Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Tashmia Ismail - Avid curiosity and combatting inequality
In this episode, I chat with Tashmia Ismail who has built models to combat inequality across socio-economic groups. Born in South Africa, a remarkably fascinating but unequal country in career opportunities and the job market, Tash has an avid curiosity about democratising access to the basic chances of employment available to young South Africans.
“I’m a big fan of two types of models. One is a Robin Hood model and the other is a Platform Model, both of which work well together. And the idea of working with people who have the resources and skills and hopefully can build empathy to work together on platforms to address some of these issues.”
From dentistry to heading up youth employment empowerment (YES4Youth)
Tash attributes her first foray into the working world as a dentist (despite her own preference to study law at the University of Cape Town) to her mother. Going into university, her mother insisted that her first choice was dentistry as “a good choice for a woman”. With only 45 people going to dental school, Tash was convinced that she wouldn’t get into the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in Johannesburg to study. But, low and behold, she got in to study dentistry and felt obliged to took the opportunity because she thought that she would break her heart if I didn’t.
Once stepping out of university, Tash started working as a dentist and learnt the tough lessons of entrepreneurship on the job when she made the initial decision to start her own Dental Practice. She wanted to start something which could offer people the type of service that she wanted to give, which no other dental practice was doing. Having no formal business education (like a surprising number of start-up founders and entrepreneurs), Tash took on the role of an entrepreneur while working as a dentist. After years of learning business knowledge practically on-the-job, Tash made the bold move from dental work to build a platform to empower youth to learn business literacy and step into the working world with the right resources and knowledge to excel.
No knowledge gained is ever a waste
Despite wanting to study something else at a different university, Tash is grateful for the knowledge she gained from her time at WITS. She points a lot of the successes she’s seen in YES4Youth as a result of the information and soft skills she gained from her time at university:
“No knowledge is ever lost.”
“Studying the human body is fascinating. Science is fascinating. It set me up to understand neuroscience which I use in the work I do now. So dentistry might not have been the best fit for me as an actual career choice, but in terms of the knowledge I gained and the understanding into the human body, I think a science-based education has been critical in the way I’ve looked at problems.”
Debt is a thief from your future
When starting her dental practice, Tash didn’t take out any loans despite the fact that banks were willing to lend and fund her money. From the lessons learned, one of the most important ones was to reduce any capital amount, because of how quickly that compound interest adds up.
“At the tender age of 23.5, the school of knocks works quickly and I remember being absolutely driven to reduce that capital amount. Anytime I collected any sort of money, boom! It would go straight towards reducing the capital and there was no better sense of gratification and feeling of achievement than seeing that balance come down…
“Compound interest is your enemy if you’re on the paying side of things.”
Now, using elements she learnt from her studies and work outside of university, Tash ensures that the youth in the YES programme can learn the lessons about the dangers of owing money with interest. The platform teaches important lessons in business literacy, related to the working world and the importance of setting up a career without having debt as a major roadblock in the future.
“Debt is a robber. With debt, you steal from yourself.”
Curiosity and rounding up information to be a better person
Tash acknowledges that so much of what she knows now and can use to build towards the YES platform comes from work that has nothing to do with youth employment. From working as a dentist to studying through correspondence at the University of South Africa, she consistently learns to know more to diversify her knowledge. The curiosity that drove her to study more and do other things, Tash sought knowledge to beat the “fear of missing out” on new information.
“I have FOMO on knowledge. I need to understand and know things. In our schooling system, you go straight from school and deep-dive into very specialist knowledge and I felt that I wouldn’t be a good citizen of the planet if I didn’t round my knowledge. I needed to know more to be a better human being.”
If you want to get in touch with Tash or find out more about the Youth Employment Service, find her on Twitter, or through the YES4Youth website.
The DO. FAIL. LEARN. REPEAT. Entrepreneurship Course
After many, many years of building businesses, learning, failing and getting up to try again I have finally launched an online course.
The course is built off the back of my debut business autobiography titled DO. FAIL. LEARN. REPEAT.
In the course you will learn how to deal with failure, how to kickstart your ideas and everything inbetween. I’ve learned the hard lessons so you don’t have to.
If you have been thinking about building a business or a side hustle, if you are looking to build some extra income or just really have an idea that you have wanted to turn into reality then I suggest you sign up for the course asap!
An Honest Conversation with Aisha Pandor, SweepSouth co-founder
I am obsessed with getting the real, honest story from smart people building difficult and interesting things. Last year I hosted a series of conversations with a variety of people. Below is the conversation that I had with Aisha Pandor, the incredibly smart and talented co-founder of one of South Africa’s top startups, SweepSouth.
Aisha is one of those rare finds, an Expert Generalist who has studied microbiology, biochemistry and a has a PHD in human genetics. She then decided to build a business. She has a wide breadth of knowledge and a deep set of skills that make her an impressive startup founder to listen to and learn from.
Ten Years of Business Lessons From a Startup Founder
I spend most of my time thinking about businesses, building them, engaging with people who build business and think about them. I am entrenched in the world of building things and I absolutely love what I do. But it’s fucking hard. It’s meant to be hard. There are real, brutal lessons to learn at every turn.
Ten years is a long time, but actually not very long at all.
