DissTroy:


Exactly. I've always been inclined towards this after studying the Nigerian tech startup ecosystem.

Many individual investors are asking for outrageous equity.

It's sad that the Startup Law isn't being implemented. It'd have democratised access.
---

You know of alternative feasible options?

At all o

truthCoder:


Someone brought her own POS terminal to a certain supermarket.

Stole an alleged 554m naira

Source:
https://theinfong.com/2017/07/shoprite-sales-girl-steals-n554million-lagos-personal-pos/amp/

This is the Nigerian “sharpness” I’m talking about. And why I understand the Lebanese business owner. Any supermarket is supposed to reconcile sales DAILY! How this did not happen further lends credence to the ineptitude and lack of integrity that plagues us.

One time I deployed a POS software for a retail outlet and designed a reconciliation system were the floor managers would reconcile like for like. Normally, they reconcile total sales and match it with what the till staff report. Until I asked that they most separately report cash sales, POS card payments and bank transfers separately. Even the POS card payments I wanted those separated along the various Banks. Immediately that was done, sales went up 40% the following month. Not like it was a December or some month that is packed with different activities. Staff were lootin cash crazy in some very underhand tactics that I still did not fully understand

DissTroy:


Exactly. I've always been inclined towards this after studying the Nigerian tech startup ecosystem.

Many individual investors are asking for outrageous equity.

It's sad that the Startup Law isn't being implemented. It'd have democratised access.
---

You know of alternative feasible options?

My strategy is to build up a working and market ready product first before involving investors.

You can deploy most web solutions now with free tier SaaS. It might take you a long while and personal funding but build it and get it ready for the market.

Projects at idea stages are usually priced like chicken shit by these hawks.

In addition, know that not all businesses need large money. Dont collect 100k usd because it is available when all you need is just 1k usd.

Finally, never discuss your ideas with just anyone. First, they must represent a genuine and verifiable entity and they must have the authorization to have such discussions. Secondly, there must be an NDA that is protecting you.

DissTroy:


Someone mentioned on Twitter a few months that once most Nigeria tech founders get angel investment, by Seed A round, they've all relocated abroad. I think that's what happened to Andela.

Most seemingly tech startups with social welfare structures are barely sustainable. At least ALX isn't pretending and being upfront about payment.

I don't blame any tech founder using this method, infact I encourage it.
A lot of countries have better environment for building a tch company compared to 9ja. Also being around startups who are doing great, being profitable and always showing up in the news will ginger you to be successful.

Take for instance, San Francisco in California. In particular, Market street and Nile Street, there are thousands of tech startups in that vicinity, Twitter, Spotify, Minerva, Twitch etc ...when you come there and you see fellow tech founders making it big , you have no option to hustle and make your startup hit big too.

Also those regions have a lot of VCs and Angel investors. It very common to meet dozens of Angel investors in Market street in sane Francisco than to meet 1 investor in Lagos.

Also San Francisco and Mountain view have a lot of Investment groups, syndicate, accelerator which makes it very very easy to get investment and funds for your idea stage startup.

Some countries like Sweden and Canada have a very good environment for building a business.

Also some founders just try to get Caribbean Passport to make it easier for them to travel to any other country to conduct business.

To be sincere, Nigeria is a very fustrating place to build a startup or work in tech.

I remember when I was doing Y combinator Startupschool in 2019, during one of our office hours, MTN network just switch to Emergency and that's how I got disconnected from our meeting and couldn't join back that day.

This repeated itself more than 1 month. I was so fustrating. Airtel Network is another story for another day, even Spectranet na anoda case!

9ja isn't a suitable environment for building a tech Startup...that's my own viewpoint.

tensazangetsu20:


A lot of startups in Nigeria were a front for the founders to get recommendations for the uk tech nation visa. Now that that's being cancelled, I wonder what will happen to the startup industry at least in naija.

To be sincere, Nigerians have one of the highest desire to build a tech company. But the environment here isn't favourable.

