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RUNNING A STARTUP STUDIO

Running a startup studio is not running one business.
It’s running ten or more at the same time.

This is the part people don’t tell you.

A startup studio looks clean from the outside.
Inside, it’s controlled chaos.

Here’s the truth 

A startup studio is multiple businesses layered together

You are running: • A company builder
• A product company
• A hiring company
• A training school
• A sales organization
• A finance and compliance unit
• A marketing agency
• A customer support operation
• A strategy office
• A culture and leadership system

And that’s before any startup inside the studio starts to scale.

Each startup adds its own complexity

Every new product means: • New customers
• New problems
• New roadmaps
• New support issues
• New cash flow realities

One weak system affects everything else.

Why many startup studios struggle

• Founders underestimate operational load
• No shared execution standards
• Talent spread too thin
• Too many ideas, too little focus
• Weak revenue discipline across startups

What actually makes a studio work

• Shared infrastructure (HR, finance, legal, tech)
• Clear stage gates for new startups
• Ruthless prioritization
• Revenue expectations, not just experiments
• Strong operators, not just visionaries

A startup studio is not for people who want comfort.
It’s for people who can think in systems and execute consistently.

If you’re building one, ask yourself honestly:
Do you have the discipline to run ten businesses… or just the dream of one?

If you are interested in building a startup, I will advise you to not walk alone, go with a Venture/Startup Studio and you don’t need to search too far. I lead the team at Afrifounders Startup Studio you can reach out to know how to get started.

THE DAY I REALIZED FEATURES DON’T PAY SALARIES

I remember it clearly.

We had a beautiful product.
Clean design.
Smart features.
A proud team.

But the bank balance didn’t care.

Bills were due.
Salaries were staring at me.
And downloads were not paying anyone.

That day, something broke in me.

I stopped asking, “What feature should we add next?”
And started asking, “Who is paying and why?”

We paused building.
We picked up the phone.
We talked to real customers.

Not users.
Customers.

People with problems they were already paying to solve.

Some features we loved?
Nobody needed them.

Some things we thought were small?
People were ready to pay for them immediately.

That was the day everything changed.

Revenue brought clarity.
Focus.
Discipline.

We stopped guessing.
We started listening.

Features make founders feel productive.
Revenue keeps the company alive.

One brings applause.
The other brings survival.

Here’s the hard lesson I learned late:

A startup is not a demo.
It’s a business.

Build what sells.
Then improve what sells.

Because at the end of the day,
impact without income is just a hobby.

IGNORING AI TODAY IS THE SAME AS REFUSING TO USE A COMPUTER IN THE 90s

GOD MADE A FREE WORLD. WE TURNED IT INTO A BILLING SYSTEM

THE POWER OF INFLUENCE

THE HOAX OF SIDE HUSTLE

LOVE IS NOT WHAT MOST PEOPLE THINK IT IS

BREAK THE CYCLE

TIME-AND-EFFORT VS RESULTS ECONOMY

Most people live in what I call the Time-and-Effort Economy.

You show up.
You put in hours.
You expect a predictable outcome.
Entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury.

The moment you choose entrepreneurship, you cross a risk line into a very different world — the Results Economy.

There’s no guaranteed paycheck.
No one owes you income every two weeks.
No reward for effort alone.
You eat what you produce.

In this economy, value creation is the only currency that matters. Your ability to identify problems, create solutions, and generate opportunity determines whether money comes in or not.

Some days, you will work endlessly and see nothing to show for it.
Other days, a single decision, conversation, or insight produces results far beyond the effort invested.

That imbalance is not a bug — it’s the nature of the system.

Entrepreneurs don’t optimize for comfort.
They optimize for outcomes.
And here’s the part many people miss:

If you work for an entrepreneur or a results-driven organization, you are inside the Results Economy too, even if your salary shields you from its raw reality.

The business doesn’t exist because of time spent.
It exists because of results produced.

This isn’t meant to create fear or insecurity. It’s meant to reveal the path to relevance and growth.

In a results-driven environment, the question is no longer: “How hard did I work?”
It becomes: “What value did I create?”
“What problem did I solve?”
“What outcome did my presence make possible?”

