistan is broken, how she trained an AI model on successful cases to fix it, and what parents keep getting wrong about scope.Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTcareer counsellingpakistan educationaptitude testingai startupsparentinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/whats-really-at-stake-as-the-taliban-take-afghanistan-119-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/whats-really-at-stake-as-the-taliban-take-afghanistan-119-tbt/Salman Javed, Director General of the Pak Afghan Youth Forum, breaks down the Taliban's rapid territorial gains, Pakistan's strategic calculations, India's shrinking footprint, and what a post-withdrawal Afghanistan could mean for the entire region.Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTafghanistanpakistantalibanregional-securitysouth-asiahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-car-scheme-was-the-wrong-gift-for-overseas-pakistanis-118-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-the-car-scheme-was-the-wrong-gift-for-overseas-pakistanis-118-tbt/Reuters correspondent Ariba Shahid talks about stumbling into journalism, what a week of reporting actually looks like, why the overseas Pakistani car scheme picked the wrong sector, and where the line between trolling and harassment sits.Wed, 14 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTeconomic journalismpakistan economyoverseas pakistanisremittanceswomen and financehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/does-being-real-online-actually-get-you-hate-117-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/does-being-real-online-actually-get-you-hate-117-tbt/By Rooj on growing up in a small town, building an audience through honesty, and what happens when the internet pushes back.Mon, 12 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTcontent creationmental healthsocial mediaauthenticityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/momina-munir-on-losing-22-kgs-and-finding-herself-again-116-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/momina-munir-on-losing-22-kgs-and-finding-herself-again-116-tbt/Momina Munir opens up about the gap year that wasn't really a gap — the weight loss, the grief, the kickboxing, and the slow return to content creation.Fri, 09 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTcontent creationmental healthgap yearpakistanyoutubehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-asp-who-built-pakistans-first-gender-protection-unit-115-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-asp-who-built-pakistans-first-gender-protection-unit-115-tbt/ASP Amna Baig on joining the police force as a woman, founding Islamabad's Gender Protection Unit, and why financial independence is the only real answer to gender-based violence in Pakistan.Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTpolicegender-based violencewomen in pakistanpublic serviceislamabadhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-missing-character-in-midsummer-chaos-114-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/the-missing-character-in-midsummer-chaos-114-tbt/Bisma Khan built a hair-care brand from Rs 5,000, recorded her first rap on a mattress propped against a wall, and is now appearing in Pakistan's most controversial web series. She talks to Muzamil about failure, social media personas, and what Pakistani art gets wrong.Mon, 05 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshipsocial mediapakistancontent creationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/hussain-nadim-on-rebuilding-a-think-tank-from-inside-the-system-the-great-game-read-of-afghanistan-and-why-joe-biden-isnt-calling-113-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/hussain-nadim-on-rebuilding-a-think-tank-from-inside-the-system-the-great-game-read-of-afghanistan-and-why-joe-biden-isnt-calling-113-tbt/A 33-year-old PhD running IPRI - Pakistan's national-security think tank - sits with Muzamil to argue why the US-Afghan war was never a double game, why a clean policy on Osama bin Laden is impossible in a post-colonial society, and what Pakistan actually was through twenty years of war on terror.Fri, 02 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMTforeign-policyafghanistanus-pakistan-relationsthink-tanksiprinational-securityimran-khanjoe-bidenosama-bin-ladenhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-shehnoor-films-built-a-wedding-photography-empire-112-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-shehnoor-films-built-a-wedding-photography-empire-112-tbt/From a film camera sent from Germany to running a multi-team wedding photography studio in Islamabad — Shehnoor Films breaks down how the business actually works, what gear to buy, how to handle difficult clients, and why Pakistan's wedding market is unlike anywhere else.Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTwedding photographypakistancreative businessphotography gearhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-bitcoin-the-new-gold-111-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/is-bitcoin-the-new-gold-111-tbt/Haroon Baig breaks down what Bitcoin actually is, why volatility is a feature not a flaw, and why banks — not crypto — are the world's biggest money-laundering facilitators.Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTbitcoincryptocurrencyinvestingpakistandecentralised financehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bitcoin-actually-works-explained-from-scratch-110-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bitcoin-actually-works-explained-from-scratch-110-tbt/Haroon Baig walks through the full architecture of Bitcoin — from mempool to mining, Lightning Network to proof-of-work — in one of the most technically grounded conversations on the show.Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTbitcoincryptocurrencyblockchaindefipakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-hologram-industry-is-eight-months-of-demos-and-no-takers-109-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-hologram-industry-is-eight-months-of-demos-and-no-takers-109-tbt/Oztech's co-founders on bootstrapping immersive display technology in Pakistan — from projection mapping to drone light shows — and why the country's biggest brands still won't be first.Wed, 23 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTholographic technologyexperiential marketingout-of-home advertisingpakistan startupsimmersive displayshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-squash-heroes-are-playing-on-their-own-money-108-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-squash-heroes-are-playing-on-their-own-money-108-tbt/Farhan Mehboob is a national squash champion who has won South Asian Games gold, reached a world ranking, and beaten players who went on to become world champions. He pays for his own tournaments. Pakistan has never given him a sponsorship.Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTsquashpakistan sportsathlete welfaresports policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/does-school-fuel-insecurities-107-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/does-school-fuel-insecurities-107-tbt/Sheena Sohail, Principal of HITEC School and College for Girls in Taxila, sits down with Muzamil to talk about what schools are actually doing to children — and what they're failing to do.Fri, 18 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTeducationpakistanwomenparentingschoolshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bilal-munir-built-videowalisarkar-from-scratch-106-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-bilal-munir-built-videowalisarkar-from-scratch-106-tbt/Bilal Munir, founder of VideoWaliSarkar, traces the full arc: dropping out of university, starting an Urdu-language tech channel nobody believed in, and building toward a vertically integrated media and product business in Pakistan.Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTcreator economypakistan techyoutubeentrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-qutaiba-mehmood-came-back-to-pakistan-from-australia-105-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-qutaiba-mehmood-came-back-to-pakistan-from-australia-105-tbt/Qutaiba Mehmood traces the arc from electrical engineering dropout to documentary filmmaker to study-abroad consultant — and explains why he eventually chose to return home despite building a life in Sydney.Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTstudy abroadcontent creationpakistan politicsmediahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/osmann-mumtaz-on-finding-filmmaking-before-anyone-told-him-to-104-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/osmann-mumtaz-on-finding-filmmaking-before-anyone-told-him-to-104-tbt/Filmmaker and editor Osmann Mumtaz traces how he discovered filmmaking through a borrowed camera, survived disinterested years in ICS and college, and now thinks about where Pakistan's content industry is actually headed.Fri, 11 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTfilmmakingpakistancontent creationeditinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-imran-ali-dina-became-gfxmentor-103-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-imran-ali-dina-became-gfxmentor-103-tbt/From a failed restaurant to a university lectureship he never formally applied for, Imran Ali Dina traces the winding, accidental path that turned a childhood love of colour into one of Pakistan's largest graphic design education platforms.Wed, 09 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTgraphic designself-taughtpakistanyoutubecreative educationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-bitcoin-alone-wont-fix-pakistans-economy-102-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-bitcoin-alone-wont-fix-pakistans-economy-102-tbt/Ahmad Manzoor, founder of Pakistan Blockchain Institute, sits down with Muzamil to separate the speculative frenzy around Bitcoin from the deeper promise of blockchain technology - and explains why Pakistan is not as far behind as people think.Mon, 07 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTblockchainbitcoinpakistancryptocurrencydigital-currencyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-women-work-usra-murtaza-on-independence-and-identity-101-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-women-work-usra-murtaza-on-independence-and-identity-101-tbt/Usra Murtaza talks about building a career in media and digital spaces, the psychological shift of earning your first salary, workplace harassment, and why financial independence changes the power dynamics of every relationship.Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTwomen and workfinancial independencemedia careersworkplace harassmentpakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-pakistans-advertising-industry-actually-works-100-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-pakistans-advertising-industry-actually-works-100-tbt/Babar Khan Javed - investigative journalist and industry analyst at Z2C Limited and Profit magazine - breaks down the structure, dysfunction, and hidden pressures inside Pakistan's advertising and media ecosystem.Wed, 02 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTadvertisingmediapakistanjournalismmarketinghttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-schools-destroy-self-esteem-099-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-schools-destroy-self-esteem-099-tbt/Emad Bukhari on the psychological damage schools inflict on children, why the education system produces graduates with no practical skills, and what Pakistan's youth can do differently.Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTeducationpakistanentrepreneurshipyouthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-awareness-alone-will-never-change-behavior-097-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/why-awareness-alone-will-never-change-behavior-097-tbt/Raheel Waqar built a behavior change agency in Pakistan over 15 years - working on child stunting, clean water, and COVID messaging - and his core argument is simple: designing for the ideal environment is not the same as designing for the real one.Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTbehavior designsocial impactpakistandevelopment sectorbehavioral sciencehttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-women-are-objectified-in-pakistans-media-096-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-women-are-objectified-in-pakistans-media-096-tbt/Fizza Jamal traces her path from broadcast news to UX design, and along the way describes what it actually feels like to be a woman working in front of a Pakistani television camera - the unsolicited comments about lipstick colours, the selection panels that talk over you, and the moment she decided the industry was not for her.Mon, 24 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTmediawomenpakistancareerbroadcast newshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-media-insider-on-fake-news-tvs-business-model-and-pakistans-civic-crisis-095-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/a-media-insider-on-fake-news-tvs-business-model-and-pakistans-civic-crisis-095-tbt/Asadullah Khan, a veteran of Pakistan's television industry, traces his accidental entry into media, explains why TV channels are businesses first, and argues that the country's real problem is not fake news but a population that treats television as gospel.Fri, 21 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTmediapakistanjournalismtelevisioncivic societyfake newshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dananeer-mobeens-pawri-ho-rahi-hai-went-viral-and-what-came-after-094-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-dananeer-mobeens-pawri-ho-rahi-hai-went-viral-and-what-came-after-094-tbt/Dananeer Mobeen sits down with Muzamil to trace the journey from a casual video posted on a private account to an international viral moment - and what it actually felt like to live through it.Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTviral contentsocial mediapakistancontent creationhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dr-tariq-banuri-on-higher-education-reform-in-pakistan-093-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/dr-tariq-banuri-on-higher-education-reform-in-pakistan-093-tbt/A conversation with Dr. Tariq Banuri, former Chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, on research funding, university quality standards, and the structural challenges facing Pakistani higher education.Mon, 17 May 2021 00:00:00 GMThigher educationpakistanhecresearchpolicyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-healthcare-system-brain-surgery-and-covid-vaccines-a-neurosurgeons-view-092-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/pakistans-healthcare-system-brain-surgery-and-covid-vaccines-a-neurosurgeons-view-092-tbt/Prof. Dr. Ahsan Aurangzeb, neurosurgeon and Medical Director at Ayub Medical Teaching Institute, walks through the structural problems in Pakistan's health system - from how patients are financed to why doctors leave - and closes with a direct message on Covid vaccines and the third wave.Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 GMThealthcareneurosurgerypakistancovid-19public healthhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/on-civil-service-balochistan-and-building-a-life-worth-living-a-conversation-with-awaid-bhatti-091-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/on-civil-service-balochistan-and-building-a-life-worth-living-a-conversation-with-awaid-bhatti-091-tbt/CSS 2017 nationwide topper and Assistant Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Awaid Irshad Bhatti speaks candidly about solo travel, the decision to leave a private-sector career, what it actually felt like to top the CSS exam, and why incremental change inside a flawed system matters more than utopian ambition.Mon, 10 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTcivil servicecss pakistanbalochistangovernancepublic policyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/peace-polarization-and-pakistans-turning-point-a-conversation-with-dr-adnan-rafiq-090-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/peace-polarization-and-pakistans-turning-point-a-conversation-with-dr-adnan-rafiq-090-tbt/Dr. Adnan Rafiq, country director for the United States Institute of Peace, joins Muzamil to discuss how inequality, information access, and political polarization shape the prospects for peace in Pakistan.Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTpakistanpeacebuildinggovernancepolarizationinequalityhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ahmed-sarym-on-storytelling-journalism-and-filmmaking-in-pakistan-089-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/ahmed-sarym-on-storytelling-journalism-and-filmmaking-in-pakistan-089-tbt/Ahmed Sarym, one of Pakistan's youngest journalists, talks with Muzamil about how he found his voice as a writer, the ethics of entertainment journalism, and what drove him toward filmmaking.Wed, 05 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTjournalismfilmmakingpakistanstorytellingmediahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/finding-opportunities-in-crisis-a-conversation-with-zeenat-ahmad-088-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/finding-opportunities-in-crisis-a-conversation-with-zeenat-ahmad-088-tbt/Zeenat Ahmad traces her path from a government school scholarship to chartered accountancy, reflecting on how clarity of thought - not convention - shaped her choices.Mon, 03 May 2021 00:00:00 GMTeducationcareerpakistanscholarshipschartered-accountancypersonal-developmenthttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/career-choices-content-creation-and-the-cost-of-comparison-087-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/career-choices-content-creation-and-the-cost-of-comparison-087-tbt/Hamza Bhatti traces his path from a BBA graduate eyeing Dubai to building one of Pakistan's first dedicated content production houses - and argues that the absence of career counselling, the pressure of parental expectations, and the habit of comparing yourself to others are the three forces most likely to derail a young person's working life.Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTcareercontent creationpakistanentrepreneurshiphttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/naba-khalid-on-switching-to-architecture-in-week-one-building-a-wedding-photography-business-by-22-and-what-the-people-about-to-inherit-pakistan-actually-think-086-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/naba-khalid-on-switching-to-architecture-in-week-one-building-a-wedding-photography-business-by-22-and-what-the-people-about-to-inherit-pakistan-actually-think-086-tbt/A NUST architecture student turned wedding photographer talks with Muzamil about the week-one pivot from engineering, the business she started in the hardest year of her degree, why Pakistani houses are built to be resold, and why she thinks young entrepreneurs are about to run the country.Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshipphotographyarchitecturepakistanfinancial-independencecreative-businesshttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/diet-plans-fitness-myths-and-building-a-science-based-approach-to-nutrition-085-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/diet-plans-fitness-myths-and-building-a-science-based-approach-to-nutrition-085-tbt/Muzamil sits down with GetFitAthletic to unpack why generic diet plans fail most people, how to distinguish qualified nutrition professionals from online noise, and what a sustainable, evidence-based approach to fitness actually looks like.Mon, 26 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTnutritionfitnessdiethealth mythspakistanhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistans-cycle-of-conflict-history-power-vacuums-and-pakistans-strategic-dilemma-084-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/afghanistans-cycle-of-conflict-history-power-vacuums-and-pakistans-strategic-dilemma-084-tbt/Salman Javed joins Muzamil to trace Afghanistan's recurring cycles of civil war - from the Soviet withdrawal and Najibullah's fall to the Taliban's rise - and asks whether the same dynamics are now reasserting themselves.Fri, 23 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTafghanistanpakistantalibangeopoliticssouth-asiahttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-get-a-job-as-a-web-developer-with-ehmad-zubair-083-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/how-to-get-a-job-as-a-web-developer-with-ehmad-zubair-083-tbt/Ehmad Zubair, CEO of Cogent Labs, joins Muzamil to talk through the web development landscape in Pakistan - from frontend frameworks to freelancing traps, the value of a first boss, and why universities have become job factories instead of research institutions.Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTweb developmentcareer advicepakistan techfreelancingsoftware engineeringhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-actually-happened-in-1971-056-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/what-actually-happened-in-1971-056-tbt/A senior guest who lived through 1971 as a factory man in East Pakistan recounts the war he was caught inside: the firing, the flight through the jungle, two years of captivity in India, and the long road home.Mon, 08 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT1971historypakistanbangladeshwarpartitiontestimonyhttps://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/imran-khan-on-pakistans-political-crisis-foreign-policy-and-the-road-ahead-231-tbt/https://muzamilhasan.com/podcast/thought-behind-things/imran-khan-on-pakistans-political-crisis-foreign-policy-and-the-road-ahead-231-tbt/Former Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks candidly about the conspiracy he believes brought down his government, Pakistan's dependency on foreign powers, the justice system's failure to hold the powerful accountable, and why he sees this moment as a historic turning point for the country.Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMTpakistanimran khanptipoliticsforeign policy