Cosmos 

Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. We have Babar Arshad as the chief titan of Ititans for today’s guests. Babar aims to empower businesses with cutting-edge digital solutions that drive growth and efficiency. His team specializes in transforming tech challenges into opportunities, fostering innovation across diverse industries. 

As a co-founder of Commerce Hub, Babar contributed to developing a comprehensive ERP platform that revolutionized wholesaler and distributor operations. The organization’s collaborative success hinges on integrating multifaceted tech systems to streamline processes and enhance productivity. Barbar is a tech entrepreneur and business consultant with a passion for innovation. 

With over a decade of experience, he loves building products, teams, brands, and dreams. He successfully launched multiple products and teams and is now dedicated to helping others achieve their journeys. 

He has faced his fair share of challenges in his journey, from setbacks and failures to lessons learned and successes. He’s now committed to helping young startup founders kickstart their ventures using the lessons he learned throughout his career. He’s an extraordinary American, and I’m glad and honored to have him on the show. Barbar, are you there?

Barbar

Right here, right here. Thank you for having me.

Cosmos 

Thank you, Babar, for taking the time to do this podcast with us. Can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about your story, your background, and how you got started?

Barbar

Lovely. I think it was a good description that you only put out there. But I was born in Pakistan. I’m a first-generation immigrant. I moved to the US in 2016. It’s about eight and a half, nine years now. And I was blessed to be born in a family, you know, who loved who were very self-made number one. You know, my parents were very, very self-made. They were born in literally slums, and then they rose from there through education and through just taking on challenges head-on. 

So, I was inculcated with a lot of education and the value of education. Two, how to change, prove yourself to the world, and take challenges head-on. You know, my father’s an entrepreneur, my mother’s an entrepreneur. 

So, I saw them excelling in their fields while growing up. When I came to the U.S., I was glad to have the best education in Pakistan. I went to the best school; I went to the best college. I did one corporate job before coming to the US, but since I was growing up, I have had this, you know, little entrepreneurial thing about me. I used to, you know, do a lot of small projects in College and school and to make money while growing up. When I came to the U.S., I quickly realized that everyone I saw making an impact in the community could have any sort of impact. Financial, economic, social, you know, other impacts I saw. Nearly all of them were doing their own thing. 

So either they were entrepreneurs, running or behind a cause, or part of something that led to a certain goal. Of course, some people were settled with jobs, and most of my community was those people. But most people creating impact were, again, doing their own thing. That, you know, solidified my belief that, hey, I want to do something of my own. I did my masters in business, and right after that, I started my first company, Hub, in 2018, my first big-boy startup. And you know, this taught me a lot of things. The startup didn’t kick off as I wanted it to, but it taught me a lot of things, including again, how to create more impact, how to develop the right type of technology at the right time, and how, most importantly, how to make business sense out of it. 

I think I will use these learnings. And my second company, which I called Itans, just fell into my lap. While doing Influencer Hub, people approached me and said, “Hey, we like what you’re building. We don’t want to use your services, Influencer Hub, but can you build something similar to yours, or can you build us some tech project for our company? I’m like, okay, I’m looking to make money, so why not? That is how it came into being. I was lucky to work on some health tech projects when Covid came. 

I just got lucky with the timing and worked with big companies like Lyft, Trex Aid Health, and Helixa. You know, these are all listed companies. That was my big break for it. Items. And since then, you know, for the past four and a half years, I’ve dedicated our mission to working with small to mid-sized companies, not bigger companies. Because big companies have different visions and mindsets, helping them grow technology in a way that makes business sense for them. If you see our tagline, it says you do the business, we do the tech. 

So we take on the b, the tech responsibilities, so that you can focus on the business responsibilities. I think that is how tech should be. So, since then, I’ve been a partner in another company called Khub, which, you know, we can go into later on. I’ve developed more than 150 products with my team. I have a global team of about 80 or 85 people right now. And yeah, God is great. I think I put a lot of effort into the Influencer Hub in my earlier days; God gave me back to my current company. I would say I’ve been lucky and blessed to have an opportunity to make this impact that I’m making.

Cosmos 

That is amazing.

To better understand your story, what were your strategic goals and visions throughout your career, from when you came from Pakistan to where you are right now? And how did it evolve over, over some time?

