This year I have but one goal which will play out in my personal and business life: do not over complicate anything.

I’m going to try and make simple and quick decisions and break everything down to its bare bones. Simplicity.

Here’s the first simple things for 2012, a simple and beautiful view.

Speaking to people in the last few weeks I noticed that many of my thoughts begin with, “And another thing I learned this year is…”. So here is a list of 20 things that I learned in 2011 as a startup founder and now the CEO of Motribe.

1. Hire slowly, fire quickly.
2. Trust your gut about: People, deals, businesses and contracts.
3. One deal can break your company.
4. One deal can make your company.
5. Don’t scale your staff with one big client. They will leave you (staff and client), eventually.
6. Cashflow, cashflow, cashflow. Startups worry about revenues, entrepreneurs know the value of cashflow.
7. Be transparent with your team, they know when something is going on.
8. If you have to, work on a public holiday, your biggest deals could happen after hours. Great business minds don’t keep office hours.
9. Don’t listen to people who like to talk, listen to people who like to listen and have achieved.
10. You know best more often than not. Trust your instincts.
11. Avoid people-politics and games where possible.
12. Be honest, open and transparent. If you aren’t happy, tell someone.
13. Fire bad clients.
14. Be picky about who you work with.
15. Don’t do business just for the money.
16. Do whatever it takes.
17. No one knows your business like you do, fight for it.
18. Make the best decision you can at the time with the facts at your disposal.
19. Say “Fuck it”, and take the risks necessary for great success.
20. Have a co-founder or business partner who you can rely on. When shit gets heavy you need someone to back you up.

It’s hard to pick the most important lessons from the list above but for me I think that number 6, 16 and 20 are right up there.

What lessons did you learn about your business in 2011?

Don’t talk shit about not having hope for our country. A nation is made up of more than just the people who “lead” it… If you’re ready to complain then stand the fuck up for what you believe in. Don’t run away. Seriously now. The people who make up this nation have overcome so much and we can do it again. Don’t be spineless and wash your hands of it. Don’t whisper your pessimism, make a difference with your optimism…

The above was written by my cousin. She’s 20 and this is clearly a passionate topic for her.

I have not received adequate or acceptable service or treatment by an accounting firm ever (I do have a great personal accountant who manages my personal tax issues).

I have had to deal with too many insanely priced lawyers and law firms far too often.

What pisses me off immensely is that many of the legacy professions that are held in high esteem are full of lies, obstructions and smoke and mirrors.

Let me start with accountants. In no world do I believe that paying R19 000 for a single meeting (that wasn’t even 1 hour long) is acceptable. R3900 as an hourly rate is absolutely ludicrous if you are not solving every problem I’ve asked you to. Also – sitting in a meeting DOES NOT qualify you as having done anything substantial. Furthermore, having 3 people in a meeting that are superfluous to the meeting DOES NOT constitute work on their behalf either. Racking up hours is thievery when not conducted effectively.

Lawyers – see above.

Then let me move on to Doctors. I have had a fair amount of illness in my time. I’ve broken bones, cracked clavicles, twisted ankles, passed kidney stones and worse. Most of the time I suffer through the pain because the doctor actually has no idea what the fuck is wrong with me. So they send me to get blood tests, x-rays, medication and all sorts of other treatments, that I pay for in the hope that something they do or say actually works. Then when it doesn’t I get left holding the bill and the pain/problem that was there to start with. Also – I want to know if my doctor was the guy who scraped through his degree with 55% or if he finished with a 98% average, ’cause if he finished with 45% unlearned, what I have probably falls in to that 45%.

Lets look at me and what would happen to me if I charged a client R3900 per hour, or R15 000 for my skills (if doctor read: treatments, tests, x-rays, etc etc) and then at the end of the project, hour, whatever I told them: Oh sorry, I don’t know what happened but I don’t have the product that you paid me for. Please can you pay the outstanding amount in 30 days or I’ll blacklist you.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? If I did that I would be named, shamed and booted out of my industry. In many of the lagacy professions out there it’s common practice to bill hours to a client to simply reach a target for the month. In my industry it’s cash on delivery. In many old professions if you have DR. MD. CA. or some other stupid two letter title you are respected. Not by me. If you diagnose me correctly consecutively then you’ve earned my respect. If you diagnose me correctly once, I count it as dumb luck.