Those who understand this rise quickly — whether as founders or team members.
Those who don’t eventually feel stuck, frustrated, or replaceable.

The real skill in the Results Economy is learning how to maximize outcomes while minimizing wasted time and effort.

That’s where leverage lives.
That’s where growth happens.
That’s where careers and companies are built.

STUDY THE BILLIONAIRE’S MIND, NOT HIS LOOKS

Someone asked, “Which of them is a billionaire?” And I just laughed. From my experience, they all could be billionaires and they all may not be billionaires.

You can’t identify a billionaire by looks.

Some wear chains, watches, loud colors, designer from head to toe.
Some dress like they just stepped out to buy bread. Both can be billionaires.

There is no billionaire uniform.

There are billionaires with great fashion sense and billionaires with terrible fashion sense.
There are kind billionaires and wicked ones.
Quiet ones. Loud ones. Wise ones. Very foolish ones. Introverts. Extroverts. Minimalists. Maximalists.

Money does not produce a single personality or appearance.

So when people say, “He doesn’t look rich” or “A billionaire wouldn’t dress like that,” what they really mean is: “He doesn’t look like the version of wealth I imagined.”

And that imagination is usually shaped by movies, social media, and assumptions—not reality. What actually makes a billionaire isn’t clothes, jewelry, or vibes.

It’s usually:
Long-term thinking, extreme focus, the ability to solve problems at scale, taking risks others avoid, staying in the game longer than most people can tolerate, leveraging systems, people, technology, or capital, enduring years where effort showed little reward

Wealth is built in habits, decisions, timing, and endurance—not appearance.

So instead of studying how rich people dress,
study how they think, how they decide, how they persist, and how they create value.

Looks can be copied.
Character, discipline, and execution cannot.

THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Biology taught us that living things are a product of their genetic makeup (genotype) and their environment which is referred to as phenotype and I will say the environment is a much more determining factor in what our eventual form is than the genotype. So you may have genes for light skin but you love in a place where you are constantly exposed to heavy sunlight, you will not be as fair skinned as someone who has exactly the same genes but lives in a place without that more exposure.

This goes a long way to show the importance of the environment in life of a person. However. When you want to choose where to live, who to be friends with, what kind of music to listen to, what course to study, what kind of person to be in a relationship with, what kind of work to do, we hardly think about these things.

The seed has everything in it to become a tree but nothing happens until it is planted is the soil, watered and exposed to some sunlight. These 3 elements are all it needs to grow.

So let me ask you, do you even know the kind of environment you need to unlock that greatness you have within? It starts with first identifying what’s missing then you can go for it.

Have you ever sat down to examine yourself to know what’s best for you to blossom? What some people need is to get married and be with someone who loves them and they begin to flourish, some others need to stay away from marriage and kids to be in their best productive form, some need to leave their hometown and come to Lagos while others need to travel back. Some need to japa while others need to japada. Some need to stop watching football while others need to change the friends they hang out with.

If you observe yourself and see that it seems like you have been stagnant for long or being going round in cycles you need to look into your environment!!!

And when I say environment I mean everything you interact with, people, places, things and experiences.

Fix your environment and your life is fixed.

PS. The picture of the food is unrelated, I knew you would like it that’s why I added it. 

ESCAPING THE POVERTY MINDSET

Hunger is a bi-product of poverty. I know this because I have first hand experience. When I started my entrepreneurial journey, my biggest wish then was to be able to afford a full chicken with 5 alive at Mr Biggs’.

This may not make any sense to you but given my experience with poverty, being able to afford to eat a full chicken and a whole 5 alive pack was the height of enjoyment for me, it was my motivation and when I made the money, I would walk into the nearest Mr Biggs’ branch, order the food and finish it then if I had some change, I end the day with a mixture of milk and Maltina. Enjoyment right? If you think it’s enjoyment, you have been shaped by your experience. If you think it’s not enjoyment you have also been shaped by your experience.

Dave Partner, our Yoot superintendent, always emphasizes that poverty can give you stewpid skills but not just skills, it will give you a messed up life. To be able to break free from poverty, you need to get out of that mindset and the life it has given you.

