The Tech Co-Founder Myth: Building Without Coding

Hello and welcome. Today we're going to look at whether you have to move to Lagos to be a founder. Because nowadays people have this idea that before you blow, before you hammer, before you execute, before you move on your product, before you move on your service, that you have to be in Lagos because Lagos is where it's at. And if you are a Nigerian of a certain age, you know, I'd understand that you think that way because I remember back in the day when there was Style Plus and also this guy, 6 Foot Plus.

You know, they used to be ABJ boys musicians, Style Plus. You know, they were like the Nigerian version of we say like boys to men. Yeah, but the way ABJ boys, you know, they never moved to Lagos. Then there was also 6 Foot Plus. 6 Foot Plus was a rapper and he never made that move to Lagos. Then there was a Terry the Rap man and you know, also like an Abuja, you know, just boy. He never quite moved to Lagos. But then we all know about MI

Mr. Abaga himself, Mr. Incredible and his whole crew at Chocolate City. You know, they used to be, I think they used to be just boys and they moved to Lagos and then Chocolate City became, you know, Big Hit became a powerhouse on the music scene. In fact, I think Mr. MI, he no longer raps, but I think he's now currently like head of artists and repertoire, Chocolate City Records. I think then of course, you also know P Square, because P Square,

they used to be, I think, I'm not sure if they were, if they went to uni, Josh Bush had they too. You know, they, they took the plunge, you know, they moved to Lagos. Then I think those plantation boys, sorry, no, not P Square. I think P Square, they're actually Lagos boys. Then I think they, they got put on by Benson and Hedges that, that music, music show. I know some of you are like, what the hell is this guy talking about?

Now? Don't worry, you have to be of a certain age to, you know, to understand or to remember some of these things. Then there was who, again, apart from P Square, I can't remember who. But anyway, you get the point in Nigeria's development or in the development of the entertainment industry in Nigeria at a certain time, if you are not in Lagos, you are not serious. If you know entire lag, it means you know I'm start, it means you know, I'm blue.

Now things a little bit different because now we have this guy flip flavor. Yeah, flavor, flavor. Nabania, you know, he's still in the East, you know, still and he's got a number of boy. But anyway, flavor is still in the East and, you know, he's still getting things, you know, to, to, you know, to pop off. So nowadays there's some liberty. You can stay in the East. You can say I'm an ebow. Yeah, I'm an ebow boy. I'll stay in the East and I'll still blue, you know.

But at a certain time in Nigeria, if you are in entertainment space and you have not moved to Lagos, you are not serious, You have not started. Even these guys are remedies. Yeah. Idris Abdul Karim and Russo. I think Idris Abdul Karim was a carnal boy, but to Blue, Idris have to relocate, come down to Lagos campaign dues in Lagos before the guy blew. So for the music industry, that used to be how it was for a while. Even in Weibo territory.

You know that's how it used to be. In fact, some people who say it's still the same that if now music like country music and you want blue, you suppose enter the Texas and I can't remember then if it's movies and you want blue, you suppose enter Hollywood, you understand. So I guess we can ask a comparable question that in Nigeria today as at the time of making this episode, if you want to blue as a founder, if you want people to be singing your name from now on to the ends of time as one of the Nigerian big boys, big girls, you founded your Unicorn, your whatever.

Do you have to relocate to Lagos before you come blue or make it big as a founder, as a startup founder? Now my answer is maybe, maybe. And This is why because definitely you need access to some founder networks before you come blue. The reason why you need access to founder networks is because, well, first of all, they give you a certain measure of confidence in your idea because you'll be talking about, you'll be talking to a couple of people who are also launching different kinds of startups, doing different kinds of things.

So from watching and hanging around other people, you will get a fair sense of, OK, this is working, this is not working. So that might be good. Then hanging around founder networks in Lagos or in Osho or in Ogun, Let's see where else. OK, In Abuja, they have some incubators here. I think in Kano they also have some incubators. So hanging around those parts of Niger, especially Lagos, because Lagos is obviously the the home for this kind of activity.

