How can building a startup in South Africa cut your burn?

she raised the largest seed round in South Africa as a female founder working on solving the student housing crisis globally when I started it wasn't supposed to be a business it literally was just a website so I'd never even cross online to monetize it she shares what it's like as a female founder seeking a small amount of money only to receive a term sheet that was six times the amount she was actually looking for I remember when we got the phone call and Greg and I looked at each other we were like 12 million like what that is crazy and how she was able to get to profitability being able to source and recruit affordable talent in South Africa Engineers you're looking maybe around a months I really would advocate for the hiring Talent day making me want to consider hiring in South Africa for top talent at affordable rates so maybe you will too after watching this episode so let's get into it hey everyone welcome back to fundraising G today we have Alexandria Proctor with us founder of digs connect out of South Africa welcome to the show today thank you thank you Jason it is lovely to see you again it's good to be here no that's great we met at lunch not too long ago I was fascinated about your story of being uh you know the female founder out of South Africa that raised the largest seed Brown you know fascinating story uh I would love for you to tell the audience a little bit more about what you built at di connect how you grew to you know form cities and just give the the audience a little bit of context to who you are so I started my company um when I was a student at the University of Kon uh it was a lot of um things kind of fall into place I never quite planned I never planned to be an Entre never planned to be a Founder this is back in like 2018 so it wasn't I mean we have like a now our startup scene is is incredible it's growing really fast there's a whole lot of uh like movements around it back then it wasn't a big thing there was a couple you know starters it wasn't like this kind of seen it's almost like I say like viable career pathing startup found them um so how it all happened was that I was elect the student government uh in my third at University my portfolio was called the student housing student housing coordinator and that's basically every a student that wasn't in University issued accommodation to find a place to stay off campus and ucct there's about 30,000 students and only 5,000 beds on campus and so the vast majority of students have to find a combination of campus but like there's no plan B like if you're not in in RZ like you're on your own way and the university solution to this was to have literally like a printed art piece of paper like an a she names and numbers like that's it in you know in 2018 2017 that was their solution and so because it was my responsibility to kind of work on this uh I had been doing comai for for a year as part of my science degree I could KN to get a really basic website literally over a weekend and that was that was digs connects version one the word digs in South afcan means like a commune like the student commune it's kind of used also in like the commw countries I don't know if it's very common in America but that's the word came from and the Dig connect flowed from there also it um I remember when I first started speaking about the name in an SRC the student res a council meeting and because I speak quite fast I was like oh guys I've launched the websy called digs connect and everyone must heard it I was like a wait what what what you launching di connect and I like no no no no dig connect keep it keep it PG with digs D yeah exactly exactly so launched that and yeah just to solve a problem I was facing on the SRC just to solve the campus wide problem but it's interesting how I think so often we are the a a product of context you know it's kind of while context happening the world around us and at that time in South Africa there were a series of protest Nation one protest called p 4 and there's one called shackel and that was focused on the fact that there was no student housing and it was like every year in jary in students back to campus there would be this you know front page of the newspaper students are homeless students are sleeping in lecture theaters there no for them to go and of the 2.3 million students in South Africa 800,000 are found white government because they fall beneath what's considered to be like almost like as International poverty line in a way and they really need that funding they really need that support and these are the most vulnerable students who need you know the most secure accommodation good living uh you know good living experiences to break those poverty Cycles to get the qualification to join the workforce and they're living in really abysmal locations that are just like being taken advantage of by landlords and so it's quite a dire situation but on the other side you have the sou African private sector which I would argue is one of the best in the world I would say sou African enters are incredible because they work in a very difficult circumstances and you know normal South Africans have be going out and buying flats and houses um and even we have a burgeoning pbsa which is purpose sport student accommodation sector and these landlords have you know morgage to pay first of the month the bank's taking their money where they likeing on not so they got to get tenent paying that rent and so there really was you know from both sides this this need to really connect um but back then I didn't know any was I wasn't thinking about market dynamics I wasn't thinking about the burgeoning pbsa sector I was just like I'm going to cure students out my door looking for place this day I know this properties on campus let me just check it on a website it was literally just that buil it over a weekend it was hideous but it did the job and you could like list Properties or thingses and you could like then um you could see the list and just call them directly and it was version what nor J 2018 and I think it was just you know topical there was Massa Tailwinds it was z i on campus everyone's talking about it I think was because I was a student you know I was my friends were students you had to have a us to is email address the access it just felt like it was just it it just popped off on campus and so friends of mine are running