I don't think many startups in Nigeria are a front. Attend a coding bootcamp or attend a conference and you will see many young talented people building amazing companies.

Nigerians are so talented and intelligent. My best friend wanted to build a scan and pay payment app for supermarkets and filling station, I was so impressed with his idea and code but 9ja regulators killed his startup from his body.

To cut the story short, he's doing well now with a US company.

DissTroy:


True enough. There also seems to be a particular circle one needs to break into to get access to these VCs. I mean, asides Y Combinator, other publicised tech startups getting funding announced on TechCabal and the likes seem to come from certain circles like the Lagos Investment Network.

How then do tech founders outside these cliques get funding for their viable startups/digital products?

My reply to this your statement might shock you.
1. Many founders easily get access to VCs because the VC knows them from their previous work. For instance, I got to Know dozens of VCs because of Y combinator Startupschool which is an accelerator. To put it in plain words, VCs and founders usually have a place or platform they get to know each other.

So ask yourself, which online accelerator or incubator program for Startup founders do you belong to?

2. Majority of VCs and angel investors were some founders customers before they started building a company. This is what I meant.

Imagine you publish articles in AI, venture capital, Crypto or business and entrepreneurship on medium or substack or Twitter, a lot of people get to be your readers and avid followers (customers)...this is where many get exposure. A lot of investors and VC fimmrns get to be there readers and followers.

So when this people, then decide to start a company tomorrow, they can easily get investment from those VCs because they already have pre-existing relationship with the entrepreneurs.
So ask yourself, Are you a content writer? Are you active on Twitter?.

3. Like I said earlier, some investors were the founder customers. Some entrepreneurs before the start to build companies used to sell ebooks on Amazon Kindle, Gumroad, sell Notion templates, Canva templates, sell online courses and coaching programs?
This demonstrate to the investors the founder have a previous experience and knowledge on how to SELL something.

So ask yourself, do you have an online presence where people buy something from you? Do you have something you sell online that can fetch money to start building your dream idea. Cos some 9ja entrepreneurs are very funny, they don't want to invest shishsi of their money into their Startup...all they want is to spend investors money.

4. And the most important one. Which social network are you on as an entrepreneur who have a dream of building a startup.

You're spending 24/7 online on Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook...you just de play.

Majority of VCs, angel investors, CEOs, hiring managers, foreign startup founders, News casters are on LINKEDIN. Are you on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn provides you a platform to make a friend with an Angel investor, Venture capitalist, VC firms and fellow founders as easy as Whatsaping someone.

Those guys are on LinkedIn. That's where you can see them. That's where you can chat with them. You many never get to meet them physically but you can always chat with them on LinkedIn. I have made a lot of investors as my friend on LinkedIn, some even telling me , they are curious to know what type of company I want to build...these people are my Network.

These investors are the ones to invest in you when you want to build something in life.

6. Are you on Twitter?

Also Twitter is one of the unique platform to meet with industry professionals, angel investors and Founders. Tweet well, follow them, reply to their tweets and you will get their attention.

It was from Twitter, I got access to Paul Graham of Y combinator.
Majority of people are on the wrong place.

DissTroy:


Exactly. I've always been inclined towards this after studying the Nigerian tech startup ecosystem.

Many individual investors are asking for outrageous equity.

It's sad that the Startup Law isn't being implemented. It'd have democratised access.
---

You know of alternative feasible options?

I personally would never recommend any founder or entrepreneur to seek investment from Investors in Nigeria.

Those guys rip off founders in terms of equities and term sheet...how can you promise to give a founder 10M naira for 12% equity. Even Y combinator takes 7% for minimum of $150,000 investment.

I remember one of my neighbors telling me " I will give you 50K for 30% share in your company" I laughed till I nearly fainted.

Many Nigerians don't understand anything about venture capital and Startup ecosystem.

