4 important lessons for startups from an African entrepreneur

Yesterday Hypercube Hub hosted a fireside chat with tech entrepreneur and iHub co-founder Erik Hersman. He’d dropped in as part of a cross continent biker expedition.

After his talk we managed to steal him for a brief chat. In this talk Erik shared four pearls of wisdom for African tech entrepreneurs which we have listed below.

1. Work on hard things
   Simply put, don’t work on the really simple things. If it’s difficult it will be worth the effort
2. Build a network
   There is value in getting to know people and interaction with different individuals. A strong network will be useful at a later stage in your business. Go to workshops and events to build these relationships where ideas are exchanged and this will help in connecting the dots.
3. The idea isn’t as important as the execution
   Ideas are silver but execution is gold. There is more worth in action on the concept than just the idea itself.
4. Get your shoes dirty
   As a business person you need to knock on doors and make that sale even for a startup. You have to get into the trenches.

We will share our interview with Erik in a podcast to follow soon about lessons for startups.