From Zero Network to Full Pipeline – How Nida Ateeq Grew Her B2B Brand

Nida Ateeq: It's very important to
focus on your own personal brand and

whether it's for finding the new job
or starting your own business, whatever

it may be, it's very, very important.

Prateek Panda: Hello and welcome
back to Off To the Valley, the

podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of entrepreneurs

shaping industries across the globe.

I'm your host, Prateek
Panda, and today we are

joined by Nida Ateeq, founder and CMO
of Anagar Media, a marketing agency

that helps B2B companies go from
brand confusion to pipeline clarity.

An engineer turned marketer, Nida
moved from India to Canada and

quickly built a reputation for
pairing data with storytelling.

Strategy and creativity comes to her
naturally and she's been helping out

a lot of B2B companies with the same,
she's not afraid to challenge the status

quo, especially in B2B marketing, and
we'll get to learn a lot from her today.

Nida, it's a pleasure to have you with us.

Welcome to Off To the Valley.

Nida Ateeq: Thanks for having me.

I'm excited to be here.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

Tell us a little bit
about your move to Canada.

You've been here not too long.

What got you to Canada?

Nida Ateeq: It's been three years now.

So what got me to Canada was, when back
home in India, I was working for the

North American market and partly what
happened was during the pandemic, I

wanted to move to more Indian consumer
based marketing role and time, and again,

I was like pushed back and they were
like, oh, you don't have any experience

here because you've been working with
American clients, European clients.

And essentially that would call, even
though I was in Indian companies.

I was working for those.

And so that got me thinking and
after like a lot of discussion in

terms of opportunity and what's going
on, I realized that this could be

an, and Canada wasn't like the IT
country that I wanted to come to.

There were a couple of options, but then
I got invited through a PNP program where

they invite skillset based on certain
skill sets the provinces in Canada invite

you if you put in your application.

And I got invited through Ontario
and I was like, okay, yeah,

this sounds like a good option.

Some of the companies I would wanna
work for are based out of Canada.

It looks like a good career move.

And so that's what got me moving.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

And you launched Anagar Media within
sort of a year of moving to Canada.

What were, this might be a difficult
thing to answer, but what were maybe

the first three things you did to
get your business off the ground?

Nida Ateeq: I think because I was a
new business owner, I've seen business

firsthand in India because my dad is one.

And for me it was like, oh my
God, there's a lot of paperwork.

There's gonna be a lot of
financial things involved.

How am I going to do this?

And I got a push through some because
I was working at an agency and some

of my clients over there were like,

I was trying to move out of an
agency role surprisingly, and

get into a more corporate role.

I was like, this is too much to handle.

It's good, it's great, but it's like
taking a lot of my personal time off.

And so what happened was during this whole
process, some of my clients at that agency

were like, oh, if you start something
of your own, we would love to follow.

And seeing my dad being an entrepreneur
and a salesperson right from the

start of, you know, when I was
growing up, I've seen him build

businesses back home in India, though.

I sort of had the urge to
try something of my own.

So I had a conversation with him
and I wanted to know like, you

know, is it a easy journey or not?

And that got me thinking.

And since there was a push from some
of my clients who would join me, I

thought, okay, let's register this.

And the three things which I thought
would be the most difficult things to

do in to start a business were the most
easiest in Canada, you can register

your business, open a bank account.

And start off with the basics, like
just your website within a day or

two, and there are agencies here which
help you through that whole process.

Once you get there is of course
nuances to everything and you need

to understand stuff, but it wasn't a
whole lot to build off of, and those

are the first three things I did.

I registered, I opened my bank account
and the third thing I did was build my

web because I have a marketing experience,
building the website was easier.

So I had my website running within two
or three days and it was off the ground.

Prateek Panda: That's awesome.

So you've lined those three
things up very well for an obvious

fourth, which is customers.

So you did mention a little bit that
some of your previous clients mentioned

that if you were to start something of
your own, they would come work with you.

So I guess that was, you know, sort
of soften the process a little bit of,

you know, launching.

