Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

So many experts. Who do you follow?

Yeah. We all know this. You connect to the net hoping to just check your emails for 5 minutes, read your Twitter TL for 2 minutes and that is that. Start coding. You spend the 7 minutes above and from the TL, you see a link from MrMajani. And another one retweeted by Satchu. One article leads to another, 2 hours later you are still YET to start coding. The thought-processed is already messed up.

Where is that wireframe? Ohh, wait, was this piece of code to be done as a PHP CLI script or Python? You can’t decide now. Your energy is all sapped. But KESHO, uta-focus ile mbaya. Acha leo iishe hivi. Kesho pia ni siku.

And such is the conundrum we find ourselves in. The internet becoming your enemy [Yeah: Had to say that to make the Kenyans feel good. Always blaming everything else for your own ails rather than look deep within oneself and realize the problem is actually... drumrolls... YOU]. Ok, back to reality. Actually, your LACK of DISCIPLINE becoming your enemy.

I was wasting time on the Internet today reading an article on about how to avoid time-wasting distractions on the net and it appears that we all have a common problem. Social networks and information aggregators tend to CONFUSE us, rather than ENLIGHTEN us.

As disciplined programmers, the biggest problem we face is that of information overload, Like I told MoneyAcademy. There are soooooo many decisions to make. All due to information. I know of MySQL gurus who have never heard of PostgreSQL or Oracle, but make you the best, fastest and most robust databases you can ever desire.

Also, unfortunately, I know of a young programmer who knows kidogo-SQL-Server, Kidogo-Oracle and ‘Hata CoughDB na NoSQL Kiasi’. Operating in slut-mode, touching and sucking a little bit of everything, but mastering and marrying none. Such is the sad effect of Information Overload.

The comes decision time. The project needs to be handed in. What do you use as your PHP Framework? The slow and feature-rich Kohana, CakePHP and Symphony or the Super-Fast and Slim Yii, FatFree or DOOPhp frameworks? What database do you use? MySQL, SQL Server, Interbase, PG or Oracle?

What do you host your app on? Apache, Nginx, Lighttpd, Mongrel2 or (GodForbid) IIS (*Shudder!!*) . Do you create a cluster and scale out as needed or do you Virtualize and scale up as needed?

In the end, it all comes to experience. No one solution fits all. There are tried and tested methods, however.

For example, at Symbiotic, we have the following setup:

• A rackspace cloud of Debian (Ubuntu 10.10) Servers and a local setup of Debian (Ubuntu 10.10) Servers. Full Sync, Full redundancy.
• Webserver: Apache 2 (for PHP 5 with eAccelerator, HTTPAuth, Rewrites). Lighttpd (For service CSS, JS, Video, Images). TomCat for JSPs.
• DB : MySQL 5, MemCached, HA Master-Slave setup.
• ++

We use technologies we have fine-tuned and researched on over years to make sure we have the most robust setup.

So the challenge is yours. Master A FEW, or know alot. Kazi kwako.

Back to code…

Wazi

I will create my own Facebook next week.

Ask any rich man how they got their loot and the response will always be something close to : “Ahh. It was not very hard. I used to sell charcoal, then God blessed me and the rest is history.”

Ask any pool master how they pot the balls so easily. 7-Ballers to anyone who dares challenge them. “It is easy. Just aim and shoot. All you need is practice.”

Ask any master coder how he can develop a system as Complex as you can imagine in a week or 2 days. “I just reused some old code I have and changed some small bits here and there. Nothing too fancy. Anyone could do that.”

Then you listen to a enough of these people, and you start believing your own hype. You stupidly start believing that since these people did it, you can also do it. You blind yourself to the fact that out of the billions of people on earth, only these 10-20 people have done it. You ignore their sweat. You ignore their circumstances. You ignore all the lessons from The Tipping point. You start living in false hope.

This is one of the sad things I saw at the successful and prestigious #pivot25. Campus Kids calling themselves President, VP, CEO and all those fancy names. Totally disrespecting the sweat and years it takes to earn that title.

Our late Boss, Dr Geoffrey William Griffin always told us: “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”

The Price

The skill-sets required to create Facebook and Google are out of this world. So are the resources and financials. Zuckerberg bought the domain-name facebook.com for USD 200, 000. Yes. Kshs 32M. I would do that myself if I had the kind of money young Zucks had.

Facebook received its first investment of US$500,000 in June 2004 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, in exchange for 7% of the company. This was followed a year later by $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, and then $27.5 million more from Greylock Partners. A leaked cash flow statement showed that during the 2005 fiscal year, Facebook had a net loss of $3.63 million.

