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It says something about the myopic obsession with growth and the ignorance of global cultural diversity that is prevalent in Silicon-Valley-ish tech capitalism

It says something about the myopic obsession with growth and the ignorance of global cultural diversity that is prevalent in Silicon-Valley-ish tech capitalism that such a statement is deemed notable enough to deserve a headline and that the interviewee is expected to justify it. No startup "needs" to expand across anything. A startup is a business in its early stages. A business satisfies a need in given market, and not all markets are the same. A business can cease to grow and yet continue providing value for society, its owners and its employees.

foldr 3y ago
Also, Nigeria is a huge country (population 230 million). US startups aren't necessarily expected to expand even as far as Canada or Mexico. It's not clear why there should be an analogous expectation on a Nigerian startup.
- Ozzie_osman 3y ago
  Well no economy in Africa compares in size to the economy of the US by any means, and for our VC-fueled industry, it's more about total addressable market than anything. That said, totally agree with the comment you're replying to. The idea that startups need to expand across "Africa" or "the Middle East", etc, is both a result of VC-fueled startup strategy and ignorance of the diversity of those continents/regions. Hell, even expanding across a single country like India can be drastically more difficult than the US due to differences in laws, language, culture, etc across different states / regions.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    Today. Hopefully those countries will grow their ecconomy. If you can help that you will do well.
- FinnKuhn 3y ago
  Investors don't measure potential for companies not by how many potential customers they have, but by the purchasing power of their potential customers.
  - foldr 3y ago
    Investors are interested in ROI. A Nigerian business will tend to have lower costs as well as lower potential income. It may be a smaller investment than a company that’s targeting the US market, but not necessarily a bad one.
    - lupire 3y ago
      Is Nigerian cloud computing as cheap as Nigerian food? Unless the whole supply chain is local, you're still paying global prices for some things.
- mooreds 3y ago
  GDP is about 1/3 of Australia. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/NGA https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/NGA https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/AUS https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/AUS Seems big enough to support a lot of great companies to me!
asdff 3y ago
Startups might poof into smoke in a matter of months while your local plumbing company has been a family business for half a century and has no shortage of work.
- ozim 3y ago
  Everything you wrote already outlines why nothing about family owned plumbing company is interesting. My father was not a plumber and he had no business like it - as a young person looking to make my impact on world it doesn’t matter. Has no shortage of work but also cannot scale besides couple employees and trusting/trusted customers, word of mouth - as an investor that’s not good for me and I am out. Good for people running those businesses but instead of trying to fight incumbent companies on existing market where they had 50 years headstart - and they will push me out to keep their turf - I have much more opportunity trying to do something new or something I can grow in multiple ecosystems in case it goes poof in one place, where in other place it might blossom.
alephnerd 3y ago
> is prevalent in Silicon-Valley-ish tech capitalism Us VCs and PMs (so called "MBAs") aren't dummies. This article is moreso about the fact that "Africa" is not a unitary market but in reality an extremely diverse market with multiple different markets. The kind of GTM needed to go big in Kenya is entirely different from Nigeria which is different from South Africa. The scene in Nigeria and East Africa reminds me of India and ASEAN in the 1990s-2000s, and ime chatting with some African founders (a couple of whom ended up in YC) the strategies are similar. There are some legal and historical intricacies that cause this difference that I can elaborate on if there is interest.
deleted 3y ago
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foldr 3y ago

Also, Nigeria is a huge country (population 230 million). US startups aren't necessarily expected to expand even as far as Canada or Mexico. It's not clear why there should be an analogous expectation on a Nigerian startup.

Ozzie_osman 3y ago
Well no economy in Africa compares in size to the economy of the US by any means, and for our VC-fueled industry, it's more about total addressable market than anything. That said, totally agree with the comment you're replying to. The idea that startups need to expand across "Africa" or "the Middle East", etc, is both a result of VC-fueled startup strategy and ignorance of the diversity of those continents/regions. Hell, even expanding across a single country like India can be drastically more difficult than the US due to differences in laws, language, culture, etc across different states / regions.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Today. Hopefully those countries will grow their ecconomy. If you can help that you will do well.
FinnKuhn 3y ago
Investors don't measure potential for companies not by how many potential customers they have, but by the purchasing power of their potential customers.
- foldr 3y ago
  Investors are interested in ROI. A Nigerian business will tend to have lower costs as well as lower potential income. It may be a smaller investment than a company that’s targeting the US market, but not necessarily a bad one.
  - lupire 3y ago
    Is Nigerian cloud computing as cheap as Nigerian food? Unless the whole supply chain is local, you're still paying global prices for some things.
mooreds 3y ago
GDP is about 1/3 of Australia. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/NGA https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/NGA https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/AUS https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/AUS Seems big enough to support a lot of great companies to me!

asdff 3y ago

Startups might poof into smoke in a matter of months while your local plumbing company has been a family business for half a century and has no shortage of work.

ozim 3y ago
Everything you wrote already outlines why nothing about family owned plumbing company is interesting. My father was not a plumber and he had no business like it - as a young person looking to make my impact on world it doesn’t matter. Has no shortage of work but also cannot scale besides couple employees and trusting/trusted customers, word of mouth - as an investor that’s not good for me and I am out. Good for people running those businesses but instead of trying to fight incumbent companies on existing market where they had 50 years headstart - and they will push me out to keep their turf - I have much more opportunity trying to do something new or something I can grow in multiple ecosystems in case it goes poof in one place, where in other place it might blossom.

alephnerd 3y ago

> is prevalent in Silicon-Valley-ish tech capitalism Us VCs and PMs (so called "MBAs") aren't dummies. This article is moreso about the fact that "Africa" is not a unitary market but in reality an extremely diverse market with multiple different markets. The kind of GTM needed to go big in Kenya is entirely different from Nigeria which is different from South Africa. The scene in Nigeria and East Africa reminds me of India and ASEAN in the 1990s-2000s, and ime chatting with some African founders (a couple of whom ended up in YC) the strategies are similar. There are some legal and historical intricacies that cause this difference that I can elaborate on if there is interest.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]