I started my first business when I was 16. I had no idea what I was doing. I barely knew that I was starting a business if I’m honest.
That was almost 20 years ago and since then, I have continued to build businesses. Over the past decade, I have taken my entrepreneurial journey very personally and dedicated my life to building businesses.
I spend most of my time thinking about businesses, building them, engaging with people who build business and think about them. I am entrenched in the world of building things and I absolutely love what I do. But it’s fucking hard. It’s meant to be hard. There are real, brutal lessons to learn at every turn.
I have failed more than I’d care to remember but the past decade has been an incredible ride. I have learned many things but below are some of the most important business lessons that I have learned.
Raising money is not hard
I have spent so many coffee meetings talking to entrepreneurs who believe the world doesn’t understand them and their amazing idea or business. I’ve heard about fundraising difficulties in every format, industry, vertical and market. I mostly hear about fundraising difficulties from founders who should be struggling to raise money because money isn’t free.
“VCs are idiots.”
“Money is dumb.”
“I have to move countries to raise funding.”
“My startup is worth more than this offer.”
These are typical statements from startup founders.
Here’s the hard-hitting truth: If you can’t raise money, it’s probably your fault, not the investor’s.
Reasons that you’re struggling may include:
You have no traction.
You have no revenue.
You have no track record as a founder (this is a tough one).
You are lacking a good network to provide warm introductions to investors.
Your idea is bad.
Your execution of the idea is bad.
Your market is too small.
Money is not hard to raise. Good partners are hard to find. The right partners are hard to find. But raising money, any kind of money, is not hard.
Building a business is difficult. You do not deserve funding. Investors don’t owe you anything. You need to prove that your business is worth investing in and if you do that, money is not hard to raise.
As a parting note; my last few businesses have taught me that more than raising funding, founders should be improving sales. Selling is the best kind of funding. If you can’t sell your product and generate revenue then you shouldn't be able to go out and raise funding either.
Finding a partner is incredibly difficult
Often a business partner is someone you know already. Perhaps from childhood, school, university or a colleague. You fall into this relationship out of convenience, comfort, and safety. You likely did not specifically seek them out, interview them and then decide to build something together. You just knew them and that they were right for you at the time.
I have never met a business founder who doesn’t have a difficult, often gut-wrenching cofounder story to tell.
This relationship is often overlooked as one of the most important in your life. You will spend more time with this person than with anyone else. At a startup, you work very hard and for very long hours in high-pressure situations that can blow up at any time. You will engage with your cofounder more than your partner, kids, family or best friends. You better fucking like them! And if you don’t like them, you better respect the hell out of them because you are going to become them and they will become you.
It is with a heavy heart that I can confidently tell you that at least one of your business partnerships is going to get messy. It’s inevitable. There are precious few cofounder relationships that don’t end in someone losing out. History is littered with cofounders who are broke while their ex-partner cashes in.
Choose your next business partner very, very carefully.
With that said, building a business alone is more difficult than building one with someone else. So take your time and get to know people before you jump into a startup with them.
Perseverance and resilience are everything
Here’s something that very few bright-eyed, aspiring startup founders understand or believe: You are going to fail.
You’re going to fail every day and at every turn. Most of your failures will be manageable and small so you’ll be able to withstand them. Building a business is going to be difficult. Long periods of consistent fun are hard to find when you’re building something new on the cutting edge.
There will be months and maybe even years where at the end of the period you’ll feel like it was mostly good. And that’s amazing. There may even be periods where you thrive on the excitement and things feel amazing. I am sure that in those periods you will just have adjusted to the hardships of startup life.
The key skill that I realized I needed to refine was perseverance. You can’t be a “one and done” kind of person to be a successful entrepreneur.
You have to an “onto the next one” kind of person. You hit a wall, bash through it, climb over it or walk around before you figure out that there actually was no wall to begin with and then you hit the next wall and do it all over again.
The key is to do it all over again. DO. FAIL. LEARN. REPEAT. This is my business mantra. As Dory would say: “Just keep swimming”.
I also realized that people love to say “no” to startup founders doing crazy and new things. You’re going to hear the word “no” more at a startup than you ever thought possible. When I was building a mobile internet startup almost ten years ago, I went out to raise a second round of funding. I met with nearly 40 different investors in six different countries and guess what? They all said no. Every single one. But I pushed on continued to build.
If a single “no” can knock you off your feet and send you spinning then you’re in trouble. If it’s important, it’s meant to be difficult. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Luck and timing are real variables
When I was at university I built a social network for students in digs. It launched shortly after Facebook launched. It was an unabridged failure. There are many variables at play when something succeeds or fails but two that are undeniable are timing and luck.
You don’t really have control over either of them but you can use both to your advantage if you are experienced and aware of the world around you.
Practice is a key component of improving your luck. The harder you work, the luckier you get. The golfer, Jerry Barber coined that phrase and I think it’s true. There is no such thing as a shower moment for someone who is not an expert in their field. That’s not the kind of luck that exists to me.
If you spend ten years refining your skills, working hard and practicing it is possible that you will one day hit the jackpot while taking a shower. Only with dedicated work and consistent practice will you “stumble” on a solution to a problem that you’ve been contemplating for a year. This is the kind of luck you can control. You put yourself in a position, through hard work, where luck matters.