Ofcourse, I am not making up numbers and ‘facts’. Here is the source. With USD 42M+, there is no way he could fail. Now, ask yourself, do you EVEN have 42M Uganda Shillings to burn? Can you dedicate the next 3 STRAIGHT months of your life coding. Or is there rent, electricity and food to hustle for?

Don’t get me wrong. We are all entrepreneurs. I am not saying that it cannot be done. That with a-lot of dedication, discipline, willingness, sacrifice, money and knowledge, you cannot build your OWN Facebook/Google/LinkedIn etc. You can. Easily, with the above combination. No more, no less. Ohh yeah, plus luck.

But the problem lies in perception. That these things are easy. Alot of times, someone comes to iHub and asks me : “Salim, How much would you charge [it cost] to develop a site like Facebook?”.  Or. “Salim, I have some spare server ina kama 40 GB Free space na kama 20k hivi. Si hii inatosha kuunda Facebook ya Kenya na tudosike kama madogi?”. And I immediately lose my appetite and start thinking about sex.

The lesson

Anything is possible. As long as it is actually possible. You can do anything and be anything you want to be in this life. As long as you know and have what it takes and know how to get there. Everyone is special and unique. Just like everyone else.

Be like an erection. Start small, grow big and hard. Know your limits. Then conquer them. Knowledge is power.

Back to code…

Wazi.

I was here FIRST!!

We are in the tech sector. Applications, models, methods. Every app takes time and resource. It is imperative one knows whether it will FAIL or SUCCEED. At least not 100% certain, but a little research will go a long way. It is saddening to develop something and have it not fulfilling the purpose.

Many-a-times, I have been asked one of the 3 questions below by friends/followers and ‘friends’:

1 – “Salim, to you, what is better and more fulfilling? To start your own business and make it a success or to JOIN an already existing one and improve it?”

2 – “Salim, I have a good job and I get paid well, but it is not challenging enough. I do the same-old-effking-routine everyday. When is the right time to quit and do something more fulfilling in IT?”

3 – “These people wanajiringa and they did not even develop that system. I know the developer and all they do is use and improve it. The idea was not theirs. do they deserve plaudits?”

And, so, today, as I was watching SharkTank S2E3, Daymond John, said it in one sentence: “Pioneers get slaughtered while settlers prosper“. And, this, my friends is the plain, ugly, real truth!

The Problem

We see it everyday. A person comes out bubbling with ideas. He has a killer product/idea. He develops something NO ONE envisaged before. Something unfathomable. Something unprecedented. Those who could envisage it just laughed it off in bars and elevators as a good idea. “No one would buy/use it”, they said.

But someone finally develops it. He demos it. It is beautiful. It works. It is revolutionary. This is the pioneer.

Then the same-old-story starts. “Wameniibia”. “That was our/my idea”.  ”We thought about that first!”. “I have spoken to my lawyer and they will be sued”. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

There are people with resources, willingness and time. They are always looking out for POORLY executed GREAT ideas. They know they have the options. This is Africa. Kenya. Bloody Nairobi. Patents don’t exist. Speak to the wrong people and you will be duplicated. Your project will be finished by someone else before YOU begin. These are the settlers.

A discussion at LinkedIn puts this into better perspective [I have edited for context].

Initial (primary) innovation is a cruel mistress, as it is an energy that must be released. And then, if your unique ‘light’ finds its way to pierce a particular darkness, as soon as it shines, unethical marketers will paint it a different color, put a bigger brand name on it and claim it as their own.

So yes, pioneers get slaughtered because further ‘improvement’ is usually only a small change to the Idea they worked day and night to bring to life.

The solution

From the same page in LinkedIn : “Timing, resources, dedication, and business planning make the difference.”.

Timing is all about releasing the critical and ‘people-magnet’ features first. The features that make people want to use your product. Make them use your app. Making haste and getting out there. But getting out there EXPOSES you. Hence the second step.

Resources. How do you evangelize your product beyond the small circles of family, friends, twitter followers. Do you have money to advertise? Can you use EXISTING social, publicity and exposure avenues cost-effectively. Do you have a budget? Ok, you have this sorted. How do you keep the users interested? How do you handle user-fatigue?

Dedication. Keep the services up and continually BUT POSITIVELY improved. Always keep your business at the top of your to-do list. If not as the ONLY thing on it. This is your baby. Feed it daily. 4 times.

Business Planning. What do you improve in version 2? What do you add. What do you drop. What do you merge? Do you need to scale-up or scale out? Do you need some partnerships to increase revenues in certain parts? What is your revenue collection model? How do you maximize revenue in all parts of your business?

