Over a dozen celebrities have signed up to put their personal belongings on auction, to raise money for their favorite charities. The names include Mekaal Hassan, Ahmed Ali Butt, Fawwad Khan and Resham.

We will be adding items regularly until we reach the million rupee target.

What can you do?

Join our cause and invite your friends.

The more people who see the auctions, the more money we raise for charity. Help us spread the world.

Start bidding: http://www.lootmaar.com/charity

-Adnan

Press Release
March 21 2008

Pakistani pop stars are proving to be the unlikely proponents of charity on the internet. Music icons Mekaal Hasan and Ahmad Ali Butt, are leading the industry by launching online charity auctions to raise money for Edhi Foundation and Zindagi Trust.

The bid to drive social change using the internet was initiated by Lootmaar.com, an online marketplace for Pakistan. Saira Khan, the Social Responsibility Officer of Lootmaar.com says, “We want to raise a million rupees for charity, and have been overwhelmed by the support of the industry.” Lootmaar plans to expand the charity auctions to include Pakistani cricketers, and Bollywood actors.

The charity auctions represent a unique development, because it signifies the coming together of internet access and celebrity appeal to solve pressing social problems. Jehan Ara, the president of Pakistan Software House Association says, “My hats off to the Lootmaar team for using technology the way it was meant to be used – for the upliftment of communities and to help ease pain and suffering.”

Lootmaar.com provides a Pakistan-wide virtual bazaar where internet users can buy and sell items. The service became publicly available in January 2008 and has since attracted several hundred businesses and users to set up virtual shops online. Lootmaar provides a platform for users in different cities to trade items online, opening up limitless options for personal entrepreneurship. The charity auctions are available at http://lootmaar.com/charity.

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Fall was just starting to encroach on summer, with a crispness in the air that was consuming the gentle peel of merlot grapes. As Wynn and I drove 200 miles west of Durham, towards the vineyards in Yadkin Valley, I wasn’t thinking about work. The fourteen hour days at Duke, seemed distant. We were there to relax, unwind and dream unencumbered by the stress of practical things.

As we drove through I-77, we saw trees wearing shades of green that i hadn’t seen before. From lime to amber, as they tried to escape the tyranny of winter. But it was a good day, bright but not warm; cool, but not chilly. A good day to dream.

That’s when the realization dawned: What if an online marketplace could be used for social good?

Won’t that be remarkable.

-Adnan

I’m in a part of the world, where I run the serious risk of getting stoned. And its not Amsterdam.

The last time I met my chacha in his 35th floor suite in the 5-star Sangrila Hotel in Dubai, he looked at me disapprovingly. I was dressed in plain blue jeans that I got from Filne’s Basement, torn Adidas sneaker, and a faded Holister t-shirt. It was a Saturday, so my hair were a bit ruffled and the stubble starting to show. “Adnan,” my chacha said, “you’re a professional now; go get some decent clothes. Your jeans has to be Armani. Get a Mountblanc pen, at least a Longines watch and a Tumi laptop bag.”

“In this society,” he uttered fiddling with his Bang & Olusfsen cell phone, “you have to look rich.”

“Jee, chacha,” i said and went on to buy none of those things.

Yesterday, after a 5-minute phone call with an heir to one of the *smaller* textile empires of Pakistan, my chacha’s advice finally hit me.

In my quick conversation with the heir, he managed to tell me about the 10 properties he owns in Dubai, conservatively assessed at US$ 10 million. That his brother-in-law is the managing director of a big-name bank, that his cousin went to UPenn, that he owns five houses in Karachi, that his kids all go to KGS or the American School, and that his dad stays in Intercon Dubai 5-6 months a year, just because he can.

I’ve always kept an uncomfortable distance with the “high society” in Pakistan. You know, where its OK to judge you by the size of your car’s engine and the number of miles you traveled to your previous vacation, along with your Luis Vuiton luggage. And you know what, I’m not playing. I not going to get a $3000 watch and $500 jeans just because I want an overgrown trust-fund baby to think I’m rich.

