Four Things I wish someone told me

— Newsletter
  1. First to begin, nobody cares about your thing: I’m not talking about your parents, or the person you’ve skilfully tricked into loving you forever, or your best friend. I’m talking about the general public. No matter what you’re solving, unless it’s a truly mind-bogglingly, ChatGPT-ingly transformative solution (not an idea!), people don’t care.

    The fix for this: make them care. There’s a lot of ways to do this, but it probably starts with understanding what people’s problems are and less with telling them that you’ve solved them.

  2. There aren’t any VCs coming to save you. We don’t have a culture of VC investment in tech in our region, and most of our notable VC or institutional investments that have happened has so far fizzled in the wind or are on their 15th “coming soon” teaser post. It’s not looking good. The 2020 Fed rate isn’t a thing anymore; VCs can’t afford to speculate on a cute little Caribbean tech play for a laugh. The stakes are higher. Maybe, if you’re lucky, there’s an angel investor situation that you can make work, but angel investors don’t invest in the idea anyway: they invest in you, the founder; and for as smart as your wealthy uncle may think you are, he likely can’t give away the kind of money you’d need to make your big idea a sustainable one.

    The fix for this: find another way to make money! Really. Do that. Tech industries are built on either economies of scale, or exceptionally innovative deployments of tech and business models. And, we don’t have a single Caribbean island with 10 million middle-income consumers with disposable income, ready to use your product. The region needs new business models just as urgently as emergent tech, so explore partnership models, grant funding, and ways in which you can sustain as small an operation as possible before going to market.

  3. Relationships are, tragically, the most important thing you’ll have. I, an introvert at my core, am not a fan of this fact. This, bacon-can-cause-cancer, and weed-isn’t-that-good-for-your-brain are my least favourite facts. There’s a thing that polite people will avoid telling you, but I won’t: if you’ve got an influential family or generational wealth, or friends in high places, you’ll likely get further. I see it every day: Well-Connected Under-Performer Catapulted to Fame (never revenue generation, alas). This can be a discouraging fact, or you can take a lesson: “if they can do it, then what’s keeping you from doing it? Because you’re a little shy? Your big dream doesn’t deserve you swallowing some social awkwardness?” It was something one of my very well-connected (and very cherished) friends asked me, and it stuck with me for a while. I soon after went to my first networking event.

    The fix for this: If you don’t have generational wealth or a drop-worthy last name, sounds like you’re gonna have to make some friends. One day I will talk about the ruthlessly clinical ways in which I’ve chosen to build intentional, meaningful relationships with colleagues and contacts who have grown to become friends and closely-held colleagues. Or maybe I can just tease it here, and keep you coming.

  4. If you don’t understand business, you’re fucked. Figure out how you’re going to do it, but if you’re going to work in tech, you need to understand money, and you’re going to need to understand business. You can get someone to outsource it to, but that’s just kicking the can down one. To build a successful tech company, you need to understand business, and you need to understand the business of the place you’re working. If you’re building tech for Caribbean people, guess what: you’re a business, and (condolences) you’re a Caribbean business owner; that comes with its own specificities. You can choose to ignore that at your peril, or make it part of your understanding from the start. You’ll make better products, relationships, and decisions with a lens on the business part of your business.

    The fix for this: Learn. Here’s some things I’ve read or learned about to help me better connect tech and business:

  • Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore
  • The Personal MBA, by Josh Kaufman
  • Design is a Job, by Mike Monteiro
  • Why CEOs Fail: The 11 Behaviors That Can Derail Your Climb to the Top - And How to Manage Them, by David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo
  • Michael Porter's Value Chain
  • McKinsey 7S Framework