a few like Instagram meme Pages for the University that were really popular tens of thousand followers and they shared it and there's a few things that kind of fell into place my co-found was an ASC with me and he's brilliant and he was actually Uber's Ambassador at the University in Uber launched in Cape Town so it was just like a lot of Confluence of things that worked out really well and all kind of like starts together and it just grew insanely fast I mean we just took over took over the campus we did like ridiculous stunt also where we would throw money off a building and like staple to our flyers and it started like a riot on campus and I got rugby tackled and it like front page of the newspaper so these things kind of happen we grew super fast in 2018 well before I get carried away of the whole story I mean I feel like let me pause there for now but that's kind of how it all started that was my journey with startups STS and you know picking up moment um you know taking over the campus um you know let's talk about you know one appreci at the you the education kind just South Africa and just how it's very different from us like the fact that this 2018 like when I was in college in 2006 like we had you know websites and you know things of that sort the discrepancy of you know the technology available and how you found the opportunity and and took a r with it so sounds like you picked a momentum but when it comes to you going out there putting yourself out there to raise money so it's one thing to get a you know bunch of students using a service and you know landlords um why did you decide to raise money and what was that process like yeah I mean when I started it wasn't supposed to be a business it literally was just a website so I never even crossed my mind to monetize it it never crossed my mind to to in make it more than just a platform where students could go on and it is when it's likeing s's traction uh we almost off of the business model like you know landal would go on and put a listing up uh at 8:00 a.m. and let's say by 4 P will be like on page three or four and they were saying oh you know geez could I pay to be on the front page and this was like such a Noel idea to me I was like okay you know how much would you pay and you know the first down was like I give you you know 50 bucks to be on the first page 50 your ant is like less than5 pounds you know like two pound it's like but when you're a student that 50 round goes far like that was epic and this was terribly exciting I mean that's is what I think the first you know not to not to talk down I'm sure they they're very valuable you know mvas or business school all that but I think in that moment I learned everything you need to know about business like Bill sing of value people then will give you money for it and hey Presta you you've got a business like I think autate kind of comes down to that just like create value in the world and just keep ding down that value and then all that money really is is a store of value and then if you create something that's kind of you know a one to one with that get paid for it um it was really a transformative moment I suppose looking back in life and so yeah did you think about raising money at this point like what was going through like when did you realize you got to do that yeah not not at all actually I mean so my co-founder Greg like he's definely more on TR M like he comes from a very fantastic business family um my parents are professionals so was never like a we stood on the table discussing business at night on table discussing like politics you know and literature and so yeah he was the kind of sort okay look this could be a business we should start monetizing this this charging Downy list and we never thought about raising we're like cool we can do it ourselves I mean our hosting our service were so cheap I think I was paying like 20 round a month type thing for that I could you know cover it myself I was doing the coding um we didn't have to really Market we just on campus so we never thought it's I didn't even know what that meant to raise money I didn't even know run as a sh what is I had no idea I think I only register the business like I when I tried to register I didn't even know what I was doing picked the most random things like CH your tax y I was like what's a tax Y in I just you know pick that one so I know you what I was doing um the of raising was I didn't even know that was a thing to be done look when when Greg joinan he knew a lot more about that um like his older brother was was running you know a business and he could kind of help us a lot with that the thing that I think really inspired us to raise was often you know like I said good ideas of the con are more of a part of of a context of environment that perhaps a person it's similar to perhaps how um calculus you know was kind of discovered at the same time by two different people uh perhaps it's similar to perhaps student housing is similar but like any great idea it's kind of just the product of context and the reason I'm saying that is because a few other students had started cening onto the same idea being like okay look there's something here around doing a stre housing platform most of them we didn't take too seriously but there was started out of stush and you to team stush University have like a famous rivalry they're the two best universities in the country they two very the towns are very close to each other um and there always been this famous sporting and academic rival between the two and there was another male female co-founder team which also made us notice because like we had the whole like differing Factor like oh we're a male female co-founding team and there aren't a lot of female um CEOs and Founders in South Africa and they came out and we're like oh gosh this is trouble because they were good um and we had gone to one of their in s and they had actually mentioned dig connect and like listed all the ways we had been failing how that platform was better and I took some serious notes and went back and I was like okay I got to add all this which was great in a way but of lowkey corporate s but after listening to that I was just in a great andiz serious chat and me like this is the line grab it's a it's a Marketplace business we have to have properties landlords you know obviously come to place like the UK the US and there's a lot more competition but sou