Oztech (Zabarthus & Yavar Khan)

marketing firm in Pakistan

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Oztech (Zabarthus & Yavar Khan) are the CEO & CTO / Co-founders of Oztech. Khan has said his interest was mainly in programming and software development. He joined a company after moving into game development, where he worked as a game architect and did game development for about three to four years.

Early life and education

Khan is from Karachi. He did a BS in software engineering and a master's in software project management. His master's degree was from FAST. [1]

Career before Oztech

Khan has said his interest was mainly in programming and software development. He joined a company after moving into game development, where he worked as a game architect and did game development for about three to four years. His team worked on games of the kind made by Zynga, FarmVille and Candy Crush, and it had previously built games for the online market. [1]

Khan has said he started his own company after his bachelor's degree. He opened his software house in 2009 and ran it for about five years. The software house built software and did activation work. One co-founder of Oztech has said he used to outsource projects to Khan, and Khan has said the other co-founder approached him for different projects. [1]

Khan has said the activations scene was becoming stagnant and that his earlier work became a daily loop and got quite boring. The other co-founder convinced him to join another company. Khan has said leaving his running business for something completely different was a very difficult decision. He joined that company because its cause and vision were broad enough to build something great. His team spent four years there exploring different technologies and moved into digital signage. [1]

Background of the other co-founder

One co-founder of Oztech has said he is a business graduate. He then joined a software company that exported software to the US, and he rose to business unit head there. He has said his earlier software employer charged $5,000 to create a Facebook page in the early 2000s, and that the company also worked for individuals who wanted an app like Careem. [1]

The same co-founder has said he and others tried to move products from China to the US. He has said he had nothing in his bank account and that the venture did not work out. He moved to Lahore to start a business and later returned to Karachi. [1]

He has said friends advised him to join a company working on digital transformation and digital signage in Pakistan. The company had only 17 screens at the time, and he believes it now has around 500. He became general manager at that company. He has said he found the scope limited and wanted to do something more evolving. [1]

Oztech

One co-founder has said the company started in May 2019, and that AR and VR were the exciting technologies behind its start. He has said he and his team understand the technology and where the gap exists. Oztech is described as a marketing firm, and the founders describe it as a technology partner. [1]

One co-founder has said he and his team selected the out-of-home industry, which he calls the most neglected industry in the country. He has said Oztech also works on technologies for activations and retail alongside out-of-home. On the back end, he has said, they strategize for the brand, design the whole campaign and develop the technology. [1]

One co-founder has said the campaigns they are working on include holograms and interactive projections, and that their activation work includes AR, VR and interactive touch experiences. The founders have said they project onto already deployed sites to bring them to life. They describe something connected to social media that pulls live feeds and shows live data. [1]

The founders have said Oztech has delivered interactive projections and projections linked through phones. They feel a projection they did was a benchmark projection in Pakistan. They have said they spent about two years exploring the hologram domain and eight months continuously investing and giving demos. They say things changed once they delivered successful campaigns. [1]

The founders say Oztech is already working on product image recognition. They are developing a framework for virtual try-on, including AR-based try-on, and say the framework includes a personalized element. They say they are building an ecosystem that combines IoT, machine learning, VR and AR. A whole team works on their technology constantly, and they work on technology components. They say they want to explore QR codes on holograms. [1]

Data collection and screens

Khan has said his team works with Bluetooth and beacons. His team also counts how many people connect to networks and has cameras and motion sensors. He has said Oztech combines data from several sources and runs research and business intelligence on it. His team first implemented one sensor, then two. [1]

Khan has said his team designed the layout based on its own guesses about where people would and would not go. The areas they thought were hot spots turned out to be cold spots. His team deployed four smart screens in Lahore. In his view, Oztech's data collection is at a very primary stage, and the company is evolving this model further. [1]

Operations and funding

One co-founder has said the business is capital intensive and that the equipment they needed was not readily available. The founders have said they imported some equipment and found other equipment that was available. They say the material technology and setup are their own, and they have some of their own equipment, including some of their own projectors. [1]

The founders have said Oztech is bootstrapped. They have said they do not have ready funds to invest millions of dollars. [1]

Views on out-of-home marketing

One co-founder has said there is a huge gap between how marketing is done and how it should be done. He has said out-of-home and activation marketing have no data at all. He defines out-of-home as anything in an open space outside the home, and activations as one-on-one engagement with a consumer of a product. [1]

