My first attempt at startup in my final year of Uni failed! We had built a general transcription product that listens to and transcribes speeches in real time and then sends a PDF version with brilliant images and infographics to every member of your audience almost at the same time you’re getting off the stage.
It was a great product that no one would pay for, not the public speakers or the conference organizers we built our ideal customer persona around.
But that’s not the main gist.
I would leave the university with a resolve to go build capacity and knowledge to do it better next time such that I’ll be ready by the time another problem opens up to be solved.
This mindset was key to how I went about my work at Microsoft, at Wema bank, at ALAT as the product launched into the market as Nigeria’s first fully digital bank and at WayaPayChat. I operated pretty much as an intrapreneur, taking on tasks that doesn’t necessarily add anything to my KPIs, but valuable to the bigger goal of the business. Made me such a reliable and solid employee but more importantly expanded my capacity in ways I can’t quantify for my second shot at entrepreneurship with truQ (Techstars '22) where we are now building the operating system and financial infrastructure for commercial logistics fleet operators.
I’m particularly excited about this event coming up this weekend cos it a perfect platform to share my experience with jobseekers around searching for jobs with a strategic mindset that aligns your jobhunt with your purpose, and more importantly when you do get the job, how do you approach work as an employee to be valuable to your employer than the average employee while laying critical blocks as you build up yourself towards your purpose.
Promises to be a great time!