Yesterday, Cranium One partnered with Ingressive to host a fireside chat with the COO of Y Combinator, Qasar Younis. The event was themed “The Y Combinator Effect” and it took place at Cranium One’s co-working space in Victoria Island, Lagos.
During the chat, Qasar discussed topics ranging from the similarity amongst successful tech startups, to the future of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem and where entrepreneurs should focus their energy.
The folks at Cranium One took a few notes at the event and were kind enough to share. Here are some of the things Qasar said:
1. Only work with people you actually want to be around and can see yourself spending time with (this includes investors).
2. Start small, but start what matters.
3. A common feature of successful tech startups is that they have amazing product to market fit. They provide a product that is so needed that the market adopts it quickly.
4. Get your hands dirty early on and learn the ‘hard skills’.
5. Advice to his 25 year old self – Work for a high-growth startup.
6. The timing of your product in the market is crucial – if the timing isn’t right, you have no business.
7. Focus on local problems rather than foreign ones, and build your business around that. Nigeria is blessed with a massive population teeming with problems that need to be fixed; focus on them.
8. The more you can delay fundraising when starting out, the better. Don’t reduce your equity on the cap table too early on. It’s expensive.
9. Getting your first 5 users is harder than getting the first 10, but the most crucial.
10. Who you expose yourself to in your career is a major key to success. Surround yourself with smart, successful, talented people you can work with.
11. The best founders are very empathetic.
12. Build something people really want and need.
13. Silicon valley took 70+ years to get to where it is, so don’t expect instant success in the local ecosystem.
L-R: Qasar Younis, Ingressive founder, Maya Horgan Farmodu, and Cranium One founder, Olaotan Towry-Coker.
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