I think that doctors should be held to the same standard as I am. If you don’t fix me, fuck your payment. If you fix me, I’ll pay you. Doctors should pay for scans, treatments and blood tests upfront, if they figure out what is wrong with me, then i’ll gladly pay them.

Today I went to a doctor who used a 5 year old machine to scan my kidney. He charged me R800 to scan my kidney, on an old machine, hooked up to a laptop. He’s probably paid off all of that equipment hundreds of times over. Unacceptable.

I’ve had it with the way people pretend to do things. I want results. I demand results because people demand them of me and I deliver. Jokers.

(If you can’t view the above, here’s the link – http://youtu.be/5tr5ptnUoDE)

Can you just imagine 150 years from now when someone, some thing, some alien discovers the above video and then discovers pictures taken on a polaroid camera from the 60s and 70s. They will think that we have lost our minds.

In actual fact, I kind of think we’ve lost our minds a bit too. Many of us (myself included) are using new technological advancements to do old things. Instagram photos are made to look older. Why are we not trying to push the envelope a bit and use Instagram to, I don’t know, do something new with photographs?

Just a thought, technology should push us forward and we should learn in an iterative fashion from the past, hold on to what is good and create.

I love Instagram photographs and PicPlz (the Android version) but get this embarrassing thought in my head when I picture future generations discovering some our era’s “advancements”.

As my readers will know I am South African. This means I have grown up, developed and exist within a very specific context, a uniquely South African one. This has proven to be an amazing advantage and has opened my eyes in so many ways.

I have traveled my whole life, I’ve been to many different countries around the world and lived in many different places. I like traveling. But this trip was different. This trip changed me and defined a lot of what I will be doing moving forward.

Some quick-shot lessons I learned:

1. South African entrepreneurs understand the value of a dollar.
2. We work really hard and really smart.
3. South African startups are solving real problems.
4. The copycats will make a quick buck, the innovators will make it big.
5. The rest of the world does not know better.
6. Getting in to major tech blogs will NOT make your startup a success.
7. Networking is more important than listening to a speaker.
8. Charity work is imperative to your business and your life.

Let’s get in to some depth.

It was a very interesting and difficult trip that Vincent Maher and I went on. We are the founders of Motribe.com. Our startup is doing OK in the markets that we are playing in. We have nice revenue and growth and are feeling good about what we’re doing. So going overseas was an interesting decision that we made. We went over mainly to attend the SXSW conference and network. In the process we met with New York VCs, we met with Agencies in London, New York and Austin and we met some big tech names.

Starting at the beginning: London

London is a difficult place to get any work done. People only emerge in to the real world at about 9:30am. Shops stay closed, people don’t do meetings early and no one is interested. It’s a very cocky place. I didn’t enjoy my experiences there at all. We met with a couple of agencies who blatantly had no interest in hearing what we had to say or learning about our experiences in the emerging markets.

This was the first taste of disinterest that we experienced. Some people just have no interest in hearing about other options, alternative theories and different (albeit successful) experiences. And that’s the end of it. We experienced more of this in New York.

With that said, we did also have a few good meetings with some interested and smart agencies. However these were agencies with strong South African roots and connections so it wasn’t surprising.

I was also blown off from a few meetings, people just didn’t get back to me or weren’t interested in making the effort. So be it. Vincent and I did attend an Opencoffee event which worked out OK. Nothing Earth-shattering but OK. I also did a bad thing and missed an event that I was confirmed to attend. However I did so for another meeting. So it’s kind of OK.

I left London after 2 days of work hoping not to return any time soon.