They make life hard for Entrepreneurs.

qtguru:


It runs remotely like turning, and no, it was because of COVID and also this helps them make money, no more overhead costs and catering to Gen Z behaviours like free food, PS4 and all that nonsense, you're employed to write code and nothing else.

Your post is hilarious 🤣. I love this line " No more catering to Gen Z behaviours like free food, PS4 and all that nonsense) 😁.

Why did you single out Gen Z. But funny enough, give Gen Z those things and they become very excited to work for you. And remember they do have crazy ideas too. They are one of the best type of software engineers to employ.

Infact if am to build a company like Andela, I recruit mostly 17- 24 year olds only 😁...those set of people are super productive when given some peaks.

qtguru:


and I also held this same view too, but the last time, we had our Senior Engineer's meeting, he explained they were burning cash fast. You know, they have to provide returns for their stakeholders. But Covid also gave it a justification to further cut support staff and less performing staff. Jeremy is a good guy who needs to make cash for stakeholders sadly, he really did like Junior devs but business is business so I can see why it looks like that but e fit be I won't put it past these Americans.

But come to think of it.
Covid-19 should give a justification to lay off more in-house engineers and make them work remotely and hire more remote engineers.

Since Andela wants to run remotely, this can give them the opportunity to hire more engineers since they don't have people to cater for in-house. (The money meant for feeding can be used to pay more engineers)

But why did they do the opposite?

Bloomsbury:


To be honest, it's not easy to be training people and still be feeding and paying them.

But am curious to know, Andela devs are basically good or better than some self taught developers. Majority of companies are seeking for remote engineers. There are more remote engineer roles.
It would still be feasible to still be training software engineers without feeding or paying them and still be getting them remote jobs.

This is still within the capability of Andela.
I think this is perhaps an option Andela should have explored.

Currently there is so much demand for Blockckchain smart contract developer but the talent is extremely scarce. Of the more than. 20M million software engineers in the world, there is less than 0.5% who are Web3 developers.

I think it would be a great idea for Andela to start training Web3 developers as they will be in demand. Since Andela already have the reputation, a lot of companies would even book some engineers before they graduate.

Am a smart contract developer and to be honest, I haven't come across 2 smart contract developers physically here in Nigeria....in a face to face meeting.

Perhaps, I think it would be a good idea to start a bootcamp like Andela in Nigeria for Web3 developers, if I get enough funding lol...😁

But am curious to know, why did Andela so much focused on JavaScript? 🤔

There's an organization I heard of in South Africa that has been recruiting African devs like crazy, pay is $12k-60k beginner level(based on experience), saw them have a talk on youtube on why they are training and paying african devs, basically it's supply and demand. When they make you a software engineer, you fill a role they've contracted from other companies.

tensazangetsu20:


True there's guys that know the CEO of yc one on one. Nepotism works when they want to recommend their friends startups to get funding. A lot of things are rigged lol

As a programmer you can make money from freelancing and working for companies...you can then turn your clients into your investors, since they know you and believe in you

I've got friends that are receiving investments from different places. Just be good in coding, and connect with peeps in that field, you'll be surprised how much people can give you or invest in your company.

Davidcorny:
There's an organization I heard of in South Africa that has been recruiting African devs like crazy, pay is $12k-60k beginner level(based on experience), saw them have a talk on youtube on why they are training and paying african devs, basically it's supply and demand. When they make you a software engineer, you fill a role they've contracted from other companies.

.
Omo, devs in Nigeria need to know about this company.
Please do you mind sharing their name or link or YouTube video.
Basically that is how Andela should be doing...am still surprised why there no company in Nigeria doing this.

I would love to write about this company on my medium publishing company, Twitter & LinkedIn. More people need to know about them.

truthCoder:


My strategy is to build up a working and market ready product first before involving investors.

You can deploy most web solutions now with free tier SaaS. It might take you a long while and personal funding but build it and get it ready for the market.