Barbar

As I mentioned a little bit, I was always very impact-driven. Of course, everybody loves money. Money is a very important tool to drive impact and drive success. But I was always very impact-driven. So, on both sides, you can impact the demand and supply sides, which I mean I. Your clients and your customers or also, you know, your internal stakeholders, which are your employees and people that work with you and grow with you. It’s very impact-driven. As I mentioned, when I came to the US, I think my vision opened up about how much impact can be created at a young age if you make the right moves and if you’re bold enough and lucky enough.

I was always impact-driven. To date, the impact is what drives me more, which can be as big as helping a big company establish a technology wing or as small as helping a small young entrepreneur kick off his startup journey.

Cosmos 

Well, besides impacting society and helping people, what do you think was another main motivational drive that drove you towards entrepreneurship? Because entrepreneurship is something that very few people do. Most people just want to do a 9-to-5 job and are satisfied with getting a salary. 

From your perspective, what motivational factor made you think differently from others right from the beginning?

Barbar

If I go back in time, if I go, if I like to think about my personality type, I think I was always, of course, the one who did not like to take orders from people. You know, I think that’s a very common trait many entrepreneurs have. I have always wanted something that I could call my own; I own this. You know, in terms of just carrying the legacy on, right? I work for big companies.

 A lot of people work for big companies. But once you’re done, you’re done. There’s not really. They might give you some little shares or stocks if you work for long enough. But I think you don’t carry a legacy forward. You don’t carry forward something that you’ve spent your life doing. 

So I know now that, hey, if I die today, I. Ititans is mine. You know, it’s always going to be mine. Yes, somebody will, you know, might, might continue the legacy, but I am the one who founded it. Ititans, it’s Barber’s baby, you know, so I think those were two main things I always loved growing up. I was always more natural in leadership positions. I played many sports growing up, so I was always the one who took the lead. That also helped. 

So, yeah, a combination of these personality factors drove me more towards what I’m doing now.

Cosmos

Wow, that’s amazing.

I know that entrepreneurship involves many failures, successes, and lessons learned over time. So, I wanted to ask you, over time, what is the biggest lesson or revelation you have learned about business and tech startups in general?

Barbar

I think early on, when I did my first Startup Influencer Hub again, there was a whole list of things, right? But my biggest learning was that you need to build and sell together. There’s no way you can be, you know, building and then selling something. You need to build and sell simultaneously. If you wait too long to develop a product, especially a tech product, you might be just going down the drain in terms of wasting time and resources.

So, yeah, now what I try to do is that, and that’s my ideology for myself and even my clients and people that I partner with. Build something small and sell it. Build something small and sell it. So it has to be like, you know, like, like a Jenga. It has to be building blocks. Build, sell, build, sell, build, sell, not building and then selling.

Cosmos

So Bar, normally, when people are doing startups, many of them are very focused on the product, and some others are more focused on sales and revenue or marketing. 

So, how do you balance building the product and selling it at the appropriate time where you’re making a profit at the fastest rate possible?

Barbar

Yeah, that’s a very good question.

Getting market validation is very important for any tech product

I think every product idea is unique in terms of tech products. There’s no rule of thumb to do it in one way, depending on the type of product and industry you’re going into. I think getting market validation is very important. So, you know, we have a concept called MVP, a minimum viable product. Lean Startup.

Cosmos 

I think that comes from the book The Lean Startup.

Barbar

Yes, it comes from Lean Startup, but I give it my tweak, right? I say minimum validated product. So, for me, a minimum viable product is something that you need to go to the market with. A minimum validated product is something that the market has that validates you as a tool for success. 

And this might be something very small. For example, let’s say you are a fitness dating app. I would want you to take the design only, which we call the prototype. It is probably one-tenth of the cost of development. Take that and give it to, you know, 100 people, help them, make them test it, see if they like it or don’t like it, what they think about it, how much they will pay for it, and take the same thing. 

Once you get some traction from these people, some investors come back and spend more money to develop it. Again, different tech ideas have different strategies. But I think it’s very important for you to sit down and think at the start: What’s the minimum validated thing? I can build, get validated, come back, and then build more.

Cosmos

So Barba, as a continuation of this question, I wanted to know, like, let’s say somebody’s starting a tech startup, right, and then they’re starting from scratch and don’t know how to go about it. How would you advise them on how to start a tech startup with their meager resources? Should they be focusing on investments first, or should they be focusing on building a prototype, or should they be focusing on marketing right from the beginning to from the inception till making a profit?

