Things I had to write down.
55 posts. Most were written between 2013 and 2025. The newer ones are slower and more honest. Filter them below. The categories are: startups, marketing, faith, mental health, society, Pakistan, AI, and photography.
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I got the YouTube Silver Play Button
The email came while my father was alive. The box came after. It sat unopened for days.
Lessons from Jehan Ara's impact
The woman who carried Pakistani startups, and what she did when my US visa was rejected.
The burnout I can blame on AI
What building with AI around the clock actually did to me. The confessional one.
The Startup Survival Guide
GameOChat, Educating Dreams, RemindZapp. Three failures and the rules each one left behind.
2026
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Pakistan's IT Exports Hit a Record. I'm Still Worried About AI.
Pakistan's IT exports hit a record $4.6 billion in FY26, but AI is quietly closing the entry-level door for young freelancers and developers. A Karachi founder's view, with the numbers.
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I Open-Sourced the Growth Dashboard I Built From 29 Data Sources
Why I replaced our 8-tab morning standup with a single dashboard pulling 29 sources into BigQuery, and the MIT-licensed repo I published so you can run it too.
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Angular 14 to 21 in Two Nights, With AI Agents Doing the Lifting
How Social Champ jumped seven Angular major versions in two nights in 2026: the prep, the AI-agent workflow, what broke, and what a CEO learned doing it.
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Claude Code Best Practices From a CEO Who Actually Ships
How Sameer Ahmed Khan, CEO of Social Champ, runs Claude Code day to day in 2026: the MCP setup, the dual-review habit, the receipts, and the discipline rules.
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The YouTube Silver Play Button: What Actually Happens at 100,000 Subscribers
How the YouTube Silver Play Button works in 2026, from a creator who has one: the 100K threshold, the email, the wait, the box, and what changes.
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Claude Code and Codex Together: My Dual-Review Setup (2026)
How I run Claude Code (Fable 5) and OpenAI Codex (Sol) as adversarial reviewers with two open-source skills, and the bugs they caught in each other's work.
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The Burnout I Can Blame on AI
Two years of sleepless prompts, a week of drips, and everything AI built while my body gave up.
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I got the YouTube Silver Play Button. And I couldn't open the box.
When the email came from YouTube saying I'd crossed 100,000 subscribers, my father was still alive. I remember thinking, I'm not going to tell him yet.…
2024
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Toyota Yaris: My New Adventure Companion
This is a sponsored post, but I’ll still take this opportunity to share about my startup journey so far. Since I’ve…
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Comparing Email Marketing Platforms: My Experience with SendGrid, MailChimp, MailGun, Drip, Mautic, and More
SendGrid, MailChimp, MailGun, Drip, and Mautic compared from real production use at Social Champ. Costs, deliverability, gotchas.
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Revolutionizing Marketing With AI: My Journey With AI Marketing Tools
How I actually use AI marketing tools as a SaaS CEO: content generation, scheduling, sentiment analysis, and the limits.
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Slack Vs. Mattermost: My Honest Opinion
Slack or self-hosted Mattermost for a growing SaaS team? An honest cost and control comparison from Social Champ's own switch.
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The Product Pricing Is Right…But Was It? Here’s Everything I Learned Pricing My Product
The SaaS pricing change that cut Social Champ's churn from 8% to 4.5%, and every lesson learned getting there.
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Think Different, Pitch Different: Tips to Stand Out from the Crowd
Have you ever been in a position where you had a lot to talk about but just can’t speak up? Well, that makes the…
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Whispers to a War Cries: How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking
From a panic-stricken first university speech to a TEDx stage. How repetition, not talent, cured my fear of public speaking.
2020
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How I Got Cured of Depression Through Quran and Hadith in Islam
The verses, duas, and strangers' replies that pulled me out of depression. The most personal post on this site.
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Fairytale Life vs Reality, Chose Your Battles Wisely!
One who keeps chasing a life shown in the movies continues to live in a fairytale. Their happiness is fragile and…
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Propaganda Against the Unity of Islamic Sects in Karachi Amidst Pandemic
I Write This With a Heavy Heart. The Government of Sindh or Media or someone in a greater power, is flaming the fire…
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It Takes a Pandemic to Make Us Realize the Worth of Our Luxuries.
Everything is so irrelevant in these times. The latest cars, big houses, expensive brand clothes, watches, perfumes…
2017
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Trend of Motivational Speakers
Every second you find a new 'Motivational Speaker'. You check their past and it's full of quotes and poems which again…
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Difference of Opinions Were Once Productive, Not Anymore!
There was a time when debates were considered productive, a difference of opinion gave birth to new ideas not create…
2015
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FOMO - Feeling of Missing Out, can be your worst feeling on social media.
Just because everyone; laughs on divorces, rebels religious events, judges morality, becomes god, hates everything…
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The Banning of Chinchi’s in Karachi!