That is the reason why a poor man will finish 22 slices of bread but a rich man can’t even eat 3 slices. Do an analysis of your goals and vision, if it is centered around poverty motivated needs like the need to impress other people or the need to use luxurious things or eat good food like mine, then your live is driven by poverty and you need to come out of it.

I was consulting for an international organization at a time and the company put me in a hotel which offers buffets twice a day. I would eat until I had to run to the toilet and I did that every day for one week. There was a lady who would come to the buffet take a cup of tea and leave. I couldn’t understand why she liked to waste money but now I do. I won’t bore you further with my poverty stories but look at your life, look at your vision, is it driven by poverty? If yes, you don’t have to be ashamed, you just need to be intentional about changing. Do things that will help you break free.

Traveling is a good way to break free from poverty mindsets, borrow money to travel if you can. Bayo Lion Adedeji‘s Wakanow have pay small small plans. It’s a great investment for your mind. But if you can’t travel, read wide. Go on YouTube and search for videos about different parts of the world, their people, history, culture etc. Gradually you will loose your poverty mindset. I will continue this in another post.

FOUNDATIONAL INFO ABOUT STARTUPS

AVOID THE GRANDIOSITY

Avoid the Grandiosity

Creativity is important, but when it is excessive, it can lead to grandiosity. Some claim to be different and they are so obsessed with been “different” that they begin to do JUST everything “differently” and most often, wrongly.

As too much of everything is not good, so can too much of zeal, push and ambition not properly matched with corresponding work and planing may do more harm than good.

Don’t do what you can do in a day in a month under the guise that you are trying to reach perfection. Great ideas never come fully formed, they only become better as you continue to work on them. So don’t delay the launch, don’t postpone the meeting, don’t wait another day because of grandiosity.

The successful know that being grandiose is not useful. Rather, it is simply a form of day-dreaming that does not translate into practical and reasonable set of steps you can take to improve your situation.

Tread with caution.

FROM DIRECTOR TO DISILLUSIONED: MY GNLD LESSON

In 2005, I was introduced to GNLD, I liked the business model and loved the promises of a better life more. As a LAPO kid that I am, I would fantasise about what I would do with the money and all the trips promised. I consumed every material I was given about it and became really good at it.

At some point, I actually started considering quitting school because who needs school when you have money? I soon became a facilitator and was even “loaned” to other teams to facilitate in Ibadan, Ogun state and as far as Ife, Osun state. I was battling stage fright then, but perfected my public speaking with GNLD meetings. I went to every meeting with something unique, created more acronyms and always got extra applause after each presentation with a lot of sign-ups.

Then I got 1000 points and got the Director badge. Yes!!! My dreams are finally coming through. I got a cheque of about 20 dollars that month, but I was encouraged because I knew, or I thought, other months would be better. Only for me to discover that I needed to get 1000 points every month to retain my director title, or I would lose it. I got 995 points the next month, and like you already guessed, I lost my director title and complete interest in the whole thing. Little did I know that most of my uplines too already lost their titles and were not getting the cheques they kept showing us, monthly. I was disappointed and I left.

Fast forward to last year, I saw a young guy with a GNLD bag by the roadside and decided to give him a lift. As soon as he sat, he started his evangelism, and I shared my experiences with him, but he didn’t listen, and I wasn’t surprised because a part of the training we gave back then was for members not to listen to those who did it and failed because they would try to “confuse them”. He was so angry that he asked to get out of the car before he got to his destination. As he alighted, I just said a prayer for him and hoped he got something better he could put all that passion and energy into, something like a bootcamp with Skillup Africa that would indeed change his life forever in less than a year.

If you don’t believe me, head to our YouTube channel or website to see tons of testimonies from people whose lives were completely transformed after Skillup Africa.

HOMEGROWN SOLUTIONS: WHY IMPORTED FRAMEWORKS DON’T ALWAYS WORK IN AFRICA

We need to solve our own problems in Africa our own ways. Methodologies like Scrum are great but I often think most of the concepts are not directly suitable for our work.

What we need to understand is that some people also created these solutions to their own problems and if we will be using them, it shouldn’t be without modifications that factor in our peculiar situations.

