Bots. Bots. Bots. How will it end?
Bots are the new rave. You know, that intelligent conversation you can have inside your favorite chat app that will then execute a service for you. Here, I postulate on various ways this rave could end.
If you could rewind 15 years, what would you do differently?
Had lunch with a (new) friend recently who asked me this question. I had never given it thought before, and I really struggled to answer. I think it's a profound question to ask oneself. It may help in charting a course for the next 15.
This thing about Nigerian new tech companies and layoffs
In the past 12 months or thereabouts, there's been news after news of aggressive cost cutting measures by the new companies on the Nigerian tech scene. I take a jab at why this is so and suggest there's a better way.
Proposal: An online stock exchange for small tech companies in Nigeria
I'm of the opinion that as more people are embracing the "startup" culture, there's a need for some mechanism that makes it possible for investors to get their money out at a reasonable profit without negatively impacting the business. In this piece I suggest some form of internet based stock exchange.
So, what's the meaning of life?
What are we all doing here? What's the end game for this "upandan"? Everything must have a reason right? Right!?
A tale of two startups
Two people, same business, roughly same results so far. But the difference? One has so much "packaging" overhead and the other is an obscure little operation. Which will you invest your pension money in?
In defence of the FartApp
Too many apps and "startups" these days doing stuff that makes the heads of most reasonable people spin. What does "Yo" do again? But on closer look, maybe the phenomenon of meaningless apps and companies is not that bad.
Dear Product Manager, Here are MY lessons from the rise (and rise?) of 737
In recent times, GTBank's 737 banking has been the hot product in the Fintech space in Nigeria that quite a number of us have looked at with longing and expectations of how it can be extended to cover more use scenarios. In this piece, I look at lessons a product manager can extract from the execution of this service
The suited-up windscreen cleaner vs the cardboard lady. And Frank Donga.
How does one take the little one has to get ahead in life? Recently 2 stories hit the Nigerian internet, one about a lady graduate who couldn't get a job and stood at a street corner till she got noticed. The other about a guy who cleans windscreens all dressed up like a business man... I take a critical look at the similarities and differences of both scenarios.
What disruption looks like? These charts will explain. But then...
Stumbled on a few tweets by Valar Afshar this morning that were very instructive. I found them eye-opening in showing disruption of specific industries by presenting charts that drive the point home.
Where are the Techpreneur role models that the average Nigerian can identify with?
To inspire people to pursue a course of action, it helps to show them someone "like them" who has gone down that road and has achieved what they hope to achieve. It seems it's sort of hard to find such a role model in the tech world for the Nigerian undergraduate?
What if you ran your life like a company?
Vision. Mission. Strategy. Team. KPIs. Roadmap. Budget. Assets. Liabilities. Etc... Would you have a more fulfilling experience with your time on this planet if you lived this way?
Dear Product Manager, your winning idea will likely not be yours...
It is often assumed that Product Managers have the primary responsibility of coming up with brilliant and creative ideas for features, customer experience scenarios and new products. This assumption is far from accurate. Mostly. In the area of idea generation, the PM gets better mileage by fostering an environment that let's others come up with great ideas that she then works to validate.
Want to be creative? Here's a way.
We all want to constantly express creative ideas or come up with solutions that are perceived to be creative to specific problems. Maybe creativity is more of grunt work & deliberate pre-practice than flashes of genius?
Dear Product Manager, be insanely focused
Don't get sucked into a thousand little irrelevant activities; rather, identify the key levers that significantly impact your product's success. Maintain insane focus on your vision. Guard your product positioning jealousy
Dear Product Manager, influence is your biggest asset
A product Manager has to wear many hats and be part of many things. For such a role with diverse responsibilities, we have all come to accept that one who will do well must pack a Swiss army knife. But of all the blades in the knife, which is the most crucial?
Hilarious: This is how to scam a scammer
We all get those text messages and emails that say "CBN wants you to update your card". So, I got one and Sandra thought we should have some fun and yank the people's chain a bit...
How can digital commerce cross the chasm in Nigeria?
In the past 5 years, there has been an outpouring of all sorts of digital services into Nigeria. But so far, the market has not been penetrated enough. Maybe there's a way to fix that...
Evolution of my reading habits
The way my reading habits have evolved over the recent years might be a representation of changes in the bigger world and predictor of where the world is going?
Of Netflix, iROKOtv and DSTV
Netflix announced yesterday that the streaming service will now be available in a number of countries where it was not before. Including Nigeria. The usual "disrupt" crowd has started getting excited again. Let me jump into the kpotokpoto too...
Pay On Delivery: Between a rock and a place made of granite
It's generally believed that Pay On Delivery constitutes between 70% and 90% of all ecommerce sales in Nigeria. Why is this so and is it sustainable? What may the current online retailers do to survive?
The rise of the returnees
Look around you. A lot of the new ventures grabbing the buzz in Nigeria today and getting funded are led mostly by people who have gone off to live abroad and come back home. It's true. It's real. I'll throw some ideas up in the air as to why I think this is so.
Dear Product Manager, some job interview questions for you
In the past 6 years, I have had to source for product managers to join the team. Here's a compilation of some of the questions I often use at interviews.
If money was no object, what would you do with your time on this planet?
Think about it for a minute. It can help to unearth your deepest aspirations and motivations. Helping to shed some light and make you question if you should be doing what you are doing today.
The pursuit of career happy-ness
I posit that for everyone who gets out of bed in the morning and hits the road to get about the day's business, it's one of four things that's motivating him/her. Having a clear self-awareness of which of the four can help with focus and career planning.
Dear Product Manager, it doesn't end when you launch
As a product manager who would do well, one needs to realise that the work is not done when you ship the product. That's actually when it starts.
Why am I often dressed in black?
I have 2 answers I often give to people who notice that I am often dressed in black. The one I choose depends on which I think will be funnier at the time.
Of elders and the young
Watching my Twitter timeline, I have been seeing a pattern. A tech big Bros somebody dishes out advice to supposedly younger starry-eyed ones. And the younger ones asking Bros to support the movement or keep his advice to himself. Or herself as the case may be. My take? It's the cycle of life. Why fight it?
Maybe there’s no market yet for Stripe in Nigeria
Companies like Stripe, Braintree, 2CO, etc represent the proposition to make it easier for developers and new(er) businesses to integrate consumer payments into their digital services. This is very much required in the mature markets where they focus their operations. Unfortunately, the Nigerian market has not reached that stage yet and while the same need is here, the demand is not sizeable enough to attract highly capitalized businesses like that to jump in feet first into Nigeria
Nigeria will soon produce her first set of dot com millionaires
I feel I'm kindof stating the obvious. Watching how things are playing out, it seems safe to assume that in 5 years or less, the Nigerian tech scene will produce a few interesting exits or funding rounds that permit founders to take cash off the table or businesses that grow to become true cash generation engines.
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