Timing is an entirely different kind of variable that can make or break your business and brain. Launch a year too early and you miss a trend. A year too late and the trend has missed you.
I’m a firm believer in “done” being better than “perfect” for this reason. You can capitalize on a trend with a product that is out in the market whether it is perfect or not. You can iterate and make the most of your luck and the timing available to you.
Tied into this is the ability to look up and recognize shifting macro trends in the world. While building Nic Harry (a sock company I used to own) we started aggressively opening physical stores while the world was experiencing what we now call the “retail apocalypse”. Stores and malls across the world were closing while I was opening a new store every 3 months. Insanity that could have been avoided if I had just taken a month to breathe, look up and research the world I was living in.
Cash flow vs Revenue vs Profit
Over the past decade, I have explained this simple concept to so many entrepreneurs that I feel like I should tattoo the phrase to my forehead:
“Cash flow vs revenue vs profit: Ask me about it!”
Believe it or not, your business can be bringing in massive revenues and go under the next month. If you are reading this and wondering how then you don’t understand what cash flow is.
The simple version: Money going out of your business (expenses) VS money coming into your business (revenue). If the expenses are due sooner than the revenue is coming into your account, you are screwed.
If your revenue is high, expenses are low and the money lands in your account often but leaves infrequently then you have time and cash flow to keep your business afloat. The flow of cash is an incredibly important and potent concept that most entrepreneurs just don’t grasp effectively.
Not enough businesses aim to be profitable consistently. This is the holy grail for a business owner if you haven’t realized it yet.
If you can build a business that consistently has more money coming in than going out you are profitable and sustainable. That’s the dream!
Hiring is more important than you think it is
We all talk about how important hiring is but when you are scaling a business you just need bums in seats doing work. Often you bend on your criteria when you’re in a rush and up bringing in a sub-par team member.
Take it from me; the bad eggs rot from the inside out and the rot spreads faster than you can manage it.
Hire slowly. Fire quickly.
When you are just starting to build your team, remember that you will become the five people you spend the most time with. Even darker, I believe that you will inherit the worst parts of the five people you spend the most time with. Make sure that their worst parts are better than the best of anyone else.
These first five hires will also very clearly define your company culture. Don’t underestimate how important this is.
One of the most important lessons I have learned around hiring and firing is that sometimes your best performing team members are assholes.
You have to fire the assholes immediately.
One person can destroy your culture far more detrimentally than the work they do or the money they bring in.
Remember: Hire slowly. Fire quickly.
It’s OK to walk away
When you start building something it’s usually because the business is important to you. You are trying to solve a real problem that matters in the world or your world at the very least. This emotional commitment to your idea or business is a silent happiness killer.
We marry our ideas but we forget that half of marriages end in divorce.
Don’t marry your business or idea. There are lots of businesses to be built and lots of ideas in your head. There is a lot of time for you to start something new.
If your business makes you unhappy, if you hate going to work every day, if you can’t get up in the morning, if you are unhealthy, fat, tired, drained, fearful, stressed out and suffer from panic attacks, do yourself a favor and consider walking the fuck away.
You may be embarrassed for a short time. You may feel depressed and sad but I can tell you now that you’ll get over it. You’re an entrepreneur and we are survivors, builders, thinkers, and opportunists. We make it through.
No one ever tells us it’s OK to walk away so I’m telling you right now; It’s OK to walk away and burn it all down if you have to.
Failing is integral to succeeding
I have never met a successful person who has never failed. The smartest people I know embrace failure, they seek it out and work towards it as a goal. They aren’t shy about making mistakes.
The moment I decided to talk openly about failure I realized that everyone I know wants to talk about it too. We’re all neck-deep in imposter syndrome trying to feel OK about ourselves and our failures.
The more frequently we engage in conversations about our failures, the more we’ll all learn from them and accept them as normal. If you hide your failure and try to protect yourself from it you never become battle-ready and resilient.
The more you fail, the better you get at recognizing when you’re on the cusp of failing. As soon as you see the signs you can pivot, bob and weave and try something new. If you spend your days trying to avoid failure then the impending failures will just get bigger and bigger until one of them crushes you.
Failure will eventually catch up with you and hurt your business. It’s just a part of building stuff. The first lightbulb wasn’t the one that we use today. The first social network didn’t live forever (and I doubt FACEBOOK will either).
Lots of little failures are manageable, aim for them, seek them out, recognize them and kick them in the ass!
Your network defines you
Relationships are really difficult to build and maintain. Most people have a core group of people and are set for life. This has been true for my immediate network of people that I rely on day to day but isn’t true of my broader network of people that I trust and that trust me.
I’m a 50/50 kind of guy. 50% of people really like and trust me and I have a feeling that 50% of the people I have met dislike me immensely and probably wouldn’t work with me if they had the choice.
I like these odds. I don’t live to placate the people around me. I don’t live to make everyone happy. But I do respect people even if I don’t like them and I hope that people who encounter me respect me because I tell it like it is.
Early on in my life, I realized how important making and retaining relationships would be. I may not be the best friend to everyone but I have always stood by my way of life and am consistently the same person with everyone.