Exactly what I am doing. 4 ideas spread across fintech subsets and PAAS. It's been taking longer and having to stay awake most nights but it's coming up well since I can do the UI/UX and part product development of two myself (content, building and structuring).

Projects at idea stages are usually priced like chicken shit by these hawks.

Man! Even YC which is huge and structured takes 7% as equity for $375k investment and gets right of first refusal in every rasing round. Imagine what less structured ones are taking as equity.

In addition, know that not all businesses need large money. Dont collect 100k usd because it is available when all you need is just 1k usd.

Finally, never discuss your ideas with just anyone. First, they must represent a genuine and verifiable entity and they must have the authorization to have such discussions. Secondly, there must be an NDA that is protecting you.

Thankfully, I took time to learn marketing asides other technical skills. I have NDAs for everything. Not even my lady has access to documents, content and web files I'm working on.

Between September 2022 and July 2022, I got 3 guys and teams who should be a part of it, sent them NDAs but they were dragging their feet about signing it so I pulled back. Ref flag.

Bloomsbury:


I personally would never recommend any founder or entrepreneur to seek investment from Investors in Nigeria.

Those guys rip off founders in terms of equities and term sheet...how can you promise to give a founder 10M naira for 12% equity. Even Y combinator takes 7% for minimum of $150,000 investment.

I remember one of my neighbors telling me " I will give you 50K for 30% share in your company" I laughed till I nearly fainted.

Many Nigerians don't understand anything about venture capital and Startup ecosystem.

They make life hard for Entrepreneurs.

I think this is the main reason most founders/co-founders are technical ones who are friends. You know, you are full-stack and your friend is data science so you guys team up with his other friend who's a product manager and UI/UX person to build based on some agreements.

The founder of Canva, a 34-year-old woman now, spent 7 years before anyone took her idea seriously in 2007 because she wasn't a technical founder then.
---

Even when collaborating to co-found with someone across country borders, there's the technicality of enforcing NDAs. I mean, India's copyright and trade laws are different from Nigeria's or Ghana's. These technicalities...

DissTroy:

Exactly what I am doing. 4 ideas spread across fintech subsets and PAAS. It's been taking longer and having to stay awake most nights but it's coming up well since I can do the UI/UX and part product development of two myself (content, building and structuring).



Man! Even YC which is huge and structured takes 7% as equity for $375k investment and gets right of first refusal in every rasing round. Imagine what less structured ones are taking as equity.



Thankfully, I took time to learn marketing asides other technical skills. I have NDAs for everything. Not even my lady has access to documents, content and web files I'm working on.

Between September 2022 and July 2022, I got 3 guys and teams who should be a part of it, sent them NDAs but they were dragging their feet about signing it so I pulled back. Ref flag.

I do agree with you. Try & build first before seeking investment. In this way it's easier to even get funds. You don't have to be at the mercy of people promising you to give you funds.
It's now easier to build and launch a software business. There are so many websites to get free CREDITS & discounts codes. A lot of websites giving people free trials to use their software to launch their business.

One of the most underrated way to launch a software business quickly are CHROME EXTENSIONS.

Chrome extensions are the earliest way to launch a software startup easily without much fund or 0 funds at all. Also they're have low competition and costumers hardly churn.
People hardly uninstall chrome Extensions.

There is something called Micro startup strategy that I think everyone should employ.

Your aim isn't to build a Billion dollars startup but to build a profitable startup that you can sell. When you build this little software business and you start seeing revenue, you can then sell it on those platforms people sell side projects...you can sell your one man software business for a minimum of $15,000.

Now you have some money to repeat the process, gather funds and build your billion dollars idea ..in this way, you can easily raise funds for yourself without been at the mercy of mist Investors.

But did you notice something.

You just built like 3 startup to show to investors why they can invest in you. You have already founder experience. This is what most Investors are looking for. ..Some Investors only invest in people who have experience building a startup.


This is a chest sheet 😁.

