₦airaland Forum

Femoje:
you talk about scaling as if you are going to scale with toilet papers, Opay got $50 million investment and so many international network. so don't compare one guy in Nigeria with self investment fund. there are hundreds of reasons start-ups fail but the lesson is much important.
90% of start-ups failed anywhere in the world.

Mystic1:
Don’t be too quick to judge (that someone knows nothing). This is a faceless forum and I just ‘assumed’ what your problem was, I didn’t state for a fact.

BTW; I have a startup in its 4th year and it’s growing just fine, thanks to proper scaling. I don’t think you can go wrong with scaling, a business must scale to survive. First, understand the true meaning of scaling.

Deseo:
Things could still go wrong with a 100 year old business, it just takes one government policy. And it's not fair to write off every beginner due to bad experiences. You should see what I have to offer at least. What do you have to lose from having a conversation?

Femoje:
"They just want to start a business so they can brag that they
are CEO of XYZ Company."
you are saying nonsense, let me tell you key reasons why we build start-ups.
1. Income Potential
2. Pursuing a Passion
3. A Good Idea
4. New Lifestyle
5. Self-Expression.
so are you going to tell Dangote not to claim the glory and chairmanship of his company because you invest in his idea?
come on Sir, people invested in Facebook without getting any profit in 7 years. that never stops Mark Zuckerberg claiming CEO of Facebook group.

NairalandAngel:
I really have no problem per se with the business owner claiming to be CEO but he/she should be ready to act the part.

It you want to be prancing around the place claiming CEO of a start-up then make sure you can take the initiative and you have real life problem solving skills...

As CEO the buck stops on your table...if there is a problem you do your best to fix it instead of just waiting for the investor to come tell you how to solve problems in a business you started

As CEO you should be the chief risk taker as far as that business is concerned, don't be dodging risks while trying to hang everything on the investor so that if the business fails you can get off with minimal losses

As CEO you must come up with strategies to grow the company business and revenue base

As CEO you should know that you're the captain of the ship and should be ready to do whatever is necessary to prevent the ship from sinking

As CEO you need to be sincere with investors and act with integrity at all times and not try to cheat your investors by diverting resources of the company to personal use

As CEO be very sure you understand the business cycle including its peak and slow periods during the year so that you can do proper planning and budgeting thereby improving on the ability of the business to succeed; don't expect to fly 'blind' then later you start praying for a miracle to happen after you have unduly put investors funds at risk.

The fact is that a lot of you people setting up start-ups are ill prepared for the task; you think just because you have what seems like a great idea once you start up a company money will start rushing in without any other conscious effort on your part

Femoje:
You don't teach people how to become a CEO it's a long time process of learning, failing and relearning. nobody taught mark Zuckerberg how he became a CEO, he took up the responsibility. over time we Africans only take about success story but behind 10 successful people or businesses there are hundreds of failures which we don't talk about.

@NairalandAngel you talk down young people as if it's a crime to build a startup company or have a business ideas. there should be more reasonable encouragement From you than backlashing these young guys. they won't seek your attention if they can fund their business all alone and lastly if a business is already doing well financially after 24 months of establishment, I don't need Angel investor anymore my focus will be Venture Capital investment.

Femoje:
you talk about scaling as if you are going to scale with toilet papers, Opay got $50 million investment and so many international network. so don't compare one guy in Nigeria with self investment fund. there are hundreds of reasons start-ups fail but the lesson is much important.
90% of start-ups failed anywhere in the world.

NairalandAngel:
How many times have you ever put your money on the line before and ended up loosing it?

My advise would be for you to first invest your money in 3 different start-ups then come back here and tell us your experience!

NairalandAngel:
Investing your money in a start-up business in Nigeria is almost like throwing your money into fire!

Among the people who claim they want to set up a new business in Nigeria you will find people who are dishonest; their main goal is to scam you with bogus business ideas
Thanks God for coming across your post,I want to go into agro business, piggery in Delta State,I want provide land ,you build the pig pen and stock it with 3 females and one male for a start,I won't employ labour,I will do all manual labour,you pay the money for the feed at the feed stores,only give be me little transport logistics,n let's negotiate how much I will pay back,or if it's fisheries, we can rent ponds in my place,am a graduate,am jobless,I want something that will scale in future, please contact me on 07010652464, am new to naira land rules
You also have people who have no idea what it means to run a business and take responsibility for making sure you solve problems so that the business succeeds

Risk and running a business go hand-in-hand but a lot of these guys don't want to take risks with their own funds to pursue their own business aspirations. Do you have any idea how ridiculous it sounds when someone pitches a business idea to you which according to him will require a capital outlay of N7 million and generate returns of N1 million every month then when you ask him to contribute at least 30% of the initial cost of set up he tells you the maximum he can contribute is 200K?! Really?!