If I don’t like you, you know it. If I respect you, you know it. If you do something I don’t appreciate, we’ll have a conversation about it. This is how I maintain my network; I’m honest and I am who I am.
I take very seriously who I choose to spend time with. Time is literally the only asset that we cannot make more of so I am extremely careful with who I spend my time with. This is why I curate my network so carefully.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and engage with them to figure out if we can help one another. But I don’t abuse my network of friends and colleagues. I nurture it, I add value, I provide an ear when they want to talk and connect people that I think can and will do amazing things together.
As my network has grown I receive requests for introductions. I once read about a double-opt-in introduction rule; you can only introduce people if both parties agree to the introduction. This is now my default rule. There is nothing worse than forcing a friend who trusts you to engage in a useless connection that you haven’t vetted properly and isn’t beneficial to both parties. Give the parties the ability to say no without any awkwardness.
Growing and maintaining a wider and more important network of people is a difficult task and requires dedicated attention. Don’t neglect it and then expect help one day. You have to nurture and grow with and for the people around you. Add value and then ask for help when you need it.
Sleep can make or break you
The older I get the more I want to ensure my sleeping routine is right for me. Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I worked through sleep cycles and ignored the damage that sleep deficit was doing to me.
Staying awake until 3am and coding, writing a business plan, hustling, grinding and pushing through the wall of doubt is destructive and frankly very naive.
If you are dumb enough to think that you are special and can survive on 3 or 4 hours of sleep then that’s your choice. I am not that person. I like to wake up fresh and well-rested.
You’ll probably ignore me on this one but remember reading these words in ten years when you’re exhausted and realize that you actually do need 8 hours of sleep.
If you are interested in figuring out how much sleep your body needs to survive then try this:
Go to sleep relatively early for a week, around 9pm and don’t set an alarm. Make a note of the time you wake up naturally. Do this for 7 days and you will figure out your body's natural requirement for sleep. My minimum is 7 hours and max is 9. If I sleep for more than 9 hours I am a mess.
Here are some simple tricks I’ve learned to help me with my sleep:
Meditate in the morning or the evening. It teaches you to calm your mind.
Don’t look at your phone before you go to bed.
Don’t watch TV in bed (duh).
Try to watch less TV overall.
Exercise.
Don’t check your email (duh).
Turn off all notifications 30 mins before bedtime.
If you can’t sleep because your mind is racing: Count your breaths to ten and then start over until you fall asleep (there are lots of this kind of trick).
Mental health matters
I spent my early twenties ignoring my mental health.
I ignored the physical manifestations of my severe mental tension, stress, anxiety, panic, imposter syndrome and fear.
I ignored it when it gave me a stomach ulcer. I ignored it when it ruined my relationships. I ignored it when it sank my businesses. I ignored it because the world told me that men don’t have mental health issues, they are strong and it’s not manly to admit you need some help and mental coaching. I ignored my mental health until my mind broke.
Eventually, I saw a psychologist and took my mental health seriously and I have never looked back.
Now I meditate multiple times a week and whenever I can, I talk to people about how I’m doing and how they are doing. I talk openly about mental health being as important as physical health.
Learn from my pain; take your mental health seriously and if you feel like anxiety and stress are overwhelming you then talk to someone.
None of it means as much as you think it does
You think that your social media widget thingy is the most important thing in the world when you’re building it. The truth is, none of it really matters that much. Yes, it’s good to be passionate about what you do and yes your business is important to you at the time you’re building it, but it’s likely going to fail and you’re likely not going to die when it does.
If it literally isn’t going to kill you, it isn’t the most important thing.
You think that you need to answer that email at 10pm. You don’t.
You think that you need to wake up and get straight to work without exercise or meditation. You don’t.
You think that if you don’t make this business work your life will be over. It won't.
Your business is going to fail, trust me. It’s going to happen.
You know what happens tomorrow if your business fails today? Not a whole lot. You may have debt and that sucks, but you can work your way out of it. You may have some pissed off staff or suppliers, but they’ll get over it.
Something only matters as much as you give it relevance and weight.
You can choose a different reaction. You can choose a different feeling. You can integrate your work with your life and vice versa. It’s not a zero-sum game.
The biggest lesson that I’ve learned as a startup founder and entrepreneur is this:
Life is not a zero-sum game and nor is business.
How making money ruined a good game
A couple of weeks ago I started playing a game on my phone called Bowling Friends. It's a game that allows you to play turn based ten pin bowling against your friends. Simple and effective idea. 
Initially the business model was one that worked: upgrades in the game. You can pay to receive more coins and gems which help you unlock better bowling balls and bowling alleys to play in. The better the bowling ball, the more your game improves and the better chance you have of beating your friends. Simple and effective.
I spent about $2 on coins and upgraded my bowling ball to a place where I was content.Then the app makers released an upgrade and all of a sudden there were adverts in the game. Everywhere. This is clearly not an innocent mistake. The adverts are post-game and force you to watch a 10 second video and you are then prompted with an advert screen allowing you to click the advert or close it.
There are also adverts every so often that cover the home screen. The reason this isn't an innocent mistake from game devs trying to make some money is because if you now go into the story you'll see a new product that allows you to remove adverts for $1.99.