In addition, learn marketing and sales.
There is a myth among entrepreneurs. That is, build and they will come...that's a big lie.

You need to learn how to advertise your product for people to know it exists. One cool place to achieve this is PRODUCTHUNT and also on LinkedIn and Twitter.

When seeking business partnerships or co-founders in Nigeria, always use NDA.

Never deal with Nigerians without a notorized NDA. It's even the regular proceeding for any business.
Document your agreements

DissTroy:


I think this is the main reason most founders/co-founders are technical ones who are friends. You know, you are full-stack and your friend is data science so you guys team up with his other friend who's a product manager and UI/UX person to build based on some agreements.

The founder of Canva, a 34-year-old woman now, spent 7 years before anyone took her idea seriously in 2007 because she wasn't a technical founder then.
---

Even when collaborating to co-found with someone across country borders, there's the technicality of enforcing NDAs. I mean, India's copyright and trade laws are different from Nigeria's or Ghana's. These technicalities...

For Investors like Y combinator, I remember what Jessica Livingston told us is what they look for or the first thing they look out for in their STARTUP founders is Co-founders relationship. Do you have any pre-existing relationship with your business partner. Was he formerly your friend, school colleague, classmate, family etc.

The best business is a combination of two people; builder and sellers. Learn to build and sell and you will be unstoppable.

But the most important is, can you bring this your idea to market? Can you build? Can you sell? Do you have previous experience working for a startup or building a startup?

Even getting an internship with a Tech Startup in Nigeria is a big plus when you want to build your own startup. This show investors you have previous experience with a startup.

The best type of startup ideas is building a software for software engineers; for instance, like building APIs, a website for engineers to build their own websites or apps, a software for remote meeting, a software for designers like Canva, a coding debugger etc.

I am currently building a chrome extension startup for software engineers and content writer; since am a software engineer and a content writer, I have experience and know what my potential customers want.

I have been doing freelance writing jobs for different magazines, blogs and publishing firm and I have noticed that a lot of fellow writers struggle with writing good contents...I am build a chrome extension to make their writing jobs better ( sort can't say the idea here...it currently in stealth mode)

Also a lot of newbies are usually lost when they encounter errors, can't write coding documentations and can hardly understand some coding concepts...I am building a chrome extension to make software engineering easier and stress free.

Build your software first, launch it, get profitable and investors will be the one chasing you.

DissTroy:


I think this is the main reason most founders/co-founders are technical ones who are friends. You know, you are full-stack and your friend is data science so you guys team up with his other friend who's a product manager and UI/UX person to build based on some agreements.

The founder of Canva, a 34-year-old woman now, spent 7 years before anyone took her idea seriously in 2007 because she wasn't a technical founder then.
---

Even when collaborating to co-found with someone across country borders, there's the technicality of enforcing NDAs. I mean, India's copyright and trade laws are different from Nigeria's or Ghana's. These technicalities...

To make your life easier for enforcing technicalities from different countries co-founders, incorporate the startup in the US.

Then do what we can vesting.

Anyone who leaves the company before 4yrs from the date you join goes home with nothing

Bloomsbury:




One of the most underrated way to launch a software business quickly are CHROME EXTENSIONS.

Chrome extensions are the earliest way to launch a software startup easily without much fund or 0 funds at all. Also they're have low competition and costumers hardly churn.
People hardly uninstall chrome Extensions.

There is something called Micro startup strategy that I think everyone should employ.

The down side of this is, most internet users use mobile (except you are focusing on B2B) and mobile browser rarely use extensions. Several great Chrome extensions with low patronage on product hunt and in the Chrome store.

Your aim isn't to build a Billion dollars startup but to build a profitable startup that you can sell. When you build this little software business and you start seeing revenue, you can then sell it on those platforms people sell side projects...you can sell your one man software business for a minimum of $15,000.

I chanced upon one in early 2021 on Twitter where you can sell your tech startup. Microacquire.com (it became Acquire.com in 2022). I followed its founder Andrew throughout when it started. Startups selling even up to $1 million on the platform.

