Entrepreneurship – Ozisco.com

The Winning Pitch: Reimagining the Food Truck Experience

People want to patronize food trucks more; however, there are too many obstacles to overcome to figure out where the trucks are, what they serve, and how to pay them. GrabGrubGo will bring so many more options to everyone’s fingertips. People will finally be able to see all of the food trucks in their vicinity. And food trucks will have a streamlined way to accept orders and payments from their customers.

A conversation with Kelly and Tiffanie, Founders of GrabGrubGo, following their winning pitch at Umu Igbo Unite 2021 Convention where they won $10,000.

Ozii: Tell us a bit about your different backgrounds.

Tiffanie: I have been running small businesses since I was a little girl. I sold candy, I babysat, and I even made and sold keychains. If there was a way to make money doing something, I was going to do it. But, more than the money, I loved seeing my ideas come to fruition.
Kelly: I grew up taking things apart and putting them back together. It was not as much of a drive to develop a business; it was a desire to learn why things work. I took computers apart at eight years old, built websites in junior high, and took IT certifications before starting high school. Going through college and realizing then that I could use my skills to make money was very rewarding and put me on this path to monetize anything that could be tedious for anyone else. I’ve built a lot of businesses while looking for a pathway to truly expand into something great!

O: Tell us how you came up with the idea of GrabGrubGo? What’s the significance of solving the identified problem for all the stakeholders impacted (food truck owners, customers, and the community)

T: At work, we often had food trucks that come to the office to serve food. Everyone would always be super excited because food trucks always meant a break from the ordinary bologna sandwiches we were bringing to work. Once the truck would arrive, everyone would naturally flood the lots. There would be a long line, and we’d be standing out in the hot sun. It was an interesting experience. The food was good, and you got to talk to your coworkers in a way that you wouldn’t typically talk to them in the office. However, the overall experience was pretty bad. We would all be so hot and would spend the entirety of our lunch hour, if not more, waiting in line for the food. So one day, I sat back and wondered if there was a better way to do this?
K: Tiffanie and I briefly worked together and became fast friends. Sharing our various work struggles and entrepreneurial efforts was tremendous and, if nothing else, presented an opportunity to discuss ideas and offer help to one another. In one of these discussions, she described her food truck experience, and I instantly told her, I can build that, and I know it can be game-changing. Fast forward to today, and we have grown relatively quickly in our quest to solve this problem. We welcome you all to follow our journey on Instagram @grabgrubgohtx or email us at tiffanie@grabgrubgo.com or kelly@grabgrubgo.com
T: I think our application is a win-win for everybody involved. People want to patronize food trucks more; however, there are too many obstacles to overcome to figure out where the trucks are, what they serve, and how to pay them. GrabGrubGo will bring so many more options to everyone’s fingertips. People will finally be able to see all of the food trucks in their vicinity. And food trucks will have a streamlined way to accept orders and payments from their customers.

O: What was your pitch preparation strategy? What resources did you find most helpful, and why?

K: The biggest thing that we did to prepare was to make sure we understood the task at hand and had a good grasp of our strengths and weaknesses early based on the guidelines that UIU presented. We binged a lot of SlideBean videos to understand better what works and what doesn’t. We went through multiple deck iterations to clarify our vision and answer questions that we thought the judges could ask. Going through our journey prepared us for the competition and further fleshed out our product, and pushed our creativity well past our preconceived notions. Understanding how to tell a good, concise story was our goal.

O: You seemed very confident on stage; tell us about your experience delivering your pitch in front of the judges and audience? What did that feel like and what’s your advice for startup founders pitching for the first time?

T: It’s funny you say that because I was so insanely nervous, I thought my ankles were going to crumble into ash. I remember trying to go through the slides in my head before getting on stage and remembering nothing. My brain felt like an Etch-a-Sketch that had been shaken. But, once we got on stage, something changed. There was just something about the energy in the room. There were so many smiling, warm, and welcoming faces in the crowd. It felt like people were genuinely interested in hearing what we had to say, so the words just spilled out.
K: I had to block everything out mentally. When the first presenter went on stage, I had to close my ears, say a little prayer, and rap some lyrics to a Notorious BIG song to keep my head in the game. Once it was our turn, everything else was automatic. My practical advice for founders pitching for the first time is not to psych yourself out. No one knows what your product or service offering is, and therefore, no one will know if you make a mistake. Honorable mention would be to keep it simple. Understanding what we needed to say and then building our story around it allowed us to stay on task and put out the best parts of our story.
T: The other advice I would offer to founders in pitch competitions is not letting the fear of what you don’t know to keep you from moving forward. I had a lot of trepidation being a non-technical founder. I thought, who am I to present this idea when I can barely operate my computer. These concerns made me feel like an imposter in the space. I’ve since discovered that people found many tech companies without technical expertise. Having the vision and ability to communicate it to others is more important. The truth is there are plenty of resources out there, and everyone is so supportive. The best thing to do is dive in and get the experience.

O: You won the grand prize of $10,000. How do you intend to invest the $$ in your business? Why are these the most important investments to make at this point in your company’s journey? If someone wants to start using your solution, when/how can they get started?

K: Still very excited and honestly humbled to not only have been in consideration but ultimately awarded the grand prize of $10,000. We intend to use the winnings to get our platform into the Beta stage to get testing in place with live data. We are confident that we can get our pilot going early next year and fine-tune our application to get us ready for launch.
For GrabGrubGo, at this stage, the most critical investment that we can make is in the infrastructure. So making sure that the foundation is solid is the most important thing at this point so that we can have the platform and view and validate the interactions so that we can plan for expansion and get our platform in as many hands as possible by launch.
T: We will also invest the winnings in establishing strategic alliances with food truck vendors. This alliance will allow us to involve them in building the app so that it best serves their needs. Users can email us at info@grabgrubgo.com or follow us on Instagram @grabgrubgohtx.

O: What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

K: Stay the course no matter how tough things may seem in the interim. If you want success, eventually, you will find it. Keep learning and continue putting yourself in difficult situations and drive that momentum forward.
T: I’ve been told that you only fail when you quit. There will be trying times, and people will not believe in your dreams and your vision. Regardless, don’t quit, just keep going.

Self-care could get you a hat-trick

Last week Monday, I exhausted every means possible to get a hold of a client involved in a deal I was spearheading. I emailed, called, texted, and left a voicemail, but he did not respond.