This is infuriating. The game developers were onto something so simple and so great but they got greedy. They shoved banner and video ads into a seamless gaming experience and have ruined their core product offering.What they could have done was play the long game, be calm and hold their ground. There's no need to rush the money. You need to grow your user base and then monetize them. Right now I feel like I've been cheated and then forced to pay to "uncheat" my experience. I'm not the only one either. I've got friends who have stopped playing the game because of the terrible user experience now being presented.There's lesson in this for all app, web and game developers; be good at one thing. In fact, be so good at one thing that people will pay you to enjoy the experience. Don't trick your users into loving your product and then force them to watch adverts and pay you to remove them. That's called racketeering.
Starting a business makes you a sales person
Whether you like it or not when you start your own business you immediately become a sales person.No one is going to promote your company for you. No one is going to sell your products harder than you will. No one should know your business better than you do.With the popularising of social media it has become even more important that everyone understand that social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are being used as a sales tool whether you acknowledge it or not. Customers are looking for you, finding you, reading your content and you are missing out on sales if you're not thinking like a sales person.So if you haven't realised it yet and you're sitting around waiting for the sales to pour in, ask yourself, when was the last time you peddled your own product?
Connected Business and Collective Success
For a while now I've been trying to get to grips with the South African (and larger African) technology space. I've been trying to understand what makes us what we are and/or what differentiates us from other technology spaces around the globe, good or bad.Having just returned from a trip to Lagos, Nigeria I think I've discovered one of the problems as well as something I'm proud of that I've been doing for years.
The Problem
One of the major problems as I see it right now in the African and South African startup scenes is that we believe that for one to succeed another must fail. I hate this approach to community. In fact, this is not community. This is destructive, short-sighted and not sustainable.Let me explain. When you hear of a South African company raising money or selling their business, is your first thought congratulatory or bitterness/jealousy? I'm willing to bet that many (if not most) startups feel a sense of jealousy and get that, "Why not me?" feeling. This is going to crush our startup community.
The Solution
The way I see it, there really is only one way to succeed in a community of startups; We need to start supporting each other and understanding that one success is good for the community. One exit, one investment, one good business deal or case study is good for everyone. Someone doesn't need to fail for you to succeed. That's just not the way it works. You can succeed and I can succeed. I can fail, and with your support come back and succeed again. There doesn't have to be a loser being kicked while he or she is down.
Connected Business
Something I pride myself in doing is connecting people that I think will work well together, make money together or at the very least like one another. My trip to Lagos last week was filled with anxiety and questions about the location, the people, my safety, the industry and a whole lot of other things.Landing in Lagos I was given the royal treatment by an old friend and ex-business associate and I couldn't really understand why. I was grateful for the treatment as it made my first trip to Lagos a good one but I was curious about the red carpet.So I asked.The answer completely stunned me. An introduction I had made almost 18 months ago had ended up in a great business deal with long-term implications for my friends business. I had forgotten about the introduction but he had not.Therein lies my message. Sometimes it's best to connect without asking for anything in return. Business, relationships and success are all built over years and not months. Think about the years and do what is decent. Connect people and connect businesses that you thing will work well together. There is massive potential in Africa and we need to rally together to make it work.
A Phoenix Sale: Failed orders turned into sales
I absolutely love ecommerce but I cannot stand losing a sale.It's an extremely frustrating thing: Watching orders come in, process and then fail in the end.I was told that a business that earns money while you sleep is the best kind. The converse of that statement is also true: A Business that earns money while you sleep can create problems while you dream of money.One of the problems that I've been experiencing is that orders fail at a certain point and I can't tell why. So I decided to start emailing potential customers who don't complete their purchases on NicSocks. The replies are often simple and mundane ranging from forgetting that the tab was open, forgetting a credit card number or simply changing their mind about the purchase.What I have discovered is that no one is ever angry at me for asking them about their experiences and more often that not the problems that the customer is having can be rectified. I'll solve their problem with a little bit of customer TLC and close the deal.The end result is what I'd like to call a Phoenix Sale: A sale that was closed out of a failed order on your website.Talk to your customers. Every email could be a Phoenix Sale waiting to happen.
The Cheesecake Theory
I stopped smoking about two and a half years ago. Since then I've picked up a crazy cheesecake habit. It's become somewhat of an obsession for me; finding the perfect cheesecake.I've found some fantastic cheesecakes. I've found some horrible ones too. What I have realised is that I like baked cheesecakes and dislike fridge cheesecakes.The main reason I am writing about cheesecake is because of a theory I've developed that I managed to put into words while eating a cheesecake.This particular cheesecake was a tall, creamy, wide cheesecake and I was given a fork to eat it with. I placed my fork at the peak of this cheesecake mound, slid it down and cut through the cheesecake all the way down to the crust which was hard to break off. Pay careful attention to the next part now: The top of the slice I had just cut off fell over onto the plate at the middle of this very tall (too tall) piece of cake.The point, for the sake of clarity: The cheesecake looked amazing but the width of the fork was half that of the height of the cake so I couldn't get a clean slice of my cake onto the fork.It's as if the person who made the cheesecake had never eaten it with the fork that they give their customers. Here's where things get metaphorical.The Cheesecake Theory now applies to everything in my life.Have I used my own product? Have I tested it with the tools I give my customers? Does the website I just launched work on the devices that people have? Cheesecake Theory.Eat your own dog food, use your product, test the things you make with the tools your customers have at their disposal.Only then should you launch the product, website, restaurant, cheesecake, shoe, wristwatch or whatever it is you peddle.
