Out of the services firms
The strongest product teams start inside an agency that built the same thing five times for five clients.
Approach
Weeks to an answer, then real work.
Short on purpose. A pre-seed company cannot afford a three-month diligence cycle, and there is rarely enough data to justify one.
Sourcing
Where we expect to find companies.
Almost none of it comes from inbound decks.
University and community
NUST, FAST, LUMS, GIKI and the communities around them. We meet people a year before they incorporate.
Returning operators
Engineers and product people back after a decade abroad, with a network on both sides.
Open source and public work
People who ship in public are the easiest to judge honestly. The work is already visible.
Founder referral
The founders we back — and those we passed on — are our most credible source of the next.
Second-time founders
People whose first company did not work, who now know precisely which part broke.
Decision path
How the answer gets made.
Five steps, typically two to four weeks from first meeting to a decision.
Screen against the thesis
Hard-currency buyer, unfair build advantage, reachable customer, narrow wedge, workable structure.
Two working sessions
One on the product and what it actually does. One on the customer and how they were found.
Use it, and talk to users
We use the product ourselves and speak to people paying for it before generalising from a deck.
A written view
What we believe, what we are underwriting, and what would falsify it. You get it either way.
Answer and terms
Lead, co-lead or pass. Standard instruments, no unusual rights, no exclusivity while we think.
After the cheque
The first year, concretely.
Support is the most over-promised word in venture. Judge us on this list.
Structure and compliance
Offshore topco, Pakistan subsidiary, intercompany agreement, IP assignment, founder vesting, an option pool sized for two years, and clean State Bank documentation.
Getting paid from abroad
Merchant of record or direct processing, invoices a foreign finance team will accept, contracts that survive procurement.
First ten customers
A worked outbound list, positioning that never apologises for where the team sits, and pricing anchored to the buyer's alternative — not to local salaries.
Hiring the first five
Bands that hold against foreign remote offers, equity people believe in, and a straight answer on which roles cannot be junior.
Start the two weeks.
Send the product and one customer story. Enough for a first working session.