Barbar

If I had to give one journey, it would go to the design phase first. Whatever I have in your mind, try to put that visually on a screen. It can be any screen, and the design does not always have to be a more expensive prototype. You can do it anywhere with yourself, on Canva, or through a designer pen and paper. I don’t care. Please put down your thoughts in a diagram of what it will look like, number one because that helps you clarify your idea more. 

Number two, and very importantly, start owning up to what you will do. I think I see many people who work in shells, right? Hey, this is my business; this is me. I start a founder. There’s no real segregation. You know, I am my business. So I have to own up my business. I am the first salesperson, I’m the first client, I’m the first investor, I’m the first everything. I’m the first builder. 

So I have to own up and try to promote and sell my product after you after you’re doing that correctly. Number three, I would say again, is to get market validation. So whatever your product brings, please give it to a few potential customers, a few investors, a few vendors, even your employees, for example, or people helping you build it. They might be your initial testers. They have to test and validate the idea. Once they do that, they come back and start building it. Whatever can be done for cheaper, get it done for cheaper. You know, there’s a thing that I read at somebody’s office: save money to make money. 

So when you’re building, you have to go lean. You cannot go even if you have enough resources; you must go lean. You have to go with the minimalistic mindset because that will help you build something needed. And then, you know, from there, it’s an upward journey of testing it, validating it. There are so many ways of doing that in the market. I think the biggest hits have been social media and digital presence. And just speaking about it myself, owning up to what I’m doing, I never shy away from owning my successes, failures, and problems. If I do good in a product, if I do bad in a product, it’s all me. 

So I think that part is the overall theme of trying to build something, the ownership part.

Cosmos 

So, Babar, how does a person mitigate risk while he’s starting a startup? The biggest fear people have when they want to start a business or a startup is how they will make sure they get a profit at the right time, mitigate the risk, and get a return on investment.

Barbar

Yeah. The biggest risk with entrepreneurship, especially at a young age, is survival risk. How will I survive? How will my product survive? How I will survive is something that each person has a different aptitude for. For example, when I started I could, I was okay with one month of saving. I was like, okay, one month saving. I’m good. I’m at peace. If your head is not at peace, you’ll always think about money first. 

So, whatever floats your board and keeps your head at peace, personally, please do that first. If it’s three months of Runway, six months of Runway, or a year of Runway, at least have that before you start thinking about your company. Secondly, and more importantly, about your business. Business survival is something that comes by doing it. There’s no other better way that I have learned. Yes, there’s planning, forecasting, and all these fancy things you can do to try and plan it out and stay afloat. But I think when you jump into it, things start making sense. 

So I think for business survival, which is the biggest risk, you have to jump into it to do it. A few ways in which I have learned how to float the boat in terms of my business is by making sure I have my eyes and ears open to left and right opportunities. When you’re building something, say, a niche, there might be something right across the table that is a low-hanging fruit, and that might help you buy six months or nine months of Runway. You know, if I’m building a tech product, these small tech services might give me enough Runway to build my tech product, you know. 

So I think you should keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities. Sometimes, you’re too deep into our stuff. Keep your view a little holistic if you can so you can make money while you’re building something unique.

Cosmos 

So, Barbar, one question I had to ask is, I know you’ve consulted many people in the tech startup business, right? 

So, from your perspective, what’s the biggest challenge that people have when they’re starting a startup? Is it mindset or planning, and how should they go about overcoming it?

Barbar

I think the biggest struggle I have seen is people procrastinate a lot. They really, they’re scared. Of course, there are so many risks that come with starting a business. But people are afraid of taking risks to start a business, and that wastes 5, 10, 15, 20 years of their lives and 5, 10, 15, 20 Years of that product’s life. 

For example, I have a client who has been considering building a medical, legal, and legal information application for the past 10 years. He’s an attorney; he wants to build an app where all your information can be safe. He’s waited so long that when he builds it for somebody like me, Apple will come out with something like that soon. And he’s not going to compete with Apple ever. You know, it’s going to be tough. 

So if he had done this 10 years ago, Apple would have acquired him for 100, 200 million, whatever. So, I think people wait for too long before leaping. That is the biggest hurdle I’ve seen. And then, once people enter it, as I said, they build it for too long. People are not trying to sell it. A lot of founders, especially tech founders, shy away from selling. I don’t know if it’s a personality thing or if it’s just how their mind operates.

Cosmos 

It’s interesting, right, because without selling, how will you make a profit? You have to sell for you to make a profit.