20 Things 2011 taught me about my business
2011 has been one of the most intense, fun and challenging years of my business life. I've had my fair share of insane highs and crushing lows.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?
Africans Can't Be Trusted - Let's Make Some Money
Erik Hersman wrote a good post on the experience that African people are treated like second-class humans merely because we live in Africa. And let me just say; Erik has a point, a very valid point and an incredibly frustrating point. But his point leaves us with a massive gap in the market that no developed world companies or global corporates are willing to push in to. Africa is our playground and while the rest of the world avoids us and punishes us, we need to make inroads to block them out and own this market.Basically we're seen as untrustworthy by the rest of the world and are punished for that. The perception is definitely greater than the crime here. Africans appear to be untrustworthy but are by no means the biggest offenders when it comes to internet crimes as Erik showed in his post.Erik suggests two solutions:
Too true, and there are only two ways that this might change:First, we in Africa come up with our own payment and business solutions that work here first, and then interact with other global systems.Second, the global corporates wake up and realize that there is quite a bit of spending power and money to be made in Africa, just like the mobile operators found out in the 90′s.
I'd like to pitch a third and more challenge-orientated solution; screw them. Forget those who punish us for being African. There are many, many business models that don't have to include Paypal or the multitude of global corporates that punish us for where we live. Mobile is booming and Africa is at the cusp of this movement. We are setting the trends and defining the direction of where truly mobile products are going and should be going. We are the ones in control.Yet the problem exists that we, as Africans have a persecution complex and insist on needing validation from certain places, companies and organisations to justify our success and movement forward. This is absurd.Don't get me wrong, I understand that there are viable reasons which make us need validation from Paypal and require us not to be banned by Google and blah blah. But there are many, many flourishing startups in South Africa and Africa that are not running off the back of these giants. I can name 5 off the top of my head.We need to start setting the trends, bucking the trends and developing the roads instead of deciding that the roads aren't tared with gold for us as Africans. We need to stop settling for mediocrity and start striving for cutting edge excellence that we define, as Africans on our continent.The very outdated notion that there is not enough money in Africa to create a viable business model or revenue stream is long dead. There is money on this continent, there are users on this land that we occupy and there is massive, massive potential and hunger for new products and creation of wealth.What we need to do now is stop leaning on the developed world, toss them to the curb and take control of our continent, businesses and business models. It might be a hard road to travel but in the long term it will be the most profitable in my opinion.
Meetings en masse or more relevant meetings?
This is a debate that I have raging in my head and strategies all-round at the moment.Is it more effective to have meeting en masse or to set up carefully planned and calculated companies, agencies and people to meet with?As I see it, Here are the pros and cons of having more meetings:ProsMore meetings mean more chance of work (really?).Meeting more people can lead to more connections.More people = More products.More meetings = more hype around your product.ConsMeetings are time-consuming.Statistically I feel like more meetings with less research and planning means less success.More meetings lead to less follow-up time and client relationship management.Time away from the office means time away from other responsibilities.And the pros and cons of have more relevant meetings:ProsMore research means a greater understanding of the company you are meeting with.Taking time to plan means providing a better pitch.Time is not wasted on fruitless meetings.You are able to manage and maintain relationships with key clients.Clients feel unique and taken care of.ConsIf meetings don't work out you are left with few options.Client contracts end. Then the process starts all over again if you've put all your eggs in a few baskets.This is not a particularly detailed list of pros and cons but the overall messages come through clearly I think.I am still struggling with the decision of committing my time to being out of the office at 5 or 6 meetings that might not prove to be valuable at all, or planning one meeting per day with an exceptionally well researched client who you think holds specific value with regards to specific projects you have planned or they have planned.It's probably a combination of both types of meetings in the end, but I hate that. I hate that I still have commit a chunk of my time to meetings that might not prove to be valuable, especially when I am leaving the office to do so. But it's part of the way things work I suppose.
The Vida e Caffé tribe
The tribe is strong with this one.Last week (26 March 2009) saw the launch of the Vida e Caffé Twitter Account (follow them). I immediately followed them, then realised they were giving away free coffee to the first 60 direct messages. So I sent off a message and managed to get myself some coffee to collect soon at my nearest Vida, which happens to be Rosebank, Johannesburg.The very next day I decided to have a morning meeting at Vida e Caffé in Rosebank with my coffee and my mac. I paid for my coffee. I don't even care if I ever get my free coffee, it's the idea that matters, the offer that counts and the ownership I feel towards the brand that makes me loyal to the Vida brand.Hell, to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure if I think there coffee is the best of the best, but I really don't care.Let me tell you why I don't care.I don't care if Vida has the best coffee because I like the service I receive when I order my coffee. I get smiles, jokes and laughs.I don't care if Vida has the best coffee because I like the way they operate their business.I like the placement of their shops. I like the vibe of the brand, the funkiness and the way they embrace the culture of South Africa in spite of the brand being more Portuguese.I like that their menu is simple and their food is good, however expensive it might be.Vida e Caffé has positioned itself as one of those brands that people would rather pay an extra R5-R10 for per coffee just to say it's a Vida coffee. Simple. People feel like they are getting more when they are paying more.The Vida e Caffé brand owns me and let me be clear here, I feel an acute ownership of the brand when I choose to have meetings there, drink the coffee or eat the food.