It'll give you access to social capital when you're in these founder networks. And remember over here on the podcast, when we say social capital, what we mean is what you know and who you know. Whether we like it or not, these things are absolutely essential to popping off in business and being successful. You need to know the right things and you need to know the right people. Of course, you also have to execute. So if you know the right things,

you know the right people, but you're not executing, then you know nothing for you. So that's one of the advantages of moving to a place like Lagos so that you have access to these founder networks, So you have social capital, the shared learning that goes on, you know, all kinds of things. Then also, arguably, if you're in Lagos, you're going to have access to capital. When we say capital, we mean money that you need to start your business.

So venture capitalists in Lagos, investment angels in Lagos, in cosmopolitan centres share. That's the reason why I said, you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be Lagos because it can be Lagos, it can be all gone. It can be all shown, you know, because even in the bad, I've heard of incubators there in Abuja, we have incubators in Carnal, they have startup incubators as well. But you have to be kind of like in the cosmopolitan centre.

But then there's one reason 1 compelling reason quote, while lots of people want to go to Lagos so they can start their their startup founder career. And the reason why most people want to do that is because they are trying to get access to a tech Co founder pool. I repeat, there are some people who want to start the business. You want to be the next Zuckerberg, but you don't know gang, you don't know nothing, you don't know Shishi when it comes to code, like me for instance, like I want to be the next Zuckerberg but I don't know how to code.

So does that mean I have to carry my 2:00 left legs, relocate from Abuja, carry my whole family, go all the way to Lagos so that I can blue and I can be the next Zuckerberg? So that in Lagos around all the different incubators and Co working spaces, I'm going to run into my tech Co founder and then we'll become billionaires earning billions of dollars of our business ideas. That's what we're going to look at today in the podcast.

Do you have to move to Lagos to be a founder? Now some of you are going to ask. So if there are all disadvantages to, to being in Lagos, then why not just move? But remember I said maybe, maybe not, you know, because for the other advantages like access to shared learnings, you can get some of that online. That's one of the reasons why you're listening to this podcast right now anyway, because wherever you're based, whether you're based in Obama show or whether you're based in Sambisa Forest or whatever, the reason why you're looking, sorry, I say looking while you're listening to this podcast right now is because you're looking online and you're trying to see how you can get access to the right kind of learnings.

That's the reason why you're following the right kind of social networks online. That's the reason why you're on YouTube. That's the reason why you're on podcast. That's the reason why you're on Zoom sessions. That's the reason why you're on LinkedIn, and that's the reason why you're making all these phone calls that you do. So you can have some of these advantages even if you're staying in some visa forest or even if you're staying in, you know, some forgotten local government in Nassau State.

Sorry, my brothers who live in Nassau State. It's just that, you know, now, so I can be very, it can be, it can be dry. You know, I'm from Benning State. So to get to Banner State, we have to drive to Nassau. And man, some of your villages are, you know, like I used to think my apostasy village was really off the map. But Kai, there's some villages in Nassau State. Honestly, anyway, let me stop because I don't want to get counselled by Nassara boys or Nassara girls.

So yeah, maybe you don't have to move because you can't be in Nassara. You can be in Maiduguri, you can be in Sapele and you can have access to the shared learnings just because you know the right places that you have to hang out online. Now, how about funding pools? Do you have to move to Lagos for funding pools? To be honest, I'm not competent to answer that kind of question because remember, my specialty is sales, sales coaching,

business development, consulting. That is what I do. So I don't teach and I don't have networks and I don't have access when it comes to startup financing. So I'm not the kind of person who will tell you that, you know, go here to get started finance or stay here to get started finance. But arguably, for the sake of argument, arguably if you learn with, if you use good prospecting and researching motions, prospecting is when you have an idea for a product or for a service, and then you start reaching out to people who need that product, who need that service to see who's interested,

see who's going to buy. In this case, if you're thinking about being a startup founder, prospecting would also involve you reaching out to people who might be stakeholders, who might be potential collaborators, who might be potential investors, those sorts of things. So with good prospecting motions, you're thinking, well, you're figuring out who might be interested and you have a good plan for how to reach out to those people with the tools that you have available, OK.