Barbar

But yeah, yeah, yeah, if they build something unique, it will sell, sell, by itself. And that’s not true, right? It might happen to a few lucky people at some stage. But I think you need to learn and sell whatever you’re building. So I think, yeah, these are two main things that I’ve seen.

Cosmos 

So, Babar, I think we have talked about Apple since we talked. Right. So, I wanted to ask you a question from your perspective. So, there’s Apple, the iPhone, right? And then you have Androids. And then many people always said that the Android phones had better technology and they’re just better featured and have all this thing. But the iPhone ended up selling much, way better. So, from your perspective, what makes Apple a successful company versus all these other Android companies, such as Samsung and everything else?

Barbar

That’s a very good question, right? I think Apple versus other phones, not even Samsung, is a good example of how the company is more customer- and market-strategy-driven than product-driven. You know, most of the technology Apple comes out with is that. Is that what Samsung already has, or is it building better? 

I think about each and everything. I don’t think Apple has anything unique. The first real thing they came out with probably was Apple Pay. That I can think of, you know, was probably when they initiated, and then Sangs and other companies joined them. But I think they’ve never been innovators. They’ve always executed better. 

So because they know how to go to market better, sell better, and create a better customer experience, they’ve always implemented and executed better. They rarely invent something. It’s mostly just reinventing or using what’s already there and putting it out to the customers in a really nice, sexy way, which makes them successful.

Cosmos 

Yeah, I, I, I’m finding it very interesting. I want the audience to know that there are these different approaches. For example, when entrepreneurs do business, they have a product- and market-oriented approach. And from my personal experience and people, other people’s experience, we find out the market-oriented approach tends to be more successful. But why do you think that is Babar? Why is the approach of the product selling for itself? Not usually, it doesn’t work.

Barbar

 I think people love people, right? People love people. People love relating to people more than a product. Even when Apple came right, the success of Apple, Steve Jobs, and Tesla came out. Who was the success of Tesla? Who is even Musk? 

I think Samson was never able to find, let’s say, in the same example somebody people could look up to relate to as starting. And then I think just that on the same line, right that people love people, people buy from people. If you compare the buying experience of Apple vs Samsung, it’s very different. You know, you go, you walk into a store, and how you’re treated is different. When you go to Apple versus Samsung, besides this example, I think it’s just the timing of executing and launching things. Apple has a thousand things in its pipeline, but they haven’t launched everything altogether. Each update they come with, each new phone has two or three small things. Samsung comes up with a bunch of things. You know. 

I think sometimes companies do too much in the product and people don’t even know about it. I tried to use a Samsung, but I couldn’t figure out half of the things they offered. You know there is so much going on. Please keep it simple; keep it people-driven. Time yourself. Well, I think these three things are good enough for you to create that hype about your product and, you know, go to market in a good way.

Cosmos 

Since we’re talking about Steve Jobs, I wanted to add that branding and having a story behind the product is very significant for making a product successful. You know, you can have two products, and one product is far superior to the other in terms of quality. 

But if a per, if the product is attached to a man or a woman with a story and a, and like a, and like a success story or like a backstory or an origin story and they, and this person has a personality or has charisma and it gets branded that way. That product is more likely to sell. But I don’t know. What’s your opinion on that?

Barbar

Yeah, I think that’s very true. That’s very true. From the start, let’s say the same in the example that Steve Jobs always used; he was a people person. He used to connect with people. You know, even from his employee standpoint, there are so many talks where he’s talking about this, in detail, that he used to hire people who, who used to, wanted to bring a change, you know, wanted to bring a change in this space. I think there were certain mindsets of people he went into, even to date. 

And this is me just thinking out loud about the type of story they want to translate. You go to an Apple store and see real people, you know, real salespeople, all people of all colors, all genders, all types of real people. I put people with tattoos and green hair, and, you know, everything going on. If you go to Samsung, the sales experience is like people who are, you know, putting up a mask to sell. They hire a certain type of employee even in their stores. So, I think that’s a very good depiction of how the story translates from day one to their example.

Cosmos 

Yeah, it’s just fascinating, right? You mentioned that Samsung has so many features. Normally, when you’re an entrepreneur, you want to ensure your product is good and that you put your all into it. 

But a lot of times, we fail to realize that it’s about how it’s going to be perceived by the audience or avatar that you’re trying to sell to, and that can be. That’s where, when I read the book The Lean Startup, they talk about how it’s not about how you see the product; it’s about how other people see your product. And that’s the bottom line.