Highway Africa presentation: Digital Media Business Model
This is the presentation I just gave at Highway Africa 2008.
Vision - small companies vs big corporates
I've decided that for my age, experience, ambition and work-related desires small companies are for me. Larger companies verging on corporates are just too vague, machine-like and dehumanising.
Big companies and why I dislike them
I have freelanced for some large newspapers, worked at large broadcasters, travelled to some big companies around the world and worked for a major publisher and to be honest, they aren't for me, not at my age and not for the things that I want to achieve.Large companies are like large and impersonal schooling environments. Each employee, just like each student, is a number amongst a million others. I hate this because I make a point of standing out and it is hard to pro actively stand out on a large corporate that has rules, rulers, regulations, hierarchies and bureaucracies.Standing out is not the issue, the issue is how pro actively you do it. Large corporates, in my experience, don't like people to stand out. They like people to put their heads down, make little noise and do their job that is in line with the company's vision. The problem is, many of the people keeping the company afloat don't know or understand the overarching company vision.This is problematic for me because I am not the type of person who is dedicated to "Do as I say not as I do." I like to do as I comprehend. So if I am able to comprehend why you want me to do something I will do it until it is the best damn thing in the world. I will work weekends, nights and holidays to ensure that the task at hand is complete. I'll do this because I can see where my little job fits in to the company and the vision that I am apart of.It often happens that in a large corporate that people don't feel a part of a team or vision, they feel as if they are being forced to be part of a goal that they will probably never see come to fruition. They are only there because the company is paying them to be there and they need the salary. This, in my opinion is never a good idea and is always an avoidable outcome.
Small, established companies and why I love them
Small companies that are well established are the closest that you will get to owning your own company and running around with that much freedom. The individual is becoming a threat to the corporate and that is a great feeling.The likes of Google and Facebook possibly taking on Microsoft in the future is a great example of this. Two people starting small companies, becoming big companies and taking on large corporates. That is inspiring and that is a main reason to get involved in a small company and feel like you can change the world, instead of wanting to take over the world.Small companies have the ability to grow a person and mould you in to the type of skilled specialist that you want to be. You have the ability to take on serious responsibility and proper tasks. You also have access to your superiors. There are no glass doors or big offices and PA's to get past and make bookings with. You simply walk in to your boss's office (don't forget to knock). This sort of access to experience and knowledge is priceless when coupled with leadership and control of your own projects.Over and above the positives there are some positive downsides to working in a small company. You have to work. If you don't there is no one else to blame. You can't simply sit at your computer, in your cubicle shifting papers or saving documents that don't exist. If you don't reach your targets or achieve the goals set for you there is no one else to blame.There is also massive potential to grow the company as you grow. You can start on your own, running "your own division" that consists of you and your e-mail and take that division to soaring heights. If you are up to the job of course. If you aren't up to the task (and this is the downside) everyone in the company will know it, and the powers that be will get rid of you. It's that simple. Succeed and flourish, fail and leave. There is often no room for a middle ground when it comes to employees at a small company. Every employee is an annual salary that if not profitable needs to be used somewhere else.
The end result
It's fairly simple to write down, but probably more difficult in practice: Start niche, small, nurturing and move on to the big fish when you can catch the small ones. Going straight in to a large corporate can make or break you early on in your career. It might just end your will to thrive and your ambitious and innovative hopes. You may end up crushed if you enter the corporate world of big business and don't cut it. So why not change the world with a small company that you fit in to and when you have the skills, desire and experience move to a large company that can break your bank by paying you the salary you think you deserve.The other option is move up through the ranks of the small company you start at and blow them away with your youthful exuberance. By the time you are ready to move up you will have the knowledge you need, the experience you wanted and the skills that everyone else thinks you should have. Then you can really begin to plot your take over of the world (all the while changing it for the better).The world has become a more entrepreneurial place, it seems like the world is smaller and anyone has become a threat to everyone, anywhere in the world. For this reason I say join a small company or start your own. You might not succeed immediately but you will learn more, faster.
Google flexes muscles - companies crack under pressure
This post is a bit of a bitch, a bit of a rant and me showing a bit of concern.Google's recent attack on paid text links has me a bit baffled. Have they not enough? Have they not more than they need? When does it stop? I guess it doensn't.This is the way I see it and why this whole thing concerns me. In ever governed state there are strict and stringent rules against monopolies in almost every industry. This helps push prices down thanks to competition, it helps jobs to be created, it promotes equality and fairness (amongst a host of other things that I am not educated enough to mention).The thing here is that Google doesn't necessarily operate within or infringe upon any states monopoly laws. The simple fact is that anyone is allowed to compete against Google but none will survive for now.If you run an online agency that centres around selling clients paid text link ads then your business is done fore. Not because Google is operating in your space, buying your business or infringing upon your ability to do business, but because Google doesn't like paid text link ads.The simple and sad fact is that if I was penalised for having paid text link ads on my blogs and my Pagerank dropped from 5 to 1, I'd be pissed and I'd take the links down. That means that the company who sells these ads is in a bit of a pickle.What's stopping Google from doing this about everything? What's stopping them from saying that Facebook is satan and that if you are associated to Facebook in any way you will be penalised in one way or another? Nothing is.It all just makes me uncomfortable.
