Dont go to school

 

[1] If you are a “creative”, you are going to find school extremely boring and restrictive. It would hurt more if you are an “outlier”, GOTO[5].
[2] Unless you plan on becoming a “professional”, examples of which include a doctor, an engineer, an academic, etc. it really makes no sense
going to school to waste 5 or more years to earn the rights to own a piece of parchment”. But who really wants to go to school to become a “boring old fart”? When the end game is to make money?
GOTO [4]
[3] You would be forced to cram and swot a lot of courses that have no relevance in the real world[iii]. GOTO[6]. Imagine being forced to
learn Fortran programming, and picture you using Fortran in the real world after graduation. That sucks ass right? BIGTIME!
[4] Self learning/development is the best. SECRET: for you to really LEARN something,
it has to have emotional impact (better +VE) on you, that way, you only learn what’s useful at a particular point in time and would likely never forget it.[i].
[5] An outlier here means “someone who can’t fit in because he just wont fit in and most likely wont even care to fit in because he is different”. An outlier is different, everything about him is, he wont fit into
the academic environment, probably wont even care about fitting in hence would be termed odd by his peers and socially ostracised [ii].
That way he probably will not be able to learn anything taught in school because he would come to hate school and his colleagues. GOTO[4].
[6] Its worse if you are in a Nigerian school. I wasn’t a comp science major, but I took some programming courses, hence my frequent reference to GOTO and Fortran. To say
that the educational curriculum in Nigeria needs a revamp is like overstating the obvious fact that the sun will rise tomorrow, baring the rapture occurring or the Malayan end of the world prophesy coming to pass.
Nigerian schools suck big time, understaffed with ill trained (corrupt and sometimes sex crazed) tutors, decayed learning facilities, outdated curriculum etc.[iii]
[7] If you plan on attaining any measure of financial independence, wealth or affluence, don’t look at school to show you the way. School trains you to follow the rules,
regurgitate all you are taught whether you understand it or not, not to think outside the box, be failure/risk averse[v] etc. And these are all of the things you need to do
in order to make it in the real world which school doesn’t prepare you for.
Was my going to school a waste of time? The answer I will keep to my chest. Would I have missed anything if I had not gone to school? the answer is a resounding wall of Jericho pulling down NO [iv].

NOTES
Whenever I mention school, I actually mean a higher institution, e.g. University, Polytechnic etc.
[i] I learn more flying blind and picking up stuff (I code for a partial living) than learning how to do stuff from a book, why? the mystique and wonder of discovery (that warm fuzzy feeling) is lost when I have my hand held all the way.
[ii] There is no intellectual product that wasn’t birthed in the cold damp corners of solitude, The feeling of being socially ostracised is one that any creative should sew into a cloak and wear with pride because out of it can spring forth greatness.
Most times you really need to be alone to spark and fan on the embers of genius to produce the white hot flames of greatness.(beginning to sound like some motivational speaker urrghhh!!).
[iii] I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat after having a nightmare about flunking Nuclear Physics (PHY 501). Although I didn’t, I am still scared shit less by the very thought. My brain has been 99.9% wiped clean of everything I learnt in the university, why? most of what I “learnt” wasn’t useful to me outside those 4 walls, in my opinion, if you
had a solid Montessori primary and secondary education, anything more, GOTO[1]&[2] would be a bloody waste of time.
[iv] I was a geek in school, so go figure.
[v] If you don’t fail, you wont succeed. If you don’t loose, you wont win. How many of lecturers or the old farts I warned against becoming in [2] have any measure of
affluence or wealth by just doing all that they were taught in school? ***And silence covers the earth*** In the tech sector, examples abound of successful people
who were anti [7], why? because that’s what it takes to succeed in the real world. Mostly.

Why the “noise makers” among us can’t code.

Let me tell you a true  story: I would rather spend time coding than going to a tech meetup https://twitter.com/pystar/status/227405814921568256, [1] I hate the very thought of marketing (I probably just  hate the fact that my sales pitch might get turned down). I guess that’s why my start-up hasn’t  ”blown” and that of “noise makers” [2] among us, is a tale in the opposite.  But the thing is this, I could probably code rings around these “noise makers”, who probably cant write a line of code at gunpoint, but their start ups actually make me feel inadequate in a perverse way.

