The DNA of Real Entrepreneurs

The word "entrepreneur" has become a cliche. Almost everyone wants to become one. We crave the independence that comes with being one. Freedom to changes things, to do what we love, to call the shots, freedom to get rich early on in life. There’s the status bit too. But who really is an entrepreneur and what truly separates the real entrepreneurs from the wannabes or what makes some successful where others fail. 

Real entrepreneurs possess certain attributes in their DNA:

-     - Curiousity addiction

Real entrepreneurs have pipes that supply information they need to make the right decisions. Some are born this way, others develop it. Having the right network of people, following your industry news and trends, asking  questions to determine the human factor behind everything you see are some of the ways to stay informed. If you didn't know of a coming change in government policy or a move by a competitor that may affect your business you cant possibly react well. If you don’t know about an opportunity, you cant possibly seize it. 

-     - Money behind ideas

I once share this point with a colleague and he added: “...and makes money from them”. So true but not in all cases. Several projects and product ideas will fail but real entreprenuers never stop taking risks and never give up trying. The beauty is that failure prepares people for success better than success itself. If you’re afraid to invest your money because you’ve lost some before maybe you’re not cut out for this. 

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      - Incredible boldness and self-assurance

Real entreprenuers are recklessly bold. The make huge demands and believe they can get anything they want. With this kind of mindset and determination they are most times able to bend the will of others in their favour seeming larger than life in the process. They’re never afraid to get a No.

-     - Create non-existing opportunities

Look around entrepreneurs and you’ll find things that came to life as a result of their effort. They create products, services and businesses from both favorable and difficult situations. Some get wealthy by latching onto an opportunity during a war others by redefining an existing industry. No resource is left untapped from money to relationships to skills. 

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-     - Know how to delay gratification

With a laser focus on earning revenues and spending prudently, real entrepreneurs know how to do it right. Most of the CEOs of successful technology companies have been known to be highly disciplined with resources. It takes a combination of discipline, sacrifice and purposefulness to create a profitable company. Wannabe entrepreneurs squander their little revenues in business and this easily sets them on a path to bankruptcy.

There you have it! Are you a real entrepreneur or a wannabe?

The disruptive power of Mobile & the Internet

Despite all that has taken place in the last few years some people still see mobile and the internet as merely tools for communication or learning. There is a need to step aside to get a good grasp of the influence these platforms have had and then imagine what will happen in the next 10 years.

What mobile and the internet offer is a constantly networked world. This has in no small way redefined our lives. The change this combination provides is tremendous; something every forward thinker must pay attention to. Here are some insights:

Government Changer

We all know how social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were at the middle of the arab revolution. The photo below shows 4 former Heads of State (of Tunisia, Yemen, Libya & Egypt) who were in power as at January 1st 2011 but where ousted before the year ran out with. This shows how mobile and the internet can remove barriers and promote unity for a common cause.

Wealth Creator

With all the wealth that Aliko Dangote (Africa’s richest man) has built from several industries ranging from sugar to cement and more he yet ranks lower than a certain 27 year old on the Forbes richest list who has built only one thing, Facebook. This young man has also made some of his friends internet billionaires after only 7 years ago. No other platform or industry provides the opportunity to amass wealth on such a scale and so quickly too.

Industry Reformer 

Amazon changed the way the world buys books. Their reward? Close to a hundred billion dollars in valuation. Today, it offers books in electronic format via its Kindle device eating deep into revenues from printed books. Companies like Amazon, Salesforce, Expedia, Netflix have disrupted several industries changing the way books, flight booking, movies are bought and consumed. 

Change Agent

Not not only billion dollar companies are using mobile and internet to do great and exciting stuff even individuals like Sal’ Khan have used the internet to affect millions of lives without buying office space or hiring people.  Sal’s Khan Academy is currently transforming the way students learn using the power of mobile and internet and what started as a passion has turned into a world renowed institution.

The world of mobile and internet creates wealth and impact changes by breaking barriers. The power of a mobile networked world is BIG and is only going to get BIGGER! Tap into it. 

Giving back

I have always looked with awe at how some people changed the world with their ideas, values and activities with little wealth and power. Names like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa readily come to mind. In the younger generation we have people like  Salman Khan of the Khan Academy, who run non-profit ventures aimed at improving lives and adding a lot of value to the world.

Truth is, its pretty easy to drive change when you have money like Bill Gates does with his foundation or in authority like the leaders of the BRIC have done in their respective countries but what happens when you don't have either. What do you do when all you’ve got is your brain, your heart and your will. I’m a strong believer in giving back.

