Timing is everything. ⏰
#53
Today, I listened to the latest episode on Business Wars. This new series talks about Facebook and Snapchat’s war. On the previous episode, Evan rejected Zuck’s offer of 3B$ for the company, even though at the time, they were worth 60m. He also rejected Google’s offer for 30B$ (I didn’t know this so it kind of blew my mind). Now, why would he do this? Each time, it had to do with timing. He thought he could build something bigger and better. It just wasn’t the right time to exit. And alas, Snap IPO’d at 24B$. Maybe they should’ve taken the Google offer right? But looking at Google’s track record with Google Plus, Snap probably wont be around right now if Google bought them😂😂😂😂.
But yes, just got me thinking about knowing when to pull the trigger on certain things. Remember, delay is not denial. What’s yours will come.
Similar story to Evan’s journey below from some piece I don’t remember pulling it from:
“At age 22, Tony Hsieh (now CEO of Zappos.com), graduated from Harvard. When Tony was 23 years old, six months after starting Linkexchange, he was offered one million dollars for the company. This was amazing to Tony because less than a year before, he was stoked to get a job at Oracle making 40K per year.
After much thought and discussion with his partner, he rejected the offer believing he could continue to build Linkexchange into something bigger. His true love is in building and creating. A true pro gets paid, but doesn’t work for money. A true pro works for love.
Five months later, Hsieh was offered 20 million dollars from Jerry Yang, cofounder of Yahoo!. This blew Tony away. His first thought was, “I’m glad I didn’t sell five months ago!” However, he held his cool and asked for a few days to consider the proposal. He would make this decisions on his terms.
He thought about all the things he would do if he had all that money, knowing he would never have to work another day in his life. After reflecting, he could only devise a small list of things he wanted:
A condo
A TV and built-in home theater
The ability to go on weekend mini-vacations whenever he wanted
A new computer
To start another company because he loves the idea of building and growing something.
That was it.
His passion and motivation wasn’t in having stuff. He concluded that he could already afford a TV, a new computer, and could already go on weekend mini-vacations whenever he wanted. He was only 23 years old, so he determined a condo could wait. Why would he sell Linkexchange just to build and grow another company?
A year after Tony rejected the 20 million dollar offer, Linkexchange exploded. There were over 100 employees. Business was booming. Yet, Hsieh no longer enjoyed being there. The culture and politics had subtly changed in the process of rapid growth. Linkexchange was no longer Hsieh and a group of close friends building something they loved. They had hired a bunch of people in a hurry who didn’t have the same vision and motivations they had. Many of the new employees didn’t care about Linkexchange, or about building something they loved. Rather, they just wanted to get rich quick — purely self-interested.
So he decided to sell the company on his terms. Microsoft purchased Linkexchange in 1998 for 265 million dollars when Hsieh was 25 years old.
A similar concept emerged in a conversation I had about one year ago with Jeff Goins, best-selling author of The Art of Work. I asked his advice about publishing a book I want to write and he said, “Wait. Don’t jump the gun on this. I made that mistake myself. If you wait a year or two, you’ll get a 10x bigger advance, which will change the trajectory of your whole career.”
Here’s how it works. With 20K email subscribers, a writer can get around a $20–40K book advance. But with 100–200K email subscribers, a writer can get around a $150–500K book advance. Wait a year or two and change the trajectory of your career (and life).
This isn’t about procrastination. It’s about strategy. Timing — even a few seconds — could change your whole life.
Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year).
Investment trip to Ghana: A lot has improved but the cost has been high: Basically what he’s saying is Ghana jollof >>>>>> Nigerian jollof but it’s still not banging like that. It’s been improving but could be better on this side.
Why would you buy ‘made in Africa’ smartphones?: Strong case as to why made in Africa smart phones don’t make much sense, apart from for sentimental value. When Transsion is way ahead and you’re not competitive on price? Yep, could be a struggle.
The hunt for Asia’s El Chapo: All I’m thinking is this needs to end up on Netflix. What a story.
Thought Leadership vs. Cult of Personality: Steve Jobs vs. Adam Neumann.
Texas Cop Fatally Shoots Black Woman In Her Own Home During Welfare Check, Police Say: What in the world is going on in this country? So disappointed.
Paytm Nears SoftBank, Ant Fundraising at a $16 Billion Valuation: All these companies in the deca-unicorn stables. Are they building moats or its hubris fueling these fundraises.
“IT’S, LIKE, LAWLESS”: HOW PRIVATE-EQUITY HEADHUNTERS ARE BLEEDING WALL STREET: Private equity and venture capital is the way to go. Don’t quote me. Hope you’ve been following my quotes from the KKR book.
Logistics startup Bwala Africa aims to raise up to $8 mn in Series A funding: Last mile logistics. African solutions to African problems. Yum yum.
African migration to the United States is the fastest-rising—in spite of Trump: Meanwhile, year of return? 🤔🤔 Anyway, people are hungry and the average African isn’t seeing tangible change on the ground. The USA and Canada still seem like the best choices if they’re to survive.
Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan: Long read. So after I listen to Land of the Giants yesterday, (and write about it), this is what shows up in my inbox? Amazon is trying to tell me something. Thank God I don’t have an Alexa…yet.
Is Amazon unstoppable?: Answer is yes. Yes, they’re unstoppable. Listen to Land of Giants.
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.
Today’s podcast recommendation comes in from Gabby (round of applause for Gabby 👏🏾👏🏾). Haven’t listened to any of these yet but The Next Big Idea sounds like something I want to know more about. Let’s check it out, why don’t we?
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 🌚
Flipped through my notes on How Asia Works, right when Dzifa returned it. Memorable quote: “Imported consumer goods were either banned or enormously expensive due to high tariffs.”- Makes me think of Africa and how our path to “development” would look like. Definitely not how the Asian tigers developed…
Link is a summary by uncle Bill- https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/How-Asia-Works
📱📱Quote of the day
“The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.” - Napoleon Hill
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”