4 important lessons for startups from an African entrepreneur

Nigel Gambanga

9 December 2014

Erik Hersman (img credit: http://poptech.org/)

Yesterday Hypercube Hub hosted a fireside chat with tech entrepreneur and iHub co-founder Erik Hersman. He’d dropped in as part of a cross continent biker expedition.

After his talk we managed to steal him for a brief chat. In this talk Erik shared four pearls of wisdom for African tech entrepreneurs which we have listed below.

Work on hard things
Simply put, don’t work on the really simple things. If it’s difficult it will be worth the effort
Build a network
There is value in getting to know people and interaction with different individuals. A strong network will be useful at a later stage in your business. Go to workshops and events to build these relationships where ideas are exchanged and this will help in connecting the dots.
The idea isn’t as important as the execution
Ideas are silver but execution is gold. There is more worth in action on the concept than just the idea itself.
Get your shoes dirty
As a business person you need to knock on doors and make that sale even for a startup. You have to get into the trenches.

We will share our interview with Erik in a podcast to follow soon about lessons for startups.

Connectivity

6 comments

Jeff

9 December 2014 09:58

“The idea isn’t as important as the execution.Ideas are silver but execution is gold. There is more worth in action on the concept than just the idea itself. “-This does for me.Very important
1. tinm@n
  
  9 December 2014 14:15
  
  Rings hard doesnt it?
chanyane

9 December 2014 13:21

Ideas are silver and not worthless. I have always had problems with people who think ideas are not worth investing in. Most investors want to under evaluate a startup just because it has not started execution. It is a no brainer that the value will rise as you execute, but to say it is worth nothing (something I hear frequently) is an understatement.
1. Anonymous
  
  9 December 2014 14:40
  
  hanzi Ideas are silver but execution is gold. its a comparative analysis
  1. Anonymous
    
    10 December 2014 18:45
    
    It’s good to dream but remember to wake up and pursue the dream! All are thinkers but successful ones execute their thoughts. Execution Execution Execution and more execution!
Anonymous

11 December 2014 19:59

what a load of crap. this is schoolboy garbage. who is this clown anyway?

Connect with us

Home