For me it is when you open someone eyes to discover what you already have, giving a lecture to inspire others to greatness, sharing your experience for others to learn from, providing leadership for social change, creating platforms for development and many more.

In our society today, even the very privileged ones find it difficult to contribute to improving the lives of the less privileged or helping them succeed. Companies would rather sponsor entertainment shows than educational initiatives and scholarships. But alas, the internet and its accompanying possibilities have made it easier to affect the lives of so many people without having so much.

The conviction that one can give back without great wealth and power has birthed “The Odunayo Initiative”. The Odunayo Initiative is a non-profit organization with a mission to improve lives using technology. The focus is currently limited to helping young minds develop their potential and maximize their talent to further widen the circle of positive influence. You can learn more here.

I believe that when we take time to think of the good of others, the world will be a better place for all. 

In the digital age; Content Reigns Supreme! - 1

Content holds sway in todays information age. In fact content is the blood of any form of web or mobile based service. Probably the most defining factor for the success of such services.

Never in history has there been so much demand for instant information.  This has led platforms which promise to provide relevant information thrive. Many examples include Information Portals (Games/Apps stores, News, Jobs, Directories, Reviews), Social Networks, Communities, Forums, News Sites etc

Sources of Content

As mentioned  in my earlier post “CLIF  - A guide to product development “, content could be manually uploaded (news site), user generated (twitter), tapped (rss) or crawled/autogenerated (Google search) etc. The key is to figure out how to generate that useful, relevant and probably structured content.  

Content is big business

Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo all started out by trying to help people find information. Google and Yahoo helped people find more relevant information, Facebook helped students find information about each other and Twitter helped people broadcast snippets of information updates.

Day by day these giants seek to expand their content base by building technologies that’ll help people create, access and share various types of content knowing fully well that when they do they’ll keep traffic coming and then monetise that.

What makes content sell

People want their content fast, locally relevant, useful and fresh always. Any content model must meet these user needs or there will be no attachment to such service.

The place of Innovation

You can’t really have innovation regarding content itself. Its out there for you to grab, it could be free or require some fee to acquire but the real innovation lies in the “how” of gathering and presentating information using strategic and technological means to make it more relevant and useful to users.

In part 2 I’ll share more points on monetizing content, making content local and relevant  and some ideas. Cheers

CLIF: A guide to Product Development

I recently had a phone interview with one of the giant internet companies and was asked how I'ld design & implement a web product that provides users some kind of info. I didn't answer as well as I felt I could with my experience creating and implementing software applications to date hence my decision to write this.

The points listed below prove useful for both software developers, product designers and those who do both. They serve well for all kinds of technology products from web sites to mobile apps & more. I'll use one of the hottest products of the last decade to elaborate: Facebook.

CLIF stands for Content, Look & Feel, Implementation & Features.

• Content - It's the blood of your product - probably the most defining factor of your product's success. It is what the user consumes by making use of your product, what they keep coming back for. It could be manually uploaded (news site), user generated (facebook), tapped (rss) or autogenerated (Google search) etc. But you've got to figure out how to generate that useful, relevant and probably structured content. One big reason why Facebook is so successful is because the content is ever fresh and mostly authentic.

• Look & Feel - Its the skin of your product - content is very important but it must be well presented. Your product look & feel describes concepts such as the user experience, graphic & theme design etc. It determines the frequency of visits, interaction & recommendations you'll get from your users. It's very important to keep it simple, easy to understand or use and as fast as possible to access and navigate to the most used areas. Facebook has a cool user experience (thats why it overtook MySpace and co) with a consistent blue theme.

• Implementation - this covers the tools and technology you'll require to develop the product. It also involves the process and timeline to implement the features outlined in the point below and in what comes first and what next. Things to consider include scalability, maintainability and cost of the technology to be used. Its the brain behind your product. Technologies used at Facebook include C/C++,Java, Python,, Linux, MySQL, PHP and more.

• Features: well this is the spine of your product. These are the functions your provide the user with in order to interact with your content. The features you provide depend heavily in the kind of content you serve and how the user consumes that content. Different apps allow users to save, share, comment, review, recommend, search, vote, filter through the content provided. Facebook is ever engaging because of the features that allow people to connect, share and interact with friends such as likes, comments, suggestions, recommendations, tag etc.

There you have it! Keep CLIFfing. :-)

The MoSoLO age is here!

May I now call myself an inventor after adding a new word to the tech vocabulary :). Well, maybe not because nothing I say here is really new. Moving on....