This same thing applies to ideas or products from the western world. The fact that a product is successful in Europe does not mean you can copy and paste it here and it would work. In the line of work I meet a lot of Africans who have lived outside Nigeria for many years and they have lost touch with reality here. They seem to have the best solutions to our problems and tend to think those of us here are either uninformed or can’t see the solution.

I have watched several of them try to replicate their “solutions” here and failed woefully. There is a reason why the first step in design thinking is empathy. If you can’t see our problems from our own lenses, you most likely will not be able to solve them. A people’s way of life (culture) is a big part of who they are and should not be neglected in doing anything that involves the people.

Don’t be afraid to create homegrown solutions, even if there are no references to them in any books. African creators, rise up to the challenge. Build and keep building, nobody else can do it better than you. Create new models, systems and solutions. The world is waiting to learn from you.

GO ALL OUT

There is a man I buy some tools from, which I use for work. I don’t like this man, I don’t like how he talks, I don’t like his customer service, but I have been buying from him for almost a decade now because I always get the best products and prices from him.

One of the people who works with me on a team told me some time ago that he was convinced his team lead didn’t like him. He was giving that as a reason why they always have issues. Though I knew that wasn’t the issue, I “advised” him to make sure he outperforms all the time so the team lead will have no reasons to castigate him, and it “has been working” ever since.

Interesting. I was listening to a podcast where Iyin Aboyeji was saying the same thing: that his goal is to be “loaded” and to be ignored. Reminds me of Hidden Figures, a movie, where the character played by Taraji P. Henson was so good that even with all the racism, they couldn’t ignore her.

Since I was a teenager, my disposition to life has always been that if you need something so bad, you do all you need, not all you can, to get it. If a door can’t be opened, you break it; if you don’t have a seat at the table, make your own table.

My philosophy of life, since I heard someone talk about it when I was just 15 years old at Educare Trust Nigeria, is to be MAD (Make a difference), and I try to do this in everything. I have clients who have been with us for over a decade, and I know people who work with me today, because of the cost of finding a replacement, allegedly. And I say this with all sense of responsibility and humility.

There should be no half measures, go all out, outwork everyone, outperform everyone, if 10 is required, deliver 100. Give no one no reasons to get you off. Be irresistible. Be unavoidable. You work in a company and they are downsizing, but you a panicking, it’s a sign that you may be mediocre. Even if they will be retaining one person, why can’t that be you?

Re-evaluate yourself today, are you a half-measure guy? Do you put excellence in all that you do? If you want to go far, you need a quick change of heart. No be everything be prayer. Think about it.

ADAPT OR BECOME ARCHAIC

I used to be a good dancer until COVID-19 happened. It just seems like heavy duty workouts got upgraded to dance steps and dances generally became more mechanical and confusing.

I practically have not been able to keep with the trend, while you are trying to learn one, a new one is already out. My biggest problem is that majority of these dances make you look quite stupid so often times I am torn between stressing myself to learn the calorie burning dances or risking making myself look stupid in public.

Same thing happened with fashion. About 15 years ago, I took a fashion course from a school in Milan and even went on to do extensive research. I could refer to myself as a fashion conscious professional back then. Soon, they started the confusion with colour blocking and the likes. Now they wear stripe on stripe, wear oversized and undersized wears and call it creative.

The narrative I just painted is what a lot of people who grew up in the 90s struggle with. But the real truth is that things are changing and that won’t stop. When I started learning how to code, I wasn’t even proud enough to mention it in public. On two different occasions, I blatantly denied in public that I could build websites because I didn’t want anyone to ask me if I had a degree in computer science but all that’s changed now.

These changes are normal and will continue, we are the ones who need to be open minded and change as things change, else you will end up being an archaic person in a modern world. When we ask people to learn tech skills, they think it is because we want them to switch to tech, you don’t necessarily need to switch. But if you are a tailor who can code, you will be a better tailor. If you are a footballer and you can code, you will be a better footballer.

Our next 20 years will be built on tech, our last 10 years was heavily defined by tech. It is a wise decision if you decide to learn a viable tech skill now. It may not necessarily be that you need to work with that skill, but it is important that you are not left behind.

