Birdslip Community

https://youtu.be/hN7vsXAUCgk?si=qPz00G48n8tLLiIu

Ironically, the hardest thing to explain to young founders especially first time founders is that if it never gets hard, it never gets great.

Every single successful company I've been a part of has had to live through several near death experiences. If you are expecting a smooth startup experience then you are simply priming yourself for death by a thousand cuts.

A few of the ridiculous things some of the household names I've been a part of had to endure to become the "unicorns" and "soonicorns" everyone celebrates today.

- Andela started in a friendly mentor's boy's quarters in Ikoyi and we got there for 8:00am everyday in an epic 3 hour commute from our barely furnished flat in Pako, Bariga by taking 2 danfos, 1 keke and 1 bike every morning. We got scammed out of our first rented office space so we had to run interviews out of a friend's father's old office in the mainland slum of Fadeyi, Yaba. There was even a time when the leaking roof caved in at our work apartments on Connal Road.

- Flutterwave raised its first round at a $2.5m valuation (after leaving Andela which had just raised at $100m valuation) because we badly needed money to buy more servers. We battled through a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation because we were accused of raising from unaccredited investors immediately after we had been pre-empted for our Series A. Thankfully after 18 months we were given a clean bill of health by SEC after spending close to $1m hiring the best lawyers to defend us.

- Moove's first check from me and a syndicate of angels was $150K at a $1m valuation. We had the door slammed in our face by your very popular VC's too many times to count. This is despite my active involvement and after building two visibly successful startups. It got so bad the founders took the bold and daring decision to fund the company's seed round by themselves with credit lines secured by the roof over their heads.

- Future Africa has been close to death way too many times to count. Many times I told my team to trust God for our salaries (and He always came through). We went from a staff strength of over 25 people to less than 10 people now.

So if you are going through hard times in your startup, understand it is part of the process. If you aren't going through hard times, ask yourself if you are truly doing meaningful or impactful work.

Remember if it doesn't get hard, it doesn't get great.

God bless you!

- Iyin Aboyeji (Co-founder, Andela and Flutterwave)

https://youtu.be/_qgFD5U-Y9k?si=S4-wYFtOJMxcKVHu

You know the product ChatGPT. But do you know the chip that powers it?
Meet NVIDIA the company that makes the processors for A.I powered products.

As ChatGPT rose to become one of the fastest growing softwares in human history, NVIDIA has also become the fastest growing stock in America.

Click here to watch this video by CNBC to learn more about NVIDIA

https://youtu.be/HicBHU5EX3U?si=SMou0fFqrrXoFH1Q

Price is N20,000 till Thursday 8th February.

Class starts on Monday 12th of February.

Click the link below to register:

https://flutterwave.com/pay/onlinewritingmasterclass

https://rb.gy/p9d7u4

Black Rock, the sixth largest investment firm in the world, (Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway is first), has just acquired Adebayo Ogunlesi's Global Infrastructure Partners for $12.5 Billion.

Adebayo was born in Shagamu, Ogun State.
His father was Nigeria's first professor of Medicine.
He attended Kings College, Lagos.

He is an exemplary Nigerian. Well done sir.

The $12.5 Billion deal consists of:

1. $3 Billion in cash
2. 12 million shares of BlackRock stock
3. Adebayo Ogunlesi joining the BlackRock leadership. and more...

Tesla just launched its Cybertruck and it is sold out. How is Elon Musk able to accomplish so much in completely unrelated fields? Does he have more than 24 hours in a day? From Tesla, to SpaceX, to Starlink, to The Boring Company, to Twitter (X).

https://telegra.ph/Why-we-created-Birdpost-01-02

https://youtu.be/ano-9RhwLv4?si=3PyJ1Kcg961bkQ6n

Hello everyone,

This is my ‘most wonderful time of the year’ and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.

First I would like to sincerely apologize for not posting as consistently as I have in the past.

But the reason gives me joy. To the glory of God, Birdpost, which started as a simple idea has become a growing business solution and I am sincerely grateful.

For this reason, I spend my time responding to requests, analyzing data, writing marketing content, and a whole lot more.

For this reason, I might not be posting as frequently as before. However I am more than convinced that there is more than enough content on the platform already which you can learn from.

The great thing about Telegram is it is a cloud-based messenger. This means that new members of the platform can also view every single content posted from the very beginning.

I still watch some of the videos I have posted a few years ago, and so should you.

Without a doubt this platform has been one of the most important factors responsible for my entrepreneurship journey. One of the values of teaching is it helps to cement knowledge.

The more I taught, the more I learned.

So connect with the content here, share them and watch yourself grow as a successful entrepreneur.

Will I still post here or is this the end? Certainly not. There is more content to come. It’s just that this Birdpost baby needs constant attention at the moment.

As much as I can I will post something from time to time. And it will be nothing you will find anywhere else as usual.

Thanks for being there. Teachers exist simply because there are students. You are invaluable.

You want to know what I’m up to? Visit https://birdpost.ng

We are connecting users of POS services to POS agents in a unique way. And you can support me by being a part of it.

Thanks everyone.

Cheers to a great 2024 👍

*For all your cash needs this season*

Yesterday we secured our partnership agreement with AMMBAN (Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents of Nigeria) Lagos Chapter.

This is the association responsible for all POS Agents in Nigeria.

With a simple request you can either get cash or send cash *at your own location*

Visit https://birdpost.ng/ to register as a user today.

This video is a great summary of one of the best books on personal finance - The Psychology of Money.


Source: Escaping Ordinary (B.C Marx) on YouTube

I was invited by a youth organization in the University of Lagos(AIESEC), to speak to an inspiring audience of young people about the subject of entrepreneurship as a tool for national development.

I had an amazing time.

And as is my custom, I gave away copies of my book😊