MoSoLo is coined out of the words Mobile, Social and Local.

Now these 3 words currently shape the development and use of connected, content based applications. Its usually difficult to predict the future of tech these days but I know 10 years ago these stuff didnt matter, over the next 10 years they will!

With Mobile - its all about accessibility, availability. Information at my finger tips anywhere & anytime.

Now, mobile phones & devices have always been around, but never has so much focus been on the content of these devices & not the hardware.

This is what has changed - people are being empowered more & more using mobile solutions and platforms.

With Social - its all about people, friends, recommendations, community, feedback, relationships & interaction.We also know never in history has there been such a craving to communicate -

right from teenagers to grandparents - like we have now.

Everyone wants to know - "what's happening now". Power has been given to people to choose what they "like" and that determines what's important or not.

Facebook & similar networks have made possible a sort of democracy in technology as against the former dictatorship by machines and artificial intelligence.

There's currently a strong desire for reliable and organized information instantly & that's why Twitter has succeeded. There's also the push for crowdsourcing of ideas, content and opinions in form of competitions, reviews, networking platforms etc.

With Local - its obviously about location! Whats around you? What can I do for you based on where you are right now? Information is ranked as more relevant when its closer to you.

What rules in this area is data about the location of people...where they live, work, hang out & where they are at any point in time. Technology is growing fast to collect and process this kind of data creating much more opportunities and possibilities.

It becomes paramount for businesses to change with the times and develop solutions which incorporate these new trends else they'll be left behind with time.

I'll be writing on how businesses can take advantage and create solutions using these ideas & trends soon!

Until then...Welcome to the MoSoLo Age!

Jump Starting the Nigerian Mobile Revolution!

It was a privilege sharing my thoughts at MobiFest held August 17 at the University of Lagos. Impressive ideas were discussed, challenging issues were raised and there was meaningful networking by industry players.

The web & mobile space is getting pretty much heated in recent times in Nigeria. There’s no doubt things are changing in the Nigerian technology space especially in the area of software like we’ve seen in the telecoms and banking sectors.

I believe that someday we’ll have internet billionaires in Nigeria but I doubt if it’ll be as soon as 5 years as predicted by Chika Nwobi at MobiFest due to some peculiar Nigerian issues.

However, I decided to share my thoughts on what we must do as mobile industry players to accelerate the growth of mobile technology in Nigeria:

1) Innovation – I believe we can do a lot more in the area of creating solutions that are useful and relevant to users here. We’ve not seen enough creative ideas that can jump start a revolution. I usually tell developers: “the easiest way to get ideas is to ask the users. Your family, friends are those who’ll use these solutions so you can start by finding out exactly what they would love to do with their phones”. You’ll be amazed by what you’d find.

2) Global in Thought - Local in Deed - Culture is one of the biggest hindrances to the growth of technology in general in Nigeria. Why should I use Google Maps when I can easily ask someone for directions? , the average user thinks. We need to make our technology and products world class yet our implementations suited to local needs and relevance. You can’t copy & paste technology here. You’ll get massive “ERRORS”!

3) Collaboration - Conferences like MobiFest should be held regularly, dedicated to mobile ideas, challenges and solutions and I suggest at a quarterly rate. More people should get involved and the larger companies with interest in the mobile space need to lead the way in terms of support and sponsorship.

4) Web first – Mobile can’t grow without the web growing first. Before mobile technology will experience real growth there must have been giant solutions in the web space. What I suggest to independent product developers is to go ahead succeed on the web probably create a platform that creates useful content that you can wrap mobile technologies around.

5) Open Sesame – We need to create an open system like we see with the recent app store revolution. Someone asked if there was a regulatory body for developers at the conference & I kicked against the idea. I mean you can regulate firms but developers? You’ll kill the little existent innovation in the market. I want to be able to use apps developed by Nigerian 10 year olds soon.

6) Users! Users! Users! - people must be motivated in some way to use mobile technologies and apps either using the “bandwagon effect” like we see with the current Blackberry trend. Whatever works! The issue is if that no matter how good your app or solution is you need to get users on board to be profitable.

I take time out to appreciate the efforts of Emmanuel Okoegwale and his team in putting MobiFest 2010 together as well as all the participants ... and to all those who are doing something today to add value to Nigerians using the mobile platform, I say well done. See you at the top!

Feel free to drop me a mail at oduntanodubanjo@gmail.com on anything "mobile + Nigeria" related.

Follow me on Twitter: @odustriangle

Cheers!