He has said out-of-home is a major form of communication as people step outside, and he believes that communication needs to be more interesting and inspiring. He believes out-of-home is the most challenging industry by far. He has said out-of-home in Karachi is mostly wall pasting because billboards are banned, and that a billboard falling on people was followed by a complete ban on billboards. He has said AR and VR can create meaningful connections with consumers. [1]

The founders say they knew budget would be a constraint with Pakistani clients, and that their prices must be close to what clients spend today. They say clients would rather spend on billboards even when told holograms are groundbreaking. They believe they can enjoy economies of scale once the initial investment to convince the industry is done. [1]

The founders say they know what works globally and which trends are coming to Pakistan, and that they have complete faith in their technology and vision. They say brands and consumers are not ready yet for this kind of change, that they work on the fundamentals because they believe this will work, and that it will take time for their infiltration. They say they cannot change the mindset of the whole industry, and that a tech company should create use cases, prepare demos and convince clients. [1]

The founders say the cheapest digital experience for a brand is existing digital media, and that billboard designers should be experimental enough to include a QR code. They predict the QR code trend will stop being discussed within a month. They say that, along with QR codes, campaign-based mobile applications are an opportunity that has been missed, and that brands should build technologies and look ahead instead of waiting for what goes viral. They say 5G will change everything, and they say they suggested starting with 200 drones. [1]

Timeline

2009
Yavar Khan opened his software house.[1]
2019
Oztech started in May.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2021-06-23 Pakistan's hologram industry is eight months of demos and no takers Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Where did Yavar Khan of Oztech study?

Yavar Khan did a BS in software engineering and a master's in software project management. His master's degree was from FAST.[1]

Where is Yavar Khan of Oztech from?

Yavar Khan is from Karachi. Oztech is a marketing firm based in Pakistan.[1]

What did Yavar Khan do before Oztech?

Yavar Khan worked in game development, including as a game architect, for about three to four years. He opened his own software house in 2009 and ran it for about five years. The software house built software and did activation work.[1]