The FINAL part of the solution is partnership. You are a pioneer in Business. A novice. A master programmer you may be. An IT Guy. But not necessarily a business person. Do your thing with the servers and databases and code. But PARTNER with someone to do their thing with the clients, the contracts and RA. You cannot do everything yourself, like MOST developers try to do.

Kazi kwako.

Back to code…

Wazi

What do you wanna do, now?

Ok. Normally I would not do this. Ati Explain a victory, or why a Benz is better than a Vitz, etc. But behind every successful man are 5 others who wish they were him, and 17 biatches who want to xuk hiz dzik.

A wise man changes his mind. A fool keeps on digging even while in Quick Sand. And by the way, this is NOT sijui IddSalim responding to some gutter press, etc. I am just blogging my thought. Simple as.

I always tell my peoplez, It is one thing to COMPLAIN about something you are not happy with; totally OK, but it is another totally unacceptable thing to be A-LIER and INSULT people just because you are too dumb to conform and get the big picture.

Then comes the haters, wannabes, trash-talkers etc. Gutter press will always have something to talk about. No matter how good you are. No one is perfect, and if you dig enough, there are skeletons in each one of our closets. So as a mature person, you have to decide. Do you want to be a sad loser and focus on the negative of everything and hate on everyone, or do you look at the tears and sweat people put in everyday and APPRECIATE the effort, no matter how little?

I am in no way a part of Shimba Technologies. I actually came to know about MedKenya AT PIVOT25. “Salim, they did this project behind your back?”, I am asked. Maybe. But I am mature enough to see why. To see the quality. And appreciate it. Even if it is not the work of my own hands. Not hate it and get all bitchy about other people’s successes.

Pivot25 Inauguration had 2 main purposes:

1 – To set a precedence to future ICT Developer Events. Let developers know that there are millions to be made here. Know that there is hope and life in code. Know that all you need is a team of 2 or 3 people. 4+ is a crowd. Then a brilliant product. Not Idea. A working and monetizable product.

You need a Serious coder who will create the app and support it, A serious Business Brain who can pitch and give the Judges a TKO and a ka Serious eKYM. Someone to run around the streets or the net researching and getting the facts to back the pitch up. No more room for ‘HelloWord – Click here to see a Messagebox’ Apps. Lazima watu wawe serious.

2 – To take to Silicon Valley the best we have. This year it was Shimba. Clearly. The product, the pitch, the money-matics. They had everything figured. Finally something good. Fruits of Mutinda spending hours and hours every day coding his finger-skin off. Fruits of Mbugua spending hours and hours every day going through videos and publications on how to pitch. What investors want to hear.

In my own view, Whive,  MobileParking and mFarm came closest. Whive was very niche and had low ARPU. But I talked to the team and the future is bright. mFarm was still young. And also, SMS systems will always be frowned upon. The pitch also was a 4 out of 10. mParking was a good idea. But lacked the snazzy ish like maps and also REQUIRED things like CityCouncil collabo etc.

With the combination of CodeBrains and BizBrains, Shimba had it all. It is a team I would want to join. I will root for mParking, mFarm or Whive next year if they are serious enough and focus on their products.

We can debate this all day, but we need an answer to these 2 fundamental questions:

1 – Personna: Who would you rather go and represent Kenya at the Silicon Valley Pitch? A confident, seasoned, respected, Safcom Innovations Board Member, Chairman of MobileMonday Kenya, Founder of Symbiotic, Founder Member of MMEA – Mbugua … or some shaky,  emotional squealer? Pole. Facts. Kubali yaishe.

2 – Product: A revenue sound, urgently-needed solution, all facts about doctor-patient rations (the need), Vision-2030-compliant app like MedKenya, or some half-baked hacks?

So, the lessons

Jana we had the mLab launch. It was all over TV, Radio and also in Gutter press. mLab has the space, the ecosystem, the mentor, the DEVICES and the willingness to make your IDEA an ACTUAL PRODUCT that makes YOU lots of MONEY.

So, the choice is yours:

1 – Go home and cry to mamma because you did not win/qualify.

2 – Open a blog and tukana people all day for traffic.

3 – Grow some balls and come code with us. I am a USD thousanddaire and will be a HundredThousanddaire by Dec. You want that too? Yes? Then come to mLab. Kuja we skuma some code and make some money.

By next Pivot25, have an answer to the following concerns:

Does your app have the LEAST barriers for acceptance and usage? If it requires input from source A, then B then C before it can monetize, achana nayo.

Can it be used by the MAJORITY of people. If you only do Android, no problem, go on. But don’t complain if you cant win grants. Investors look for revenue potential. They won’t invest ati coz YOU penda and believe in YOUR product. Investor si mama yako, unless ni mama yako.

Does it address an EXISTING need? And can it generate MONEY while doing that?

Back to code…

Wazi