But for a lot of the other listeners who
are, you know, starting new businesses or

thinking of starting new businesses, do
you have any tips on how they can go about

and acquire their first few customers?

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, especially because
you're starting small as a business

and you are sometimes a solopreneur
first, and then you get to hire people.

I don't think you have a huge budget
to spend on yourself from a marketing

or a sales perspective to get there and
to be fairly honest, my first two years

were just referrals and word of mouth.

So if someone worked with me and they
really liked it, they referred me to

someone else, and that's how it worked.

It's still to the date, that
is what's been happening.

Of course, I've partnered up with one of
my other counterparts in the US who runs

her own marketing agency in the US and we
kind of collaborate through a partnership

approach on working on different things.

But initially it's all been referral.

So I personally think as a new
entrepreneur, focus on your

personal brand because a lot of
people reach out to me when I

announce I'm doing that on LinkedIn.

They were like, oh, I didn't know
you started something of your own.

Would love to collaborate with you.

So while that was something I was
building even before I wanted to do

my own, business, if you may call
it, it's very important to focus on

your own personal brand and whether
it's for finding the new job or

starting your own business, whatever
it may be, it's very, very important.

So I would focus there.

Two, build a very strong existing
referral base or a partnership base.

See who within your network,
especially LinkedIn, who can

help you do these things.

And focus on partnering there and getting
through that rather than, you know,

doing PPC campaigns or cold outreaches
because those tend to not work for you.

I'm not saying they don't work at all.

They might, but they
won't work immediately.

Right?

Because you are starting small.

You have to create a brand name
for yourself, and there's a lot

of, you know, work behind that.

So this would be my go-to tip.

Prateek Panda: Got it.

And you mentioned a few things where
I want to touch upon a little bit,

but I'll get to that in a minute.

I want to know from you, we
were talking a little bit about

building those relationships.

You know, creating a touchpoint
in your existing network and

see who can help you right away.

What are some challenges that you faced
in building a new professional network

in a new country from scratch, and
how did you overcome those challenges?

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, so for me,
initially when I had come over here

for six months, it was just me.

Not even like from a professional
network, even on a personal network,

I didn't have relatives here or
essentially very important friends.

Most of my friends are in the States.

So it was a little difficult,
just getting along with people

and, you know, making friends.

And even eventually the
professional network.

That was a big challenge.

What really helped me was communities.

So, what I earlier on, very immediately
discovered is some of these professional

communities and some of these
not so professional communities,

communities for like personal growth
and stuff like that really helped.

So I met a lot of founders.

I met a lot of, which also gave me
like initial confidence in opening

my business because I had been part
of those communities and I had seen

some people already doing that.

So it was easy to reach
out to those people.

So I would definitely
encourage people to do that.

I.

I'm part of Pavilion,
I'm part of Monday Girl.

I'm part of Elevate.

Like these are those professional
communities where I could go reach out

to different people and speak to based
on, you know, what their experiences

have been like and learn off of that.

And these communities, just to
give a quick tip, to have helped

me find potential clients as well.

So I would definitely say that.

This is the first approach you
should do anytime your time.

If you're moving to a new country.

See where these things can help you.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

And in your experience, now that
you've launched a business in Canada,

what are some common misconceptions
about starting a business in Canada

that in the process, maybe you
realized those were misconceptions?

Nida Ateeq: Initially, like I
mentioned, the point 1 was like,

oh, the registration is gonna be a
big deal like in India, it wasn't.

It was pretty simple and
straightforward once you have

all of your details in place.

So for me, that was very easy.

In fact, I didn't have a name.

And the naming process was like me
talking to the person helping me register.

And the lawyer was like,
what do you wanna name it?

And I'm like, I don't know.

And then he's like, okay,
let's talk about it.

And we came up with this name
like in 15 minutes of just

him asking me a few questions.

I'm like, yeah, let's go with that.

So ideally speaking, there's
a lot of help out there.

The other misconception for me was, it's
a new country, so I will not understand,

you know the financial aspects of it, or
I will have, I'll have to learn everything

from scratch but very easily early on I
realized that Canadian government provides

a lot of help for startups, lot of help
for immigrant founders and entrepreneurs,

and it's like all mostly free, out
there for you to use and utilize.

