Mashal Waqar, Managing Director at Milestone Ventures, on community building and experimentation

Mashal Waqar is Managing Director of Milestone Ventures. Previously, she was the co-founder of The Tempest, a global news outlet for women, and 60 Day Startups, a programme for women willing to build businesses.

What brought you to the media industry?

I had never seen media where women were on the front lines sharing their stories until I stumbled upon an article in The Tempest. It was so powerful. I spent hours poring over their content until I finally emailed them, 'Hey, I love this content. I want to write for you.'

I joined the team, became a staff writer, then an editor. Six months later, founder and CEO, Laila Alawa, asked me to join as a co-founder. I loved the mission of the company. We were helping to make so many voices heard and offered an important perspective that typical media companies usually miss out on.

How did you move on to support female founders with the 60 Day Startups programme?

The idea of the 60 Day Startups came right after the Covid lockdowns, at the end of 2020. A fantastic entrepreneur who was a close friend of mine and I spoke about the challenges that female entrepreneurs face. Both of us were very passionate about this topic.

Together, we built out a programme where women who wanted to build a business, could learn how to do that. The goal was to get participants from the early stage to revenue in 60 days. Many programs focus on the tech aspect, but there's not enough focus on building revenue, particularly in a very specific amount of time. We wanted to see more women building businesses and growing. This was a community-led project.

Which role does experimentation play in life and business?

Experimentation is important for any business. In many cases, you won't know until you have tested things and have figured out what works for you. It's great to learn about tried-and-tested methods but you need to experiment for yourself. Build your own playbook, try a million different things, and see which one works for you and gets you traction.

There's so much self-doubt and imposter syndrome, and I've seen way more of it in women as compared to men. Sometimes you need one person to believe in you. If you are the person who's listening to another founder or someone trying to make it, be supportive, don't be critical. A million other people will be critical, and you don't want to be one of those.

Community building has been at the heart of everything you've done. Why is it important for businesses?

Many people underestimate the importance and the impact of community building. In truth, community should be the key element of your business. Community building is a long-term project with long-term effects. It's impossible to build it overnight or in just three months. But once you succeed, you may reap incredible results.

What are the typical mistakes in community building?

Firstly, don't try to quickly hit big numbers. It's all vanity metrics. Instead of immediately scaling to hundreds of thousands, build one-on-one connections first. Three key principles underpin any community: feeling recognized, feeling a safe space, and finally, feeling like people know you and you know them. This only happens when you build those intimate one-on-one connections. Start small: with ten, twenty, a hundred people, and see how many of those connections you can build.

Secondly, nurture horizontal ties. You shouldn't be the only one trying to build that bond, let people in the community connect with each other. Communities flourish when their members bring up new ideas, projects and initiatives.

What is your view on failure?

Don't be afraid of failure. Don't feel shame for not succeeding. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself for it. I felt I had to succeed and everything had to work out, but there's no guarantee here. It's better to have tried and failed than to let your fears hold you back from even trying - and then regret attempts not made.

Whatever you're dreaming of, give yourself that chance and let yourself believe that you can. Live with no regrets. Life is too short for that.