Unless you are building a deep Comp.Sci based start up like Google, you probably don’t need to focus so much on your code but invest heavily on marketing. Most problems here in a 3rd world country like Nigeria that can become viable start ups actually don’t require deep science but heavy marketing and legwork to enlighten people and also give them a reason to actually use your product. [3]

Most good programmers I happen to know are introverted to a certain degree and prefer coding than actually going out and meeting people, so how do you then market your product if you don’t go out? Social media doesn’t count.

Doing a quick and dirty survey of the most “up in your face” start ups here in Nigeria will actually tell you that they are started by non coding techies (if I can safely call them that)[4]. These guys are “noise makers” and thats why their start ups do well. These guys can’t code and probably are not interested in learning how to code because coding is a long tedious and lonely task (unless you are pair programming) and the emotional make up of these “noise makers” wont just allow them to do this successfully.

I have discovered that even if you write the best code with the most bleeding edge frameworks and languages and do absolutely no marketing or “noise making”, no one will beat a path to your doorstop begging for the rare privilege to use your app.

After thinking alot about this “phenomenon”, I can actually say that I agree absolutely with MrBankole when he penned http://techloy.com/2012/07/10/im-ceo-bitch/ . How does some techie who probably has a name for his laptop [5] succeed in marketing his start up? The most successful route I can figure out is getting a “noise maker” as a co founder. That way you get the best of  both worlds.[6]

Notes

[1] Probably the reason why I have never been to any tech meetup (apart the 1st ever barcamp held in lagos “09″) and most probably wont in the nearest future is because of my hectic factory day job schedule and organizers of such meetups refusing to fix events on weekends.

[2] The phrase “Noise maker” as is used in this blog post is actually used in a positive context. A noise maker is someone who is a natural extrovert, a born marketer, with little or no technical chops, i.e. someone in the mould of Steve Jobs.

[3] Imagine a start up with a Seun Osewa and Jason Njoku combo? yeah I can, in my dreams.

[4] Bloovue, dealdey, IrokoTv, Jobberman, wakanow all have non coding founders. (Correct me if I am wrong)

[5] I am guilty as charged.

[6] Don’t do this alone, collaborate, collaborate. Get someone who can pick your slack and is strong where you are weak.

Steve Wozniak (awesome technical chops) + Steve Jobs (most prolific tech marketer ever) == Apple(World domination)

Live in Nigeria?(***insert your 3rd world country here***). This is why your startup will fail.

You live in Nigeria or any 3rd world country?, are a techie and thinking of starting a web startup? here are some reasons why your startup is doomed to fail.

1. Your startup is a solution to a “WANT” and not a “NEED”. If you can remember your basic economics, you should know what “WANTS” and “NEEDS” are. Quickly, I would define a “NEED” as something you have to have, something you can’t do without e.g. food, clothing and shelter, while a “WANT” is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. A good example is music.

When developing your startup idea, ask yourself, “is what I am creating a solution to a NEED or a WANT?”  According to the Nigerian Bureau of statistics 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in “absolute poverty” i.e. less than $1 per day. Do you think that taking a hiatus to create a music startup to enable these people living in abject poverty listen to music amounts to a good use of your time? or “skills”?

2. Your startup is a clone of some popular 1st world website or application [1]. Why would you clone when there are a myriad of problems you could develop solutions for? If you are developing a clone, ask yourself this question “why would anyone use this (***insert the name of your clone***) instead of the main thing (***insert the name of the website you cloned***)?” .

3. Your startup will require loads and loads of traffic i.e. pageviews with gullible people who would be ready to click on Google ads before it can generate income. In Nigeria, there are no VC’s, no Angels, no startup accelerators, no Government support programs, no infrastructure, regular electricity supply is a pipe dream, Internet access is patchy and expensive, in short, “NO NOTHING”. So it kind of beats me why anyone would base his startup’s business model on the benevolence of Google? In between the time your startup comes online to the time it can generate enough traffic to keep the lights on and the servers humming, how would you survive? Do you have some gold bars stashed under your mattress somewhere? If not, why don’t you just develop a product where you can start charging from the very first day? [2]

4. Reading too much of Techcrunch et al. These tech blogs are written by elitist white techies who live in silicon valley where the difference between over there and here is like light and day. Any advice you can glean from those sites just isn’t applicable here in Nigeria. [3]

NOTES

[1] The current fad in Nigeria is creating clones of Groupon.com. It once used to be Twitter clones, bulk sms and then Facebook clones. Why coders still do this kind of beats me. Instead of cloning, why don’t you build on these sites and take advantage of things like Facebook’s “Social Graph” etc and develop innovative solutions? Developing another DROPBOX wont meet the need of the average Nigerian, he has no need for it, and if he does why wont he go for the original? patriotism? please!

