New Age Influencers ♾
#41
Below is an essay from Vusi. I talk a lot about him. Read a lot about him. Watch a bunch of his videos. One smart guy. Don’t always agree with what he says but he is congruent. What he says is what he does. That’s how we define integrity.
The “Influencer” syndrome- Vusi Thembekwayo
The world has become such a funny place. In the era of influencers, social media superstars & self-defined personal brands, we have developed a subculture where everybody wants to be the star of the show. But there can only be one Bob Marley with the Wailers, only one Lennon with the Beatles and only with Cantona with Manchester United.
Here is an enduring thought:
What would Virgin be if all the executives in that business wanted to be Sir Richard Branson?
What would Microsoft be if Paul Allen wanted to be Bill Gates, appear on every magazine, speak at every conference & hold every AGM?
What would Discovery be if Neville Koopowitz wanted so desperately to be Adrian Gore that he forgot his role?
Steve Wozniak couldn’t have build Apple the way Steve Jobs did. (Ato and Jeph addition here 🙂)
The problem with the world today is that too many 'would-be' entrepreneurs see the summit of the mountain but not the mountain itself. The allure of the fame attached to being a halo-entrepreneur, who is seen as the sage of all knowledge & insights and is frequently invited to speak at conferences around the world is so glaring that talented technicians and technical square-heads are sacrificing who they are for who they feel the social pressure to become.
Far too many of entrepreneurs follow GaryVee & Dan Lok and want to be the star of the show, posing in-front of private jets and full auditorium halls without asking the simple question, what are my God given gifts and talents? What is my place in the world? Where am I most effective? Where do I add the most value?
Consider a soccer team. Each team has a striker, midfielder, defender and goal keeper. The Ballon d’Or has over the history of the award been overwhelmingly bestowed upon strikers. This is in part because those that score goals tend to attract more public attention and admiration that their more defense prone peers. But Cristiano Ronaldo is only as good a player as his teammates enable. He can’t win championships and trophies singlehandedly. He relies on his fellow team members to do their best work and bring their A-game to the field of play everyday. Without them, he cant be him.
So too is the case with founder teams. We are all not intended nor are we built to be the frontmen (or women).
I had a co-founder. Thank God the neanderthal fired himself. He was unbelievably damp during interviews, had the imagination of used brake fluid, was as exciting to listen to as crickets in the night sky and as inspiring to the team as dry paint. All these were my roles in the team and fell within my purview. His was simple and alternative: build the operational backbone & fulfillment architecture of the firm so that we can deliver value to our customers. I will get them through the door, you execute on our public promise.
Alas, off he went and found himself a PR agency to “build his brand”. Then he started appearing on Gupta newspapers, making false claims about his role in the firm in public and worse, trying to compete with me at being me. Schmeichel is a phenomenal goalkeeper but he can never compete with Ronaldo on scoring goals. That's not his script. That's not his strength. That's not his lane.
Founder teams only work when each of the members of the team know what their role is. As you build your startup, be sure to surround yourself with people that understand their part & are secure enough in the knowledge of who they are that they don’t feel the need to be you.
We can be equal, but we are not the same.
—
📰🗞Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year). Building the scope of my knowledge.
African mobile networks operator Helios Towers launches up to $1.8 billion London IPO: These guys saw the light before most. At the time they began operations here, almost no one thought Africans would want/ need mobile phones. Big unconventional bet = BIG unconventional returns.
Tesla delivers a record 97,000 vehicles in third quarter, falling short of forecasts: 🙄🙄🙄 it was just 3000 cars. NBD. Good job uncle Elon 👍🏾
Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300 million to unleash growth. Then things got messy: Why was this a good idea again? Can’t exactly think of what a dog-walking startup does with 300M but hey, what do I know?
From Chamath —“Read this thread to understand how pathetic *most* VCs are at generating returns and why they opt towards playing a Ponzi scheme of fees and fake markups...the suckers are the LPs and the employees of zombie companies propped up by these dollars whose equity is really worthless.”
Nigeria’s harassed tech industry is crowdfunding for a legal campaign against a rogue police unit: #StopRobbingUs. It seems in the eyes of Nigeria’s police, any young man with a laptop, smartphone and an internet connection is likely a fraudster.
Khatabook raises $25m to help small businesses in India record financial transactions digitally and accept online payments: 9 months, raise $25m. 20% growth each week. 3B in processed in August. These guys are MOVING. But Africa’s time is coming. Next 5 years, we’d see a Sequoia Africa and such companies out of the continent. But back to India. Thanks to Mukesh Ambani for his work with Reliance Jio and bringing tons of Indians online. This helped with making this the right time for Khatabook. Jeph, right timing.
Bunk Beds Are Renting For $1,000 As The Housing Crisis Spins Out Of Control: Only response I could come up with was “sorry?” But then again, this is Los Angeles where a studio goes for $3000 so not surprised. Solving a problem.
Badass millennial woman are supercharging startup investments: Women are taking control of their careers and supporting each other. I love it.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Gave $16 Million to South African Model: Good Lord almighty. God help us. Imagine…smh 16 MILLION DOLLARS!!!! @**%^& AND THE REASON SHE GOT CAUGHT WAS BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T PAY TAXES ON HER GIFTS. 🙃
First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge: You’v definitely seen me write about first principles thinking when describing the methods Elon Musk uses to create theses around his companies. Or do you remember my Are You A Chef or a Cook post? Here’s more information on that mental model. This article is today’s MUST READ.
Why Gross Profit Is More Important Than Revenue: Yup, we definitely learn something new every day.
🎧🎧Podcast— What I’m listening to (1 podcast episode a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 podcast episodes). Broadening my experiences through others’ stories.
Business Wars: Facebook vs. Snapchat is the new series on BW. Don’t know the history behind these companies? Oya, I’ve delivered your solution.
📚📚Book— 1 Chapter a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 chapters. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so 1 year = 28 to 33 books. And my book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
A More Beautiful Question— forgot to mention. Rhema is reading this book too. S/o to her who’s been most consistent with my reading recommendations!
So much of what we believe is based on some authority figure telling us that something is true. As children, we learn to stop questioning when we’re told “Because I said so.” (More on this later.) As adults, we learn to stop questioning when people say “Because that’s how it works.” The implicit message is “understanding be damned — shut up and stop bothering me.” It’s not intentional or personal. OK, sometimes it’s personal, but most of the time, it’s not.
This passage from one of the articles above relates perfectly to what we’re reading this week.
📱📱Twitter screenshot of the day
Heard this quote today from a lawyer.
“Please don’t remember facts, they remember stories.”
When you understand this, it can change the way you engage with people, run your business, etc.
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”