How to start a Startup in Nigeria

I know there are a thousand people or more willing to start a startup in Nigeria. I know as well that a lot of us read tech blogs, follow successful startups/people, share mantras, argue what framework is best and attend conferences and meetups. At the end of the day, if you do not know the basic steps to get started from where you are, 5 years down the line, you will still be willing to start a startup. So, here are steps to get started.

So, caveat, understand that your mileage may vary. I will majorly be sharing from my experiences starting startups, working at one and observing how close friends launch theirs and become super successful.

Choosing an idea

There are key decisions that must be taken before your final decision; do you have some money in your pocket(not in the bank), do you have bills hanging on your neck? Can you eat “indomie and egg” for a week without feeling like a failure? Can you launch with your own savings? How soon can this idea make the first money?

Remember always that ideas are a dime a dozen, meaning you can always have ideas but do you have the execution bandwidth to bring it to market? To push it to earn enough to continue without shutting down? Assessing your current financial state is important to whether you want to launch a startup that sells something or one that growth-hack users that doesn’t need to earn a kobo until it hit critical mass. Nigeria is a hard place to live, being smart with idea to spend your time is important to your long term sanity. Choose the one that matches your financial state and will be able to set you on the path toward building the REAL thing.

Do you REALLY need a co-founder?

I launched a startup sometime ago and was part of the first cohort Nigerian startups that got featured on Techcrunch. We had close to 3–4 co-founders and our roles weren’t particularly structured; we had overlapping responsibilities and we had full time works. So, instead of it being an advantage, it became a disadvantage. Not all startups need co-founders, you need your passion to be on fire to be able to move the needle, to launch, to stand during tough times. If you don’t have same level of passion, then your co-founder will probably become a burden. Avoid that, you can launch and get a co-founder later but don’t let it slow you down.

When should you launch?

I have had serious debate with people over time as regard the possibility of launching a startup within 30days. I’m of the opinion that, if you are so passionate about a startup, 30 is enough for you to have a working prototype. We call that MVP, it doesn’t have to be a perfect product but good enough to keep you moving toward your bigger picture, to attract supporter(employee, co-founder and maybe an investor). Seeing adoption of your product or getting alert in your bank is one of the best motivation you can have in life. Stay motivated.

Getting an office space

Cost of starting up a business has reduced provided you don’t need heavy physical stuffs to serve your first customer. I started my first startup in 2005 at a cybercafe, paying for night browsing and eventually becoming a cafe attendant at night so I could write and test my PHP code on a free server. That’s expensive and traumatic. Other people started up getting an office space, or sharing one. They are expensive if you don’t have cash reserve. Another way to look at it is to ask yourself if you really need an office to get your idea to market. For startups, most times what you need is a laptop, internet connection and your brains, I don’t think all those need huge space to put to work. If you are still gainfully employed, why not stay back at night to use the internet and power at your current office?

Shared offices are everywhere in Lagos now, you don’t need huge investment to get started. We started showroom.ng at CapitalSquare. Some even have plans that are affordable which you can pay 3-months; Capital Square has one for 25k. That’s less than 10k per month to be able to work on your ideas. Like our senior boss(Victor Asemota) once said, the true test of your business worthiness is if you are able to renew your rent the following year. So, if you can’t generate enough revenue to keep the lights on, stay put at hubs.

Making money

Startups take time; time for you to build it and time for “them” (users, customers and alerts)to come. So, you will need source of income to keep you alive. If you do not get funding from sources outside of your startups, it will put strain on your startup and that will require more financial discipline and stress to move forward. Make money on the side to keep the light on and working toward the big picture but don’t make making money the core, it’s easier to get trapped in the cycle; if the money becomes sweet, we tend to increase our lifestyle to match and as such you won’t have much cash left to push your startup faster forward. The money you are making from your side hustle(current job, freelancing and consulting) will become too small compare to what you could make if your startup becomes successful, so don’t short-change yourself.

Turning startup to business

“I’m a coder, I don’t like business”, “I’m a techie I don’t like marketing” etc…those are the lines we churn out to console ourselves and display our ignorant in the public. The survival of your startup is hinge on your ability to turn it to a business. A business is a startup that has achieved product-market-fit, functional financial and business models and operational process. You can’t write code for these, someone needs to build it, someone need to understand it. As a founder/CEO you may not be the best at these things but you must have working knowledge about them. I still learn about financial model and marketing day-in day-out, it’s like our life depends on it…of cause it does!

Selling

Whether you like it or yes, you must keep selling; either your product or your company. Why should people choose you over others? Why should an employee work for you over the others? Why should I join you as a co-founder? Why should we invest in you? Everyday you must sell and never be ashamed it. You see, Jeff Bezos still sells, Mark Zuckerberg sells, you see that Elon Musk guy, all his rants on twitter about pre-order and all that shit, he’s fucking selling. So, why are you shy? You got billion dollars already? Go ahead and sell my brother.

Media is good, good products are better

It’s good to have media coverage for your startup to increase awareness but that should not become an end in itself, the moment it becomes so, your end is near ;).Build good product and experience. Like they say, it’s easier said than done. Everyday, I look back to see how best we could have handled a customer, a relationship, improve our user experience and we still work on it daily. It needs to become centre that holds everything.

Most importantly, don’t get lost in the hype…as in don’t get high on your own supply. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.