And with good researching motions, then you might be able to have access to these funding pools because hopefully you'll be setting up phone calls with the right people, meetings with the right people. Then when it comes time to make the picture or whatever, then you know, you can enter bus, you know, night bus end up in Lagos and then you know from there go for the meeting and you know, stuff like that. So even though I don't have the,

the knowledge or the specialty to say you have to move to Lagos or else you won't get funding, you know, arguably if you're good with prospecting and you're good with researching, researching, you can stay wherever you are, have access to the VC people, have access to the angels. And then when need be, just enter night boss sharp, sharp, sharp, you know, enter night boss today and then, you know, tomorrow by 12:12 to you're entering into Lagos, you know,

find a friend's place, you know, bath, spray perfume and go for your meeting. And hopefully you, you since you do so arguably, OK, maybe you don't have to move to Lagos so you can get access to money to start your startup. Now, what about tech Co founders? Because remember what I said at the beginning that in Nigeria's history, at a certain time in the entertainment space, if you wanted to blow, if you wanted to be on Ray Power, if you're honest to be on AIT, these guys,

KK and D1, they had a show on on. What was that show called? Again? I can't remember anyway, but they used to have this record label. That's where the remedies used to be on. But anyway, if you wanted to blow back then you had to be in Lagos. So can we see OK, and that's because all the movers and players, you know, were in Lagos. So cool FM AIT there was this radio station. I only used to play music. I remember it was called where daddy fees used to be on you know, all the players were in Lagos.

So you wanted to blow, you had to be in Lagos. So by argument, some people can say, look, that if you want to blow but you know nothing about code, you are based in Makodi, you're based in Nassara, that you are too far away from where all the people who know code are. Therefore if you want to blow, you know nothing about code. You need a tech Co founder. You know you need a, a Co founder who knows how to do software, who knows how to do websites, who knows how to do apps, who knows how to do you know all that fancy stuff.

So what about tech Co founders? Can you stay in Makodi? Can you stay in Maiduguri? Can you stay in Nassara? Can you stay in Sapele and have access to a tech Co founder? Do you have to leave Magudi, Nassara, Sapele, Maiduguri or wherever you are? Do you have to leave those places? Do you have to move to Ogun because Ogun is close to Lagos? Do you have to move to Lagos because Lagos is the very place itself? Do you have to move to Kano because that's the closest cosmopolitan city next to you?

Or do you have to move to Port Harcourts because Port Harcourt is the nearest cosmopolitan center close to you? Do you have to do that? The answer is no. For those of you who've been listening to last week, they should not come as a surprise. I told you guys about my clients and how they're working on something that should help people ship their products easily. And I told you that I'm firmly behind them. I'm firmly behind my boys.

And just in case you're wondering, is this an endorsement? Oh, yeah, definitely. It's an endorsement for sure. But that's the reason why I give my phone number at the beginning and at the end of every episode. Oh, I forgot to give my phone number. By the way, if you'd love to connect with me, my number is 08064662140. You can call me. You can send me a WhatsApp message. You can send me a text message so you guys have my phone number because I'm going to tell you about my boys.

You can go software factory. That is IKSF. And the reason why I'm throwing my weight behind them is because they're actually trying to solve this problem that if you want to be a tech Co founder, you're based in Makudi, you're based in Nasara, you're based in Sapele, you're based in wherever it is that you are based, you're based in Ranul local government. All you have to do is you have to go on to iksf.com. Sorry, iksf dot Ng.