In addition, learn marketing and sales.
There is a myth among entrepreneurs. That is, build and they will come...that's a big lie.

You need to learn how to advertise your product for people to know it exists. One cool place to achieve this is PRODUCTHUNT and also on LinkedIn and Twitter.

When seeking business partnerships or co-founders in Nigeria, always use NDA.

Never deal with Nigerians without a notorized NDA. It's even the regular proceeding for any business.
Document your agreements

Never do business with anyone without documentation. Even for clients, I insist on web development brief even if you pay me in full the first day we discuss your brand idea.

On a thread on Nairaland las December, I was telling some people that the most important skill a technical founder needs to learn after the technical skills is marketing and sales. You are spot on.

---

About Notorized NDAs: Is it just me or most supposed tech lawyers are ignorant of the the true workings of the tech ecosystem? Many would draw up the regular documents used in other industries without understand the tech sector works differently.

Which is why founders have to learn drawing up these documents themselves while getting good lawyers to vet the drawn documents.

Bloomsbury:


To make your life easier for enforcing technicalities from different countries co-founders, incorporate the startup in the US.

Then do what we can vesting.

Anyone who leaves the company before 4yrs from the date you join goes home with nothing

I looked at this too but you mostly have to get someone in the US or a firm there to do this for you. Tax returns and all of that. Sure you want to get bothered with all of that hurdle while still in ideation or pre-seed stage?

Brings us back to funding and trust. The bootstrapping till seed stage might just be it.

tensazangetsu20:


A lot of startups in Nigeria were a front for the founders to get recommendations for the uk tech nation visa. Now that that's being cancelled, I wonder what will happen to the startup industry at least in naija.

I just discovered something today that the easiest way Entrepreneurs immigrate to the UK is by registering a UK company right from Nigeria.

One of the surest way many now use to Japa to UK is by registering a limited liability company there. As a non-resident company director, you are entitled for resident permit, business Visa 😁

And also, a UK Visa can also get you into the US.
After registering your company, you will need to visit the UK immigration office in Nigeria to apply for the resident permit. And the process is quite easy for Nigerians who have dozens of startup ideas. 😁

Or you can apply for Sole Representative of an Overseas Business visa

DissTroy:


The down side of this is, most internet users use mobile (except you are focusing on B2B) and mobile browser rarely use extensions. Several great Chrome extensions with low patronage on product hunt and in the Chrome store.



I chanced upon one in early 2021 on Twitter where you can sell your tech startup. Microacquire.com (it became Acquire.com in 2022). I followed its founder Andrew throughout when it started. Startups selling even up to $1 million on the platform.





Never do business with anyone without documentation. Even for clients, I insist on web development brief even if you pay me in full the first day we discuss your brand idea.

On a thread on Nairaland las December, I was telling some people that the most important skill a technical founder needs to learn after the technical skills is marketing and sales. You are spot on.

---

About Notorized NDAs: Is it just me or most supposed tech lawyers are ignorant of the the true workings of the tech ecosystem? Many would draw up the regular documents used in other industries without understand the tech sector works differently.

Which is why founders have to learn drawing up these documents themselves while getting good lawyers to vet the drawn documents.

..

It is true most internet users are on mobile but that doesn't mean you can't build a profitable Micro Startup or billion dollar idea without mobile. Look around you, there are so many problems you can solve using any tech of software.

For instance, a lot of people aren't good in writing, you can build a website where they can request what they want to write and you help them do it. This is just a basic way to use technology to solve people's problem.

Also a lot of people want to make money selling Ebooks on Amazon Kindle or Gumroad hit don't know how to write or go ahead it...you can offer so write it for them.

I am a freelance Ghostwriter and Ebook writer.
I also train people on Amazon Kindle publishing and how to make and sell Canva templates.

When I do freelance writing jobs or coaching for people, I get to know some big problems people face giving me ideas for my software Startup.