Why would you want to dump the risks 100% on the investor inspite of the fact that you're the one who will be running the business?!

Then there is the group that just wants to be addressed as CEO or Managing Director; these ones do not know that running a business is very hard work; they think they will just start a business and three months later they start driving a G-Wagon because of the bullshiit one motivational speaker told them.

Personally I have sworn off investing in start-ups for the time being and I'm sure some other experienced investors have also done the same here in Nigeria

NairalandAngel:
Investing your money in a start-up business in Nigeria is almost like throwing your money into fire!

Among the people who claim they want to set up a new business in Nigeria you will find people who are dishonest; their main goal is to scam you with bogus business ideas
Thanks God for coming across your post,I want to go into agro business, piggery in Delta State,I want provide land ,you build the pig pen and stock it with 3 females and one male for a start,I won't employ labour,I will do all manual labour,you pay the money for the feed at the feed stores,only give be me little transport logistics,n let's negotiate how much I will pay back,or if it's fisheries, we can rent ponds in my place,am a graduate,am jobless,I want something that will scale in future, please contact me on 07010652464, am new to naira land rules
You also have people who have no idea what it means to run a business and take responsibility for making sure you solve problems so that the business succeeds

Risk and running a business go hand-in-hand but a lot of these guys don't want to take risks with their own funds to pursue their own business aspirations. Do you have any idea how ridiculous it sounds when someone pitches a business idea to you which according to him will require a capital outlay of N7 million and generate returns of N1 million every month then when you ask him to contribute at least 30% of the initial cost of set up he tells you the maximum he can contribute is 200K?! Really?!

Why would you want to dump the risks 100% on the investor inspite of the fact that you're the one who will be running the business?!

Then there is the group that just wants to be addressed as CEO or Managing Director; these ones do not know that running a business is very hard work; they think they will just start a business and three months later they start driving a G-Wagon because of the bullshiit one motivational speaker told them.

Personally I have sworn off investing in start-ups for the time being and I'm sure some other experienced investors have also done the same here in Nigeria

Raptor80:
Am different,a graduate, though jobless now I want to be a solution provider 2moro,I am in Delta State,I want u to build a pig farm for just 5 pigs for me,then let's do the business, any thing that requires manual labour I will do,we can discuss the amount I will pay you back instalmentally,I don't care how long it will take,it's a scalable venture,I Kno I will succeed by God grace,I can even drop my university certificate as a guarantee,I have been looking for jobs with it to no avail,I know it's useless to you but you also know I wouldn't toy with the business especially since you are giving out minimal cash directly, please contact me on 070106 52464

NairalandAngel:
I really have no problem per se with the business owner claiming to be CEO but he/she should be ready to act the part.

It you want to be prancing around the place claiming CEO of a start-up then make sure you can take the initiative and you have real life problem solving skills...

As CEO the buck stops on your table...if there is a problem you do your best to fix it instead of just waiting for the investor to come tell you how to solve problems in a business you started

As CEO you should be the chief risk taker as far as that business is concerned, don't be dodging risks while trying to hang everything on the investor so that if the business fails you can get off with minimal losses

As CEO you must come up with strategies to grow the company business and revenue base

As CEO you should know that you're the captain of the ship and should be ready to do whatever is necessary to prevent the ship from sinking

As CEO you need to be sincere with investors and act with integrity at all times and not try to cheat your investors by diverting resources of the company to personal use

As CEO be very sure you understand the business cycle including its peak and slow periods during the year so that you can do proper planning and budgeting thereby improving on the ability of the business to succeed; don't expect to fly 'blind' then later you start praying for a miracle to happen after you have unduly put investors funds at risk.

The fact is that a lot of you people setting up start-ups are ill prepared for the task; you think just because you have what seems like a great idea once you start up a company money will start rushing in without any other conscious effort on your part

NairalandAngel:
Whether you're different or not I am no longer ready to put my funds at risk by financing a start-up business.

I'm sure you have relatives and friends therefore I will advise that you approach them to give you seed capital with which to start the business and learn everything you can about the practical aspects of managing. Another means of raising finance is for you to get a job then start saving a portion of your salary every month towards establishing the business you want to run

After 4 years when you have built a consistent flow of revenue and want to scale up the business you can then contact me to provide additional financing.

This is my advise to you