The next morning, he replied to my text apologizing for being unreachable since he was stuck in back to back meetings. He then suggested we set up a call for 5pm later that day. I asked for an earlier time in the day, but he was firm that he was only available at 5pm. This was a problem. I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm, and knew our conversation would take at least 30 minutes. There was also a looming deadline, so it was critical we spoke soon. I had to decide whether to take the call at 5pm and risk missing the soccer game or reschedule the meeting to a different day and risk missing the deadline. Playing soccer brings me a lot of joy, and I also thrive on going above and beyond for my customers, so this was a difficult situation.

This dilemma reminded me of a conversation I had a few weeks back with my mentor. He encouraged me to prioritize self-care as part of my daily routine to live a more balanced life. He shared that more than exercising regularly, self-care is any activity that we deliberately do to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. According to Forbes, neglecting self-care means not knowing your worth. By making time for self-care, you “maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it produces positive feelings and boosts your confidence and self-esteem.”

The common challenge with self-care is making adequate time for it. Tchiki Davis, Ph.D, author of Outsmart Your Smartphone, recommends twelve strategies to get started with self-care. To resolve my earlier dilemma, I relied on her “say no to others, and say yes to your self-care” strategy. Below is how she explains it:

Learning to say no is really hard; many of us feel obligated to say yes when someone asks for our time or energy. However, if you’re already stressed or overworked, saying yes to loved ones or coworkers can lead to burnout, anxiety, and irritability. It may take a little practice, but once you learn how to say no politely, you’ll start to feel more empowered, and you’ll have more time for your self-care.

I told the client that 5pm wouldn’t work since I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm. I suggested we reschedule for the next day, and he accepted. In parallel, I worked to ensure we had enough runway so we could still meet the deadline.

The soccer game started promptly at 5:10pm, and by the end of the first half, my team was down 1 – 4. During the half time break, I encouraged the guys by reminding them we were better than our first-half performance. All we needed was to focus on getting one goal at a time. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half, I scored our second goal, getting us to 2 – 4. We made some technical changes, which allowed our team to score three more quick goals within ten minutes, putting us ahead at 5 – 4. I then added another goal with five minutes left in the game, putting the score at 6 – 4. Our opponents got a quick break and scored a goal with two minutes left, putting the score at 6 – 5. Knowing they would increase the pressure, I reminded the guys that offense is the best defense. Since our opponents committed more of their guys to attack, it left their defense vulnerable. We took advantage, and my teammate provided a perfect through pass. I then dribbled past two defenders before hitting the ball past the goalkeeper on his left side. The score was now 7 – 5, with twenty seconds left in the game. When the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, we had managed to come back from three goals down to win the game 7 – 5. I thought to myself, had I taken the call and missed out on the game, I wouldn’t have been in a position to help my team and be a part of such a memorable comeback story.

The next day, the client asked about the soccer game, and I relived the drama all over again. Even better, we met the deadline, deepened our connection, and progressed our discussions. This experience was a reminder to prioritize self-care because it earns trust with clients and it is good for business.

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FIVE Questions with Michael Amadi, Founder of Jikoro

Michael is a passionate entrepreneur focused on leaving a legacy that is filled with inspiration and courage. With the realization that “life is rented”, Michael approaches his mission to feed millions of people in a sustainable way with great enthusiasm and urgency. Although Jikoro as a company is still in its infancy (about 1 year old), the idea for the company has been gestating for years. Michael is putting to work his training as a scientist to build a company whose mission is to leverage technology to create products from palm oil that are less harmful to the environment and people. Essentially, creating a better product for tomorrow, today. The Agriscience industry in Africa is ripe for disruption as it is dominated by companies with antiquated technologies that also lack leadership when it comes to dealing with the realities of climate change.

Jikoro’s plans include leveraging technology to bring hydroponic farming to Nigeria and partnering with Universities to innovate on seed genomics.
In addition to building a company that outlasts him, Michael wants to create millions of jobs for talented youth in Africa who are yearning for the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families. Michael and his team at Jikoro have many exciting plans and their version of the future is filled with hope, determination, and courage.

Jikoro recently took first place in a business pitch competition organized by Umu Igbo Unite, at their 2019 annual conference in Minneapolis. I learned about Jikoro through the pitch competition and invited him to take part in the FIVE Questions series. I hope you are inspired and compelled to cheer on the team at Jikoro!

1. What is your unfair advantage as an entrepreneur and why should people want to do business with you?

I find this to be an interesting question because it illustrates in one aspect your fit and the other, characteristics of an entrepreneur. To appreciate my unique abilities, you would have to personally interact or shadow me for a day. You would quickly find out that I equally represent the Naija (Nigerian) hustle and accomplish my goals with a strategic mechanism. Nigeria is a unique country in dire need of multilateral solutions for all including men, women, and the youth. It’s estimated there are nearly 80 million youth ready to learn and work throughout impoverished regions of Nigeria. Throughout West Africa, a few small organizations are doing the best they can to be the change agents. However, to make the real impact it takes a collective of people and organizations. Jikoro LLC is ready to make the difference one-step-at-a-time, as our innovative strategies focus to eliminate the burdening hunger crisis and eliminate the technological barriers to entry. We are crafting a vision and creating opportunities for tomorrow, now. Our motto “Sustainable Agriscience for A Better Tomorrow”, today defines our innate hunger and desire to succeed. We should not lament and willow in stagnation; rather, let us be our own change agents. Our collective actions will be our unfair advantage.

2. What role has mentorship played in your journey as an entrepreneur and what’s your advice on how to seek out and foster relationships with mentors?

Either it’s this question or perhaps it’s the answer that goes on in life to be undervalued in its various forms. I’d have to say my journey as an entrepreneur is unique in experiences and achievement. Each day you wake up to face and overcome adversities through each stage and after each accomplishment. Mentorship is defined by the Oxford dictionary as, “guidance provided by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company or educational institution.” The reality is that not everyone has a mentor to speak freely or directly to. Similar to myself, you may become indirectly motivated to take the first steps. Virtual platforms such as YouTube and findings on the internet are great tools for those seeking inspiration. However, I should caution everyone not to pay for free advice and stay focused exclusively on stories and interviews without the glam. Watching and learning from women who essentially created their career positions were my first exposure to entrepreneurship. While in college I started my path towards entrepreneurship with a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, which allowed me to expose myself to as many unknowns as possible. Prior to starting Jikoro, I was presented with the opportunity to meet a few CEOs in the field of biotechnology and other industries. If you are given a similar opportunity, write down a few questions you are going to ask the individual in a notebook or diary. Your goal is to learn about your future mentors’ critical thinking process, focus, and their past experiences (e.g., successes and failures).