For instance, in reference to Notorized documents, many lawyers both in Nigeria don't know how to write NDA documents or business proposal documents for Entrepreneurs and founders...so I took my time and pain to learn it.

Although am not a lawyer, I write awesome business proposals, Pitch deck, NDA agreements for Businesses and companies of any size...after I write for you, you can then take it to any lawyer or law firm to sign it for you.
That's one of my side hustle I used to gather money to pay for some computing services for my startup.

Microacquire founder is my tight G. I love his entrepreneur journey so far when he stared out. Like you said , there are lots of micro Startups or side hustle software Business selling for millions and thousands of dollars on Microacquire.

I recommend the build and sell strategy a lot to people especially African founders without much exposure, connect and Capital.

There are lots of startup ideas targeted for mobile users. For example, a Q&A app for anything in tech powered by machine learning.

A payment app like PayPal for Nigerians... something similar to Venmo.

A job board app for a particular niche
A app for people to sell codes, canva designs, be Ebook.

An ondemand laundry service app
An Airbnb like app for renting houses (longer stays like 6mnths -3 years)
An app for life video access to your favorite celebrity or startup founders
An app for home work answering and many more ideas

I'm gaining a lot from gurus in the house

DissTroy:


I looked at this too but you mostly have to get someone in the US or a firm there to do this for you. Tax returns and all of that. Sure you want to get bothered with all of that hurdle while still in ideation or pre-seed stage?

Brings us back to funding and trust. The bootstrapping till seed stage might just be it.

You're right her but like they always say, information is power.

There is how a USA doing this for foreigners. The name is DOOLA. Also Stripe Atlas has been doing it for years.

They help in registering your business for $195 but stripe Atlas is $500.

They give you a free company representative who can handle all your needs, documents and File Tax as well as help in opening a USA bank account and many more things.

demmyhandsome:
I'm gaining a lot from gurus in the house

Am happy you're learning something new.

By the way, what do you think about Nigeria Startup ecosystem and Investors behavior?

We would like to get your insights.

Bloomsbury:


Am happy you're learning something new.

By the way, what do you think about Nigeria Startup ecosystem and Investors behavior?

We would like to get your insights.

I'm still a learner oo

Bloomsbury:
..



For instance, in reference to Notorized documents, many lawyers both in Nigeria don't know how to write NDA documents or business proposal documents for Entrepreneurs and founders...so I took my time and pain to learn it.

Although am not a lawyer, I write awesome business proposals, Pitch deck, NDA agreements for Businesses and companies of any size...after I write for you, you can then take it to any lawyer or law firm to sign it for you.

That's one of my side hustle I used to gather money to pay for some computing services for my startup.

My guy! I decided to officially add these to the services my digital tech agency offer at the beginning of the year., scaling into full brand identity creation and management. Still redeveloping the website. Should be done before the elections.

I had to teach 4 lawyers how to draw up some documents in the last 3 years. I have been doing pitch decks too and even went offline to do a sponsorship package (pitch deck and all for a client). I do all business writings and intensive documentation myself.

I guess it's why I don't describe myself as a web developer - I ideate and grow brand with digital tech. Web development, graphic and UI, and marketung are just some of such ways of achieving that.
I call myself a digitech builder. I guess it best describes you too.

Bloomsbury:


You're right her but like they always say, information is power.

There is how a USA doing this for foreigners. The name is DOOLA. Also Stripe Atlas has been doing it for years.

They help in registering your business for $195 but stripe Atlas is $500.

They give you a free company representative who can handle all your needs, documents and File Tax as well as help in opening a USA bank account and many more things.

Thank you! I'd check them out. Google brings up a lot of sponsored ads when this is searched and real proof of tech founders who admit to using the services is rare.

Bloomsbury:


I personally would never recommend any founder or entrepreneur to seek investment from Investors in Nigeria.

