Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

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