3. Why is the cause you are pursuing or problem you are solving the most important for this generation and how can people support /help you move your cause forward?

Well around the world the average age of a farmer is 60 plus years, and in the continent of Africa 60% of the population are under the age of 25. Let’s focus on Nigeria, the most populous country with the largest economic factor (e.g., GDP) in Africa. Without the need of a microscope, youth unemployment and data representing the quality of life is dismal. Primarily such concern for poor health is due to unemployment, hunger, and inaccessibility to resources. While Jikoro is only an agricultural sciences and farming company, the potential of a robust agriculture industry should bring excitement, as the number of improved lives may be exponential. Our vision is to develop the next generation of farming technologies and food crops to feed a nation through science and development of a stable supply chain. Moreover, we are focused on eliminating the biotechnology barrier and innovating to produce bio-engineered oil seeds and specialty crops for advanced technologies (e.g., biofuels and affordable medications). When you do the math, innovation plus product, multiplied by scalability equals profitability in the business world. A profitable agriculture industry translates into new forms of income, resulting in affordability of key services (e.g., healthcare) and investments in infrastructure, such as roads and water systems. There’s a saying, “those who fail to plan, plan to fail” and so far, no one has been able to disprove planning. In all realness, hopefully, individuals with additional resources will pick up where we left off and learn from our mistakes. To succeed, we are utilizing the grassroots community business funding model, so donations, investments, and partnerships are welcome, as well as feedback and advice. If you really want to help, first check out Jikoro’s website (https://www.jikoro.international), then if you feel compelled, contact us by email. Remember, it takes a village.

4. Reflect on all of the key milestones or sacrifices you’ve had so far in building Jikoro to what it is today, which of these milestones or sacrifices would you say is the most pivotal and why?

Too many milestones but selling my car and investing the money into the business was the most pivotal sacrificial milestone. I woke up and said today is the day, now each day I remember moving forward is the only way to go. Today, I’ve obtained all the necessary permits and formed a few collaborations. Tomorrow, big data will be flowing in, new products will launch, and a new research team will be built from the ground up. All these milestones excite me and I look forward to achieving each one. You can stay up to date with our movements by following us on Instagram — @jikorollc

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

Great question! Idioms and quotes are equally inspirational, from Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world” to Maya Angelou being attributed with “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” During challenging times, I find myself going back to the advice I received as a kid and throughout college. If you are frustrated, go for a walk. Feeling disappointed? Remember the hundreds, if not millions, facing a tougher decision than you are. And most of all, communication is key. Stay in touch with family and friends; and remain focused on your vision. As for when all is well, be humble.

Hey, You Have A Cool Accent!

In Dr. Praya Agarwal’s article on Forbes, she cites research that shows it takes less than 30 seconds to linguistically profile a speaker, and make quick decisions on their ethnic origin, socio-economic class, and background. Additionally, we assign values such as pleasantness and prestige but also intelligence based on accents. In Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success, by Sylvia Ann, she found that executive presence rests of three pillars: gravitas, communication, and appearance. In the communication pillar, some of the executives she interviewed cited off-putting accents as an example of a verbal tic that undermines an individual’s ability to have superior speaking skills and ultimately, executive presence. Essentially, accents are part of our identity, whether good or bad.

My family journeyed from a village in Nigeria (Avu) to the United States (Texas) when I was fifteen years old. I immediately enrolled in high school with big dreams and a thick accent. Almost instantaneously, I became the punchline of many name-calling jokes, including the very degrading “African booty scratcher.” Maybe it was bullying, or perhaps it was just high school kids having fun; either way, it made me feel uneasy, unwelcome, and isolated.

One day, I shifted my perspective and made the conscious decision to fully embrace my accent and turn what many labeled as a disadvantage into an advantage. Luckily, my English Teacher acted as a mentor and assured me that with practice I could become as eloquent as a young Sidney Poitier (she thought we resembled each other). Her coaching helped me master my pace, tone, and cadence. These coaching exercises helped me find my voice and ensured I was not only heard but understood.

In my first sales job after college, one of my prospects was convinced I was calling from an “offshore” country during a cold call. My accent was the culprit, again. Granted, he was partly right; the monotony of the job probably caused my mind to wander off to the bustling streets of Lagos with suya in both hands. However, physically, I was definitely in the United States trying to make the almighty dollar. Let’s just say the sale never happened with that prospect.

Over the years, I’ve noticed my accent thickens during big presentations which could be distracting for the audience. So at the start of a big presentation, I often let the audience know that it is okay to interrupt me if my accent hinders their ability to understand me. By saying this, it diffuses tension for me and the audience; they empathize and become invested in my success. I call this reverse accent profiling. Is that a thing? It should be. #LoveAllAccents

So how do you empathize with someone with a thick accent at work?

Resist the desire to make fun of the accent, in private or in public. A mentor once told me when someone makes fun of you with the intent to demoralize and belittle you, what they’re actually doing is projecting their insecurities. Secure people are usually looking for opportunities to uplift others rather than make them feel insignificant.
Reach out and offer to coach and mentor the person. If you’re someone with an accent who thinks it is inhibiting your success, don’t be shy to ask for help. Reach out to colleagues, leaders in your community, senior management, or seek out professional coaching.
For those in leadership, encourage those with thick accents to speak in front of the team or group and provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and mentoring.
Highlight the person when they contribute ideas to team meetings. A brilliant African pharmacist I spoke to described how she would make a suggestion in a meeting but get little acknowledgment. A few minutes later in the same meeting, someone else would suggest her exact idea and get all the admonition and praise. This act happened multiple times until one day she got frustrated and responded to the individual that kept repeating her ideas “I might have said it with an accent, but that’s exactly what I just said.” It stopped happening.
Make a genuine attempt to understand the person with a thick accent, and meet them where they are. It’s fair to say we all have beautiful accents; if they can understand you, why not make an effort to understand them.
Realize that it’s not just an accent, it’s an asset. #MyAccentIsAnAsset

Special thanks to Jennifer Obiyo, AG Ukwa, Beth Fatusin, Emilia Lusia Fomuso, Ale Esposito, Jacob Alao, Stephen Ozoigbo, Garrett Mihelich, David Chau, for their inspiration and contribution.

Conversation with Solu Nwanze, Executive Coach

What compelled you to start Expanded Impact and what has surprised you the most about your journey thus far?

I followed my passion! I have always been drawn to leadership development, leading or founding organizations at school and work to foster learning, development, and growth. A series of activities led me to coaching including meeting my first mentor, Katie Hingle, who is a certified coach, my first coaching experience at the Watermark conference, and my first coaching class with CTI (Coaches Training Institute) while founding a speed coaching program for minority employees at Adobe.

