My 8 Month Journey In the Post-Corporate World

Olawunmi Oduyebo
Jul 23, 2017 · 6 min read

November 1, 2016 was when I decided to “JUMP” and follow the next path needed to fulfill my life’s purpose. I had spent over 7 years at my job, so making this move was a bit nerve-wracking. However, knowing my “why” for leaving helped in assuaging some of my fears. I knew that upon leaving the firm, my next adventure was to walk alongside individuals to maximize their potential in life (this is my “​why” and “heart”​ in life), specifically starting in Africa.

During the month of November 2016, I spent most of my time:

  1. Researching — I focused on identifying and understanding the gaps that exist in the African healthcare sector. I’m focused on health because this is a need ​ ​to fulfil your potential in life
  2. Networking — I began getting acquainted with the Chicago startup scene, trying to understand opportunities available and working to meet like-minded individuals. My networking was also extended internationally as I began scheduling meetings with individuals in East Africa to help develop the business idea.

After this month of building my foundation, I had a better idea of the gaps in the African healthcare sector. To address one of these gaps, I decided to pilot “launch the company” in Nairobi, Kenya, which is both a tech hub in Africa, and a city with high adoption rates for new technology solutions.

Fast forward six months down the road: I have learned a ton about starting a business, creating a plan and following my purpose. For the benefit of anyone trying to do the same, I would like to highlight top 5 things everyone should know.

1- Start Lean:​ It is often very tempting to create a product as a solution to a known gap, with limited research performed. Or based on already existing products that seem very similar to yours (e.g. products that have been successful in the West should automatically be successful in Africa). Thankfully, I had amazing mentors who told me to hold off on creating anything and start lean. My initial goal was to reduce the queue in hospital waiting rooms as individuals, on average, have to wait for 3- 8 hours before seeing a physician. These wait times can be so long that they can sometimes lead to mortality or exacerbation of the illness. As a result, the idea was to set up a mobile triage process to assist the medical staff in understanding the severity of the cases and allow them to prioritize the more severe cases. I was going to hire software developers to help create the product with a budget of approximately $25,000. However, my mentor told me to wait and start lean by purchasing a mobile phone and hiring a few nurses to help with the triaging (hardware cost (phone) $1, nurse salary per day $50). Then, depending on the traction received or adoption rate and data gathered, create a product.

I am so happy I did not create a product right off the bat because the idea definitely evolved. It would have looked totally different and I would have wasted so much money updating and fixing. I did not know my audience and what they wanted. Moral of the story, do not copy already existing products for and from another market. Each market is completely different.

I recommend reading “Lean Startup” by Eric Reiss

2- Ethnographic Studies​: An ethnographic study is a qualitative method where researchers completely immerse themselves in the lives, culture or situation they are studying. For me, I travelled to Kenya and spent time in the slums (Kawangware, Kibera, Eastlands, Embakasi, to name a few), which are my target markets. The point of the ethnographic study is to understand the issues in your particular field from their lenses. Performing these studies really helped meunderstand the gap in the healthcare sector from their perspective as well as feasible solutions to help address some of the gaps.

3- Jobs to be Done Theory:​ After performing the ethnographic studies, we proceeded on to perform additional qualitative and quantitative research in order to understand what “job did the customer hire the product to do.”

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research.

This research really helped to get a better understanding of the gaps that exist, the way people want a product designed, the technology needed for the particular product, the behavior and mindset of your potential customers, the amount people are willing to pay for your product and so on.

When you get to this point, I recommend reading ‘Competing Against Luck’ by Clayton M. Christensen.

4- Setting up a team:​ Hiring the right team members is very important to the business building process. A friend of mine, Ameet Shah, Founder of Astonfield, says, “slow to hire and quick to fire”. Having a bad apple on the team has its own consequences. Thus, I recommend taking your time to hire and getting the bad apples out right away. It’s better to have a lean, capable team than a large, half functioning one. I have been utilizing Patrick Lencioni’s recommendations on qualities/virtues in my search for the right team members.

Humility

Hunger

Smart (emotional intelligence).

Technical skills are important but are secondary to the virtues mentioned above. Your main objective should be ensuring that the individuals you hire align with the organization’s culture and values.

I have typically created three month internship contracts. This is designed as a trial period and allows you to see that you get along with the new hire. If in three months, both of you are still alive, no one has the desire to kill the other person, then you can extend the offer or change from temporary to permanent. One thing I will also emphasize is to avoid giving up equity to your employees/team members too quickly, especially equity in lieu of salary. Make sure the person works for their stake in the organization.

I recommend reading “The Ideal Team Player” by Patrick Lencioni to learn more about creating the best team for your business.

5- It’s not about the destination, it’s more about the journey:​ My working style is a “driver”; I love to get things done. I am the opposite of being expressive. However, in this new adventure, I prayed and was intentional about enjoying the journey versus focusing only on the outcome. In addition to this re-focus, another new habit of mine is journaling. This helps me reflect on my day — the good, bad and ugly. I am also able to look back on the journey and reflect on my growth. Journaling has also allowed me to be more in tune with my emotions. I cry, laugh, dance, scream, jump and remain still when I feel like doing it. I am not going to deprive myself of my emotions. God gave it to me for a reason.

In the last month, I’ve been to the police station, I’ve had approximately three people die around me, I’ve had interns not show up to work or not deliver on their work, I’ve spent days not having a home or knowing where to sleep. Through all of this, I made the decision to enjoy the journey and process.

I am by no means an expert. However, I wanted to share my experience with you. In all you do, please remain fearless, bold and courageous. You have only one life to live. Stay true to who you are and enjoy every moment of your life on this earth. Stop competing against each other; your only competition in life is yourself.

Thanks to my friends who helped with this article.

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