As the Lagos Founder Institute, the first cohort session is, gradually, rounding up; the Founders are getting introduced to the intricacies of the start-up ecosystem.
The session held on Friday, September 13, 2019, at the premises of GoDoHub, 53, Oladipo Bateye Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, saw these potential start-up entrepreneurs, taken through a class on “Growth”, by Founder Institute Mentors of the day;
Fayo Williams, Founder and Managing Consultant, Simply Exponential Consult, Pius Okigbo, CEO, InfoSoft Nigeria Ltd and Olamide Afolabi, Co-Founder, Sanwo Touch2Pay Technology.
As usual, before the commencement of the class, some Founders pitched the viability of their start-ups, before these three mentors, for assessment and get rated, thus, determining how their various start-ups would fair, in the ecosystem, upon graduation.
Fayo Williams opened the class by identifying strategic planning and the need, for evaluation in the growth process, of a start-up.
“Growth must come with a plan, so, as to move from strategic assessment, through the strategic intent, to be somewhere and the strategic choice required, to close the gap”, she explained.
She also mentioned the need, to make an internal examination, which is the SWOT analysis and not forgetting to note external factors that can also determine growth, ranging from socio-cultural, technological and legal factors.
Founders ought to set their business growth, through their customers, financial, internal business processes and learning.
Pius Okigbo’s session with the Founders, started with historical background, of his software company, stating how his business plan for the first five years, was to engage in IT consulting.
“In the mix of these systems, I would have garnered enough information, to kick start the software side of the business, basically, in writing software solutions for the capital market”, he explained.
In his growth journey, Pius had, carefully analysed his strong points for growth and realised that, he would require start-ups, the biggest non-bank registrars and the largest bank registrars, for his software company.
Asides from mentioning the inherent danger of growing too fast, without a plan, Pius also noted how re-engineering the software space, people management, as well as, conducting personal training, for new employees.
Last, but not the least, Olamide took the final lap of the class, giving out this nugget, “Growth is the most important piece, in the definition, of a start-up”.
“The only way you can achieve a product market fit is, by creating a mental model, for every action you take”, opined Olamide, as he discussed growth, as a process, in a start-up’s product market fit.
He finally noted that the two growth metrics that need tracking, for a start-up are, customer and revenue.
The class ended, with a back and forth session of questions and answers.
As stated earlier, Founder Institute Lagos, First Cohort, would round off soon. If you are planning to take your Founders’ journey, through a rigorous, mental-tasking, but a promising process, based on the Silicon Valley model, sign up here, for the next cohort, that will be starting on February 2020.
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