I went and did something crazy!… until I got burned
The Rise & Fall of CashMadam
This is a ThrowBackThursday story on how not to start a startup in Nigeria. Ideas can be all beautiful, sound fantastic and even actually have great _potential_. Do you know what the problem is? **Potential**. If all you have is potential, you are like:
- That thick cloud that have gathered but refused to rain, or
2. That sneeze you so badly wanted to come out, you will almost sneeze (one of the best feelings ever), but you never did
Even with seed funding and promise of another major funding round, oe of my startups from 2016 (CashMadam) failed. It would’ve been “Big?” today if:
1. Verbal consensus were put on paper: It’s not enough to trust or assume that everyone on the team understands; make sure to write them all down on paper and all that it’s binding.
2. Verbal consensus were put on paper: It’s not enough to trust or assume that everyone on the team understands…
1. Verbal consensus were put on paper: It’s not enough to trust or assume…
Proper paper works must be laid down in the beginning. You don’t necessarily need a lawyer (if you can’t afford one), write the consensus down in plain language first (even if it’s in an email or email attachment).
My dear entrepreneurs, pay attention to your first and early steps. Don’t say “s/he is my friend” or “we’ve never quarreled since we became friend X years ago”. If you are not able to set ground rules from the early days (starting from day 1) and formally agreeing to these rules (in the form of Founders or pre-incorporation agreement), please don’t start a co-founder this or co-founder that; unless you are starting alone. People (even your friends, even me) may change so fast, and you will be pretty badly burned in the process.
Be bold! Demand for a pre-incorporation agreement; then build an amazing team and product. Remember if it’s not working out well, change method, change the idea, change fast until something is looking good. If the other party is not changing “at-all-at-all”, leave/quit while your honour and respect are in tact.
#HowMarketNah
If you were inspired by this, kindly touch out stuff here.