Don’t treat this as something you will do when you are less busy or have the time, treat it as urgent. Find a good program and pay for it. You can also engage the tons of resources available online. Just make sure you are doing something. Don’t stop or settle.

GOD’S PLAN IS BIGGER THAN YOUR ESCAPE PLAN

When the children of Israel ran to God for help at the Red Sea, they had no idea God will intervene by opening up the sea. I’d bet their prayer point was “God stop these Egyptians from following us”, “Lord, send an army to defend us from the Egyptians” etc.

I am even very sure when Moses looked up to God for help he wasn’t expecting God to intervene the way He did (although He knew God would help). And this happens to us all.

We ask God to make a way and we try to figure out which way He will make. We try to plan our way of escape with our limited gaze.

Mountains where on both sides, the Red sea in front and the Egyptians behind. Humanly speaking, knocking out the Egyptians seemed to be the best option. But to God who is all knowing and all powerful, There is a better way.

When we cry to God to make a way and it seems the way we are expecting Him to make is not opening up, don’t loose hope, He is making a better way. He sees more than we can see and knows more than we know. He surely will make a better way. Don’t put all hope in a thing or person, put it in God.

Even if it means that the unimaginable will happen, He will surely make a way.

Say this quick prayer.

Father, I thank you for this grace and adore you ’cause you are the Almighty. As regards _____________ (state your needs) Please make a way. I don’t care how you will do it or who you will use, all I want is that you make a way according to your word in Isa 43:19. I bless you God for I know you have answered. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen.

DO YOUR BEST TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE

In your lifetime, ensure that you do your best to do what you love.

Hear me out first. I know that the first thing you need to consider in anything you want to do is the economics. This is very valid and my opinion in this regard is that when you are just starting out, say straight out of college, what you love shouldn’t necessarily be what you will be targeting, it should be what will give you the edge the most.

My personal recommendation is that when you are young, you can try any legal thing. Put yourself in the work, do as much as you can. You will learn a lot from those experiences. In the little time I have spent on earth, I have found that people who try several things at the beginning of their lives are often better prepared for the next 30 years. They have vast experience and confidence from failing severally.

When you are young, the only thing you shouldn’t do is waste time, you can do things and fail repeatedly but don’t waste time. Learn skills, take on jobs, change careers and if you fail, don’t worry, you still have enough time. Take learnings from the experiences and move on. By the time you are 30 or getting close to it, from your experience, you should have seen clearly where you should spend your next decade.

My advice at this point is for you to focus on only that and give it your very best. At this stage, you can apply the experiences you have had doing every other thing into this one singular thing and give it your best shot. If you do that well for a decade, you should have reached some level of sustainability, where you can pull back and probably grow other things with that is still in motion.

It is at this point that I recommend that you really commit to what you love to do, whether the economics is right or not. The interesting thing is, you don’t even need to like what you have been doing so far, it’s not a problem but you shouldn’t leave here without doing what you love. And please note, some people’s journeys are shorter while some are longer but you get the idea of my post?

I often meet a lot of people who never get to do things they really love and you can feel the sadness in their voices when they share. I mean, if what you love is to travel the world and sample the food from each country, you can’t do that when you are still hustling but you can work to create a structure that supports it. For people like Mazi Daniel Sadiq he even built his work into it.

No matter how crazy the things you like to do are, create time to do them before you leave here because there is a huge sense of achievement that comes with it. You will forget the pain of doing the things you didn’t love once you are able to start doing what you love. For me one of the things I really love to do is Skillup Africa and I started doing it 3 years ago, though we can’t afford the idle model I have in my head for now, we had to start and are gradually walking towards it and I don’t think there is anything else I do that gives me such sense of fulfillment. The feeling can’t be explained.

As you go into the week, find some time to think and plan this. You deserve to be happy but it’s not bad if you have to endure weeping for a while, you just have to be strategic with it, so the weeping doesn’t become your lifestyle.

SMALL DECISIONS, BIG CONSEQUENCES

“Excuse me sir, can I talk to you in a few minutes?”

