Sameer Ahmed Khan is an accomplished entrepreneur and speaker with a proven track record of success in the digital media industry. As the co-founder and CEO of Social Champ, he leads a next-generation social media management tool that helps users to publish, analyze content, and engage with their audience all from one place. Endorsed by industry legend Guy Kawasaki, TechStars Toronto, Founders Institute Toronto and Katalyst Labs, Social Champ has been making waves in the startup community since its launch.

Sameer is a digital native, and has been mentored by Guy Kawasaki and other influential figures in the Silicon Valley social media scene. He has gained valuable experience and knowledge through his previous three startups: GameOChat, Educating Dreams, and RemindZapp.

**Sameer is also a speaker and has spoken at numerous events organized by TEDx, Microsoft, Nokia, IEEE, USAID, and other organizations. He has also spoken at universities, podcasts, and webinars, helping young and aspiring entrepreneurs avoid the mistakes he made in his own journey. He also influences young minds with workshops on technical coding, motivational talks, and social media training.*

Sameer received his early education in Qatar and was awarded 2nd position in Bachelors’ Degree in Computer Science from University of Karachi, Pakistan. He has also been awarded as the Former Nokia Developer Champion, Microsoft Certified Professional & Specialist, Microsoft Community Speaker, and former Microsoft Student Partner. Currently, he is “Facebook Developer Circle Lead: Karachi” and mentor at “Founder Institute Toronto”. With all these awards, he wishes to play an important role in the digital media transformation of the modern world.

Followingare the edited excerpts of a recent conversationBR Research had with Sameer Ahmed Khan:

BR Research: Tell us about yourself and your aspirations.

Sameer Ahmed Khan: I am the co-founder and CEO of Social Champ, a social media management platform that helps users to publish, analyze, and engage with their audience across multiple platforms. I am also the Facebook Developer Circle Lead for Karachi, and a mentor at “Founder Institute Toronto”.

Like every desi family, my teachers and peer pressure destined me to become a doctor because I scored good numbers in school. And, if you have good numbers you are told to opt the medical field. However, something about software and computers drew me toward them. So after school, I left medicine in between and joined a software university. That is where my journey started. Shortly after, I became a Nokia student partner and started giving talks at my university. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was giving a TED talk at NUST University, speaking on behalf of Microsoft, etc. My university friends became my co-founders, with whom I started four different startups and one software consultancy business.

Apart from this, my professional career has a lot of designing and coding gigs, talks, game development, product design, and mentorship phases. I'm right now also a Meta Developer Lead of Karachi.

My aspirations are always high, and they are ever-changing. I want Pakistan to be a powerhouse for startups since people here have a lot of potential. I wish to see a world, where instead of a software consultancy business, we would have startups in every nook and corner of the city!

Aside from my professional goals, I also have personal aspirations. I love exploring new places, connecting with different cultures, and challenging myself through adventure sports like hiking, fishing, and diving. I also enjoy writing and am working on a collection of short stories and poems that I hope to publish in the future. Ultimately, my goal is to leave a positive impact on the world, both through my work and my personal endeavors.

BRR: You are also a software consultant. Are you pursuing a career in the tech space?

SAK: Good question!

I used to be a software consultant with my university friends, as cofounders and ran a software consultancy firm called, OuzelSystems. However, our goal had always been to run a SAAS Tech company. We ran OuzelSystems to bootstrap, till we received our first funding for our startup Social Champ.

The previous startup journey shaped me into what I am today; talking to clients and listening to their requirements enabled me to understand what the audience wants. It taught me how important market research is.

I’m still pursuing the career in the tech space as everything is connected to the tech. A good marketer is always connected with data and tools to be more productive and efficient. The knowledge of software and marketing can do wonders to a startup and an individual.

All my time right now is devoted to looking after Social Champ with the most amazing and talented team!

BRR: Tell us about Social Champ and its services.

SAK: Social Champ is a social media management tool that enables you to manage all your social profiles with one dashboard. It was actually a foreign concept when we first went to the market.

We introduced the concept of scheduling via a third-party tool in the market; previously, everyone just relied on native platform tools. However,Social Champ is a social media management tool that supports Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, YouTube, TikTok, Mastodon, and Twitter. The tool makes it more accessible to connect with their audience and has four plans, ranging from a free plan to 3 paid ones.

You can select a plan that best fits your business needs and scale up as you like. The four main functions that Social Champ performs include the dashboard that allows you to schedule content across all nine platforms with customizations and automation features; the analytics tab is your one-stop solution for graphs and charts in the form of reports so that you can track your campaigns; the social media calendar shows all published and scheduled posts in a grid view for you to edit, delete, or reschedule; the engage tab allows you to bring all social media conversations, from messages to comments, under one roof.

For a full set of features & functionalities, you can visit our website.

I learnt many lessons through my startup journey, because of which “Social Champ” is now where it is. Now I give talks on lessons I learned from my previous failures and teach new startups all about them.

BRR: How do you view the media advertising evolution in the country?