And just doing a little bit of
research of doing that and figuring

out stuff was like hugely beneficial.

Some of the most unexpected help I've got
is from just opening a bank account and

having a personal account advisor on it.

I did not know a lot of things that I was
doing wrong, and he was able to correct

me and from a personal and a professional
perspective, get things right.

So that was hugely, you know,
a misconception that, oh, I

might have to learn all of that.

The other misconception I had was,
okay, so I've got these maybe three

or four clients easily, but for me to
grow, I'm, I have to put that money back

in and spend it to get other clients.

And I think that was wrong.

I did spend a little bit initially.

For a month, just running some PPC
campaigns, sales, LinkedIn sales

Navigator doing cold outreaches.

But that didn't work for me.

I didn't get a single client and just
based off my experience speaking with

other agency holders who've been doing
it for years now, they were like, oh,

I would suggest reach
out within your network.

And I did realize a lot of people
reaching out and reaching out within

these communities kind of gave me a
different aspect to how things work

in North America, especially where
it's word of mouth, people tend

to trust you more because you're
building that credibility through

referrals, through whatever it may be.

And so,

I think that is hugely important

and being present at the
right place at the right time.

I didn't focus so much on, I didn't
take it seriously, to be honest, to

go for any kind of events or summits,
especially like those tech ones.

I'm like, I'm a marketing agency
but I don't know how that's gonna

help, but trust me, those like led
to potential clients, me having

active conversations with them.

So you have to be at the
right place at the right time.

So a completely different way
of marketing, say in India,

changed my perspective of how
it is supposed to be over here.

It's completely different.

Prateek Panda: That's awesome.

That's a lot of great advice there.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Let's switch into another area of
expertise for you, which is B2B growth,

pipeline generation, B2B marketing.

AI is the buzzword.

Obviously there's a
ton of tools out there.

As an agency owner working with
multiple B2B companies, what are,

do you have like a toolkit that
you think is very useful for you?

Are there any AI tools
that you find very useful?

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, so I still
see a lot of clients being

hesitant if you use AI, right?

But for us recently we've been building
some AI agents and some custom GPTs,

which have done really well, and
we've been using that to automate

a lot of stuff we have on our end,
which we spend a lot of time on.

So.

In terms of a tool stack, I did
do another webinar recently with

Graphy, where I shared my whole
tech tool stack that I'm using.

And some of like 60% I would
say are AI tools that I use.

Chat GPT, Claude is like my go-to.

But there are some of the tools which
I've been using recently, which have

been helpful to is Blaze AI using for,
use it for like a couple of like video

editing creatives, fast generation stuff.

Canva's been doing a
really great job with AI.

It's still learning, but Canva with Chat
GPT, you can use Canva within Chat GPT.

That has helped solve a lot of
quick fixes, if you will, for us.

Of course, if you need a branded
video and we want to go all out,

we won't use Canva yet for a full
fledged, you know, important project.

But like for quick fixes, quick wins,
those have been really essential for us.

I have been using a lot of Phantom
ai, which is, I feel, it's been

like an assistant, like taking all
the notes, getting, you know, all

the tasks done for me in a process.

I don't have to think much after
each meeting, everything is

recorded, everything is updated.

So that's great.

And recently we have been exploring,
possibly this week use of Motion.

I dunno if you guys have heard of that.

That's like a complete tool, which we have
been trying to research on a trial basis

right now with our team, which can do like
task generations, automatically manage

efforts, manage multiple calendars and
record meetings, all of that in one place.

And then assign tasks for you, your team.

So we, we've been finding that to
be really helpful for us as well.

So that's some of those
important stacks, which I have.

But of course there are like 10 to
15 different tools, which I would

love to share with your audience too
as a checklist, which we have been

using for the past year and a half.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

That's great.

So tell me a little bit more
about the, let's get into like the

branding part of things, right?

If you're a small B2B, you know,
early stage company, what are some

things from a marketing perspective
that you can do to be more visible

or to have better visibility
compared to a larger competitor?