The buzz of the Big Apple

New York is the complete opposite of London. It is buzzing. People are up as early as you want to meet with them. We had back to back to back meetings for 5 days in a row. We met with agencies, individuals, VCs and anyone else who we could meet with.

There is a palpable electricity in New York. It feels to me like the excitement that once hummed around Silicon Valley is now drifting and gravitating towards New York. There are startups starting up, Investors hustling and agencies spending in New York. It’s all happening.

I have never dealt with a more aggressive group of businesspeople than those I met with in NY. Moving to Austin and the SXSW conference I still ended up meeting NY businesspeople, founders and marketing folk.

We did run in to more resistance though. Madison Avenue agencies aren’t interested in the mobile web and definitely aren’t interested in the emerging markets. It’s not really their fault either, they are doing their clients bidding. I’m learning very quickly that the mark of a great agency is the ability to balance what the client requests and the best possible decision for your client as the agency in the know.

I could definitely see myself doing more business in New York and working that city hard. It’s a place that I love and can relate to. It’s Johannesburg in 50 years.

South by South West: Interactive music film

I have had my rants and recoveries about SXSW. Read them for my thoughts on the conference.

Next year I might attend SXSW. I wont be buying a ticket to attend the interactive conference. I will go to network, to catch up with people I met this year and to socialise with the people I want to connect with. I found very little value in the actual conference.

Someone summed up the entire experience for me: SXSW is Spring Break for geeks. Definitely. It’s a reason for the responsible, the successful and the desperate-to-be to party their asses off with zero expectations. If you are a geek rockstar then you want to be at SXSW because you are treated like royalty.

I did not enjoy the ass-kissing. I don’t participate in ass-kissing and never have. I hate seeing people who have become successful worshipped. I don’t worship people like this. I don’t queue to get in to the cool-kids party. I’d rather have a dinner with some cool-kids.

Founders together

If you think you have founded your business with someone you trust, understand and will never fight with, do yourself and your business a favour – go on a three week work trip with them.

I can promise you this: You will fight at some point.

The fight you have will definitely be rough, will definitely be agro but it will definitely sort out many issues you might have. There are definitely issues that every startup will go through and the founders will argue and fight. It’s imperative that you fight them out and deal with them. If you don’t then you have passive-agressive behaviour that will not benefit the company.

The final thought

Being a South African entrepreneur is difficult. In fact, being an entrepreneur anywhere in the world is difficult. Having investment or not, it’s still tough to be an entrepreneur.

However what I have learned after seeing the other side is that in South Africa we know how to build profitable businesses and we have the bottom line in mind all the time. That bottom line isn’t red either.

I am not a financially experiences or smart person when it comes to analysing markets but to me it feels like there is a bubble in the US. It might not be a financial bubble but it is a bubble that is going to hinder their market growth. It’s a bubble that is going to put them at a disadvantage very soon (if it hasn’t already done so). So what I can say from this is that we are on the right path. We are plugging real holes, solving real problems and creating real businesses based on revenue and product.

We are better in many ways than many of the people I met, spoke to and did business with. What we need to do is realise our value and potential.

I have said all these nice things about her because it just goes to show that no matter how talented you are there will always be complications when writing about religion and politics. Even the best of us [Verashni] will occasional battle.

In the opening paragraph of the story Verashni manages to weaken her entire argument against Zuma by stating the following:

You know, it’s difficult enough being a Christian these days. Not only are there the money-making quacks to avoid, we also have to put up with smug and ill-read atheists. A tough job, all in all.

I believe that the argument is weakened because Verashni singles out one group to take aim at another.

Why is is that Verashni needed to firstly mention Atheists at all and secondly mention them in such a condescending and mocking tone? Hypocrisy? I think so. Verashni, how could you possibly consider writing an article criticising Zuma’s opinion on religion while in the opening paragraph of that criticism take a jab at another group?

