"Refreshing, witty, down to earth, a totally delightful read ...."

Refreshing, witty, down-to-earth, a totally delightful read - one of those rare 'cannot-put-down' books. The Blue Screen of Death gives young people a realistic insight into the world of the new breed of entrepreneurs - those who are born to lead and excel. The risk of failure is what keeps many of us from taking the plunge and starting our own ventures. Jawwad Farid gives us a totally new perspective - that failure should not be feared but embraced, that in fact it is the seed from which successful enterprises emerge.

Jawwad's journey into the unknown has been one of courage, commitment and unfaltering faith; and through it all he has amazingly been able to keep his sense of humour. That is probably what got him through the toughest times. This book is a must-read for all those budding entrepreneurs who are standing on the edge wondering whether they should leap into the magical world of startup ventures.

Jehan Ara, President, Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA)

Start-Up Guide on Blue Screen of Death

Inspiration of the Day

Dan Marques, Blogger & Entrepreneur, MA, USA

"A book that I thought would prove useful..."

You won’t often find me promoting anyone here, and less often will you find me promoting anyone’s money making venture. But I am doing it today. I was fortunate enough to come into ownership of a book that I thought would prove useful or, at least, insightful to me, The Blue Screen of Death by Jawwad Ahmed Farid. He is a successful Pakistani business owner who operates a company, Alchemya.com. Turns out, Blue Screen of Death is a book about failure, rather than a book about success.

You see, I fancy myself to be an entrepreneur trapped in the body of struggling middle class person who needs to pay private school tuition for two kids. I should have a full-time job, with benefits, paid holidays and a regular paycheck, whether it be bi-weekly, weekly or even monthly, just regularly. The point here that there a LOT can be said for a predictable, consistent income, no matter how small.

Anyway, back to the book. It’s title is The Blue Screen of Death, written by an Ivy League educated Pakistani, who left the land of opportunity in the good ol’ USA to pursue a(nother), bigger, better business venture back home. Of course, who knew that he would actually succeed in an enormous way when he returned home to Pakistan? After all, despite his self professed genetically determined superior intellect, he had not previously lived up to his self-imposed standards and had, in fact, failed in his own skewed, exacerbated, grossly distorted in the self-critical eyes of an Ivy League graduate with venture capital and Goldman Sachs in the “been there, done that” category on his Blackberry.

Read on at Victoria's Blog.

Victoria Pearson, Blogger, Southern California, USA.

"Captivate would be entrepreneurs of every calling..."

Jawwad Ahmed Farid, a Pakistani native and Columbia University MBA, exposes the world of new ventures from a groundbreaking perspective: that of someone whose own highly leveraged startup met a swift and painful demise. The Blue Screen of Death: A Desi’s Misadventure in the Land of Opportunity recounts the 1999 genesis of Avicena.com, a firm whose mission was to design and sell online refresher courses for business-school students and finance professionals. The story begins in New York City, then takes us to California and an overseas support office in Karachi, Pakistan.  

It is where the story ends, however, and the lessons Mr. Farid was able to salvage from the wreckage of Avicena, that will captivate would-be entrepreneurs of every calling. We learn, for example, that yes, it’s possible to invest too much time in a business plan, and we see what happens when a scramble to secure financing preempts product development. It’s these gems of wisdom—each accumulated the hard way—that Mr. Farid shares with his readers; they’re the same doctrines today put to work at Alchemy Associates, the successful risk-management advisory firm of which the author is the founder and CEO.

Mr. Farid writes about his experiences in a voice that alternates between bittersweet, repentant, unabashedly unregretful, and outright hilarious. An advice book as entertaining as it is educational, Blue Screen of Death is a must-read for any aspiring entrepreneur.

Kris Sherer, Author, Entrepreneur, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

"Burning questions that no one else would touch...."

This book opened my eyes, because it helped me answer some burning questions that no one else would touch. If you have a great job with a Fortune 100 company, and you're still not happy, because you feel like you could do a whole lot more with your life, then you should read this book. Too many of us, are chained to conventional thinking where working for a large company, and a stable paycheck is the benchmark of success. We often think of stepping out on our own, to try our luck at a million dollar venture, to be the boss, but are scared off by risk averse elders, and a morbid fear of failure. In this book, Jawwad tells the story of his 100 million dollar ambitions, his Ivy League MBA, his venture, his failure, and his success. I highly recommend it to those who are intrigued by the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and need a final push to pursue their dreams.

Adnan Haider, IBM, Karachi, Pakistan.

"Forget what you have read, heard or have been taught ..."

Blue Screen of Death is a touching confession of a young and bright entrepreneur, Jawad Farid, of what it's like to go through the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. Forget what you've read, heard, or have been taught about Entrepreneurship. Jawad pulls off a masterpiece and gives the reader the inside real look on what working as an entrepreneur is all about.  He his humble and honest about his own mistakes, emotions, and feelings throughout his journey of self-discovery, learning, and experience of starting a business. 