—

“They said you was high class…”

…but that was just a lie

The following job posting was first written in June 2005. We finally got the chance to use it:

We are a startup dotcom hiring our forth employee. Proficiency in English, willingness to learn and the ambition to dare mighty things are prerequisites.

Your responsibilities will include operations, accounting and customer service.

Send your CV to jobs@lootmaar.com.
For the Rozee posting, click here.

Last week, when Nomi and I went to meet a senior banker, we expected a short wait outside. Even though the meeting was scheduled a week in advance, it’s understandable for a senior exec to be fighting last minute fires. So, we showed up at the Big Bank, signed in and told reception to tell the exec we’re there to see him.

Now, what typically happens in this case? I’ve met with C-level execs across the world. In the US, Middle East and Pakistan. Usually, reception calls the gentleman in question, and directs you to his office. In this venerable bank though, the reception directed us to one of the numerous chotas in the department. We told the chota in question that we have an appointment with the exec and he tells us to wait because the exec is in a meeting. Fair enough we thought, and we waited.

After ten minutes, a clueless team comes in the conference room where we were waiting, asking if we had booked the room. We gracefully walked to the chota again, and he asked us to wait at the desk of another gentleman, who is a bara wannabe. We knew this gentleman well. His superior professionalism could well be the subject of the next season of Office Space, and we had no desire to deal with him again. At this point, Nomi and I exchanged glances, there was something going on and it was time to get pissed and escalate. So, Nomi whipped out his fancy Blackberry, and dialed the exec on his direct number and handed the phone over to me. A baritone on the other end said, “Hello”.

“Hi sir, this is Adnan Haider from Lootmaar. We were scheduled to meet at 11, and I called to let you know that we’ve been waiting outside for 20 minutes”

In under three minutes, we were sitting in his glass-walled office. No one told him. The chota in question was afraid that if he took us to the manager directly, the bara-wannabe would be vengeful.

You can change your logo, you can import citibankers by the truckload, but it takes a lot more to change culture. A good step is to enforce the no asshole jerk rule.

Yes, I’m resorting to obnoxious titles and scandalous posts based on the advice of certain unscrupulous individuals. Unfortunately though, the controversy ends with the title, and my life isn’t exciting enough to cover ass kissing contexts set in Islamabad.

So, I’m working out these days. Thirty minutes on the elliptical trainer and and fifteen on the rowing machine. I hear exercise is healthy, but given the flubber I see in the gym, I have my doubts. Anyway, I assure you, my exciting workout regimen is a digression and not the topic of the post. This post has to do with kissing up and kicking down, which is how Robert Sutton, Management Professor at Stanford, describes jerks, or more appropriately, assholes. If you’re wondering what that has to do with my fat burning, 10km/hour run on the treadmill, the connection is this: Everyday, I listen to a Stanford Technology Venture podcast, so I don’t feel like my time at the gym is a complete waste. No, the six pacs haven’t started showing, thank you.

So, about the No Asshole Rule. Firstly, love the title. Its simple, unexpected and concrete. The perfect ingredients for viral message. It’s the best selling book of the author, not because of groundbreaking research, not because profanity sells (it does), but because he captures in one simple title all the angst pent-up in those who work with assholes.

Sutton notes that the best thing to do, when you’re surrounded by jerks, is to leave. He reasons that you will eventually become like the people around you. So choose carefully where you work. In case you’re stuck in the organization, find ways to minimize contact with the designated jerk. Limiting communication to emails, phone calls and stand-up meetings may help.

Not surprisingly, as per real academic research, in the US the highest concentration of assholes is in the Northeast, while Southerners and Californians are typically nicer. He did say that Silicon Valley is particularly nasty because of the insane work hours, and the hyper competitive win-lose environment. The emergence of Google as a “Do no evil” company though, has put pressure on other Valley startups to enforce the No Asshole Rule.

By the way, Steve Jobs is an asshole. Hence the title.

-Adnan