Nida Ateeq: Like I said, because
you're starting small, your company

does not have a brand face.

So you are the brand right now.

So, focusing on your personal
brand is very essential.

So, pick a niche.

I don't like to say, I will never
suggest going all out on all the social

media platforms and creating a
brand, whether it's a blog or you

wanna do LinkedIn or Instagram.

Like pick one, for where your
audience sits and generate a lot

of thought leadership material,
which could be essentially very

helpful for your target audience.

So now say I have like 19,000
plus followers on LinkedIn.

Not everyone is my target audience.

I need to identify first what my target
audience is and then generate content

for that so that people can reach
out and think of me as someone they

would, you know, work with if they
need some kind of help on marketing.

So that is my first and most important
thing I would concentrate on.

Two would be, always actively not.

So I see this as a mistake, which
I've done too, which I shared.

Do not think of your network as, oh, I'll
just put a LinkedIn post out there and.

Yeah.

You know, someone might, they might not.

So use that network and do your
own research and build like a

list who you can reach out to,
who would love to work with you.

So this could be old bosses,
it could be previous company

employees moving into new company.

Could be previous clients, right,
who possibly were not happy with what

the work was happening previously.

But now you know what the issue is and
you have identified how you can solve for

it so you can reach out to that network.

And we often tend to mistake that.

We cannot do that.

We go cold outreaches, we go with PPC
campaigns, we go with the emailing,

you know, cold emails here and there.

and thinking, this is gonna work.

But I think the network, which
you have currently is very

essential for you to reach out to.

The other thing is, play
around with a bunch of tools.

I personally have found Apollo.

I know they have been flagged by
LinkedIn, but in the past, Apollo.io

has been very helpful for me and Clear.ai

ai.

These two tools have been really, really
good for me in figuring out, once I've

figured out what my target audience looks
like, I can build out lists and reach out.

So that has been a good go-to now,
especially now that, you know, I'm

moving a little, I wanna grow a little
more, I'm moving away from referral.

So think about that.

Two would be, if you're starting
off small, and this is something

I've done, like I mentioned,
I have partnered with someone.

If you are in a certain region
and you can partner with

someone else to help you grow,

there are a lot of agencies out
there who like to white label stuff.

So they hire other agencies
to help out smaller agencies.

Think about potentially those
relationships and partnerships too,

because you're starting off small.

So to build a testimonial, a
case study, or to build that

trusted brand is not easy.

People will not come to you easily
and say, oh yeah, go for it.

I want to work with you.

So think about having those kind of
collaborations as well, because that

will create like a pathway for you
in terms of what work you've done.

You can build off of that, a
good customer base from that.

So that would be my
fourth, I guess, advice.

And the fifth is community and events.

And not everywhere, but I have a role like
every quarter I need to attend like four

major events, which is gonna help me grow
my career or my business in a certain way.

And I make like active choices
of what that would be like.

And I choose and plan way ahead
each quarter what I would go to.

So think about it.

And see where your audience sits
and where you think you should

be actively participating.

Prateek Panda: Do you set some
goals for yourself for these events

also before, do you go to them?

Is there something you
have in mind already?

Nida Ateeq: Yes.

Every time I go to this event,
it's not necessarily, oh, I'm gonna

find three clients or four clients
here, but like, how many people

I, did I personally engage with.

Initially it used to be like,
oh, I met a hundred people.

Am I going talk to all a hundred?

No, you have to have that
conversation over that.

And then I always make a list on
my phone because you don't carry

your laptop back, but you make a
list, especially on LinkedIn, right?

A small note, Nice meeting you there.

We had a conversation on this, would
like to take up further conversation,

and I drop in a message and that's my
follow up notification, if you will.

And I actively look for at least five
to six people who, where I've made

a good connection and where it does
not have to be like, oh, I'm going

to build a business with them, or
they're gonna gimme any business.

But where I'm seeing potentially some
kind of give and take between us and

sometimes it's you just giving something.

And not thinking about
receiving something.

So that's a big no-no for a lot of people,
they're like, oh, but you know, I spoke

to him and he hasn't really responded
or he, I gave him like a checklist.