Barbar

You know, yeah, that’s true. I agree with it. I think mostly of a lot of people, even myself, and this is one learning I’m getting. I can’t put customer avatars into place before building, and that’s very important. 

If you can tell me your ideal customer, two, three, or four types of idle people that you want to use your product or service with very specifically, I think that will clear up your mind regarding how you want to build your product or offer. I think many people fail to do that. The customer avatar and idle customer profile are sort of things.

Cosmos 

Yeah.

Babak: 

I think emotional entrepreneurship is a good and bad thing

We notice that many people fall in love with their products. Some of them get attached to them, but they’re not. They don’t want to hear constructive feedback because you know how important it is in entrepreneurship to have feedback to improve your product over time. They just fall in love with that, and that comes in the way. I don’t know if you’ve seen that when consulting people.

Yeah, yeah. Interestingly, I was talking about this last week at a Mastermind event in Orlando, Florida. We were about 30, 30 good, you know, entrepreneurs in a mansion for five days, and we had a lot of intimate connection and talk and deep clarity that we got about, you know, our stuff. One of the main points, one of the key things that I learned and talked about with the whole group, was emotional entrepreneurship. 

A lot of entrepreneurs are emotional. They’re passion-driven and emotional, which translates into their business strategy. I’ve been an emotional entrepreneur myself. I think Influencer Hub, I was deeply in love with Influencer Hub. I always call it my baby. No other product has given me that feeling. Because if a first startup and you know, a lot of factors, but I think emotional entrepreneurship is good and bad. Like how being emotional is generally, right? You need to be emotional, have emotional empathy, and have an emotional quotient, but it needs to be in check. And that is where a lot of entrepreneurs fail. 

And I failed, honestly. Also, with Influencer Hub, I was too emotionally involved. It’s good to be passionate. It’s good to believe in your cause. It’s good to be going in that crazy direction of changing the world always with your product. But there has to be a rational side to it. And sometimes, that might not be you. That might be your partner, your first employee, your fifth employee, or somebody around you who’s adding that you know, that sanity check, that reality check when it comes to doing business. Sometimes, you just go on your tangent when you’re too emotional about a product.

Cosmos 

How do you advise somebody so emotionally attached to their product to be detached and listen to constructive criticism? Although it’s good advice, it isn’t easy regarding reality.

Barbar

Something that my father said. We are Punjabis, right? So it’s a Punjabi term called “leave it and see how it works.” My father used to tell my mom this when she was shopping, and she was confused about getting something really expensive or making an impulsive decision. He would say, “Leave it and see how you feel.” 

So, this is something that I’ve implemented so much in my life lately with people, products, things, ideas, and deals. As you start growing and establishing yourself, many things come your way. You have to identify. We can talk about this more later. Is that an opportunity or a distraction? If you’re too emotionally driven, you might think of distractions as opportunities. So, if you’re too emotionally deep in your idea, product, and service, you must leave it for a bit and see how you feel. And by leaving it, I don’t mean, like, stop working on it, but I mean just take a backseat and observe what’s happening. If you’re building something, pause the building part. If you’re selling too much, pause the selling part. 

Take it slow and easy, and then see how you feel about it. Because that feeling of getting away will make you realize what the product, service, or business means to you. And in the bigger scheme of things, I think it’s not always very healthy to be so deep in one thing. No, it can be anything. But in this case, one. It’s not healthy to be too much into one business or one startup idea. So, yeah, it is my recent learning and trying to implement more.

Cosmos 

That is awesome. Baba and I would like to add to the audience. If you have some friends or business partners who have your best interest at heart and are very logical and rational, that helps a lot because they’re not afraid to tell you the truth, but in a very constructive way. 

Because obviously, there’s destructive criticism, and then there’s criticism. There’s a. There’s feedback that helps you improve and everything like that. But yeah, I agree with what you’re saying. Like detachment is necessary if you want to achieve success, you know?

Barbar

Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned. That is a very good point about your support system. Right? Your support system does not always have. You have to be, yes, sir, or we’ll be behind you. You know, that’s a good feeling to have. Of course, I think it can also be detrimental. Yeah. Life. You figure out groups of people, and they can be your friends, family, mentors, customers, clients, employees, or whatever. You figure out groups of people. People are the people you go to when you need more passion, you know, more motivation. People only go when you need more logic. You only go to it when you need more spiritual stuff or, you know, more soulful stuff. 

