#110 From VC to Lifestyle Business, African Tech spaces, advice for learning to code
This week I was wrangling on getting the hover state to work for my navigation and getting text to neatly sit below an image (responsively). My Sis has also agreed she will take some professional shots of her product with the right perspective so that we can have the main placement looking beautiful. At the end of the day, we want to sell the experience and put our best foot forward right?
Prototyping
MockFlow - Online Wireframe Tools, Prototyping Tools, UI Mockups, UX Suite, Desktop software, UX Planning
A UX tool that got shared in one of my circles.
Let me know how you find it if you get to use it before I do.
Freemium pricing model so expect to pay for quality
Insights
From Aspiring Billionaire to Indie Hacker with Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad
Summary of the chat:
After leaving his post as employee #2 at Pinterest, a teenage Sahil Lavingia (@shl) raised millions in funding from high-profile Silicon Valley to build a unicorn startup that could change the world — Gumroad. He later switched from the high-growth approach to an indie hacker approach where he bought out most of his investors.
Today he spends much of his time learning to write and oil paint, and runs Gumroad as an lifestyle business with the goal of making himself happier.
In this episode we talk about what happened in between, and the lessons Sahil learned that can help every indie hacker create better lives for themselves by building more “successful” businesses.
His story is unique - you don’t hear much about Founders who went from being with VC with the pressures to grow super fast to one who is control of his own destiny.
He said now, Gumroad is no longer the only thing that matters. It is now a part of his bigger purpose.
We were a 20 person team and now it can be just me answering support emails once a week and we have the same growth trajectory.
It gave me the freedom to say, look, I’m just not that important to the operations of this company and the success of this product and the success of our creators
For me, this gives me hope that I can build systems of automation that allow sales, cashflow and transactions to occur without a real life presence
The three wealthiest people I know and what I've learned from their stories
Came across this post on reddit and I found it super interesting what this guy shared.
TL;DR
Start really really small, local and it’s okay to do things that other people are doing. Don’t try to change the world on day 1. Business is like a snowball effect and it grows with time. The first step should be doing something simple and risk free with the goal of quitting your job and getting your time back.
Later you can move onto the next thing as the opportunities and money grows. You will have built track record and had experience and know who you can work with and trust over long periods of time
It’s all about not being afraid to work hard on something others would think is boring and “unscalable”. Get your feet wet. Learn entrepreneurship. Make some money. Learn to sell and interact with people and manage expectations and deal with money.
Then keep your eyes and ears to the ground and make really good logical (not emotional) decisions on what opportunities you should say NO to and what opportunities you should say YES to.
Imagine a world without value propositions?
Really cool article. I love it when I hear easy to understand business models and I believe it just makes it easier to buy into your mission
Imagine a world where no one specialised in anything. Where you couldn’t go to a specific store or a specific brand when you needed sports shoes. No options for running, cross-fit, football or tennis, and no difference between shoes for the young, old, male or female. Imagine needing to go on a date, but restaurants all served the same food at the same price and you had no way to match what you needed to what was available. This would be a world without value propositions.
Log your digital life without giving up your privacy
Log what you do on your computer. Simple (yet powerful), extensible, no third parties.
Open-source time tracking software
Makers
People learning a new skill like coding often neglect the basics.
They want to skip forward to the advanced stuff which they think they will make them really good.
Despite this, if you look at the experts in any field, they're usually really really good at the basics.
Culture Chat
Event for black women and non-binary peeps
Space for the black women and non-binary people in our community to have a fun relaxed time away from the trials and tribulations of our regular days. RSVP
An invitation for black and social Innovators doing good
A 4 month incubator program for people of Afro-Caribbean descent creating tech for good products. RSVP
AfriTech Pizza And Beer hangout
A social gathering for awesome people in the Africa tech space to have fun and hang out. RSVP
Smart Kaya — Africa’s first hands-free smart speaker.
Africa’s first hands-free smart speaker. Meet Kaya. Ask it questions, play music, control your home, and more. All with just your voice.
Faithful Black Women Association®️
This is Fathia Abdullahi she is a 12 year old coder who created a robot that fold clothes. #BlackGirlMagic https://t.co/hQsbKmTlpq
Google and Facebook are circling Africa with huge undersea cables to get millions online
In Annette Abena’s weekly brief, she summarised some of what the tech giants are doing in Africa to get them connected?
Skeptical but a massive opportunity for African’s to participate in this shift
Africa remains the only continent with over half the total population without internet access at 24%
Facebook is reportedly working on plans for “Simba” an underwater cable that will circle the continent with landings on multiple coasts.
Google has confirmed construction plans for a cable connecting Portugal and South Africa with the first phase due to be completed by 2021.
Deployment of high-capacity fiber-optic cables will ultimately improve connectivity and likely make internet costs much cheaper, allowing more Africans to get—and stay