I love this.
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I imagined a case study method with a small twist : the actual entrepreneur studied in the case study will be present for a fireside style chat conversation exploring the topic at hand.
I don’t really believe a lecture style presentation will be good for transferring this kind of knowledge. Instead it is very important to have an experienced entrepreneur give you the play by play of how this concepts have been applied for good or for bad on the battle field. Most entrepreneurs will be best able to assimilate the lessons this way.
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@iaboyeji love you thoughts on this. quite agree with most of your submissions but we seem to differ on a few points.
Here are my thoughts…
- as regards systems thinking
As I understand it, systems thinking is a way of helping a person to view systems from a broad perspective rather than a narrow one as commonly done.
Although systems thinking is fundamentally different from traditional analysis, its still forms part of the thinking of a highly paid employee. It’s a management tool or model. Its involves selecting from a given set of means to achieve a predetermined goal.
Mission minded enterprenuers i.e. entrepreneurs that are set on succeeding with a single given means don’t think like that. Generally, they startup with their single given means (what they have, what is available to them now) and achieve any possible imagined new end.
Mark working and bringing to life his hotel.ng idea (an imagined new end) starting only with his single given means (his coding ability) is a good example of this. If that project seems not to be working out or it wasn’t such a great idea he could easily pivot to another imagined new end using his single given set of means (his ability to code).
Since they (mission minded entrepreneurs as explained earlier) start with only their given means and work to attain a possible imagined new end, they don’t wait around to get funded. They get on with what they have and by the time they do need funding, most likely they have attained an imagined new end and might be able to fund themsleves or they can easily secure funding due to what they have achieved.
Mark working on his startup and even passing on initial offer of funding from Jason is a good example of this.
Don’t get me wrong, its very worthwhile to learn basic finance and investments but they don’t wait around for funding to make progress.
- as regards a startup cannot survive on just one founder alone
A startup can indeed survive with just one founder alone until it has reached a state where it has to bring in others to expand.
Yes!!! Starting a business is a hard and a very lonely endeavor. One could do very well with a partner on the journey. But if there is no one around that share your vision and mission with you, then by all means take the plunge alone. Many have successfully done it alone and nothing stop you from successding too.
Again Mark started alone.
Just my thoughts especially if we are talking about teaching how to start a startup in Africa.
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I re-echo the thoughts of most people. There’s no real data we can rely on when trying to estimate markets or build models for execution. The market is still nascent so everyone is learning. Besides the idea that models from other jurisdictions will apply in any place other than where they were created is just that, an idea, with no real evidence based in reality.
Steve Blank himself recently indicated that the whole lean startup model may not fully apply in Canada of all places let alone anywhere else: http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/fp-startups/canadian-entrepreneurs-cant-rely-on-silicon-valley-lean-startup-bible-author-admits?__lsa=2113-86a3
Practical example the average Nigerian entrepreneur has no doubt faced: In SV the idea of starting out of your garage is romanticized and customers will patronize you readily. Try that in Nigeria and see how far you go! (not very far in case anyone is wondering). The first question literally out of many customers lips is where is your office. Often if the location is not prestigious enough, no deal.
Also good luck finding early adopters and Godin’s much famed ‘tribes’. You’ll find tribes alright, over a 100 of them but none helpful in helping you define the key features of your product.
African tech entrepreneurs are literally learning and writing the rules as they go along. It would be a shame not to chronicle it. Thus the resource @SaintSal is planning on creating will be most useful. I’ll be in the front row trying to glean as much as possible when it becomes available.
One more little tidbit i learnt from the coalface:
Tech founder: ‘Sir i’m giving a free trial to help you decide’.
Potential client: ‘Free ke, nothing goes for free oh, better tell me the price now so i decide whether to do it or not. How can i start something and then stop’
…That’s right, not an insignificant number of Nigerians are suspicious of free trials. Who woulda thought!
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Exactly the technique I’ll be using (at least to start.) Would love your thoughts on the videos as we put them out.
Marketing (with a low budget)
Important point there Sope, and we probably don’t realize how important selling/marketing/advertising is.
To give us an idea, you need to first sell to people, even with no products - I know, counterintuitive stuff, but read on…
Most #startups fail because they try to find customers for their products, rather than finding products for their customers. - @tjwizking
You develop the customers first, not the app. This game is rarely a technology one, always marketing… Always.
Just wanted to emphasis that @sop_DDy , good thinking and I appreciate that we should get out of the building more and spend resources offline.
Salim, we would love to see the first video 
Don’t become an Entrepreneur if all you want to do is Business.
A lot of people complain about marketing cost but they don’t do the basic “invite friends” to app which watapps used successfully. SMS cost NGN1.50 only so every app developer should incorporate “invite friends”. “your friend has just installed watapps and has invited you. Download at …” There are a lot of free APis and SDKs available for these services which can help reduce advertising…