He, sometimes things come around after
months, like, I'll give you an example.

I met someone at an event, now
it's called the Web Summit.

It's called Collision in Toronto,
and they reached out to me.

I think this happened in September
or August or September last year.

No, if I'm not wrong, May or June
last year, and they reached out to

me this year, last month, and they're
like, Hey, do you remember me?

I know we are connected on LinkedIn,
but you spoke about your agencies.

You spoke about all of these great things.

I moved into a new role.

I'm looking for someone who can
help me with growth marketing

On the B2B side, let's talk.

And so if you can imagine the sales
cycle here is more than a year.

Prateek Panda: Yep.

Nida Ateeq: It's just creating that
trust factor, that connection with

that person, and they'll remember you.

So don't think about immediately causing
an impact, but also think about what you

can share and how you can help that person
without gaining something in return.

And I think that makes a huge difference.

So my goal always is meaningful active
engagement at these events with at least

five to six different people and what I
can help them with or provide help on.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, I think
that example was really great.

It reminded me, last year during
my experience, we hosted this

sort of self-hosted owned event.

It was a small dinner event with
a lot of c level folks, and we had

a good dinner event, did a bunch
of follow ups for a long time.

Nothing came out of it, and it was
one of the first ones that we did.

So there was a lot of discussion
on is this even valuable or not?

Do we get any ROI on it or not?

We recently just closed the customer
from that event, but it took eight

months, for them to get back, and
then it closed within 30 days.

Right.

So, I think it's very similar to
the sort of example you shared, that

we are at a time where you have to
also look at measuring your efforts

over a longer period of time so that
you have a better understanding of

whether a channel works or not, right?

So looking at a very short interval
might make you think, oh, this

tactic does not work for me, or
This channel does not work for me.

But if you broaden your horizon
a little bit at the timeline, you

would start realizing that, okay,
maybe there is something in it.

It just works slower.

Nida Ateeq: Yes, I
completely agree with you.

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

So you talked a little bit
about community as well being an

important piece of the whole puzzle.

Any words of advice on how B2B founders
can build a unique community for

their brands or around their brands?

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, I mean, like I said,
be actively participating in places

where you would like to put your energy
on, where your audience is sitting.

For me, it's going and looking
out and researching and figuring

out what those communities are.

Trust me, I've been part of communities
where I was like, oh my God, there's

nothing I'm getting in return,
and this was not a good choice.

But there are communities which
I've been part like Pavilion.

I've been part of it since I've come
to Canada, essentially, and it's been

my go-to community for everything.

So figuring out what works
best for you is very important.

Again, at in a community, instead of
thinking about what you're gonna receive,

if you think about what you can give
and help people with, it's unexpected,

you know, you'll receive
help when you won't think you

need help on certain things.

And people will come and,
you know, actively make the

choice on helping you out.

So always think about what you can
give and how you can help others.

And of course, don't feel shy
in seeking help out there too.

So I shamelessly post on that
community if I need any kind of help.

I'm comfortable doing that now.

Having been there for quite some time.

It's a lot of trial and error
on figuring out which one

works for me and which doesn't.

Now, I can confidently tell you that
yes, Pavilion is my go-to community.

I get gain a lot of insights there.

I can reach out for anything under the
sun and it'll be like, okay, I need

help with, finance, who is your CPA,
or, I need help with someone who can

walk me through and understand if my
go-to market strategy is good or not.

And people will come and do that
mentor you and help you out there.

So, I think it's a lot of trial and
error, but always go with can I help too?

Because many of them are just
helplessly doing it out of no monetary

gain or no personal gain as such
from that whole lead relationship.

And so if you tend to do that as
well, you'll get something in return.

Prateek Panda: Got it.

One of the other things you touched
upon was more on the personal

brand side, especially if you are
a founder of a smallish business.

And small could mean different things
in particular industries, even a

series B company is a small company.

So it could mean whatever it means to you.

But you did mention that in those stages,

as a founder, you are the brand, right?

And the company isn't as
recognizable at that point.

