DeansMusings

  I decided to write this after an unprecedented number of people – all senior figures in Anti India terrorist groups, were killed by `unknown gunmen’ in Pakistan. There is speculation about the possible role of the Indian external intelligence agency RAW. While most of the publicity around these deaths has focused on the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, there were a larger number of deaths in Pakistan, most of whom who were more of a `clear and present’ danger to India than Nijjar and protected by the Pakistan establishment. How likely is it that RAW was behind these? I will focus on the unexplained shootings in the last year, of those wanted and India and based in Pakistan (though two were killed outside Pakistan. This is the list, starting with the most recent: 11 Nov Maulana Raheem Ulla Tariq . Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Shot in Karachi. 9 Nov    Akram Khan Ghazi . Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Shot in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa 6 Nov  Khwaja Shahid . LeT. Kidnapped in POK and beheade

My career saw me moving from a MNC to an owner managed company, to a couple of startups, before heading a startup and currently advising startups. Having spent some time in the startup ecosystem, I have often been surprised by how often people, including those with considerable business experience, are wrong about startups they interact with.    Most startups fail. Various estimates are that 90% of startups in India fail in the first 5 years. While startups continue to be registered in large numbers, outpacing those who officially shut, most of them end up in a corporate coma. They exist but not conduct any significant business. The high failure rate is something investors factor in. Suppliers and customers do not have a problem with a startup failure as there are always new companies entering the same space. The worst hit are employees. In a failing startup, they have to endure months of uncertainty before the end and then find it difficult to get a job elsewhere, partly because all f