Time off work
Humans are strange. Whether we are brilliant at what we do or not we all like to feel indispensable. I like to feel that way and in fact I thought that I was indispensable in every aspect of my life.This feeling keeps me going, it keeps me driven and alive and I am insistent that no one can do what I do they way that I do it. But then you get ill (as I am) and you are forced to lie down at home with your email from work as your only tool. It is in this state of incapacitated illness that I have realised that no one is indispensable. Absolutely no one. There are many people who can do my job even though they might be unhappy at the prospect of doing my job, they still do it.My point is this: Take time off when you want to because life is not about becoming indispensable.Becoming indispensable is impossible and that is reality. Everyone is replaceable in any job even the president, hell, especially the president should be, can be and is replaceable. I also think that it is necessary for companies to occasionally remind their employees that they need to perform consistently well because if they don't there is someone else who can do the same job for less pay.
Competitive and cooperative success
There is a massive difference in the world we live in today and the world others experienced in the past. There is a massive difference between the emerging market of Africa and that of Asia in the past.The difference of the latter is simple and was explained to me in a presentation today; Asia has a competitive market while here we are still trying to be "brother" and "sisters". I firmly agree with this thought and it applies to almost everything in life.A few quick examples that I can think of:Sport: Imagine if the worst rugby players were put in the same team as the best rugby players (your team) and you were asked to win a tournament. You wouldn't want to compete at your best because you would know that it wouldn't be fair and equal on the field.School: If you were in a mathematics class that consisted of every level of mathematics student and you were the brightest, you would be bored. You would not be driven to beat the guy next to you because he would not be able to achieve your marks on his best day. No push.Now to business and the current state of affairs. Imagine if management was filled with incompetant people. You, working under management (the idiots) would not be driven to compete, you would not be pushed to do better, your spark would be trampled by ignorance. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Investec, RMB, you name them (the top ones) and they all hire the best. The best managers, the best ganitors, the best secretaries, the best of everything.It is in an environment such as the ones above where skills thrive, where ambition, competancy and responsibility are rewarded. This is where good people become great people and great people become better.I think that cooperative success is very, very viable in some circumstances. I work in a room filled with 60 people cooperating together toward a single goal; the weekly publication. This could not be done unless everyone knew thier place and was working cooperatively together. These people are the best at what they do, no doubt, and they are working together, not apart, to succeed.Competitive success works wonders too and is present in the entrepreneurial world as well as the world of the Gates' and Jobs' of the world. This competitive edge, the need to beat someone else has made these two men the best in the world at what they do.It is very much a matter of personal context where an individual decides what role they want to take and what role they are willing to accept. I was a cutthroat entrepreneur willing to do everything myself to get ahead. Now I still have those traits but have chosen to dull them down and use others to make my current situation work the best it can for me.Cooperative, competitive or both?
Online Business Is Tough
Let us be perfectly honest. Making money online in SA is difficult unless you are employed by a big media house (which in itself is tough).Those who know me or read this blog will know that I am an entrepreneur and media practitioner and not necessarily in that order. This means that I am broke some of the time. This gets old really really fast, if you don't know, trust me on this one.What I am getting at is that it's tough to make a living online, it is. I am really curious to know if there are gabillions of online entrepreneurs in SA who are making boatloads of money or at least, are making a living? Are you out there? If you are, let me know cause I wanna know how you did it.Who am I kidding? As if anyone who made the dosh is going to splurge their secrets to me on this blog? Are you?
Young Dumb And Full Of ...
Being a young entrepreneur has opened my eyes to numerous things in the last year. The most amazing of all of these things is the astounding amount of young people doing incredible things.Be it entrepreneurs, media practitioners, young accountants, academics or wood importers (yes, there are people who import wood), there are young people succeeding and making millions.It really does beg the questing though, how do we manage? How do these young and successful people deal with the pressure of being broke, being wealthy, carrying employees, salaries, decisions, organisations, reputations, meetings, dinners, parties, presentations, financials, tax, registrations and more? How?I am not sure that all of these young go getters are managing to do all of this to be honest. I am sick of seeing people loving life, happy as the day is long and rich as shit. Bull. Ask any entrepreneur and they will tell you that their success did not come easy and did not come fast. It came after planning, work, failure and diligence.There are many young people in the SA industry at the moment who are youthful, talented and going to be successful. There are also many people who are young and talented but who are also arrogant, naive, idiotic and moronic if they think that the sun shines out of their ass and the job will make them who they want to be.You make the job, the job does not ever make you. Let's just be honest here for a second, reputation is not everything, practical experience and a history of success is. Your friends make you, you on the same level, make your friends. Do not let the job taint your life, your lively hood and your friends. There is more, at our age (my age of 23) than the job. There really is.