As long as you can describe your business idea in plain English, they will help you come up with your MVP. They will help you come up with your website. They will come up help you come up with whatever feature it is that you need to put on the Internet. They'll do that in less than a week. Apart from that, you're going to have a free web domain for a year. You're going to have free hosting for a year. And if you tell them that you came from me, all you have to do is use a discount code.

You just type in TAV that is TAV or type in a YEDE that is IED. So you type that. You're going to be entitled to 20% off for whatever development that you want to do, whatever website you want to do. So the reason why I give my phone number at the beginning and at the end of every episode is if you reach out to these boys, that's IKSF dot Ng and they don't take good care of me. Sorry, not me. They don't take good care of you.

Let me know so I can go and knock them on the head and say, look, this is no, we agreed. I've told my people, my people are showing up. You better take good care of them. So let me know. That's the reason why I give all of you my contact details over here. Now, if you don't have to move to Lagos because you need to meet TECO founders and there's a way for you to ship your product, there's a way for you to get your MVPMVP just means minimum viable product.

A minimum viable product is the smallest version of your idea that you can put out there so that people can see exactly what it is that your software is about, that your app is about so people can engage in it and they can tell you whether this thing is a good idea or not. The reason why I'm moving quickly and getting an MVP is important is because it is a difference between you moving and your idea dying. For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a long time, you remember that babe that I told you guys about,

that babe based in Lagos. I think now if you don't reach like 4 years, I met her through this. Smedan was one of those Smedan events. Now the idea that she had I thought was brilliant. Now, the reason why I thought it was brilliant was because back in the day, my brother and I used to be in the export business and one problem that we used to have with export was this whole thing of logistics. You will call a trucking company.

You will agree with the trucking company. They they're supposed to show up Wednesday 9:00 in the morning so they can move your charcoal. They can start moving your charcoal to the port or whatever time you agree Wednesday, Tuesday night, you could have called them. Nobody will answer call you send e-mail. Nobody respond to e-mail you send WhatsApp message. WhatsApp message is not going through no problem. Wednesday morning 6:00 you're calling them just to find out how far is the driver on his way?

Is he close nothing. 8:00 nothing. 9:00 nothing. 10/11/12 nothing. If you're lucky 6:00 PM Wednesday they will now drive into the village to come and pick up your consignment. Meanwhile, you people agreed on what do you agree on 9 O clock on Wednesday? So it's a problem that a whole host of us used to face in the export space, just trying to get your logistics right because you know how things are in Nigeria, getting people to respond on time is a problem.

So this lady in Lagos, she had this idea that what if you could create something like an Uber app for logistics companies. In Niger, so that people who are in the export business or you know, do you know, they need logistics, you know, movement, you need to rent lorries and trucks and things like that. They could have an app like that, you know, so you need, you need a competent trucking company. You just go on this app, you find the company, everything works on time, blah, blah, blah.

I thought the idea was brilliant, and the lady told me about how she had to raise money and this and this and that and that and that. And I told her what I tell you all over here on the podcast. I told her, look, no, OK, well, no, no, actually. But I told her, yes, you need to raise the money. But The thing is, in the meantime, what you need is an MVP. An MVP is a minimum viable product. There's the smallest version of the idea that people can see,

see and engage with so they will know this is a good idea, this is a bad idea. So I told her, no problem, what you need is an MVP. How about getting an excel sheet? How about making some phone calls, talking to Fred Forders, trucking companies, blah blah blah. If people think that this is a good idea, you can start mediating this demand and supply manually. In other words, the app is not there, but you have the Excel sheet, you have everybody's phone numbers.

When people need the service, maybe you put up a landing page or something, or when people need the service, they will call you. You are the one who will not manually start, you know, dispatching. You know, people are hooking people up and things like that. If people like that basic rudimentary idea because you just put up a landing page and then you are matching the manner, supply yourself. If that idea seems like it's moving, you will now be able to carry this, your Excel sheet on your landing page or whatever it is you built and you will now show investors to say this is my idea.

