This post has elicited many comments across the social media universe. I had posited that dropping out from the Nigerian university system to go and build companies, mimicking America, is not a better path when you consider many factors, including that the support system in venture funding in Nigeria is still evolving. A member asked this question and I responded.
Question: Why Do You Not Fund Undergraduate Students Building Startups?
My Response: You do not need to have ever been enrolled in a school to get funds from us, but if you are in one, we will not give you money until you are done with your undergraduate study. Tekedia Capital does not fund small businesses, we fund STARTUPS and you cannot combine both for the growth we expect.
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Startup is not a part-time job ; it requires focus, dedication, tenacity and absolute commitment to a mission. We will not reduce our standards because a founder is in school since we want to WIN. That is why we will not fund you while you are still in your undergraduate program.
The DNAs of startups are different from small businesses. Sure, we know some lump them together. But we do not. In Nigeria, while there could be millions of small businesses, we do not think the nation has more than 5,000 startups.
A startup is a company which grows very fast and could be in any sector and could be young or old. It does not have to be a tech business. And it does not need to have raised funds. But it MUST be growing and GROWING. Since we cannot ask you to drop out, we only ask you to finish and then apply!
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of “exit.” The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
If you want to start one it’s important to understand that. Startups are so hard that you can’t be pointed off to the side and hope to succeed. You have to know that growth is what you’re after. The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into place. Which means you can use growth like a compass to make almost every decision you face.
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How fast does a company have to grow to be considered a startup? There’s no precise answer to that. “Startup” is a pole, not a threshold. Starting one is at first no more than a declaration of one’s ambitions. You’re committing not just to starting a company, but to starting a fast growing one, and you’re thus committing to search for one of the rare ideas of that type. But at first you have no more than commitment. Starting a startup is like being an actor in that respect. “Actor” too is a pole rather than a threshold. At the beginning of his career, an actor is a waiter who goes to auditions. Getting work makes him a successful actor, but he doesn’t only become an actor when he’s successful.
So the real question is not what growth rate makes a company a startup, but what growth rate successful startups tend to have. For founders that’s more than a theoretical question, because it’s equivalent to asking if they’re on the right path.
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Comment: Sir. Ndubuisi, this post made your previous post clearer.
Initially many thought you do not invest in founders except they are graduates. But now it’s clearer. School is a distraction for a startup founder.
But nonetheless, I do not agree when you insinuate that “education is the liberation of the mind” in context of a university.
Does it mean that a person who never enrolled in a university but goes through a Mini-MBA from tekedia isn’t as or more advantaged than one who went to school?
Education is golden. University is one place to be educated. There are several more places to be educated and still be advantaged as or even more than an Undergraduate.
My Response: I wrote “education is the liberation of the mind” . I did not write “university education” is the liberation of the mind. But in my thesis, I was referring to undergrads and not innovators in Aba, Kano and NYC who might not have entered a university. Liberation of the mind does not exclusively mean going to a university; university is just one aspect of that process.
We Could Not Invest – And The Illusion of American Dropouts. Stay In School.
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It’s still like the dichotomy between entrepreneur and business owner, the former looks fancier, so more people would like to adopt it. But the fancier the name, the harder it is to succeed there, so more than average talent and skills will be demanded.
Entrepreneur is to startup what business owner is to small business. If you want to switch from the latter to the former, then you will have to step up and rethink your mission.
Innovation is what sets startups apart, other things are mere accessories.