Nicisms

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.

Traveling is an important part of an entrepreneurs growth. I learned that over the past 3 weeks that I spent abroad.

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 read an article titled “Leave God out of it, Zuma” on the Mail & Guardian website this morning. The article is written by a journalist with whom I studied and respect greatly. Verashni Pillay is an amazing writer and a gifted journalist and has been since our very first day at Rhodes University.

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.

I’m going to spew a couple of cliches and some thoughts now. I’d like you to read them in context of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, and his project, the documents being published and the public reading it.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Keep your friends close and enemies closer.
Who gate-keeps the gatekeeper?

Image courtesy of Simon Dingle

Let me state upfront that I am in support of WikiLeaks and Assange. I think he is fast become a world wide target for governments and private entities and he needs to be protected and WikiLeaks needs to be secured.

I must also state however, that I am a journalist by trade. I have studied media theory, media law, media ethics and many, many more subjects around media and journalism. Assange is now in the business of media and publishing and has dabbled in media practices in the past (He ran an activist magazine when he was a kid) but he is, by trade, a programmer. This is scary to me. It’s scary to me that he is skilled and well-versed in technology platforms, that he is well-connected and that he is being sent some of the most sensitive information the world has every seen. Let me reiterate: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. What makes Assange different? He is no saint (I don’t even believe that saints are saints). There is no such thing as altruism, so what’s in this for Assange?

What does Assange get out of doing what he is doing? Everyone does something for a reason. There’s no such thing as a free lunch so who’s paying for Assange’s lunch? Who’s paying Assange NOT to publish their sensitive documents? What happens when Assange is bumped in to walking down the street and he launches an all out information war on the person who bumped in to him?

How much does the public really know? As well protected as WikiLeaks is, is not perhaps too open and therefore hiding something in plain sight?

I am not a conspiracy theorist but I am 100% certain that human beings are corruptible, are fallible and the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. How can we possibly put so much faith in to one human being and trust him with all of this information? I know that there is much information being published by WikiLeaks that is open to the public, but for every document being published I am sure there are thousands and thousands that are being sifted through, stored and held in the back just in case they are needed further down the line.

Again, I have to reiterate here that I am in complete support of what has been done so far by Assange and WikiLeaks but we have to be sure, as a people, not be swept up in the moment and maintain our role as public gatekeepers. Just because WikiLeaks is publishing it does not make it 100% fact, does not give anything context or relevance and does not mean that the source is reliable.

What I am calling for, I think, is a sense of ownership of information, judgement and opinion. Have your own opinion and research it, inform yourself and spread the knowledge you gain.

Charl Norman, the man behind Bandwidth blog, Blueworld Communities and many, many more local online success interviewed Vincent Maher and I recently about our company, Motribe.

Here’s the full interview (I suggest unclicking “HD” if you want the video to load faster).