[2] Despite the fact that 60.9% of Nigerians live under $1 per day and there are 90 million mobile subscribers in the country with at least 1 mobile phone, these phones have to be loaded with “call credit” by these people because communication has become a NEED and not a WANT. So despite the grinding poverty in the country, the major Telco’s still declare mind boggling profits every year, with Nigeria now having the largest mobile phone market in Africa with 60% penetration. So in order to be successful, develop a solution to a NEED and not a WANT.

[3] Sarah Lacy, a former columnist for Techcrunch, when she came to Nigeria in 2011 advised techies not to read Techcrunch et al. Its of no use, the stories of billion dollar valuations for 6 month old companies that do nothing but count your number of Twitter followers will actually screw with your head. That can never happen here, this is Nigeria, be creative, be innovative, think local but act global.

Dear Mr Jimoh

Hello Sir,

Congratulations on your much deserved win @Startup weekend Lagos. While you bask in the glow of your win, let me hit you with some questions before you get a tan.

1. Data: your app is basically useless without the data of artisans. So how do you intend getting the data of artisans seeded into your app? And please don’t tell me artisans would do the profile creation themselves (I can see you have a form for that) you know why? Most of the artisans who are your target demographic are either illiterate and/or wont be interested in creating a profile on your app without them really seeing what value that adds to them i.e. monetary. And if you want normal users to create and rate profiles of artisans they have used, what would motivate them to do so? Whats in it for them to go through the whole process?[1]

2. Business Model: Although your app is quite innovative at least in our local web space, but I cant for the life of me deduce how you intend making money from this app unless you want to go down the very well beaten path of Google adsense? [2] Provided you can generate enough traffic to cover hosting cost and other sundry costs with that, then I wish you guys luck.

P.S: I would be monitoring your progress over time.  Congrats again sir.

Notes

 

[1] A very thought-provoking tweebate was the cause of this blog post and the major thing that was debated was how artisans details would be created on findjimoh.com and who would do the creation. Leaving that power to either the artisans or people who use the artisans would be a major fail, because you would be giving them the power to determine how fast your app would grow and how useful it would be to other users. At least in the beginning, do the seeding yourselves.

[2] Regarding your business model, a little bird just whispered into my ear that you intend making money whenever any artisan is recommended. I really don’t know how that would work. But a simple way I feel you can make money is by having a short code that anyone could text a requirement and have the top ranking artisan that matches that query sent back in response.

eyowo.com: My thoughts

I have always said that the number one reason why the Nigerian tech industry is still in the doldrums is because of the lack of a proactive e-payment gateway. So I was extremely excited to hear about a new e-payment service called eyowo.  It’s exciting because it allows developers to provide pipes to the major e-payment processors in the country i.e. Etranzact, Interswitch and MasterCard all in one location.

For their business model, they charge a 1% transaction fee, which is pretty low, but my only grouse is their one-off integration fee of #50,000. To the developers who might be able to afford it, it’s not expensive but to other who might not, its extremely prohibitive. for me, i would advise that the fee be scraped[1] for the following reasons:

1. Barrier of entry: This one-off fee would probably be the number one and major reason why most developers or interested parties wont sign up for their service.  For a new company with no track record, they should make adoption of their service as painless as possible and scraping the sign up fee is one way to do it.

2.Economy of scale: they should focus on getting as many adopters as possible. if they drop the one-off fee and increased their per-transaction fee to 2% or simply dropping the per-transaction model entirely and adopting an overall transaction fee of 2.75% similar to Square’s model, it would still make economic sense because the more adopters they have, the more transactions they would process and they more revenue they would be able to generate via transaction fees.

Right now, I am very excited about eyowo’s  service and would be keenly watching how it goes with them.