There are a few things after the fact that bothered me a little bit more than the initial statement. In a reply to @gordonwells @michaelmeadon on Twitter Verashni believes she didn’t make a generalization. I sort of agree but why single out the “smug Atheists”? Why not applaud the well-read ones? Here’s that tweet: “True. Which is why I didn’t make a generalization. I spoke about a small group of people called smug atheists.”

Then Verashni states that the comment was a throw-away: “Not sure i DID want that. It was just one throw-away line that they’re ALL focusing on now. Sigh.” If it was a throw-away comment then why put it in the opening paragraph or article at all? When not just leave it out? Why pick on Atheists of any kind?

I agree with many of the comments in the original article but most of all what I’d like to add to the debate is that it’s not OK to single out a group in a condescending way if you are an impartial journalist whether you are writing an opinion piece or not. If the shoe was on the other foot and I’d written an article and added in a throw-away: “I hate dealing with Cheats, murderers and cocky Christians”. I imagine that the religious in the crowd would have a few things to say about that.

It’s the same thing. I don’t like being bundled with “Money-making quacks” or “smug and ill-read Atheists”. I am neither but now anyone who read her story thinks that Atheists are smug and ill-read.

Verashni, if you think it’s tough being a Christian in this world, walk a mile in my shoes.

Things that happened to me in 2010

I resigned from Vodacom SA.

I was nominated as a Game Changer in the 2010 Men’s Health Man of the year awards (I didn’t win but a deserved Jon Cherry did!)

Here’s a little quote from my end of year blog post from last year:

“Next year is going to be about consolidation, establishing a platform and working off of that platform in my personal life and in my career. The killer concept next year is going to be mobile. There is no doubt about that in my mind. We are going to see some amazing mobile developments emerging out of Africa (I say Africa because the developed world still believes that mobile = iPhone).”

This year has definitely NOT been about consolidation at all. It’s been manic, hectic, insane and another cracking year for me. I was right about one thing though; this year has been about mobile and we did build a platform that we now work off of.

Continuing from last years list, here’s a my list of things for 2010:

Some of my favourite things from 2010

The rediscovery of 2010
Jen.

My favourite achievement this year

I STOPPED SMOKING!

Game
Bejeweled (iPod Touch)

Album
Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

Song
Bon Iver – Skinny Love

TV series
How I Met Your Mother
Mad Men
Boardwalk Empire

Movie
Kick Ass

Book
SnowCrash – Neal Stephenson

Take out
Chef Pons Asian Cuisine

Restaurant
Fat Cactus

Airline
Kulula.com (2 years in a row)

Day of the week
Monday (Now that I run my own company)

Thing about Cape Town
Sunset arrives at ±8pm

Web application/Service
8tracks

Mobile application
miCoach (running application)

Website
damnyouautocorrect

Blog/lifestream
Blacknotes (2 years in a row)

Webisode
Jake and Amir (2 years in a row)

Online comic
Channelate

Tech Blog
ReadWriteWeb

Twitter personality
@JustinSpratt – Most interesting & relevant content of 2010.

Twitter stream
The Big Picture

Hobbies
Reading – New retro entry for 2010 with thanks to the next item on my list.
Acoustic guitar
Running

Gadget
Amazon Kindle

Night club
Movida

Drink
Lipton’s Peach Ice Tea

Alcoholic drink
Southern Comfort & Lime on the rocks in a tall glass

Coffee
Nespresso espresso

Event
The first African Football World Cup, held in South Africa. What a proud experience for us all.

_____

I’m not going to be making any predictions for next year. I’m pretty bad at being a “futurist” so I’ll stick to what I do know:

Mobile is the next big thing that is happening right now.
Music can cure any headache if you choose the right song.
Life will happen.

And finally some advice that I think we all can learn from 2010:

Write a diary (your chronicles) because you never who might want to make a movie about you someday.

Here’s a timelapsed video of my ugly mug:

To my sponsors for this month: Jen, Courts, Kirsty, Rich, and Stasi (original post here) I say thank you and I am sure that the charities I sponsoring are thankful too!