Those guys rip off founders in terms of equities and term sheet...how can you promise to give a founder 10M naira for 12% equity. Even Y combinator takes 7% for minimum of $150,000 investment.

I remember one of my neighbors telling me " I will give you 50K for 30% share in your company" I laughed till I nearly fainted.

Many Nigerians don't understand anything about venture capital and Startup ecosystem.

They make life hard for Entrepreneurs.

this isn't only a Nigerian thing

Dont use YC as the yardstick.

Lof of founders end up with little or nothing after raising a lot of funds..... Just ask former andela Nigerian founders

Bloomsbury:


I don't blame any tech founder using this method, infact I encourage it.
A lot of countries have better environment for building a tch company compared to 9ja. Also being around startups who are doing great, being profitable and always showing up in the news will ginger you to be successful.

Take for instance, San Francisco in California. In particular, Market street and Nile Street, there are thousands of tech startups in that vicinity, Twitter, Spotify, Minerva, Twitch etc ...when you come there and you see fellow tech founders making it big , you have no option to hustle and make your startup hit big too.

Also those regions have a lot of VCs and Angel investors. It very common to meet dozens of Angel investors in Market street in sane Francisco than to meet 1 investor in Lagos.

Also San Francisco and Mountain view have a lot of Investment groups, syndicate, accelerator which makes it very very easy to get investment and funds for your idea stage startup.

Some countries like Sweden and Canada have a very good environment for building a business.

Also some founders just try to get Caribbean Passport to make it easier for them to travel to any other country to conduct business.

To be sincere, Nigeria is a very fustrating place to build a startup or work in tech.

I remember when I was doing Y combinator Startupschool in 2019, during one of our office hours, MTN network just switch to Emergency and that's how I got disconnected from our meeting and couldn't join back that day.

This repeated itself more than 1 month. I was so fustrating. Airtel Network is another story for another day, even Spectranet na anoda case!

9ja isn't a suitable environment for building a tech Startup...that's my own viewpoint.

it is hard to get funding in San Francisco or silicon valley. investors do not invest in people they don't know.

in fact if you noticed, most of the Americans getting funded are from a certain social group, clique, or universities.

if you are an African founder, it is even harder, american investors do not invest outside America, if they are willing to take the risk then you must register in delaware.

Bloomsbury:


To be honest, it's not easy to be training people and still be feeding and paying them.

But am curious to know, Andela devs are basically good or better than some self taught developers. Majority of companies are seeking for remote engineers. There are more remote engineer roles.
It would still be feasible to still be training software engineers without feeding or paying them and still be getting them remote jobs.

This is still within the capability of Andela.
I think this is perhaps an option Andela should have explored.

Currently there is so much demand for Blockckchain smart contract developer but the talent is extremely scarce. Of the more than. 20M million software engineers in the world, there is less than 0.5% who are Web3 developers.

I think it would be a great idea for Andela to start training Web3 developers as they will be in demand. Since Andela already have the reputation, a lot of companies would even book some engineers before they graduate.

Am a smart contract developer and to be honest, I haven't come across 2 smart contract developers physically here in Nigeria....in a face to face meeting.

Perhaps, I think it would be a good idea to start a bootcamp like Andela in Nigeria for Web3 developers, if I get enough funding lol...😁

But am curious to know, why did Andela so much focused on JavaScript? 🤔

I will like to connect with you on this boss. I need some guides. Can you please drop your contact?

airsaylongcome:


Nigerians will shock you o! We call it “sharpness” but it’s very disgusting how we always look for loopholes in systems to exploit. Yesterday, I was at a Lebanese owned supermarket and they had recently employed a Floor/Operations Manager who was Indian. I had a brief chat with one of the owners why they would hire foreigners for that kind of position. He told me in conc. pidgin “Nobi say we no like to hire una o, but wetin my eye don see from Naija Operations Managers my mouth no go fit talk. If I leave Naija Floor manager here, this supermarket go collapse in 6 months”

lmao 😂