And a lot of founders that I've spoken
to around this kind of understand

it, but also think I don't have the
time to be active on social or find

a channel and do all these things.

Right.

So to those people, what kind of advice
would you give to help them start

focusing on building that personal brand
along with focusing on their business?

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, so to those
people, like for example, if you

look at Elon Musk too, his, he does
not do a whole lot of marketing.

Marketing happens through his brand.

He's a big company.

Big guy with big companies.

So like for small, big, medium, whatever
it may be, people buy from people.

People don't buy from companies.

That's a thought process you need to
establish right from the beginning.

So if they trust you,
they will buy something.

And so gone are the days where
you are like, oh my God, I'm so

busy, I can't get stuff done.

I'll share a little secret.

For me, I schedule posts out on
LinkedIn because that's my go-to

network and social media where I
focus on two we two months in advance.

So I have every other month, two to
three hours dedicated on a Friday,

sometimes four, to just do that.

Just what, figuring out through analytics,
what is my audience responding on?

Where are they actively, which
topics are they interested in?

And that takes a, it does not take a
whole lot of effort if you have the

right tools in place, and LinkedIn
has some of those in place you can use

different analytic tools to do that.

But once you've figured that out and
you've cracked that, and that comes

only from trial and error initially.

And also what are you most
interested in talking about?

What is your passion and what
do you think your audience would

respond to, and why would you be
posting about a certain topic?

Because don't think about it,
oh, I made two LinkedIn posts and

I haven't got any clients yet.

But it's about creating that
brand, like we said over the years.

I started back in 20 16, 20 17.

I used to not get a whole, like maybe
one or two posts got viral in those

years, but only up to like last year or
the year before that did I see actively

people participating and saying something
on my post and leaving something

valuable on in the comment section.

So I would say you have to be consistent.

You have to plan ahead, like I said.

So think about how you can,
everyone's busy, but you have

to build your personal brand.

Some of the secrets are like schedule
those posts out well in advance.

And three, always actively keep looking
at analytics and like what is trending.

And don't always go with trending topics
too, but also touch upon what would

be valuable to your audience, right?

So if you're creating value,
you will get a good response.

Might not happen immediately,
but it's very important.

It's all about time management
and what can you automate.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, I think,
I absolutely agree with that.

I think if you are posting something
that's valuable as well as you are

authentic in the process, you will create
more genuine connections that last longer.

I should probably go back and correct
the way I'd asked the question because

a lot of people think that way.

How do I spend time on my personal
brand alongside running the business?

But they are the same thing.

So they are not the personal brand.

Even though the word says personal, it
is a business growth strategy as well.

Nida Ateeq: Yeah, and I'm
not like posting a lot.

Just to give you an example of, from
my LinkedIn company page, I sometimes

just repost my own posts from that page.

So don't think, oh, I'm gonna
have to talk about 10 different

things for these different pages.

I manage, think about
repurposing content too.

Sometimes I just do a screenshot
of my LinkedIn post and post

it on Instagram and I'm like.

Here it is.

I don't have time, but I'm just
gonna repurpose it some way.

If I'm doing like a webinar on something
like this, some kind of a podcast,

if someone's sharing clips, I just go
post tag the people on Instagram and

LinkedIn and I'm like, yeah, I'm done.

And use that for the
next month for promotion.

So think about what you can
repurpose and what you can automate.

You will save a lot of time.

There are so many tools
now in place to do that.

Prateek Panda: Absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, you're a marketer.

I'm a marketer and I think
one are the days when.

People cared about what you posted from
a company page or a company account.

It's all about other people today, and
I would almost go ahead and say this,

that apart from the founders themselves,
it's also important that you encourage

key leadership as well as other folks
on your team to also be more visible.

And they're all spokespeople
for the company as well.

And the more you equip everyone to be
able to talk properly about themselves,

their companies, their role, or what
they do on a day-to-day basis, all of

that is helpful in building a good brand.

Nida Ateeq: Mm-hmm.

I agree.

Prateek Panda: Alright, Nida, as we
get to the end of this, I want to do

a very quick fire wrap up with you.