In pursuing my passion, I became aware of the impact of coaching which compelled me to take massive action to become a trained & certified executive coach. As my confidence matured, establishing Expanded Impact was the natural next step. With Expanded Impact, my vision is to navigate established and emerging leaders through self-discovery and personal transformation as they expand their impact to themselves and others. Expanded Impact currently provides executive coaching, leadership development workshops and dynamic talks that spark awareness, confidence, and action.

What’s surprising about my journey so far is how my insurmountable mountains become distant landscapes in hindsight. With every milestone, I best myself and redefine my capacity. This is the possibility available to us all. In short, I continuously expand my impact as I help others expand theirs!

2. What makes goal setting a critical element in achieving success? Why do so many people have challenges setting and exceeding their goals?

Goals setting is critical to achieving success as it defines the goalposts towards bringing your passions to life. Goals and their corresponding actions are the concrete ways to develop skills towards your passion. As Gary & Jay mentioned in “The ONE thing,” passion without skills goes nowhere. When you build your skills, you will see results which in turn, fuel your passion. Increase in your passion leads to developing more skills towards that passion, leading to more results.

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Some common challenges towards setting and exceeding goals that I have observed through my coaching are:

We barely take out time to reflect and set goals for ourselves. Setting aside time regularly, be it quarterly or monthly, is a way to make this part of your routine
We make goals too broad without a plan to measure the outcome, and therefore, lose our zeal. Set SMART goals to ensure you know when you are on-track or not.
We set too many goals leading to a lack of focus, and again, nothing gets done. Or worse, we lose sight of the most important goal. Try focusing on the one important goal first, you’ll learn something that will inform your next best step.
We don’t give ourselves the necessary support structure – be it in accountability partners or triggers that remind us of the what and why of our goals. Recruit accountability partners like a coach or a friend who will hold you accountable without judgment.

3. Why is the cause you are pursuing or problem you are solving the most important for this generation? How would future generations benefit if it’s successful? What is at risk if you do not succeed?

In our fast-paced and noisy lives of today, we drown out our own voices so easily. We are swept by the hustle and bustle of daily activities, politics, gadgets, etc. Coaching is a practice of reflective inquiry that creates space for us to (re)discover our inner wisdom. What happens when we connect to our inner wisdom is we discover self-confidence, we learn to drown out fear and doubt, we see choices, we get unstuck, and we create our path. In essence, we become leaders in our own lives and take up the space we already had but may not always see. The impact is we have more capacity to give love and share our passions with those around us.

If we don’t develop to our full potential, we cannot give/share our gifts fully. We already see the impact of this today. Let’s take the workplace for instance. Imagine what it is like working for a manager who had poor leadership skills. What does that do to your growth opportunities, your ability to learn, your happiness and satisfaction on the job? How much of your intellectual capacity do you really bring to work in this space?

Now imagine working for a manager who is a great leader. Notice how well you would thrive, your higher level of happiness and satisfaction, your eagerness for learning and growth, and the overall value you would add to the company.

Now, multiply the impact in both cases above by five employees. What if those employees are also managers, what is the impact on their employees?

What happens when a disengaged employee goes home? How does that impact their engagement at home? How do they interact with their children? What are their children learning about life?

You see, work and life are all life; your life! And that is what is at stake.

4. Starting a business or even a side hustle can be challenging. What advice do you have for someone struggling with an idea they want to start while balancing a full time job? How would you advice they get started?

Map out what you want to do and most importantly, why you want to do it. Your “why” will be the driving force you will always go back to when challenged.

Then go ahead and develop your goals, starting with what is most important to tackle first, build your test, take action and learn from it. Learn from others who have done something similar so that you stand on the shoulders of those before you and get a head start. Next, get your supporters along for the ride, never go at it alone. These will be the people to cheer you on, offer advice, help, provide contacts, etc., along the way.

But most of all, go ahead and start. I was reminded of this simple advice recently by Aman Gohal, “Just go ahead and do it, don’t overthink it.”

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

Never stop learning. My dad taught me this lesson a long time ago, and it has stayed with me since then. We learn from successes and failures. Being a lifelong learner means being a sponge, always open to new possibilities, and new people. Learning comes from everywhere and everyone!

You can connect with Solu Nwanze on LinkedIn and her website.

Conversation With Chuka, Founder of Divercity.io

The representation of minorities in the tech industry is a topic that should be dear to any reasonable person’s heart. The stats are startling and requires attention and action. According to a 2014 report by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 83.3% of Tech Executives are white, 1.9% are black, 3.1% Hispanic, and 10.5% Asian. The distribution is similar in Management; 76% are white, 4% are black, 4% are Hispanic, and 13% are Asian. Although these numbers are bleak, the opportunity that comes with workforce diversity is valued at almost $400B says CompTIA CEO, Todd Thibodeaux, as reported by techrepublic. Similar conclusions were reached by McKinsey & Company in 2015 and in 2016 by the Pearson Institute for International Economics, who both reported that “a company with more diverse representation in senior management will likely achieve greater profits.”

A minority tech CEO and Founder that sees the opportunity in diversity is Chuka, whose company, Divercity, was founded with the sole purpose of increasing the representation of minorities in the tech industry as well as other largely underrepresented industries. He approaches diversity from an objective standpoint, and believes there needs to be an intentional attack on diversity in the workplace for their to be a major effect. Chuka advises we shouldn’t rely on the overrepresented to fix the issue; rather, the minority needs to step up because if we don’t push for it, no one else would.

We spent some time going through the F.I.V.E questions, below are the highlights:

Tell us about your background and the early inspirations in your career

I moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2000 and studied Economics at the University of Texas, Arlington. After graduating, I got a job as an Analyst at an analytics company in Dallas. Earlier in my career, I had no idea that being black meant anything in the US and was oblivious to race. I was the only black person at the company and felt there was a higher standard for me. One of my supervisors would watch constantly over my shoulder and drill me about my work. It was a tough working environment. [Interestingly, according to a 2017 study from Kapor Center for Social Impact and Harris Poll, unfair treatment in the workplace is the single largest driver of turnover in the tech industry.] It was no coincidence that a few weeks later, the supervisors called me into their offices and said they have to let me go. I eventually understood the color of my skin and me standing out was different and uncomfortable. Following that experience, I applied and got a job at Deloitte. After a few years, I decided to go back to school and attended MIT, where I obtained my MBA. Following the MBA, I worked at Yahoo, where I ran Business Development Operations for a few years and later joined Ubisoft as the first Analytics Manager. Having also subsequently ran analytics teams at Warner Bros and Unity, I often felt lonely always being the minority and wanted to do something significant about it. This drive led me to build a platform to connect companies with minority professionals. In 2016, my co-founders and I conceived the idea of Divercity. It was that moment I committed to being part of the solution. My goal was to make it easy for minority aspirants to connect with each other for mentorship, knowledge sharing, and recruitment. I’ve been bootstrapped since then and have a team of 10 people across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lagos, Europe and Australia.