So I think you figure out the type of people you want around you, and they start falling into little segments. I think having all these segments going in terms of your support group is very important.

Cosmos 

No, totally. Bab and Bauer.

On a different note, I wanted to ask, since you’re an immigrant who came and became a citizen in America, they see that America is the land of the free and the place where dreams are made. As an immigrant who came here, do you agree or disagree with that?

Barbar

Agree. I agree. Whatever they tell us about America is true, and 100 more in good and bad, both ways. But on the good side, you know the opportunities we get here are unique. There’s. I think no field will give you success if you don’t work hard enough. 

That is a very big, broad thing to say. Right. If you work in any field, work hard, and are dedicated, there’s. There’s no way you will not be successful compared to other parts of the world where you have to sort. Choose certain fields to be successful, whether you want to do it or not.

Cosmos 

Yeah, I noticed, as an immigrant myself, that m. In America, like you have these, there is this entrepreneurial spirit, and it allows you to do whatever you want to do, and you can succeed in that. And then, when you’re an immigrant from outside, you start appreciating the practical culture altogether.

Barbar

Yeah, that’s very true, man. I, you know, I, I related to this a lot because I grew up in Pakistan and wanted to do something else; you know, I did not want to be where I am right now. I want to be a sportsperson. I used to be a huge cricket lover. I played professionally in my under-19s. You know how cricket is.

Cosmos

I love cricket. Actually, I used to watch the India vs. Pakistan matches. It was like a rivalry, you know, but it was very interesting.

Barbar

Yeah, so cricket was a passion growing up.  I could not follow it just because I was in the. I was born in the wrong place, you know. And even besides being the biggest sport in our countries, I could not; there was no way. It gave me the security, freedom, and opportunities that sports, for example, in the US, give you. And they might even be like smaller sports. 

But over here, you have the freedom to do what you want to do. It can be passion-driven, logic-driven, emotion-driven, or anything. So I think that is the beauty of this place.

Cosmos 

So, Babar, like from your entrepreneurial perspective, what do you think is the biggest hurdle that Americans have when it comes to realizing the American dream? And how should they go about achieving the American dream?

Barbar

I think I would say two things I observed about a lot of people over here. One is that people get too comfortable, and that’s why you would see a lot of immigrants, you know, making, being successful because they are uncomfortable when they come. They want to, they want to make a life, they want to make a change, they want to make a living. When this happens with second, and third-generation immigrants, they become too comfortable; they don’t want to change many things. They don’t want to make an impact. They won’t, don’t even want to create a difference, number one. 

Number two, I think in this part of the world, and this is just how it is, right? I think people lack connection because of the many social values in this part of the world. When I say that, it’s a very broad statement, but specifically, I mean that people lack the mindset and heart to connect with others. They would connect with you for a certain time, for a certain cause, but there’s no real connection. Sometimes, people do business. They’re not connecting with their customers, employees, investors, vendors, and stakeholders because they don’t know how to connect. The personal connection part is also very important in your life and career. 

So those are two things that I’ve observed. People get comfortable; we will lack connection and the spirit of how to connect. And then it slowly, you know, it does, it does come out. Funnily enough, the last event I mentioned I went to was the theme I noticed. You know, people crave connection after success or on the road to success. They realize that what they crave and miss in their life is a connection, which can be personal, professional, spiritual, or any kind. But yeah, that’s been my observation.

Cosmos 

I resonate with your topic of connection because when I came here, I noticed that many people are more rational and logical, and there’s a superficial level of connection. But, from the Indian subcontinent, the friends that I had, it was harder to make friends, but when you connect, they become best friends for life, and it’s on a much deeper level. 

I don’t know if it’s an Eastern or Western thing, but there are pros and cons to both.

Barbar

Yeah, yeah. I think life in the US keeps you very busy. There are so many things that only you have to do and can do. People get busy in their daily routines and cannot find enough time to make connections honestly. So I think, yeah, I think that’s my understanding of why it’s different in the East and the West.

Cosmos 

Yeah, I mean, there’s so much to talk about here, but obviously, the hours are coming to a close.

So, Barbar, I wanted to ask you more about Iititans, the premise of how you started this company, and what it is about.

Barbar

Yeah, so when I was building my technology product influencer hub, I realized that technology is not as scary as it seems. I’m a non-technical person. Right. I don’t have a technical, computer science, or IT background. I have a business background and a business degree. 