Fresh out of Columbia business school, the author gave up a 6 figure salary, sign-up bonus, and a life of suspenders, bow ties, and expensive dinners at one of the top notch consulting or investment banking firms.  Instead, he chose a road less traveled to start something from scratch and give himself a chance of making it big not only in terms of money, but in terms of self-pride that one gets in creating something and adding value – in the real sense – not what you hear in uptight senior management company meetings.

Once on this road, he discovered that entrepreneurship was about completely immersing and dedicating yourself to your company. He has been forthright in his accounts and narrates the story in a way which is both interesting and easy to read.  You sometimes forget that it is a story about a start-up and get entrenched in the emotional side of what he, his friends, and family were going through in the most trying of times during this venture.  Escaping with his sanity intact, Jawad has perfectly captured the chaotic essence of entrepreneurship, while giving this story a human element.

It is an interesting read by any standards and those of us who have always wished to own our own business can learn from Jawad’s experiences - or at least live vicariously through his!

Imran Chishti, Biovista Pharmaceuticals, Karachi, Pakistan.

"Hope and Faith..."

Through intricate and careful weaving of thoughts, Jawwad talks about a misadventure which actually gives more hope and faith. The Blue Screen of Death is a business/scientific/artistic rendition of Jawwad's quest for entrepreneurship and is a recommendation for all those aspiring young dreamers!

Ashraf-ul-Kabir, Software Architect, IBM Pakisan.

"Jawwad has made several important breakthroughs in one go..."

Blue Screen of Death - A Desi Misadventure in the Land of Opportunity" by Jawwad A. Farid is a wonderful attempt by a young Pakistani entrepreneur to tell his story of his three failed ventures. It epitomizes the author's self-described fascination with studying failures--a quest that brought him to the brink of experiencing three of them over the last decade. Jawwad is among the rare breed of entrepreneurs who made a successful career in Pakistan, went to an Ivy League Business School, and returned back to succeed at doing something new in his own country. He may be rarest of the rare in that he has the courage to share the secrets of his failures (and success) in the most public of the manners possible.

With this memoir of his entrepreneurial career spanning around 15 years or so, Jawwad has made several important breakthroughs in one go. At a personal level, Blue Screen describes the gripping tale of Jawwad's own ventures, Cookaracha Guides, Avicena, and Alchemy. For anyone who wants to learn about the fifteen years that it took to create Alchemy's "overnight" success, the book offers plenty of material to chew upon. It must take a lot of courage to lay bare your faults and follies for the whole world to learn from. Jawwad does this in style and a manner that is both intimate and refreshing. At a more general level, Blue Screen is full of very valuable advice for the aspiring entrepreneur or even those who have ventured before. I study new venture creation and management and I could not help but agree with several of the lessons drawn from Avicena's tragic failure. Many entrepreneurs would benefit from Jawwad's ruthless and honest analysis of his own failures and his attempt to learn from it.

Finally, Jawwad's book is a first for Pakistan in a very significant way. It is the first such attempt by a Pakistani entreprenuer to tell his story. While the other desis, namely, the Indians are quite well known to the West for their entrepreneurial instincts, Pakistanis are hardly famous for these finer delicacies of life. This is partly due to fewer number of Pakistanis venturing but partly because Pakistani entrepreneurs have avoided associating themselves with Pakistan and their faith in a public manner. Jawwad shatters this psychological barrier by not only owning but also proudly displaying his identity and his faith in a manner that is hard not to notice. I believe Jawwad's courage would inspire other Pakistani entrepreneurs to tell their stories as well.

Pakistan requires an inspirational world class success story to appear on the map of the world and be known as home to talented and hardworking people. Brimming with Jawwad's faith and positive-mindedness, Blue Screen is clearly a step in that direction. Jawwad deserves credit for this commendable effort.

Athar Osama, Senior Consultant, ANGLE Technology Group & Doctoral Fellow, Frederick S. Pardee RAND Gradaute School for Policy Studies, Santa Monica, CA, USA

"Un-orthodox, truthful & courageous..."

Un-orthodox, truthful & courageous, Blue Screen of Death very skillfully combines textbook stuff with real life experience. Analyzing personal failure is always painful and almost impossible to be objective about, in his narrative, Jawwad divorces emotions yet somehow succeeds in retaining the passion. With a surgeon’s precision he peals the layers of Avicena to reveal the pathology which caused death of the company. From the dissecting table he moves on to the microscope to explore in detail what actually went wrong. Then he takes the reader along with him in drawing general & specific principles to be used as a guide for future entrepreneurs.

Talking about lessons learnt is à la mode in contemporary literature but Jawwad has gone a step further & shown us how to apply the wisdom of hind sight scientifically thereby reducing the emotional & economic cost of the failure.

With simple diction yet effortless prose this book gives a refreshing feeling. Though one feels that a little bit of editing & rearrangement would have linked different parts of the book more snugly. I believe books, like humans, also have different intelligence levels. If not brilliant this book most definitely can be ranked as smart.

Well done! You can include me in the list of people who will be looking forward to your second book.

Sarmad Hasan, Director Finance, IUCN Pakistan