Enroll in an academic program, make friends with some of the other really smart students, drop out of school with them to create a company, work 80 hours a week and one day, $kaCHING$$!NO we didn’t start like many /most startups, It all started from a napkin where Jamila and i met at the iHub after working together in Akirachix.
We never knew what we are getting into but our main objective was to empower small-scale farmers. With lots of Internet research and hackathon at the iHub we had a motivation song that would make us hyper through out the night. Linda Kamau, VP Akirachix and Jessica Colaco were a great support for us during the hackathons.
HumanIPO came to Kenya to invest in young tech innovators and was being organized by enterprise program in Strathmore University. Linda was the president of the enterprise program and during the event with her passion and jolliness she joined us and was a part of the team. We became the winners of IPO48 and got invested in with 10000 euros.
This has been the most passionate, patient and persistent team that I have ever worked with even though Mark Suster backs me up when he says startup is a like a roller coaster it has its highs and lows.
Pic:mFarm anniversary day with the iHub community
There are some scenarios during the past year whereby I got to learn the fact that startup myths that have existed can be a killer to startups as Michael Fisher and Marty Abbott put it.
Myth #1: It’s About Your Great Idea
Truth: It’s About Your Customer
After winning the IPO48 2010 we got inves tment and of course our big expectation was to put our estimations we quoted during pitching to be our starting point. Little did we know it’s a different world/experience out there. Spending 6 months of adaptive experimentation for the 3 products/models with our clients and still having continuous experimentation on them to establish a better market response made me realize that this is the key to successful creation of viral growth.
Our 3 models had a cycle in that we later discovered when experimenting. Market price was our first launch; we targeted the market on the right time when everyone was harvesting. The information was worthwhile but the farmers resorted still to the brokers’ price because they had no market for their produce or else it would perish. We launched our model 2 buying together. We gave offers on fertilizers, solar lamps…. etc. Yes, few bought but most claimed they don’t have money/ready cash. Why was this? Cashless community? We introduced some to micro-finances but they claimed the interest rates were not fair and also the loaning period was short? Were they engrossed in debt? Model 3 that is selling together was the answer to all the challenges we experienced in each model. All the farmers needed were access to sustainable market and good prices. Working with buyers who shared the same mission and vision as us has led to happy farmers in the society. Buyers being assured of stable supply with their suppliers and farmers being assured of stable market and prices/pre buying have led to a mutual relationship among them. Look at the cycle below.
Pic:the model cycle of mFarm core products
As Paul Polak says talk to 25 people on the ground before you lift your hands on trying to anything. From our experience I’d like to quote that trying out ideas too early there is no demand, too late you’ve missed the market.
Myth #2: It’s About Hard Work; Don’t Expect to Have a Life
Truth: It’s About Results and You Need a Life
With all the co-founders quitting their jobs to make mFarm success, we love what we do and of course we spend more time on what we love. This does not mean we don’t have a life. Of course we’ve missed sometimes spent with families and friends. When things get tough, people work harder. When things are good, people work harder still to try to keep the “good times rolling.”
Results have been both tangible and some intangible. This has stretched from impacting: farmers lives, agribusiness companies like farm chemical manufactures to energy based companies extending their markets, buyers such as exporters and local small/medium enterprises having a stable supply of produce and having ethical trading platform from their suppliers and consumers of data (market price) having a platform to make better decisions in terms of pricing, cultivating, among others.
Effectiveness in executing the products is the key to the success of a business.
Myth #3: Hire Smart People and Let Them Do Their Magic
Truth: Hire Stars and Let Them Do Their Magic
With the growing team in mFarm from software developers, content managers, data collectors, ambassadors among others, one thing that I have realized in all of them as Jamila (one of the cofounders) says is the 3Ps (passionate, patient, perseverance).
Also our workplace /environment being a magic kingdom has led to spike in the chart of effectiveness. This starts from our investor Kresten Buch who has created an environment of not being afraid to take risks and monetization of the business. To him nothing is difficult to execute but to know the niche you have in the market. The core team having created an environment of a shooting board for any idea that will be redefined to improve the value of the business. The data collectors coming with innovative ideas to have data integrity and the ambassadors who are actually farmers who have ideas to bring change to their community by not only closing the gap with ICT but with literacy in ethical trading, finance and social.
Pic:the mFarm team mosaic
Truth: Affective Conflict Is Bad; Cognitive Conflict Is Good
It’s a fact that in a relationship there has to be conflict. Some go sore some makes the relationship be more effective.
With mFarm we’ve had sore /affective conflict that has led to burn outs and some quitting the team. That set aside us having a culture of good/cognitive conflict helps us eliminate groupthink and open up strategic possibilities. It’s always characterized by debates on what and why. This has made us think more clearly and broadly about our competition. Weekly fun activities or what we like to call ‘tea time’ has lead us to having stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, creating a positive emotional state which in turn supercharges our brains.
Research shows cognitive conflict has been shown to increase firm performance and shareholder wealth. mFarm is a great result of this finding.
Myth #5: It’s an Uphill Battle Until One Day, When It All Comes Together
Truth: It’s a Rollercoaster Ride
Of course when starting Mfarm it sounded like being your own boss and having freedom to execute what idea we had in mind by then. Yes there is a BUT of not knowing what you are getting into. It has its ups and downs and if you are not driven with passion you’ll be the BIGGEST quitter in life.
On Monday we were sure that we’ll have this number of customers actually using our system but by Wednesday they come with excuses of why they are waiting to use it. On Thursday you get a call from an international buyer or exporter that he’s wants to buy from the farmers in two weeks you get a call that he wasn’t actually ready to work with the third party you introduced him/her to. By Tuesday you think the company will run out of cash next quarter even though by Friday you’re positive the model will do nothing short of revolutionizing ICT and agribusiness.
In short, in a startup, things seem great one moment and hopeless the next. And by next, I mean a couple hours later.
With all these experiences we’ve gone through this year, our gratitude goes to the community (ihub,mlab,nailab,petes coffee,akirachix) that has assisted as and made our lows look high and highs look more exciting.
We extend our gratitude also to the international community (humanipo,quartz&co,infodev among others)
