Syed Ali Mehdi

DeafTawk is a mobile app that provides online sign language interpretation services to the deaf community in Pakistan, Sirilanka and Singapore. My role with DeafTawk was to develop robust financial system, group structure and helping them with their valuation and stakeholder management. As their voluntary CFO I assisted them in business strategy, negotiations with investors & donor agencies, financial statements, tax compliance, registration and reporting matters both in Pakistan and abroad.

I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of Pilot Outdoors®, where I’m helping build a brand loved by people, for people. Pilot Outdoors started with a vision to create outdoor products that are not only innovative and functional, but also meaningful to the people who use them. Since then, I’ve been leading the brand across product development, storytelling, growth, and e-commerce — turning an idea into a growing outdoor brand with a successful Kickstarter launch and an expanding digital presence. My focus is on building more than just products. I’m passionate about building a brand that connects with people through authentic experiences, human-centric stories, and a strong sense of community. Our growth has been shaped through a mix of organic content, influencer ecosystems, AI-powered creator strategies, and real outdoor voices that help us reach people in a way that feels genuine and relatable. As an outdoor enthusiast myself, I care deeply about creating in the outdoors space and building something that people can connect with beyond the product alone. I believe the strongest brands are built through trust, collaboration, creativity, and consistency. I also strongly believe in the power of collaboration and the gig economy — bringing together talented creators, specialists, and builders to move fast, stay lean, and create meaningful impact.

A ‘Brand-first’ Creative Agency. We are a multifaceted digital advertising agency providing 360-degree marketing solutions and delivering a strong branding identity through communications across all media. We carry a big basket. In other words, we are open to novel practices, innovative ideas and are willing to dump out the old.

Orangeloft is revolutionizing the lodging industry by building & renovating aesthetically pleasing, must-stay locations spread across Pakistan. Offering the most amazing destinations ensuring the best customer service. The Orangeloft has already covered 42% of tourist locations with its 520+ rooms and 30,000+ nights booked sofar, the traction and transformation is tangible. Orange Loft isn't just a visionary; it's a hands-on operator, effectively managing all properties. Our cutting-edge facility management technology, constructs a robust control framework around Orange Loft's facilities, enhancing efficiency, quality, and guest satisfaction. Thus, Orange Loft isn't solely redefining hospitality; it's revolutionizing the very essence of property management, ensuring every guest encounters both comfort and nature's marvels in perfect harmony.

COLABS is Pakistan’s fastest-growing flexible workspace thoughtfully designed to enable people and businesses to grow. It aims to inspire collaboration, productivity, and innovation through our platform and network. As the Lead for Expansion and Partnerships, I am at the forefront of expanding COLABS to multiple locations across KLI and fostering strategic collaborations. With a focus on expanding our network and creating valuable partnerships, I am instrumental in shaping the future of our flexible workspace platform. By identifying new opportunities, forging meaningful relationships, and executing strategic initiatives, I contribute to the continuous evolution and success of COLABS. Together with a dynamic team, I am dedicated to inspiring collaboration, productivity, and innovation while creating an environment that enables people and businesses to thrive

Pakistan presents a huge opportunity for Angel investment. We get engage with most of the innovative companies currently blossoming across the country and abroad and explore investment opportunities for them. Our angel network nurtures young companies and entrepreneurs to help them realise their true potential. Sign up to start a thrilling journey, investing in and mentoring.

Teamup is an 'Innovation hub'​ focused on young innovators & Seed investors. Helping start-ups transform industries that impact millions of lives every day! Teamup runs acceleration/Incubation program; providing mentoring and investment opportunities to startups and works with a variety of institutions to develop, accelerate and fund startups. Teamup also provides mature professionals (not quite ready to hang up their boots) the ability to keep active based on their personal lifestyle preferences by providing them flexible hour mentoring, as well as an opportunity to invest in various startups of their own choice. In my role as head of finance at Teamup i manage finance function of portfolio companies and devise reports for strategic decision making. I also lead the business during third party valuation and due diligence in order to meet specific investment goals.

NIC Islamabad is being executed under the partnership of Jazz (previously Mobilink) and TeamUp, as a 5-year project funded by Ignite. My primary role is to look after investments, finance and compliance function of the NIC. In this role i have not only established investment linkages but have also developed & streamed line processes according to best global practices and procedures as part of controlled activities. NIC is currently a home for 162 startups both current and graduated with diverse experience specially on technical or engineering side and have no or little financial knowledge. They face issues in registration of companies, legal, taxation and regulatory matters, financial projections, forecasting and budgeting. I not only assist them with relevant industry and regulatory linkages but also help them in getting hands-on on finance function. I also help them in developing group structures viable for running smooth and cost/tax effective business operations who have multiple registered companies under different national international regulatory frameworks As part of incubation program, NIC provide tailored made curriculum for 16 mandatory business courses in which 2 to 3 courses are on finance for non finance people, Registration and regulatory requirements. I assist in conducting such courses and also deliver as and when required.

Accelerating Asia is an independent traditional startup accelerator program in Singapore, this program is split into two parts: a three month program period with weekly activities followed by a 1 month final period inclusive of the international trip and demo day. As part of the accelerator program, we went through 4 months of extensive networking and mentoring. The program included pitching your idea to different investors and forging key partnerships with industry heavyweights. In the final month of the program, we went to Startup Mastery Program in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In this trip we were engaged in pre-arranged meetings and events with top founders, investors and other ecosystem players in the Valley. The key outcome of this trip was meeting with Google where we signed an NDA for mutual collaboration for AI aspect of sign language interpretation for google home and other google products.

Nai Zindagi is the principal recipient of Global Fund for support and care for people who inject drugs in Pakistan. NZT has provided me vast experience in accounts, audit and finance department. I was leading the monitoring teams that were responsible for financial monitoring of Sub Recipients and COPC+ sites in all 30 working districts of Pakistan. Additionally I was responsible for pre-audits of all financial transactions including bank & cash vouchers, journal vouchers and payroll sheets before postings in to financial data base and before payments. Further assisted external auditors during audit verification.