References

  1. Pakistan's hologram industry is eight months of demos and no takers . Thought Behind Things , 2021-06-23.
Show the source passages (105 statements)
  1. One co-founder of Oztech has said he is a business graduate. obviously I'm a business graduate.
  2. One co-founder of Oztech has said he then joined a software company. And then I sort of landed up in a software company.
  3. One co-founder of Oztech has said the software company he joined exported software to the US. the biggest software company was exporting software to the US.
  4. One co-founder of Oztech has said he rose to business unit head at that software company. I sort of worked my way up to become the business unit head for that department.
  5. One co-founder of Oztech has said his earlier software employer charged $5,000 to create a Facebook page in the early 2000s. they were back in the early 2000s and they were working on software back then when people didn't even know ke Facebook pages hote hain and they were charging $5,000 just to create a page at that time.
  6. One co-founder of Oztech has said his software company also worked for individuals who wanted an app like Careem. we were working for even individuals who would just come in with a business idea and to sort of have an app like, you know, Careem.
  7. One co-founder of Oztech has said he and others tried to move products from China to the US. We were just trying to sort of move products from China to the US.
  8. One co-founder of Oztech has said he had nothing in his bank account and that the venture did not work out. But only I knew I got nothing in my bank account. So, so that didn't work out.
  9. One co-founder of Oztech has said he moved to Lahore to start a business and later returned to Karachi. I moved to Lahore then started business and then I went back to Karachi.
  10. One co-founder of Oztech has said friends advised him to join a company working on digital transformation and digital signage in Pakistan. my friends sort of advised me to join a company that was also sort of working in the digital transformation, but they were sort of working on digital signage in Pakistan.
  11. One co-founder of Oztech has said the company he joined had only 17 screens at the time. so when I joined them they had only 17 screens.
  12. One co-founder of Oztech believes that company now has around 500 screens. So, now I think they've got around 500.
  13. One co-founder of Oztech has said he became general manager at that company. So, I became the general manager for that company
  14. One co-founder of Oztech has said he found the scope limited and wanted to do something more evolving. But also limited in terms of scope and I want to do something more that was more evolving
  15. One co-founder of Oztech has said the company started in May 2019. 2019 we started, May 2019.
  16. One co-founder of Oztech has said AR and VR were the exciting technologies behind the company's start. the technology that were exciting were AR, VR
  17. Yavar Khan has said he did a BS in software engineering and a master's in software project management. Maine BS kiya in software engineering then I did my masters in software project management.
  18. Yavar Khan has said his master's was from FAST. BS from KU and then masters from FAST.
  19. Yavar Khan has said he is from Karachi. Lekin hum Karachi ke hain toh we are used to it.
  20. Yavar Khan has said his interest was mainly in programming and software development. mera interest jo tha generally woh programming ki side pe zyada tha.
  21. Yavar Khan has said he joined a company after moving into game development. Then I joined Salsosoft.
  22. Yavar Khan has said he worked as a game architect at that company. I was a game architect there.
  23. Yavar Khan has said he did game development there for about three to four years. Uske baad wahan pe takreeban teen char saal maine game development ki.
  24. Yavar Khan has said his team worked on games of the kind made by Zynga, FarmVille and Candy Crush. like Zynga, FarmVille if you remember, Candy Crush. Toh us tarah ki games ke hum log part the.
  25. Yavar Khan has said he started his own company after his bachelor's degree. after bachelors maine apna startup kar liya tha.
  26. Yavar Khan has said he opened his software house in 2009 and ran it for about five years. It was 2009. 2009. Uske baad phir paanch saal maine apna startup kiya jo ke software house tha.
  27. Yavar Khan has said his software house built software and did activation work. Usme hum software bana rahe the aur activations ka hum log kaam kar rahe the.
  28. Yavar Khan has said the other co-founder approached him for different projects. Usman basically Salsosoft mein the toh yeh mujhe approach karte the for different projects.
  29. One co-founder of Oztech has said he used to outsource projects to Yavar Khan. So he used to outsource projects to Yawar.
  30. Yavar Khan has said the activations scene was becoming stagnant. woh kaafi jo scene tha stagnant hota ja raha tha.
  31. Yavar Khan has said his earlier work became a daily loop and got quite boring. aur ek same cheez aap loop mein lage hue kar rahe ho on daily basis. So that that was like getting quite boring.
  32. Yavar Khan has said the other co-founder convinced him to join another company. Then he convinced me to like join Redtape.
  33. Yavar Khan has said leaving his running business for something completely different was a very difficult decision. It was a very difficult decision for me ke matlab main ek running business hai uske baad usko chhod ke main ek bilkul different cheez mein aa jaon.
  34. Yavar Khan has said he joined that company because its cause and vision were broad enough to build something great. But woh mujhe lekin kyunki jo cause tha aur jo vision tha that was like so broad aur usme mujhe lag raha tha ke we can like pull something great off from from there.
  35. Yavar Khan has said his team had previously built games for the online market. Ki normally hum games bana rahe the for like online market.
  36. Yavar Khan has said his team spent four years at that company exploring different technologies. Aur four years phir hum logon ne wahan pe different technologies explore kin.
