How venture capitalists firms in Nigeria think

This is from my experience and mine alone.

A) Must have Multiple Founders. Even if you all end up fighting, company has no command and control, company does not look like a company, the need to fund group of young adults with no clue of what an organization is or how it is run.

B) Must have a good team. A Good team comes after funding not before it. Good talented people from good schools need to feel the sense of winning and that sense comes mainly from the salary they earn. The idea that a start up should have a exectuvie team is most stupid thing I have ever heard of.

C) You need to have traction before funding. This is putting the horse before cart again. Traction comes after big RnD spending, hiring best sales and marketing people, spending on advertisement etc. Lets say a future google or apple comes to VCs, they will just dump them for lack of traction without considering the possibilities.

D) Must be introduced by trusted party
I will not reply to cold emails and I will not meet strangers.

E) We will not want to invest first.

F) We need to know the kind of person. I can go on and on ... No wonder the smartest bunch of people are definitely not sitting on venture capitalists.

I forgot to add social impact and united nations sustainable development goals. Your startup must have an impact similar to winning a Nobel prize or finding the cure for cancer or solving the problem of hunger in African children.

?
A) Must have Multiple Founders.

Seriously?

AutoElectNG:
?
A) Must have Multiple Founders.

Seriously?

That's it o. You can almost impossibly get into any incubator in Nigeria as a solo founder.

Are you a venture capitalist or are these your experiences as a start up? It's a bit unclear sometimes.

This is quite interesting.

A. Must have multiple founders? Ideally two is good. I don't know how many you mean by multiple, but the numbers just indicate reliability. An individual can fail but if there are two they will be less likely to. Once the numbers exceed four there will be the counterproductive fighting you mentioned. With too many founders they eventually cull themselves, but at the ventures loss? Depends.

B. The team has to be the most difficult part. Can one include the founders in this? Worst thing is having something about on wheels then the team part messes it up.

D. This is natural. I cannot commit to something that comes my way just because it sounds good. Bad for the startup.

It would be nice if you could share more of your experiences. It can be educative for others willing to go this way.

Tellemall:
Are you a venture capitalist or are these your experiences as a start up? It's a bit unclear sometimes.

This is quite interesting.

A. Must have multiple founders? Ideally two is good. I don't know how many you mean by multiple, but the numbers just indicate reliability. An individual can fail but if there are two they will be less likely to. Once the numbers exceed four there will be the counterproductive fighting you mentioned. With too many founders they eventually cull themselves, but at the ventures loss? Depends.

B. The team has to be the most difficult part. Can one include the founders in this? Worst thing is having something about on wheels then the team part messes it up.

D. This is natural. I cannot commit to something that comes my way just because it sounds good. Bad for the startup.

It would be nice if you could share more of your experiences. It can be educative for others willing to go this way.

It's my own experiences trying to raise money from VCs, incubators and accelerators.

tensazangetsu20:

It's my own experiences trying to raise money from VCs, incubators and accelerators.

Okay.

Despite your topic, do you feel your choice of startup affects the manner in which all of the above three you've mentioned interact with you? Or is it widespread and your experiences can be taken as a rule of thumb in all ventures?

Tellemall:

Okay.

Despite your topic, do you feel your choice of startup affects the manner in which all of the above three you've mentioned interact with you? Or is it widespread and your experiences can be taken as a rule of thumb in all ventures?

My startup is actually quite profitable and is solving a real problem but is very difficult for someone who isn't mechanically inclined to understand and besides not everyone can do fintech or agrictech. I have absolutely no interest in finance or agriculture. Another thing I have noticed from my sojourn is that admittance into most incubators and accelerators in Africa require serious connections. For the competitions, some startups also lie and influence their revenue and user figures. Imagine a startup that got registered 6 months ago in Nigeria claiming 100 million in revenue and 50000 users. It's really common here

If world domination is your aim, you must head to the west, to the land of the free.

Something is seriously wrong with the business culture and venture capital culture here.

AutoElectNG:
If world domination is your aim, you must head to the west, to the land of the free.

Something is seriously wrong with the business culture and venture capital culture here.

It's very sad and very brutal. Funny enough a lot of companies get funding in Nigeria in tunes of millions of dollars but do not achieve anything. The founders go rent a top notch office on the island and enjoy themselves. Autoelect I enjoy some of your post, it's inspiring me to start a DIY mercedes thread soon. Still thinking about it though.