2. What surprised you the most about your journey so far?

As a company in the pre-seed stage, what has surprised me the most is the difficulty in raising capital as a black entrepreneur. The standards are higher and there is a lower level of risk tolerance. It’s an even harder sell when I pitch to black VCs. It may be environmental or racial, but I think it’s a combination of both. The fact is there is a small number of Black VCs, which means there’s an over subscription which means they get a higher number of inquiries from Black founders so they are super selective. You may not even get the gift of a No. This is when you get a response with saying No or check back later. Most times, it’s silence. What keeps me going and excited is that we are trying to solve a problem that is real and relatable. The solution is a necessity, and with necessity comes conviction. The solution will eventually emerge, with or without funding. The timing is good for us, as we’ve been getting a lot of support. With movements such as #TimesUp, #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite, and other societal awareness, we believe the timing is good for us.

3. What is your unfair advantage?

We’ve built a job marketplace from scratch with diversity and inclusion at the forefront. Right now, a lot of the platforms don’t have that in place – Linkedin, Angellist, etc. In our platform, we encourage you to self identify ethnically and genderly. We are encouraging people to trust us with that information because we can use it to connect them to the right company. Our team is nimble and agile but we are made up of minorities and underrepresented, so we understand the problem firsthand and we have the skillset to build a solution. Even for Diversity and Inclusion Leaders, they can use our platform for better targeting and get faster results. No more trying to travel to career fairs and conferences with hefty entree fees and not to mention, the time spent traveling and travel expenses that can quickly add up. Our main customers are companies looking to increase diversity.

4. What’s been the most pivotal sacrifice so far and what advice do you have for others?

Well, my dad would be the first to let you know that the reason I am not married is because of my startup. Building a company from scratch takes a lot of time and money and more money. I do intend to settle down. I want to have a sense of purpose rather than live a traditional life. If I can have both, amen to that. I feel like I am living my purpose now, and I realize it’s a journey. There are milestones that I reflect on like a successful launch, scale, brand affinity, exit, etc. My main source of joy is being able to facilitate opportunities for people through our platform, advice, funding, and just helping them chart their part towards their own purpose. My hope and dream is to be remembered for having tackled the diversity and inclusion issue and paved the way for aspiring minority entrepreneurs. My biggest fear is that it would take a long time to materialize, and I am not a patient person by nature. Failure is not an option.

My advice is to have resilience and grit. You’ve probably heard some crazy stat that 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail. But what you don’t hear is that 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs give up. It’s one thing to pivot, change, or exit, it’s another thing to just give up. There’s a difference between something failing and something taking a while and you making amends to get to your goal. Make sure you’re solving a real problem and I recommend people do something centered around their passion.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continue to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

There are two that stand out. The first is by Winston Churchill – “Never give up.”

The second is from my Dad. He said whenever I drive to make sure I drive for the people around me. Pay attention and be aware of their mistakes. Learn from other drivers around you. Driving is not one dimensional. Most times, you’re usually not the only person on the road. You’re a better driver when you pay attention to other drivers. It ensures you are safe, careful, and observant, not just for yourself but for people around. When I apply that thinking to anything I do, I tend to get success.

16 Lessons from AfroTech 2018

When was the last time you basked in inspiration? For me, it was last week at the AfroTech conference in San Francisco, CA organized by the talented folks at Blavity. Being in a room filled with black executives, techies, creatives, movers, shakers, leaders, and learners felt right. I couldn’t have envisioned a better return on my time. I attended a few sessions in between networking and recruiting for Amazon. Below are 16 lessons I captured:

1. Daymond John, star of the hit TV Show – Shark Tank, delivered the closing keynote. He shared his 5 Shark Points inspired by his journey in building FUBU and his other successful ventures. Below are the summarized versions of the five points:.

Set a goal. Goal setting is a tried and tested method of achieving great results. Goals give you direction and the ability to say no to things that don’t align with your goals. When you have clear goals, you can also come back to them when things get fuzzy or you take a wrong exit.
Do your homework. Innovation can be finding new ways to deliver something so it’s better, faster, or lighter that what exists in the market today.
Love what you do. When you love what you do, you make sacrifices. You also tend to take a long-term approach.
Remember you are the brand. Can you summarize your personal brand value proposition in 2-5 sentences?
Keep swimming, and remember to take care of your health. Get your health regular checkup because health is wealth. It’s hard to run the world from a sick bed.

2. In Everette Taylor’s talk, he encouraged the audience to resist impostor syndrome. He challenged everyone to believe in themselves, and just start and iterate as they grow.

3. According to Everette, one of the biggest mistakes startups make is forgetting to build a great product that solve specific customer problems. If you’re pushing a crappy product, no matter how good of a salesperson you are, you will not be successful in the long run.

4. Surround yourself with the right people because you’re only as strong as the people around you.

5. Do not underestimate the expertise you’re building in your current role. Find ways to turn your expertise into consulting engagements and start building clients on the side.

6. You know what’s as cool as entrepreneurship? Intrapreneurship. According to Wikipedia, Intrapreneurship is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization. Rovina and Kim from Amazon captured this in their talk of how they built Amazon’s Textures and Hues by obsessing about the customer and applying Amazon’s leadership principles along the way. If you’re looking to embody the intrapreneurial spirit, they suggest you consider these thought starters to help you come up with ideas:

- What is a customer experience that you repeat often?
- Where are the pain points in the process?
- Try to list ideas to eliminate these challenge
- One of those ideas could turn into a thriving business

7. The founder of CodePath.org, Michael Ellison, implored the audience to work with people who are so good they intimidate you. And if an experience intimidates you, that’s a good thing.

8. Persistence is key to enhancing your ability to have more luck..

9. Paris Benson, founder of Wizely Financial, stressed the importance of having a board of directors. As a founder, the board is meant to hold you accountable not to be your friend. When selecting your board, strive to get diversity in thought which should include a mix of technical, operational, and financial experience.