This idea can work. Currently I have 250 freight forwarders, you know, 18 trucking companies and you know, so far, you know, 327 exporters have used my landing page, should be able to hook up logistics and trucking. And so far, the idea has worked. There is a difference when you have an MVP. See, too many of you are going around to talk to investors and you're just begging, please give me money, please give me money. What if you show up to an investor, you say please give me money, this is a good idea.

And this is what I have done to demonstrate that this is a good idea. It is a different conversation entirely but of course you know the level of work that I was talking about was too big and understandably you know the the lady was scared and next thing I know she started talking about SDG. Anytime I hear SDG now my blood dress the boil. I'm like what is wrong with you people? Yes, sustainable development goals are important, the environment is important and blah blah blah but because you can't hack it as a founder doesn't mean the next.

You should used to become SDG advocate. All of them are just become SDG advocate. SDG advocate. Like relax, don't give up. If what you wanted to do was to be a founder at first try, get your MVP, validate the idea, show that this idea works or doesn't work. Figure out how to improve on it. Then go and start talking to founders. See how you can raise your finance, don't give up, and then become an SDG advocate. So we need to learn to move quickly, get your MVP.

And that's the reason why I'm firmly behind IKSF dot Ng because if you go there, describe your idea. This is what I want to do. This is what I want to build, blah, blah, blah. My KSF is going to scope out everything, OK? To get this thing done, we're going to have to do it in four or five stages. To do it in stage, whatever is going to cost you this amount, do it in stage. This will cost you this amount. To do it in stage that will cost you this amount, you'll be able to plan.

I'll be able to build execution idea in seven days. In other words, what I'm trying to say is for somebody like that Lady who spoke to me, some, you know, four years ago at Smedan, there is no need for you to know coding. There is no need for you to have to know a a tech Co founder. There are options. In fact, I said it the last time I spoke about IKSF dot Ng. You don't have to use them. You don't have to. There are people who are using AI to solve these sorts of problems.

Do a search. All I'm just saying is the technology is now available, was now available. You don't have to be stuck anymore like you don't know a tech founder. Anyway. Whether you use them or not, the thought process is still the same. The principle is still the same. If moving to Lagos right now because you want to be a tech founder is not quite within the cards because you have a young family or you know your parents are old or whatever, or you just want to see how you go rough,

you can rough it. The idea is to build an MVP, ship a product. The reason why is because there's something we call first move advantage. First move advantage just means sometimes when you move first, you'll be able to cement your place well so that competition can shift you. But of course, remember, the execution is key because Google was not the first search engine. Google was not, at least by my own remember memory.

I know that we used to use Jeeves. We used to use Altvista. We used to use Yahoo, I think. Yeah, like Yahoo. We used to use our search engine back then. Then which one? The game was like 4 or five before Google. The ones that me, I know personal, personal. Ask Jeeves, then AltaVista and then Yahoo. Still maybe like 2 more. So execution is key. So it's not always that you have an advantage because you move first, since obviously we all know Google.

Google didn't move first. I think they were like #5 I'll be #6 or number. Anyway, I'm not a tech commentator so don't quote me. Then another reason why I should just get your MVP and get moving is because like if that Lady had started. By the way, I've been keeping an eye on that space and it doesn't look to me like anybody has come up with an idea similar. I think the best I've seen so far is this whole thing with Uber.

Is it Uber logistics or both logistics or something like that. Where you know, if you need things delivered, you can hook your bolts to do it and you know, stuff like that. So it's a similar idea, but not on that scale of, you know, having these big trucks, you know, all these huge trucks now tippers to come and carry your farm produce and carry your stuff and ship it to the port in, in Lagos. So now that level. But The thing is, if you just get an MVP and you start moving,

you will get some market validation. The stakeholders in the market, the people in the market, they will tell you whether this is a good idea or not. If you have started on nothing, freight forwarders would have told her young lady, this is not a good idea. Nigerians don't care. Nigerians are OK with trucks not arriving on time or business people or other stakeholders would have told her that look, this is a crap idea.