Notes

[1] Most starts ups here in Nigeria are probably generating little or no revenue talk less of even being ramen-profitable. So every single penny counts to them. So the very idea of splashing such an amount on integrating a payment gateway might not seem such a wise one. But if it was free??? then adoption rate would shoot through the roof.

Disclaimer: I am in no way involved with eyowo.com.

Dear Nigerian wannabe startup founder….

Please for the love of god, drop that idea of creating another social network, throw that idea of another “SIMPLEMACHINES” forum out of the window of the nearest high rise and watch it fall to its death 30 stories below without regret. There are some areas in Nigeria and Lagos in particular that require a much needed shot of some “source code” into its veins. These include:

1. Property leasing/letting/rental: In a city of more than 9 million people, getting a property for lease or rent in Lagos is like going through the proverbial eye of the needle. It doesn’t just make sense that in the 21st century I still have to go through some semi illiterate middle men called “Estate Agents” with their exploitative charges and fees, before I can get a property to lease or rent. I don’t see the reason why I cant do the whole process of searching, viewing and paying for a property via the web. This sector is hot and needs a startup with excellent implementation to just “nail” it.

2. News and information services: Why I cant get real time, localized news and information via the web or by sms kind of beats me. For example, why do I have to get stuck in traffic on Ikorodu road when FRSC or LASTMA can just send me alerts and advice me on alternative routes to take? Why do I also have to get stuck in between the cross fire of rampaging thugs in Fadeyi area on my way back from work, when security forces like the police can alert me and advice me to steer clear of the area? I surely would not mind paying for a service like this. [1]

3. Web payment gateways: This sector is a no brainer but the players in this sector are either bereft of ideas or have some sort of hidden agenda. There cant be innovation in the sector if developers are not making money from what they are doing. I do not see the reason why we can’t have our own “Nigerian Paypal” since Paypal has refused to come to Nigeria. The only very high barrier to entry of anyone interested in going into this sector is CBN’s bureaucratic bottlenecks and red tape bullshit before you can get licensed. But its hot and ripe for innovation.

Notes

[1]. Disclosure: I am working on something in this space.

Number One Reason Why The Nigerian Tech Scene won’t “BLOW”!!!

I sometimes complain about lack of innovation and the endless clones of popular western world type websites, but on second thoughts web developers in Nigeria shouldn’t be blamed, it makes sense travelling on the “safe road” especially when you have a major reason to do so as:

1. Payment gateways: Its so difficult and expensive integrating payment gateways from companies like “Interswitch” into a website[1] and with the16 just licensed mobile money operators, who don’t seem to care about the web but are more concerned about mobile to mobile and mobile to offline, cash transfers. I dont see the industry “blowing up” anytime soon. If its so hard to get your money from customers as a website owner via the web, why would anyone want to develop one? Whenever I go to any of the so called Nigerian “e-commerce” websites, I select stuff I am interested in, click on “checkout” and I am presented with a bank account number where I am to deposit money before I can get my stuff, I am like, jeez!!! whats “e-commerce” about this? How do you expect me to pay in money into the account of an untested company when I could just go to a supermarket or store, select what I want, pay for it and get my goods instantly without any stories? As an analogy, Nigeria’s music scene is so huge today because most people who go into music have this hope that they might just “blow” and make it “big”, because they can see others making big money in the industry. So in the mean time, we better be prepared to seeing little or no innovation and lots of clones of Facebook and a myriad of “SIMPLEMACHINE” forums in Nigeria’s Tech space, just as we have lots of people in the music industry who have no business being there [2].

Notes
[1] In 2004, I did some research and found out that it would cost upwards of #150k to integrate Interswitch web payment gateway into a site. #150K in 2004!!! How many web devs could afford splashing such an amount on just a gateway, minus other day to day running costs? I dont know how much it would cost now, anyway. Dear Interswitch et al, there is more to epayment channels than just ATM’s and POS machines and with the new CBN’s cash withdrawal policy, people, like it or not would be forced to use epayment channels, please “don’t drop the ball”. But if you guys do, which I strongly suspect you will, any of the new mobile money operators should please do to you what Google did to Microsoft in the Web Search Industry.
[2.] Although we have some gems in the Nigerian music scene, like 70% of them there now have no business being near a microphone. Terry G, I am looking at you!