So, stepping into a tech product, I was scared. I was scared of how much it was going to cost, how it was going to be, how much time it was going to take. It’s going to be scary. But as I built It, I realized tech is not scary. Tech is supposed to be simple and beautiful. And I think that is what we try to do at Ititans. Try to make tech simple; try to make tech a leverage tool. Tech should not be considered an expense. It should be considered a leverage tool. If your technology is not helping you save money or helping you make money, then there’s no need for that technology. 

Whatever you spend on your technology, again in terms of savings or making more, should be paid back in at least two years. You should be given back at least two years. If not, it doesn’t make sense. I think that’s what we try to do. We try to build something that will give you money back and help you save or make more. 

We often argue with our clients just to help them build something, you know, which is, which is, which is, which is unique, and which is small. They will come to us with 20 ideas. We’ll have them build only 5 and 20 ideas, which is more money for us. 

But we still believe that we’ll only grow if our clients grow. If I build them 20 ideas, they’ll spend all their money; they’ll be burnt out. They’ll go to the market, and they won’t have enough money for marketing and sales. There’s no way I’ll get more business through this client.

For me, their success is my success, so that’s the motto we live by. Also, personally, I’m a builder, right? I love building, and I love creating an impact. So, I love helping people build what they want to build, think, and create an impact, which drives me. And I think that is translating into Ititans.

Cosmos 

That is amazing. 

Are there any other projects that you’re working on other than this that you want the audience to get a glimpse into?

Barbar

Yeah, for sure. As I said, it involves building custom software. We create mobile apps, web portals, websites, and other custom tech work. But the essence of it, as I said, comes from helping others build. 

So we have. I’m building my product because I feel products are more sustainable and have more opportunities than services. Services, called Ititans, are a glorified way of working for somebody. And in the end, you have a fancy title. I call myself Chief Titan from Ititans. But in the end, you are taking somebody’s money and getting work done for them. My products are where you own something. You know, so I’m building a product called khub. Any people listening to this and wanting to explore Khub, it’s a platform that helps wholesalers and distributors across North America digitize their operations. We put all the operations that a wholesale business has into one product. Usually, they use 10 different products, but we are one product that is enough to digitize all your operations. 

So, I would love for people to reach out if they want to explore Khub. It’s a very unique product. We have already spent north of 3 million on it in the past three years. And it’s kicking off and helping change businesses that we’re working with. One more thing I would like to mention is an initiative that I have initiated called Titan Hub. Titan Hub is where I, along with a couple of other people I’ve brought in, help mentor and train young entrepreneurs.

So, we train and mentor about 10 to 15 people every year in a way that will help them launch their businesses successfully. We also make some small pre-seed or seed investments with them. 25 to 50, 25 to $50,000. With people who are mostly under 30 years of age. 

Again, the goal is to be part of somebody’s success story. I have equity in about eight different small, different startups; I’m advising, mentoring, or even an investor. And I would love for people to reach out to those who think they have an idea. Who’s unique and that I can help them with?

Cosmos 

That is amazing. Baba and Baba, how can the audience connect with you and learn more about your work and everything you do? And if let’s say, somebody wants to get consulting from you, how do they go about doing that?

Barbar

I’m active on social media. In the last one and a half years, I’ve used Facebook a lot, which is very interesting because I’ve stopped using Facebook for about five or six years. However, I think Facebook is the new LinkedIn, especially in the small business world in the U.S., so I’m very active on Facebook and Instagram. I’m on all platforms. 

However, I think Facebook and Instagram are the two that I use regularly. From there, I always love to hop on a call and see what the discussion can be about. At least once, I can hop on a call with anybody for free and discuss what they have in mind. If they want to use our services, either on the career side or the building side, I can be on either again. However, I think Facebook or Instagram are the best sources to contact.

Cosmos

To me, that is amazing, Barbar. Barbar, I’m so glad and grateful that you took the time to come on this podcast and share your knowledge and your way of thinking because this is. We need more entrepreneurs in this world, and we need more people who take risks and start startups and businesses because that’s how we create a better world and more impact. I do hope that you take the time to come back at a later time.

Barbar

Yeah, thank you so much. I think you’re doing a really good job, especially coming to this part of the world. I think this is a great way to show the world the stories that people have on the entrepreneur side. So good job.

Cosmos

Thank you. I appreciate it. And I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it. Until next time. Bye for now.