The word ‘solopreneur’ comes from two words – solo and entrepreneur. A ‘solo’ (noun) is usually used referring to music, and means the performer is playing an instrument, or singing, without the accompaniment or backing of anything or anybody.

In a wider context, it usually means doing something on one’s own.

The definitions of an entrepreneur vary and the perception of what one is, has evolved over time. Historically, an entrepreneur was a type of solo-VC, independently wealthy, who cut out middlemen VC companies and unit trusts, by finding start-ups to invest in directly, taking some level of direct governance role themselves.

More recently, it has come to mean a section of the self-employed, that will be seeking funding to drive start-ups on a rapid development curve intended to scale.

Over time, the newer type of entrepreneur may also adopt the strategy of the older one, finding new ways to deploy profit, and hedge against risk.

Business owners content with a trajectory that simply aligns revenue expectations with RPI and provides them with a salary are generally not viewed as entrepreneurs, though some perceive any business owner as an ‘entrepreneur’.

Nation 99, reports on a case where a solopreneur yoga teacher, Rebecca Norton Cummings partnered with yoga studios to offer her classes in their facility, making use of their space. The studio takes a percentage of the receipts she collects while teaching there. Cross pollination of client groups happens between Cummings’ teaching services and the studio facilities so they both get additional business. The marketing is often done jointly.

In online, and blockchain leveraging businesses, the dynamic is quite different.

Physical infrastructure isn’t very important. They can operate with very limited tools. They don’t need a premises. Others that agree to be involved in developing the start-up can contribute remotely. The status of contributors between who is a freelancer, a community activist, or a partner is more fluid, and is a spectrum.

What has happened in the downturn among ‘Web 3’ branded businesses. 

Significant numbers of promising and resilient start-ups tend to rise invisibly post a new-tech apocalypse for a few reasons. It is mostly because they have paid close attention to what has crashed and burnt.

1. They are far more frugal with capital.
2. They reach at least primary stages of PoC (Proof of Concept) quite quickly and in some cases, even get product to market. This is one of the up-sides of VC capital being so scarce and choosy – solopreneurs by nature don’t grow a team early, which doesn’t impress investment. They don’t get distracted by chasing funding with a low chance of conversion, and therefore actually concentrate more on product development than when in a prevailing mood of high investment confidence.
3. They are more honest with themselves about the value delivery, usability and utility of the product(s).
4. Content creation moves away from ‘pitch deck’ and towards ‘community hook’. They work less on attracting investment and more on creating an advance appetite for adoption, nearing the ending of product development stages.

But while the approach of solopreneurs is different, especially in a bear market, so too, engagement with them needs to change.

There are many profiles in the space that encompasses blockchain and web3 who claim to be specialists in ‘helping’ start-ups to ‘get to the next level’

Advice on approaching solopreneurs:

‘Don’t try to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs’.

This is a very old idiom coined by a Spanish Nobleman Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, circa 1800’s and variations of it have entered common usage in many languages.

The universal interpretation is: Don’t try to teach, inform, or ‘consult’ on an area where your prospect is an expertise veteran, and you by comparison are a novice.

Start-ups aren’t mature businesses where strategic layers exist at various levels. The business owner has expertise in strategy, planning, tactics, conceptualization, roadmap, umbrella ideas and innovation in spades.

Two heads are always better than one, but these areas aren’t the bottleneck to progress.

Coding, online community building, legal, corporate and IP, and promotion, are examples of likely under-servicing… but internal delivery gaps will be on the execution side.

Do your homework before looking for a 1-2-1 engagement with a solopreneur.

Solopreneurs are always over-stretched. If you do get the chance to do a 1-2-1, do not embarrass yourself.

Never ask ill-defined questions like… ‘Can you tell me about what you do?’ or ‘Can you tell me a bit about X’ (brand, product company etc)

Is the solopreneur ‘looking a job’ from you? No! So stop trying to frame yourself like a hiring manager or recruiter!

If the solopreneur has a website up – fine. (I have my professional one at johnmckeown.eu, while 9jacosmos.com is a work in progress). Ask about online platforms they are on, and read up on content, particularly posts.

If they are serious about product development, they should be on Discord, and maybe Github where they will be engaging in technical discussions. Reddit is also possible. If they are stretched, they may not be on Twitter or Telegram, and that is not necessarily a bad thing, it demonstrates they can prioritize and have focus.

LinkedIn should be where they additionally achieve a marriage of tech focus and business promo.

Other platforms are a distraction unless its one of the newer dApp types like DeSo, Entre, Mastodon, DTube, Signal, Lemmy etc.

They may have some open published works – Substack, Medium.

Ask if they have any URLs where they, or the start-up have appeared in the media.

When talking to the solopreneur, ask targeted questions which come from the informed position of diligent research. The time will be used more efficiently and the outputs will be more valuable.

Linking to a solopreneur on LinkedIn.

Because solopreneurs are so stretched, they try to take proactive steps to avoid wasted time. Many solopreneurs have ‘allergies’ to the use of certain words in intros, which they perceive as being attempts to disguise ‘transactional’ intent.