  37. Yavar Khan has said his team moved into digital signage. Aur jab hum log digital signage ke scene mein aa gaye
  38. Yavar Khan has said his team works with Bluetooth and beacons. So hum Bluetooth ke through bhi kar lete hain, through beacons bhi hota hai hamare paas.
  39. Yavar Khan has said his team also counts how many people connect to networks and has cameras and motion sensors. Networks pe kitne log connect hue hain usse bhi hum karte hain. Phir ek hamare paas different angle hota hai camera ka hota hai, motion sensors hain hamare paas.
  40. Yavar Khan has said Oztech combines data from several sources and runs research and business intelligence on it. jo jitna bhi multiple sources of data hamare paas aa raha hota hai, uske baad then we, you know, us data set ke upar phir hamari research hoti hai, BI hoti hai poori.
  41. Yavar Khan has said his team first implemented one sensor, then two. humne pehle ek sensor implement ki, phir do sensor implement kiye.
  42. Yavar Khan has said Oztech's data collection is, in his view, at a very primary stage. Abhi toh yaar I think bahut hi primary stage par hai hamara jo data ka collection hai.
  43. Yavar Khan has said his team designed the layout based on its own guesses about where people would and would not go. Jab humne design kiya poora uska layout toh humne ek ek apni guestimate kiya tha ke kahan pe log aayenge kahan pe nahi aayenge.
  44. Yavar Khan has said the areas they thought were hot spots turned out to be cold spots. Phir hum jin areas ko hum bahut hi hot spots samajhte the woh cold spots nikle
  45. Yavar Khan has said his team deployed four smart screens in Lahore. Toh humne char smart screens deploy kin Lahore ke andar.
  46. Yavar Khan has said Oztech is evolving this model further. Aur us model ko hum leke further evolve karte ja rahe hain in Ostek
  47. One co-founder of Oztech has said there is a huge gap between how marketing is done and how it should be done. I feel that there's there's a huge gap how marketing is done and how it should be done.
  48. One co-founder of Oztech has said out-of-home and activation marketing have no data at all. Like out-of-home le lein ya activation le lein, there is no data at all.
  49. One co-founder of Oztech has said he and his team understand the technology and where the gap exists. that has to be us because we understand what the technology is, we understand where the gap exists
  50. One co-founder of Oztech has said AR and VR can create meaningful connections with consumers. technology like AR and VR can have meaningful sort of connections with their consumers.
  51. One co-founder of Oztech has said he and his team selected the out-of-home industry, which he calls the most neglected industry in the country. we sort of selected the most neglected industry in the whole country, and that's the out-of-home industry.
  52. One co-founder of Oztech has said Oztech works on technologies for activations and retail alongside out-of-home. And and then we sort of parallelly working on different technologies in activations and retail.
  53. One co-founder of Oztech has said out-of-home in Karachi is mostly wall pasting because billboards are banned. especially in Karachi, the out-of-home is just sort of wall pasting because billboards are banned now.
  54. One co-founder of Oztech has said a billboard falling on people was followed by a complete ban on billboards. There was this incident of the billboard falling on people. Yeah, after that it's it's completely banned.
  55. One co-founder of Oztech has said out-of-home is a major form of communication as people step outside. as soon as a consumer steps out of their home, the major communication going on is brands try to trying to speak to their consumers.
  56. One co-founder of Oztech believes out-of-home communication needs to be more interesting and inspiring. That communication needs to be interesting or maybe even inspiring
  57. One co-founder of Oztech believes out-of-home is the most challenging industry by far. that's the most challenging industry by far, I feel.
  58. One co-founder of Oztech defines out-of-home as anything in an open space outside the home. So anything that that is in an open space out of your home.
  59. One co-founder of Oztech defines activations as one-on-one engagement with a consumer of a product. Activations is when there is one-on-one engagement with a consumer of the product.
  60. One co-founder of Oztech has said that on the back end they strategize for the brand, design the whole campaign and develop the technology. We on the back end would strategize for the brand. We would design the whole campaign, we would develop the technology
  61. One co-founder of Oztech has said the campaigns they are working on include holograms and interactive projections. you've got like holograms, the campaigns that we are working on, like projection, like interactive projections
  62. One co-founder of Oztech has said their activation work includes AR, VR and interactive touch experiences. In the activations, like I said, AR and VR, even interactive touch based experiences.
  63. One co-founder of Oztech has said the business is capital intensive. So, yes, this is a capital intensive business, that's the first part.
  64. One co-founder of Oztech has said the equipment they needed was not readily available. no, the equipment was not readily available.
  65. The founders have said they imported some equipment and found other equipment that was available. So, so we had something that we imported and then we found something that was available.
  66. The founders have said the material technology and setup are their own. the technology part as far as the material was concerned and how to set that is all ours.
  67. The founders have said they have some of their own equipment, including some of their own projectors. we've got some of our own equipment as well, so some of our own projectors and then we sort of rent out the others.
  68. The founders have said Oztech is bootstrapped. we're sort of bootstrapping our business.
  69. The founders have said they do not have ready funds to invest millions of dollars. we don't have readily funds available to sort of go invest in these millions of dollars