I turned my head to see where the voice was coming from and saw this man (in his 40s) hanging over the opened door of my car’s back seat.

I was in a public space and hurriedly responding to a work enquiry so I told him to give me a few minutes to complete what I was doing. One part of my mind was responding to the work need while the other part was debating whether the man wanted to preach to me, sell something to me or ask me for money.

Few minutes later I felt the need to quench my thirst so I called a vendor, out of courtesy I asked the man if he cared for something also and that was when he displayed his youthfulness. He order one of the most expensive drinks on the vendors tray, e shock me, but I acted as if I didn’t see it and paid.

I finally finished what I was doing and turned to attend to him, then he started to tell me how his kids are home hungry, how he won’t mind anything and just needed my help. I just told him bluntly I won’t be able to help as even me sef need help.

You may laugh about this but many of us are not very different from this man in our relationships. Little things matter to people, don’t let your selfishness or greed rob you of bigger blessings that should be yours. This is a new year, stop playing.

IS CONVENIENCE MAKING US COMPLACENT?

Many years ago when it was time for my IT, I came to Lagos from Ibadan, teamed up with 5 other friends, printed about 50 copies of my CV and application letters and then walked the whole of Ogba and other areas I can’t remember now.

We went from offices to offices dropping copies of our CVs and even when they turned us back, we just laughed about it and moved on. We didn’t stop till we shared all our copies. I got a few interviews but no offers but it was fine. I finally went back to Ibadan for the IT.

Fast forward to today. Hardly does anyone walk around with CVs, all you have to do is just send an email. While I have seen some people on LinkedIn say they applied 600, 1000 or more times, it’s not common practice.

You would assume that people should be able to do hundreds if not thousands of applications easily comparing where we were coming from, but the reverse is the case. If you are a job seeker, answer for yourself, how many times have you applied for opportunities in the last 3 months? Are you really sure you are searching?

Technology is a two-edged sword. As it makes things easier, it also makes people lazier. With GenAI (ChatGPT and the like), in another 5 years most of use won’t be able to even write a letter by ourselves anymore, same way we cant do simple calculations without using calculators.

It’s evolution, it’s not Gen Z, it’s the evolution of man. We are all changing but those who don’t have any prior evidence will be completely changed, hence the Gen Z thing.

This calls for caution and a lot of retrospective thinking. As we get excited about advancements in technology, we also need to make adequate plans for the consequences of those innovation.

DOCUMENT YOUR KNOWLEDGE

One thing I believe everyone must do at least once in their lifetime is to document their knowledge. The black man has lost a lot of history, knowledge and virtue because we don’t document. Strodinger, Galiloe, Pascal, Tesla, Einstein and their kinds are people we study today because they documented their knowledge. But the average black man cannot say the same and this should change with you and I.

Create a course, write a book, create some YouTube videos. All these things will outlive you and your intelligence. You should contribute to a body of work, no matter who you are. You could be a police man, a baker, a referee, a cook, a plumber or a stay at home mom. There is surely something about something that you know better than others and you can share that information with the world.

Even if you are the most useless person in the world, at least you know something about being useless than most people and you can share your perspective on that.

I recorded my first course in 2013. It was a course on graphics design with CorelDraw.

Two things happened as a result of that that shocked me.

1. I stumbled on the course about 4 years ago and sat down to watch it. I was really amazed at the knowledge I shared in the course. I sincerely don’t remember about 70% of what I shared in the course, I had to learn from myself.

Creating a course is a great way to document knowledge for yourself, for others and the world at large.

2. About 5 years ago, someone called me on my phone asking me if I have a course on how to use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. I was quite surprised by his question because I stopped graphics design professionally in 2014. He then said he bought my course (which I gave to my students back then and strictly warned them not to share) at under-bridge in Ikeja so he called the number I watermarked on the video to know if I have other courses.

As weird as it was, I wasn’t angry, I was quite impressed and happy that a lot of people found it useful. That was my first eye opener when it comes to creating courses or documenting knowledge.

If you have never done this before, take cautious effort to document your knowledge in 2025 and you will be glad you did. The world will thank you for it.

Imole!!!

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