10. It’s good idea to have a board member who is not an investor so they can provide an un-biased view.

11. Entrepreneurs should not trade equity for a short-term gain. Long term thinking is key to building lasting value.

12. It was encouraging to see the number of companies that attended AfroTech with the goal of recruiting. According to Sacha Thompson, Inclusion Marketing Lead at AWS, companies should go where diverse talents are. If you don’t have the pipeline, build the pipeline.

13. Many of the speakers had a common theme of defining what success means to you and not what the world says. Success shouldn’t come at the expense of your health or personal relationships.

14. Learn how to delegate so you don’t feel burnt out.

15. If you ever find yourself being the only one that looks like you in a professional setting, it’s your responsibility to do something about it. For example, you could find someone to mentor or refer someone to your company.

16. Hip hop is good for business. According to one of the attendees I spoke to, it was refreshing to hear a Drake song next to a Microsoft recruiting booth, and it wasn’t weird to dance up to the booth with your resume.

See you next year at AfroTech 2019 in Oakland, CA.

F.I.V.E Questions with Stephen Ozoigbo, Venture Catalyst

1. Briefly describe your background- education, experience, etc. What is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do now? What could make it even more exciting or rewarding?

I am a generalist. My background is a hybrid of Technology, Finance and Investments, and International Development. I have been fortunate to live and work in four continents and I consider these experiences to be the backbone of my current status as a Venture Catalyst.

I was born in Nigeria and grew up with an admiration of global affairs. When I emigrated to the US as a young adult, I chose the path of embracing knowledge and learning through any means possible and I immersed myself in a variety of learning activities both online and offline. This propelled me through my first Master’s degree and led me to my career in Banking

With the help of a good friend and mentor, I joined Smith Barney as an Investment Associate intern and worked for four years through the Banking realms of Citigroup. I completed my MBA within the same period and transitioned to Foreign Direct Investment activities with the Government of Catalonia in Europe in 2009. This experience shaped my Venture and International development as it allowed me to design, implement and manage a variety of investment activities across macro and micro environments. Particularly, I started working with Startups and saw the power of entrepreneurship as a key variable for economic development.

I took that experience back to Africa and it has become a core aspect of my day to day as an early stage investor in venture activities, a stage agnostic advisor to venture stakeholders, and an active stakeholder in Africa’s entrepreneurial future.

The most exciting part of what I do now is applying my knowledge and experience on the African continent with a full exploitation of my generalist tendencies and approach. My personal and professional background in Science, Technology and Finance allows me to sit within convening and offer a full appreciation of the levers that need to be pulled in driving African innovation ecosystems forward.

My roles get more exciting as I meet more young Africans that are just as driven and willing to do the same. My perspectives on this and more were shared in my recent TED Talk.

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about your journey thus far? What advice do you have for others looking to take a similar path? Is there something you could have done differently to get to where you are quicker?

I have fond memories of great projects, activities and sometimes disappointments. On a personal note, having the opportunity to work with key public sector partners and friends from the Obama White house and Administration, to the US State Department after serving within the Government of Catalonia for five years stands out as one of my most pleasantly surprising paths. On a daily basis, working with young African entrepreneurs to build solutions of the future and seeing THEIR journeys from a lens of venture creation and acceleration is always a thrill.

For anyone else seeking to follow a similar path, I will strongly advise them to embrace THEIR generalist tendencies and characteristics. It comes in very handy in fast paced, international and multidimensional business environments. I also advise that they have good friends that are specialists!

Entrepreneurship is hard. Entrepreneurship in the African context is even harder. I encourage anyone within the ecosystem (or seeking to enter it) to come in with a stomach of steel, strive hard to leave their mark and never relent on their mission towards empowering others.

3. Why is the cause you are pursing or problem you are solving the most important for this generation? How would future generations benefit if its successful? What is at risk if you do not succeed?

The Lions@frica initiative and the DEMO Africa platform and all other programs that we currently have embedded within the African Technology Foundation are quite important in the broader sense of promoting entrepreneurship in Africa. For a generation of Africans that are media entrepreneurs, I also consider our Edutainment Africa platform to be an essential tool for story tellers to amplify the business elements of their craft.

As the African media and technology ecosystems merge and digital entrepreneurs continue to rise from their self taught ecosystems across the continent, their ability to build a product, tell their story and sell it across the world will be a critical aspect of their venture pathways.

There isn’t a viable risk to not succeeding with these initiatives. Rather, I consider that like many others, some stakeholders will be pioneers and not direct beneficiaries – and we will all continue to strive for the Africa that we believe in.

4. Reflect on all of the key sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

My personal sacrifices have mostly been around my inability to say NO to service or causes I believe in. From China to Catalonia to Colombia to multiple locations in Africa, I have made a myriad of trade-offs that were sometimes a burden to my personal life but ended up with a rainbow at the end.

Answering a call to service and working alongside key stakeholders at the US State Department’s Office of Global Partnerships on the Lions@frica initiative as well as supporting key public sector activities for the Obama Administration would stand out. Working with my good friends at the Government of Catalonia’s Trade and Investment Office will also stand out. These public sector experiences have enforced my core beliefs that governments are people, and given me a comfort win providing policy guidance to governments all over the world.

Working with young startup founders is very rewarding for me. They are Africa’s future and I am always honored to be a page in their book through mentorship, advisory and investment related activities. Building technology solutions with all of these founders remains a key motivation for me as well.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice that you’ve received that continues to be source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

I have a daily dose of these, especially since my daily activities are quite amorphous and touch on many parts of the innovation ecosystem. I have a healthy network of mentors and advisors that I reach out to on a regular basis for guidance. I look to my family to stay grounded – my mother and my wife and are biggest fans and critics alike. I seek inspiration in well meaning and self driven innovators from Africa and listen intently to their visions and motivations. Above all else, I am a willing learner – I have grown to learn from all my experiences, both good and bad.

Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn!

F.I.V.E Questions with Ade Adesanya, Co-Founder of Moving Analytics

Multiple studies show that 90% of startups fail. As the co-founder of Moving Analytics, Ade Adesanya takes on this hard truth every day. He calls it “de-risking” his startup. He does this by having a laser focus on solving his customer’s problems while drawing inspiration from the impact his company is having on many lives. I met Ade during a talk about technology and entrepreneurship hosted by the Umu Igbo Unite chapter of Los Angeles. Ade was named a Forbes 30 under 30 and his company has raised $2M in VC funding. We invite you to get into the mind of Ade in this F.I.V.E questions feature:

1. Briefly describe your background and how you got started.

I grew up in Lagos and came to US in 2007 to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston. I always had a passion for building things and caught the technology bug early in my college days. In my junior year in college, the Social Network movie detailing Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s story came out. The movie inspired me and my friends to find more problems in our community that technology could solve. We agreed to tackle a problem many college students battle with every semester, buying textbooks. We founded a company called Givepals to serve as a marketplace for students to trade textbooks with each other. The idea expanded to other items including, DJ services, cars, boats, and much more. At its peak, Givepals had over 3000 active users at UH; however, the company closed after we graduated and were unable to expand to other campuses due to engineering challenges.