  70. The founders have said Oztech has delivered interactive projections and projections linked through phones. we have achieved interactive projections and we have achieved sort of interconnected projections through your phone and all.
  71. The founders feel a projection they did was a benchmark projection in Pakistan. We sort of feel as if that was a benchmark projection that's happened in Pakistan.
  72. The founders have said they spent about two years exploring the hologram domain. Aur like it's been like two years jab hum poore is hologram domain ko explore kar rahe the.
  73. The founders have said they spent eight months continuously investing and giving demos. So, for eight months we were completely investing, we were continuously investing, giving demos and what not.
  74. The founders say things changed once they delivered successful campaigns. And now since we have delivered successful campaigns, things have changed.
  75. The founders believe they can enjoy economies of scale once the initial investment to convince the industry is done. And once that's done, then, then you can enjoy economies of scale
  76. The founders say they know what works globally and which trends are coming to Pakistan. we know that what things work, globally what things work, and we know the trends that are going to come in Pakistan.
  77. The founders say they have complete faith in their technology and vision. we've got complete faith in our technology and our vision, in our direction.
  78. The founders say they knew budget would be a constraint with Pakistani clients. because we had some experience dealing with Pakistani clients, so we knew that budget is always going to remain a constraint.
  79. The founders say their prices must be close to what clients spend today. it has to be close to their budgets what they're spending today.
  80. The founders say clients would rather spend on billboards even when told holograms are groundbreaking. Even if we tell them that projections or holograms are something groundbreaking, they would much rather sort of spend on billboard.
  81. The founders say Oztech is already working on product image recognition. we are already working on product image recognition.
  82. The founders say they are developing a framework for virtual try-on, including AR-based try-on. Hum log isme framework pe, framework pe kaam kar rahe hain jo ke virtual try-on pe cha, cha, chal raha hai isme aur AR-based try-on hai
  83. The founders say their framework includes a personalized element. Aur uske alawa hum log jo framework ki baat ki thi humne woh personalized bhi hai.
  84. The founders say brands and consumers are not ready yet for this kind of change. obviously brands are not ready and even their consumers are not ready at this point in time
  85. The founders say they work on the fundamentals because they believe this will work. the reason why we're working on the fundamental is because we believe that this is going to sort of work.
  86. The founders say it will take time for their infiltration. it's going to take time for our infiltration.
  87. The founders say a whole team works on their technology constantly. We have whole team jo ke ispe kaam kar rahi hai constantly.
  88. The founders say they work on technology components. So basically hum log components pe hum log kaam kar rahe hain, theek hai na?
  89. The founders say they are building an ecosystem that combines IoT, machine learning, VR and AR. To hum log ek ecosystem bana rahe hain jisme IoT, machine learning, VR, AR, so it's like whole, like everything is part of it.
  90. The founders say 5G will change everything. 5G ke aane ke baad I think everything will be changed.
  91. The founders describe Oztech as a technology partner. We're a technology partner.
  92. The founders describe something connected to social media that pulls live feeds and shows live data. that is social media connected, which means that it is pulling live feeds, it's showing live data over there
  93. The founders say they project onto already deployed sites to bring them to life. Aur jo already deployed sites bhi hain uske upar bhi hum projection karke we sort of bring them to life.
  94. The founders say a tech company should create use cases, prepare demos and convince clients. as tech as a company should sort of create use cases, prepare demos, and convince clients.
  95. The founders say they want to explore QR codes on holograms. ke hum ab chal rahe hain aage hologram pe QR code hum explore karna chah rahe hain, let's see how that goes
  96. The founders say billboard designers should be experimental enough to include a QR code. if somebody's sort of designing a billboard, they need to be experimental enough to put the QR code at least there.
  97. The founders say the cheapest digital experience for a brand is existing digital media. So, the cheapest experience, um, I would say is existing digital media
  98. The founders say they cannot change the mindset of the whole industry. Obviously, we can't change the mindset of the whole industry.
  99. The founders predict the QR code trend will stop being discussed within a month. So, what's going to happen is in the next month everybody's going to stop talking about the QR code.
  100. The founders say brands should build technologies and look ahead instead of waiting for what goes viral. we need to sort of build technologies, we need to sort of look ahead, we don't need to wait for what goes viral, what works, what not.
  101. The founders say that, along with QR codes, campaign-based mobile applications are an opportunity that has been missed. QR code ke sath sath campaign-based mobile applications, we've missed that boat as well, you know.
  102. The founders say they suggested starting with 200 drones. Let's start with 200 drones. Let's do that.
  103. The founders say they are based in Pakistan. we're, we're based in Pakistan.
  104. Oztech is described as a marketing firm. guest, Oztech marketing firm.
  105. Yavar Khan is the chief technology officer of Oztech, and he and the company's chief executive are both co-founders. Usman Siddiqui, who is the CEO of Ostek Marketing, and Yawar Khan, who is the CTO of the company. You guys are both co-founders as well? [Usman] Yep.