Unless you are disinterested in a transactional outcome do not use:

‘explore synergies’

‘opportunity’

‘partner’

‘add value’

Some will see these as being deliberately vague and as red flags.

They will probably check your profile before responding. Good things to avoid:

Profile: Unless you are a retired and/or independently wealthy philanthropist, or doing your NYSC, don’t start your headline off with ‘I help…’ If getting paid, that is an agreed transactional equilibrium so the use of ‘help’ makes that sound unequal and sanctimonious – as if despite getting paid, you still feel you’ve done the other side ‘a solid’.

Posting: It irks some people to see a post that starts ‘Dear <role type>’. It can create the impression the author somehow feels superior to all persons conforming to the collective following ‘Dear’.

Both of these dynamics risk portraying oneself as entitled and set apart from everyone else. Individualism is good, but it needs to be reflected positively. Teamwork is critical to a solopreneur in an early start-up with scarce resources.

Try to avoid showing individualism in a way that portrays a poor team player.

To interest a solopreneur, you may need to act like a solopreneur.

Funding is uncommon. Solopreneurs are having to find creative ways to get things done. Some of them are doing pizza deliveries, driving taxis or waiting tables to bootstrap a start-up.

Many have a strong vision about the importance of the product. They believe it has the potential for change on a level they feel short-termists will not understand.

They do not want to risk the project by agreeing funding on aggressive exit terms. Some may be hesitant to launch a coin that may challenge the investment of ‘community’ further down the line.

With funds so short, it’s obvious a salaried team is not an option.

This then raises the question why someone would want to market themselves as a contracted start up expert in this lean sector with so many bootstrapped solopreneurs?? If they are interested in lucrative returns on demand, surely there has to be an easier gig elsewhere?

Everybody has their reasons for doing things.

Many are motivated by more than income, though getting the bills paid does help.

Some want to be remembered as being part of a trailblazing venture, setting records, breaking new ground, making ‘firsts’ happen.

But if there is no salary or contract fee, what are the ways of getting paid?

Stake in product income.

This means exactly what it says. It is usually confined to one product the new team member gets involved with.

This is one of the most immediate ways of getting return from effort as the moment that particular product starts generating revenue, income rolls in.

Michael Jordan was notoriously the first basketball player to ever secure an income stake from sportswear bearing his name (NIKE) and went on to become a billionaire.

Drawbacks: The devil is in the detail. Try to negotiate a deal based on gross revenue, not profit sharing. The circumstances under which the owner(s) can reasonably discontinue that product in the overall business also needs to be considered. If the product dies, the return from effort dies with it.

Coin/Token allocation.

If the business decides to launch a coin or token, some owners will offer a token allocation in lieu of a salary. This tends to vary depending on how critical and impactful the perceived contribution of the new team member, and how early in the portfolio cycle the member arrived.

Drawbacks: Coins/tokens released frequently hit an all time high a few weeks to some months after release, and then plummet to a baseline level a fraction of what they were worth at their high. Many disappear for ever. For those that survive, it is a bit early in the relatively new industries to predict if and when recovery will happen, though new-tech equity markets would suggest 2-5 years after all time low, or 3.5 – 6 years after initial launch. (Note this refers to product centric launches, not Bitcoin or Ethereum)

In the interests of maintaining coin/token price, there may be limitations on how early allocation benefactors can sell on the open market, particularly those whose allocation is a result of executive service. Recipients in lieu of salary may find the value of the coin/token has significantly declined while they were locked in. They may find themselves with a tough choice of redeeming for a fraction of what they feel their time is worth, or holding them in uncertain hope of a rise in several years.

Equity

A favourite of mine, equity offers the best balance of magnitude of return with security from participation.

The amount of equity on offer depends on many variables, such as how many share holders already exist, how far the product portfolio is down the roadmap (if at all) when the new team member joins, and how pivotal they are perceived to be to the future of the business.

An equity allocation transforms the new team member to (albeit junior) owner standing shoulder to shoulder with the original founder(s).

This requires them to change their approach and outlook from the perspective of being an executive staff member, to being a joint entrepreneur.

The improved motivation and dedication brought by ownership, vastly increases the businesses chances of success, and its rate of progress, as long as additional equity holders can make the mental change to join the vision.

A little over a year ago, Unstoppable domains, a business with some similarities to 9ja Cosmos, was paid $68 million by Pantera Capital for a fraction of a %.

Drawbacks: Subject to survival of the business, the equity model offers the best balance of return and risk mitigation. However, options for returns usually only become possible several years after product launch.

Regardless of which approach taken, the decision to become a Start-up participant with a solopreneur in the Web 3 or Blockchain space is not one to be taken lightly. These industries are very young, so it is a good idea to check the solopreneurs track record for appreciation of underlying technologies before Web3 was ‘a thing’.

9ja Cosmos is here…

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All reference sites accessed 26/06/2023

entrepreneur.com/leadership/4-differences-between-solopreneurs-and-an-entrepreneur/245766

devexus.net/articles/3-top-tips-for-solopreneur-success/

nation1099.com/solopreneur-partnership-joining-forces/

yourlifestylebusiness.com/solopreneur/