The experience at Givepals inspired me to move to California and immerse myself in an environment where I could learn how to commercialize technologies and improve my project management skills. I enrolled in the Engineering Management program at University of Southern California (USC) and I also got a job at the USC’ Stevens Center for Innovation where I worked with researchers to commercialize their intellectual property into startup companies. Through my job at Stevens, I met my business partner Harsh, who was a postdoctoral fellow who had secured 2 patents for tracking and improving physical activity for chronic disease management. Harsh was looking to commercialize his patent into a commercial product and was looking for some business help in identifying a customer, fundraising and forming a team. Through our research which consisted of interviewing over 200 clinicians, hospital administrators, and non-profits like the American Health Association we discovered a business opportunity in the cardiac rehabilitation industry.

For those lucky to survive a heart attack, cardiac rehabilitation is a program designed to help patients improve their physical fitness, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, quit smoking, and improve other cardiovascular-related risk factors. Research shows patients who do rehab double their 5-year life expectancy and cut their risk of a second heart attack by up to 50%. The challenge is less than 15% of patients enroll in CR programs because there are very few programs which are located far away from people’s home and work. As a result, health systems are also shuttering their brick and mortar CR programs due to the high operating costs and unprofitability. This leads to more cardiac patients dying and getting readmitted within 12 months. Our team realized that there was an enormous opportunity in delivering cardiac rehab digitally through telehealth. This is how we founded the company, Moving Analytics.

2. Flashback and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about your journey (with Moving Analytics) thus far?

What has surprised me so far is the long sales cycles in healthcare. Our customers are large health systems. When you start, you have this conviction that since you have a solution to such a big problem, they would want to move fast to make something happen. That is unfortunately not the case since our sales cycle takes about a year, and could be longer for more complex agreements. It can be challenging at times because you still need to keep the business going while negotiations are progressing. Managing your expectations for the type of business you are in is important to your long-term success. Activities like the hundreds of demos we used to do when we first started that we thought weren’t working back then are now leading us to get more qualified leads and slowly chip away at the length of the sales cycle.

3. Why is the cause you are pursuing or problem you are solving the most important for this generation?

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death. 1 in 10 people die from heart disease – more people die from heart disease than cancer. However, heart disease doesn’t get as much attention. Our platform and program help reduce the risk of dying from heart disease. As millennials, we live for experiences and want to continue to do that for a long time. If we can solve this problem, it means we would live longer and our parents would live longer. We would spend more time with our loved ones. The fact is there is a benefit to being healthy and there is a cost associated with it as well. Heart disease and heart failure are expensive diseases, and we are committed to fighting and preventing it with our platform.

4. Reflect on all of the key sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

Running a startup is a huge commitment of your time, and personal relationships could suffer. We’ve been running the business for 4 years and in those 4 years, I’ve had some special personal relationships that didn’t work out. I’ve had to learn to manage my personal relationships better and realize it’s marathon, not a sprint. I’ve also started paying a lot of attention to my physical and mental health. When it comes to mental health, I try to share what’s going on in my life so my family and friends can help. It’s like you’re bringing them along on the journey.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

“Don’t build your idea in a vacuum.” Get out of the building and get in front of your customers.

A lot of people have ideas they want to hoard and not talk about for various reasons. The reality is most people do not care about your idea. Knowing this, I always try to socialize my ideas and in the process, I often determine what it is I need help with to take the idea to the next level. It’s interesting because when I share my ideas and where I need help, people would find ways to help me.

For more details, contact Moving Analytics.

F.I.V.E Questions with Ismail Maiyegun, Co-Founder of Hingeto

Hidden in the credits of any successful entrepreneurial story are small fonts of close calls, pivots, rejections, adversities, doubts, failures, etc. Ismail’s entrepreneurial story is no different. He is quick to tell you that the journey is just as important as the destination and having an unshakable self-belief, surrounding yourself with like-minded people, and working your a$$ off will get you farther than you’d expect. Ismail and his team are building a venture called Hingeto, to tackle inventory risk in retail. The Oakland, CA based startup has raised $1.9M in seed round funding to date, and are backed by Y Combinator (W16), Kapor Capital, Cross Culture Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Stanford University / StartX (S16), Comcast Ventures, Andre Iguodala, #blessed & Base Ventures. Hingeto launched with a limited-edition collection of bomber jackets designed by Oakland Raiders superstar, Marshawn Lynch. Ismail was kind enough to make time to share his story with the hopes of uplifting and inspiring other entrepreneurs. Enjoy!

1. Briefly describe your background- education, work experience, etc. What is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do now? What could make it even more exciting or rewarding?

I attended Stanford University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Computer Software. In High school, I got my A Levels in Computer Science, Math, Chemistry & Physics. I started programming in my early teens. After graduating from university, I worked for a financial-technology company in San Francisco that was co-founded by Bill Harris (former CEO of Intuit & interim CEO at PayPal). After spending four years there, I decided it was time for me to work full-time on my own ventures given the success I had enabled for those I had consulted and advised on the side.

My focus is now on Hingeto, a YC company I co-founded. We’ve raised ~ $1.9M to tackle inventory risk in retail.

I also serve as Chairman of the Board of Big Wolf Games, a company I co-founded before Hingeto.

One of the most exciting & rewarding aspects of my current role is to see how the solutions we build based on our customer’s feedback make a difference in their livelihoods. I also, admittedly, love the power I have in being able to bring any idea to life (it remains exhilarating even after almost 20+ years of programming). What would make it more exciting & rewarding is to look in the room and see more people that look like me, armed with the skills to pursue their dreams the way I have been able to.

2. Flashback and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about your journey thus far? What advice do you have for others looking to take a similar path? Is there something you could have done differently to get to where you are faster?

My biggest surprise has been how methodical building a successful company can be, once you master certain core principles and strategies.