So I'm gonna ask you
a few quick questions.

What's one marketing tool
you can't live without?

Nida Ateeq: Right now Chat GPT.

I use it to bounce off idea.

So with my Chat GPT, almost treat
them as another clone of a person.

If you will, so I'll say, oh,
I'm thinking about doing this

and what do you think about it?

And now it's trained enough to come
back to me with the answer saying,

oh, I don't think that's a good idea,
or I think you should go for this.

And then I'm, sometimes I, when I'm doing
something in marketing and I'm like, split

between, should I go with this or that?

Or what do you think would
be a better strategy?

And it's been a good, I think second
opinion, a person who listens for me.

It sounds weird, but that, that's
my go-to, to automate a lot of

things, to help with decisions,
it's just easier that way.

Prateek Panda: That's awesome.

What's the best piece of advice you've
received since you moved to Canada?

Nida Ateeq: I think a lot of
Canadians help me understand how

important it is to have a network.

In India, we do have networks, we
have communities, and it's probably

your own, you know, where you're
living, your school, your college.

I don't think we focus so much
on a professional community

outside of where you're working.

At least that's what has
been my experience of working

there for about 10 years.

So for me it has been like the
best advice, what I got was put

yourself out there and start,
you know, actively participating.

I used to not do that.

So I think that has been one
of the best advices I've got.

Prateek Panda: That's great advice.

One book or podcast that you'd
recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs

who are listening to this.

Nida Ateeq: Ooh, so many books.

I'm actually doing a book
series, every Monday on LinkedIn.

If for entrepreneurs, if I
have to advise, let me think.

You know, it's not a book, which is
a business book, but I don't know

a lot of what has really helped me
in life and to follow a process.

I think Ikigai, the Japanese way
of living, I think it just helps

break down very complex things
into simple ways of living.

That has been essentially
a very good book.

I reread it all the time,
and I go to it like.

Time and again, and just,
it's my comfort book.

I, anytime I'm anxious, I just read that.

So I think that's my, go-to the
other book, I think one of, one of

my people who I spoke at a Pavilion
dinner, it was a women's dinner.

She recommended this book
called The Gen Creations.

It's not business book, if you will.

It is a book though, which
speaks about how history repeats

itself and creates a pattern.

There was a plague a hundred of
years ago and there was COVID now.

So it draws parallel there and it
helps you time manage and understand

like a process on what you know that,

over the years, what that looks
like, like industrialization,

new discoveries, et cetera.

So I love that book as well.

So I, that's my go-to book too.

Every time I want to read something
again, I would definitely recommend that.

And then there's another one called,

I'm forgetting the name,
but I'll get to it.

If I do, I will definitely get.

Prateek Panda: Sounds good.

The other way to know about all of this
is to follow you on LinkedIn because

every Monday, you are sharing new
book recommendations, so that's great.

One last question for you.

What's next for you and Anagar Media?

What's the next stage of
the journey looking like?

Nida Ateeq: I mean, we are
definitely looking to grow and we

are actively doing that in terms
of, of course the client base.

The other th thing that I'm
exploring right now is we are

starting a podcast of our own.

It's a dedicated women
generalist podcast dealing.

We are gonna talk about any topic
under the sun, like health, money,

relationships, anything right?

And so we are in the process of launching
that, I'm doing that with my partner Anna.

She and I met through a community,
surprisingly, and that's why

we decided, we have common
interests and we want to do that.

So that's another passion project
that I'm looking forward to.

Prateek Panda: That's amazing.

Thank you so much, Nida.

This was an amazing conversation.

Lots of personal insights, lot of
business action oriented insights.

Thank you so much for
spending time with us.

Nida Ateeq: Thank you
so much for having me.

Prateek Panda: And that
wraps up today's episode.

Before we sign off, I would like
to thank you for your support

and thanks for tuning in.

If you loved today's episode.

Then don't forget to subscribe to this
podcast and never miss an episode.

Be kind, be happy, challenge the norm.

I'll see you folks again for the next one.

From Zero Network to Full Pipeline – How Nida Ateeq Grew Her B2B Brand
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