But if it was a good idea like a suspect, people would have been like a young lady, where have you been or more? This is a huge problem and this thing needs solving now. Getting an MVP and just moving, you'll be able to get a sense of people will know whether you'll be able to know whether like this is a problem worth solving. People are willing to pay for it and they keep they can't pay for it at a price that will make sense for me.

But the most important reason why I say move and I say move now is if you gain some validation and you sure that this thing works for those of you who are thinking should I move to Lagos at least because of the the funding opportunities, you know, access to VC and access to angels. When you validate this thing, it will give you more confidence to tell your wife that you know what babe, are they come and they relocate to Lagos for a while, you know, 2-3 months and see how this thing is going to work.

Or you tell your parents, Mommy, daddy, I know you want me to go and work in NPC, but honestly speaking, I want to be an entrepreneur blah, blah, blah. It is my life's calling this thing they work blah, blah, blah, blah. Let me tell Lagos, let me see how much funding I can raise. At least if you validate the idea, if you show yourself and you show your people, show your family, show your parents that look, this progressed, you know,

that's what you might need. That's that might be the permission that you need to to get going to get moving. So please start just launch. And the reason why I'm throwing my weight behind these these guys IKSF dot Ng is because this thing pains me. It pains me a lot. It pains me that I meet people. Brilliant idea. We talk in December and then a new year. Oh, how far. Oh, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. Oh, I'm planning, I'm planning.

Oh, I'm branding, I'm branding. Oh, I'm coding, I'm coding, I'm this and this I'm planning to plan. This thing happens a lot. This thing happens a lot. Too many business ideas die. Anyway, let me start. Let me not over flog. Let me not over flog this thing. Let me just leave you here. But summary, do you have to move to Lagos to live out your dreams of being a startup founder? Maybe, maybe not. If you want access to the learnings, if you want access to the social capital, if you want access to the learnings, we can do the learnings online.

If you want access to the funding, you can do some prospecting and researching so that when need be you can travel down to Lagos and see how much money you can raise. But if it's for this whole thing of the tech part, you need a Co founder or you don't know how to code, there are options available and you don't need that anymore. So if you do check out iksf dot Ng, just let them know that I'm the one who sent you the promo code is TAV that is TAV or IED

AYEDE and that will entitle you to 20% off. And then I give my phone number at the beginning and at the end of every episode 08064662140. The reason why I'm giving this phone number is if you reach out to them and they don't treat you well, let me know because these are my guys so that I can go and correct their skulls if need be to say, look, this is not we agreed. So let me know if they treat you right. Well, hopefully for those of you who have start of dreams, maybe this is one option that's available.

And by the way, thank you to a listener of the podcast who reached out. I'm not going to use a real name, but I'll just call her Jane Bosco. So if you're listening and you're wondering, is this me, Yes, that is you. Thank you very much for listening to the show and thank you very much for the feedback. Jane Bosco is in the fashion space. She hasn't started yet. She's planning to plan. She loved the first two episodes of the podcast that she listened to, but she thought I was being too promotional.

But I thank you very much for the feedback. I really love the fact that those of you who listen to the podcast, you guys are very honest, you know, very forthcoming, very. You know, I know you guys love the show, so you do whatever it is or you say whatever you think you need to say to make sure that I build to the podcast the right way. So thank you very much, Jane Bosco, for your contribution. Yeah. I didn't take permission to use your real name, so that's why I'm not using it.

Or please, Jane Bosco, you say you are planning to plan. Please stop it. He pains me especially when I'm talking to would be female founders and entrepreneurs who keep on planning and planning and planning. Please stop it. It doesn't have to be my guys but there are options available if brand and website are the things that are holding you back. Please people have already used AI to solve these problems. Do your research.

Get moving please. Time is going, time is going, time is going. Anyway, let me stop here. So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all at the next episode.