The biggest thing I would have done differently is that I would have saved a lot more money before going on the entrepreneurial journey so that I could avoid contract work while building my ventures. Luckily, while it’s worked out so far for me, I had way too many close calls earlier in the journey that could have been avoided had I invested in having 6 months – 1 year of income stashed away.

But at the same time for me, knowing my personality, not having that cushion, created the urgency I needed back then to be able to build fast, iterate fast, close deals, etc. I don’t think I’d advise other entrepreneurs to do the same, because for me, my “worst case” was that I would find a mini-gig to “re-up” if needed – which would derail me for a few weeks/months but I knew that if need be, I could hypothetically continue finding contract work indefinitely until I figured out the long-term money maker – although that would not have been ideal. I built relationships with some agencies that sent me opportunities all the time specifically for this purpose.

For others looking to take a similar path, I would tell them to start small right now. I’d advise them to begin absorbing everything they can about starting/building a business and to begin surrounding themselves with positive/like- minded-people. Most importantly, I’d advise them to start putting their learnings into action immediately, even if on a small scale. I’d advise them to focus on building mini ventures that can make $10/month, then $100/month, then $1000/month then $10,000/month then $100,000/month and so forth.

It is extremely difficult to predict the future success of your company, but what is more within your control is what happens within the next few months. Then after that, focusing on the next few months after that. And after that. And when you look back 1-2 years later, you’ll find a few things will have happened.
You will have achieved product-market fit on one of the experiments you were running
You will have success on some small (or even large scale)
You will fail, but those learnings will make you more enlightened for the next thing you work on.
You will have built confidence in variety of competencies that empowers you to be a better entrepreneur (or employee or employer)

Hingeto builds no-risk inventory solutions for large retailers & small brands, mainly in the fashion/apparel niche (primarily Streetwear).

A lot of people express their identity by what they wear on a daily basis. Even those not looking to make a fashion statement, express a lot about themselves by what they decide to wear and what not to wear. When my co-founders approached me with the idea they were kicking around (they previously worked at a $130M online retailer and understood the industry very well), I was somewhat hesitant about if this would be something I would be passionate about because I am not one that cared much about fashion at the time.

However, after discussing the idea a few more times & digging deeper into the macro & micro economic implications of the issues such as excessive waste due to excess inventory, shifting consumer shopping habits, business process & logistics issues experienced by large retailers, predatory sales practices that severely impact small brands (many of which were being run by minorities), my interest was piqued. I also realized that streetwear was arguably the biggest driver of fashion trends & culture, outside of luxury.

While these issues were multi-faceted & complex, we identified what we believed was the root cause of many of them: Inventory Risk. To that end, we are building valuable solutions to solve this from a few angles as it isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem.

I hope the work & impact we achieve with Hingeto will leave a lasting legacy & change the way small brands & large retailers work together and to foster a healthy ecosystem that allows all involved to thrive in the modern economy.

I am also the Chairman of the board of Big Wolf Games, a 6-person gaming venture I co-founded before Hingeto. While on the surface, gaming feels as though it provides no direct societal impact, one of the reasons I’m so passionate about games, is their ability to reach a wide audience across all socioeconomic/cultural/ethnic/language backgrounds.

Games also provide a temporary escape/reprieve from the day-to-day hardships many go through. I started programming in my early teens because I loved games so much & wanted to learn how to build them, so games have changed my life.

One thing about games is that building them requires the ultimate blend of a variety of highly skilled competencies (art, animation, engineering – client side & server side, psychology, emotion, user experience, product, etc.). Building a successful game is arguably one of the most difficult things to do, and hence, it is a challenge that stimulates me intellectually (even if I’m not the one writing the code).

Games we’ve built (both internally & as part of joint-ventures) are played by millions around the world which is really awesome. The revenue is also very nice (lol).

4. Reflect on all of the key sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

I’ll speak about one big moment for me I had in addition to more general sacrifices/tradeoffs I’ve had to make during my entrepreneurial career.

The big moment was when I liquidated my 401(k) at the time (hence incurred early withdrawal penalties) as well as liquidating the FB stock I had at the time (which I bought right at IPO).

One on hand, these investments would have been worth a nice chunk of change today had I left them alone. However, at the time, I NEEDED the cash to get through another month of payroll, so I did what I had to do. I also always felt that the biggest investment I could ever make was in myself / ventures, and I wholeheartedly believed that I would make 5-10x whatever I was sacrificing by being able to “stay alive” for a few more days/months/years.

At that moment, I felt that it was best for me to withdraw from the stock market entirely and focus on $AIM (my initials & personal stock ticker :-p) & forego any upside I had from holding those positions.

Thankfully, that worked out for me. And thanks to the hustle, I put myself in a position where I’ve been able to generate several orders of magnitude more than what I forewent, but it was very very risky & I would never recommend anyone else do that (unless you have the same mindset and skills to be able to execute).

The next set of sacrifices is around lifestyle. Randi Zuckerburg posits that you can only pick 3 out of Work, Sleep, Family, Fitness, or Friends.

My biggest lifestyle sacrifices have revolved around my lack of balance across these 5 things, particularly early on in my career. In my early 20s, I neglected sleep, fitness and focused mostly on Work, Friends, and Family. I have paid the price for the lack of focus on my fitness & sleep (in the form of random health issues here and there), and I never got to focus on my family as much as I thought I would.

My rationale was always to work hard now (i.e. be in a position to retire in my 30s), so that I could focus on everything else later.

I realized the naiveté of this approach and shifted things in my late 20s where I sought to have more balance across all five areas because the journey was just as important as the destination. I have only recently (I am now 32) been able to feel like I am making real deliberate moves to achieve more balance across these key areas.

All in all, I disagree with Ms. Zuckerburg, and I believe there is a way to achieve balance across all five areas if one is deliberate about their time.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

One of my early clients from my consulting days once told me that the most powerful I could do with my ventures, is to give myself the financial runway to figure things out because it was just a matter of time before things start to click/work and that it wasn’t an “if it works” but more of a “when it works”. That has stuck with me.

A similar piece of advice I got during my track days at Stanford (unrelated to business) was during a time we were doing a stadium steps workout.

I was struggling badly & felt like quitting the workout, and one of my good friends/teammates said “Just take one more step man. And then one more after that & you’ll get there. Don’t think of how much more we have to do. Just focus on getting through the next step.. then next set and before you know it we’ll be done.”

I’ve taken that mindset shift and applied to many things that feel insurmountable at first.

Other things I do to get me through difficult times is to recite

If by Rudyard Kipling
See it Through by Edgar A Guest

I have those two poems memorized completely and will recite them once or twice a week at any given point.

Connect with Hingeto