Our three year Journey as a startup

First of I want to Give thanks to God, our readers, supporters, other tech media blogs, my co-founder, ya’ll are the reason we are still standing strong through the journey. Basically When you are a one runner, you carry the company load alone, what if the weight becomes a burden and you really feel like hanging the boots, quitting and choosing another  career to focus on? More so after receiving comments on things like this “You really seem to be in the wrong venture”, you get to sit, think and you try to align whatever they say and your state, the state of your company and then your mind goes balloony in a mayhem panic state.

What if they are saying the truth? On the first year things went well and by well I mean, the startup got out of the gutter to a known place, at least the recognition was important at that time. It motivated the team we set goals and plans for the second term. For the above comments, practically we Just remembered why we came into the game, much more than passion drove us to still sustain the company 2 years later.

Names will be withheld for reputation purposes*

In our second year, things started to open up, physical office facility and furniture came through, investors showed interest in the goals, the company, the solutions and the team most importantly. It really felt so great, watching the baby start to walk on by itself. To cut you short all this was a mirage, we were in our froopyland for all the odds. Before I proceed, In case you are an early age start up founder, a person thinking of starting a company, well kudos, that’s one step, go on but select your team wisely, check all the market odds, check the legalities before you bind yourself into some mischief looking agreement and most importantly make sure their goals align with yours and your company’s.

Now back to my story, it all began during the first days of our second year, some investor wanted to do a buyout of the company, some good money was placed on the table, all that bubbled me,  My mind went nuts … “How did the company create an early Interest of this amount and persons ?” , ” Why Incubate Africa ? ” Lots of question ran through my mind during that time , luckily I had my co-founder on board, always up to the task, guiding me and ready to protect me, the company and himself. Such a great fellow. We sat and first talked, we then decided we could offer shares rather than sell ? If he can offer this amount then it means the company is worth more! (for those who think they had found a way to value their startups, this is not how its done)

We airbrushed the thoughts and declined the deal, for the first time, we definitely craved the money as individuals but it wasn’t right for our passion, our goals or our company if we did sell it out at the early stage? Few months later the investor came again with another offer, then the ninja must really like and approve what we do? we thought …!! This time he had the cards sort out, looked at our weak side and attacked. We ended up splitting shares ( which is off course better than selling, considering we still kept the lion share), updated the company registration to include him, updated our back details, dropped in some cash for office furnish and some fuel to run us through the next 6 months. Boom this is a real deal.

Picture the Moment Thor went for the head of Thanos, at that moment Thor knew he was F*****

That’s the feeling we had  after a month, My friend!  things started to crumble, just because we never sought out a team member with the best interest instead we ran for the fair deal (like one of our friends says we ran for the monies). We were fools let me tell you.  Things got heavy at heart, we bruised shoulders with my co founder, we all saw each other as the enemy state, talked for the sake of, laying blames to say so … Few weeks Later I gained back the confidence to write and give the company a shot despite the roots being eaten out slowly.My first article then was a Bomb to the investor’s company, Hitting it from all the angles, going to forums to just let my remorse out, and also looking out for the welfare of the tech dummies.

Later I realized I couldn’t go on hitting at it, that was not the soul purpose of Incubate Africa. I gave up and ventured to new things, if you realize the blog has few articles over a certain period of time. Picture this people enjoying your success and growth, your new office setup and then later during the month you take down the furniture, take it home and shut down the office just after conducting interviews, without even working in it or even posting an article from there, Such a waste of money, energy and brain power but all in the course of learning as a company.

Things really deflated to the point that some of our best products stagnated, 2018  was a very tough year for us as a company and individuals. We started grasping the grip once again late last year and early this year, coming back to a stand, In other hand we broke ties with the venom we welcomed in the company without our best knowledge, we went back to us, went back to the main goal, went back to executing our solutions for the African technology ecosystem.

As a startup founder, its not all about the investments and buyouts, but what you believe in as a company, what was your main idea and vision for your company to the ecosystem? They all follow the sugar, when the deal is too good think twice, some of the companies out here have failed due to outer influence, all these happened for the greater good of those who watch and learn. I Thank God and my co-founder that we never sought out exiting as an option, this would be another startup in the pitfall, few lost African tech minds. Value your company as yourself, value your ethics and always know what to do in case you are something presented with something you don’t know how to handle, seek advice & always align those “things” with the company goals.

Create a team and a bond with you, your co-founder and the company, Don’t be selfish on communication and ideas. Thank you for those who inquired of our farewell, those who stood with us, those media blogs that let us use some of their content to keep the blog up and a live for a while. #KEEPINNOVATING