SAK: It’s interesting to see agencies and influencers working on leveraging media advertising to promote their products or brands. However, due to less competition in media advertising right now in the country when compared to the western countries, brands should effectively adapt this to their marketing strategies before it gets competitive in this space. The early adopters of this will gain more benefit as compared with those joining it later.

One notable trend in Pakistan's media advertising industry is the growing use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tiktok and Snapchat. Advertisers are increasingly using these platforms to reach younger audiences, who are more likely to be engaged with digital media. In addition, the rise of e-commerce and online marketplaces has led to an increase in digital advertising, with more and more brands turning to online advertising channels to reach their target audiences.

Overall, the media advertising landscape in Pakistan is evolving rapidly, with traditional channels and new digital platforms both playing important roles in reaching audiences. As the country's digital infrastructure continues to grow and evolve, we can expect to see further changes and innovations in the way advertisers reach and engage with consumers in Pakistan.

BRR: What are your views on the economy's current situation and its impact on the media industry?

SAK: These times are a bit challenging. As a social media expert and influencer running a social media management startup, I have been closely following the impact of Pakistan's current economic situation on the media industry.

The economic challenges facing Pakistan have had a significant impact on the media industry, particularly when it comes to advertising revenues. As a result, media companies, both big and small, are struggling to maintain profitability and are looking for ways to adapt to the changing landscape.

For us as a social media management startup, this situation presents both challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, our clients, who are mostly businesses, are cutting back on their advertising spending, which means less revenue for social platforms. On the other hand, the rise of digital media and social media in particular has opened up new opportunities for us to help our clients reach their target audiences and generate leads and sales through social media channels.

I know that businesses are increasingly turning to social media to reach and engage with their customers, especially in these tough economic times. This means that our social media management startup has an important role to play in helping businesses navigate the complex and ever-changing world of social media marketing.

I am optimistic about the future of Pakistan's media industry, despite the current economic challenges. By staying up-to-date with the latest social media trends and technologies and being responsive to the needs of our clients, I believe we can help to drive growth and success for our clients and for the wider media industry in Pakistan.

BRR: Where is social media headed, and how do you see companies changing their strategies?

SAK: Companies relying entirely on old-school advertising methods are now moving towards social media advertising. You see fewer billboards and more ads on your feeds now. Even screens used as billboards are now becoming common. Remember how we started from one screen at Tariq Road? Now you can spot them anywhere!

Even companies like Coca-Cola, KFC, and other giants who owned billboards in significant parts of the city now have more social media ads!

I find companies in Pakistan not very inclusive or welcoming to new trends. For example, they hesitated the Facebook Live video trend which was 2 years back. It took time for them to be comfortable. Then NFTs, and now ChatGPT. All of this has to become a part of running and executing their strategies.

Social media is constantly evolving, and we are seeing a number of key trends that are likely to shape the future of social media in Pakistan and beyond.

One major trend includesthe rise of video content.Video is becoming an increasingly important part of social media, with platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels leading the way. At Social Champ, we see a lot of companies posting Reels in a single click to all platforms like Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. As a result, we are likely to see more companies investing in video content creation to engage with their audiences but publishing it efficiently using tools.

To keep up with these trends, companies in Pakistan will need to be agile and adaptable, constantly testing and refining their social media strategies to stay ahead of the curve. This might mean investing in new social media platforms or tools, building stronger partnerships with influencers, or creating more engaging and immersive content.

BRR: You are also a trainer. What kind of trainings do you offer?

SAK: So, I'm an introvert by the MBTI Personality test; therefore, I have worked hard on trying to be a reasonably good speaker since I was a student, which led me to explore that side of my personality. I realized some of the best speakers were introverts.

During my bachelor's degree, I started speaking and training students on behalf of Nokia and Microsoft, which enabled me to conquer my fear of public speaking. This also brought me closer to the issues faced by university students, and I could relate to so many of their problems. Also, as I moved into my startup journey where my three startups did not work out, and 4th Social Champ did. I started preaching to startups about mistakes they shouldn't make when running a startup which I learned from my past startup experiences. This talk turned into a motivational talk, and I got invitations to speak about this experience at Tedx, IEEE, USAID, and other organizations.

After that, one thing led to another, and now I'm very happy to share that I have recently been selected as a mentor at the Founder's Institute Toronto.

I speak on;"Lessons Learnt from my Startup Journey"; “Digital Media Marketing 360 for Startups”; “Introduction to Coding (Beginner / Advanced)"; “The Art of Pitching”

Currently, I help other startup owners make their way to success without repeating the same mistakes that I made. Anyone can reach out to me on LinkedIn!

BRR: What is your view of the human capital of Pakistan and the skill set the youth has?

SAK: I feel the youth of Pakistan has a lot of potentials. If given a chance, they can be the future of IT in the world. However, certain things become a hurdle whenever they try to move forwards. The first and foremost is the lack of funds, and secondly, the connections.

In universities, we are not training our students to be highly confident, and we are not developing their personalities. I know this begins from home, but still, experience of our fatherly figured professors plays a very important role in nurturing students. We should focus on training the students on how to sell, pierce the market, and build connections. These things will enable them to become company owners rather than mere employees!