If you're one who supports the banning of Chinchi's and now you can drive in much lesser traffic, I think you are…
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OuzelSystems Nested!
It’s been a year at OuzelSystems, and now is the right time to experiment something different. There is much to happen…
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Obtain a NOC From PTA (For Smartphones and Devices...)
This is one troublesome job. But I managed to get through it 'legally', however it took around a month for me and…
2014
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Junaid Jamshed – Your Chosen Side?
If you aren’t from the group, GEO VS ARY; debating on Shaista Wahidi or Amir Liaquat and their past resemblance with…
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Statement of Purpose (Sort-Of-Assignment)
While searching for a document, I found my very old 'Statement of Purpose + 2 unique research ideas' assignment asked…
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Living or Documenting?
Where do I start this from? We have embraced technology too much, to an extent where the limits of humanity have all…
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Nokia Asha 503 Review
Nokia Pakistan sent me a new Nokia Asha 503 to try out. The experience with this low-end device was quite different &
2013
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Still Criticizing Shahzeb’s Parents?
The Shahzeb Issue? If you blame or criticize Shahzeb's parents for giving up or being sold to Shahrukh Jatoi, the…
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Pakistan Tour Closeup Shots (Nokia Lumia 920)
Last week I returned from Pakistan Tour visiting many Northern Areas here. I must say that Pakistan is blessed with…
Archive · dates not recovered
Older essays that lost their original publication dates during the WordPress migration. Roughly 2013 to 2020 by content, but precise dates aren't reliable, so we've left them undated rather than guess.
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Another Version of Our Lives - Beyond Social Media!
We are not just the images we create of ourselves on social media, but have a second version of our lives running in…
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BlueSky Social, a Twitter Rival and the Future of Social Media
Jack Dorsey's BlueSky as a Twitter rival: decentralization, the AT protocol, and what it means for social media's future.
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Can We Have the Same Heart When We Were 11 Years Old?
Why Can’t We Have the Same Heart When We Were 11 Years Old? I often play a game called PUBG Mobile where you land…
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COVID-19 Breakout – We Need to Stay Calm & Positive
Health or illnesses, life or death, happen from the Above. A falling leaf from a tree, or dancing drops from the sky…
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Founder Puzzles Book - Review
A working founder's review of Founder Puzzles: what the book gets right about cofounder math and startup grief.
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How to Stay Motivated?
A founder's honest answer to staying motivated through failed startups, rejections, and slow years.
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Inspired by the Beautiful Culture of Oman
If officially all men were to wear traditional white shalwar kameez and all women were to wear black Burqa in…
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Lessons From Jehan Ara's Impact On Social Champ And Startups In Pakistan!
How Jehan Ara's mentorship, embassy letters, and 20 years at P@SHA shaped Social Champ and a generation of Pakistani founders.
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Let Your Pain Challenge You to Be Better!
Pain sometimes is inevitable. But if you embrace it, and channel its energy into positivity, you'll rise much stronger…
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Meta is Preparing for Twitter’s Rival Next Month
With Mastodon and BlueSky Social already queued up as Twitter rivals, Meta recently joined the queue. So, there have…
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Pakistan Tour Images & Cinemagraph
Hello readers, Finally after sharing few Panorama Shots & Closeup Shots from Nokia Lumia 920, here are final…
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Pakistan Tour Panorama Shots (Nokia Lumia 920)
Few days back I shared few Closeup shots here, incase you missed those here's the link 'Pakistan Tour Closeup shots' I'
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ProQuest 2013 - UBIT (An I.T Event)
MashAllah! Finally ProQuest'13 comes to an end! I congratulate; all supportive teachers, the alumni, the event…
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Shades of Red
The leaves were dancing with the wind And the kid swung the bottle around his neck Marching his way to school with a…
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The ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ Reveals the Importance of ‘Hope'
The 'Blue Whale Challenge' reveals the importance of seeding 'hope' into youngsters. Teach your children to have…
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The Indus Hospital - Blood Center Inaugural
Our team was glad to be a part of this project, under extraordinary mentors striving their way against all the hurdles…
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The Indus Hospital - Pride of Pakistan!
Today I had an outstanding experience in a meeting at The Indus Hospital. I can't believe so much goodness still…
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The TikTok Algorithm, the Ban and How Marketers Think
Inside the TikTok algorithm, the ban debate, and what marketers keep getting wrong about both.
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Why I’ll Be Cheering for Shahid Afridi Even More
In reply to an article published on Dawn News and all those tweets concerning Shahid Afridi A writer viewed a video…
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Why Pride & Arrogance?
I sense something disturbing growing in students these days , and that's pride & arrogance. This arrogance will…
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Your Parents Are a Blessing You Have, for a Very Limited Time in Your Life!
Your parents are a blessing you have, for a very limited time in your life! They deserve your time more than your…