Africa it's fairly competitive or competitive scarce market and I don't think you know convincing landlords of a new idea but not to have you know lots of of startups offering the same thing they wouldn't do it it was a land grab we had to move fast we had to get into them first we had to sweep it up and become like almost too big too big to be over taken and that would require obviously like we need actual resources we need to make this St give a proper go and we both come to the end of our undergrad and we're looking at postgrads both accepted I was going to St in the science faculty but it was going to go to law um and we're like okay cool let's have a proper run with this let's try and raise let's go into this process and so we had then spoken to like a family friend's very much in the network his older brother who had been doing um he was on accountant actually in London and be doing private equity in London but also South African and he was back in sou afri for a few months and we sat down with him and asked him for advice and he said look he's got a good network of investors in South Africa and the VC scene especially then was in its infancy there were like there are a couple amazing DC firms that been around for a while and now there's there's loads there a big Africa Focus which is incredible um but back then there weren't a lot so it was more kind of like Angel Investors or family officers or people kind of in the industry so for us we were in property so we started trying to you know the property guys bricks and Mort saying if this is a new angle or you have to like update your you know your fund thesis to include Tech applications in property so that's actually who we after we just TR on the banks and the banks are important because they got great Network so even though we were too small for them to vest and didn't have a VC angle back then they knew people that were um we could just trat to and it's kind of it's like that you's got to hustle you know you got to meet people you got to get out there like it's like Ping the pavement knocking on doors cold emails you know just like yes Manning to everything broadening the surfice A3 meetings um and eventually gets in the right room all what happens is the right person here and they pass it on to of their mates being like this isn't for us but you could find this interesting and that's how it happened we actually end after pitching for I think we may started seriously in maybe like 15 November like mid November 2018 so about 11 months or so after we started half f after we started and then we got a call about two weeks later from a group of Angel Investors um in jobber and we in Cape Town so we F to jber made with him and it was incredible meeting and and they came back to us with an offer and that was when everything changed I mean we had gone out to raise 2 million man which is very much in line with what FS were raising back then like startups seed startups were raising in South Africa because we had it wasn't preed and we had like a product of B product we had a product we had some serious traction we had like a growing brand we had a really great team we had a couple lands that were paying us every now and again for listings it was no it wasn't much of a business model but like people were paying for this is clearly some something here um and I think then yeah it was enough to kind of get people really excited about it espe like growth was insane and so we chose investors and they came back we asked for 2 million Rand and they came back with 12 million Rand offer which was insane I remember when we got the phone call I I was seeing we had this like awful little office it was like basically like a a tin roof on stills it was terrible it was like a death tra the whole year in summer it was so hot I mean c on the summer is cooking and then in Winter it would just rain and rain rain and the Rats cuz the far the rats would come in and chill there it was horrific that's all we could afford and we're sitting in our little like tin Shack and we get a phone call and Greg and I looked at each other and we were like 12 million like what that is crazy like that does not happen like I was still living in like my own crappy little student eggs paying like you know minimal and rent and we scraping together and it was very like yeah it was just so it was so chilled and my phone call kind of changed well mean changed my life obviously and you don't really I mean I kind of knew at the time but I didn't know as much and um in the sense that it was a huge check and I don't know if I would advise I mean you know 2024 speaking to an American or British audience it it's not a huge check but if you're like from a HomeTown called building a startup in you know in 2018 and cap out it was a lot and we were 24 the time and I wouldn't recommend you know whatever it is really to be that size for people now I think that no matter how wise you try to be in how formed and how and for fre try to be it's hard not to force the common put fors of being a first time found that's given a lot of cash you know you just make a lot of mistakes scrappiness is important struggling is important learning the lessons the hardware is important um it shouldn't be that easy um because then you get kind of sloppy but we we said Yer deal and looking back it was definitely I mean we got so like of those investors they are incredible through this whole journey it's been six years six and a half years seven years almost um they have been remarkable remarkable investors they've been through us with us through like thck and th through the co years which are very scary um they really have opened up in N GL vest to say oh we're going to introduce you to all these people and you know years and you haven't gotten a single deduction or you got one half-hearted email and then like ghosted after that um so yeah they were incredible um and that is how we closed our first funding round so you know albe it yes the scale is different but in terms of Relativity of experience like you said you're going out for 2 million Rand like that's like a normal company going out for 2 million us probably yeah you got 6X that like that's pretty substantial uh in terms of you know the relative to and everything just you know context to the audience you know roughly you ended up raising only about a million us which sounds you know not that much to a traditional you know us startup who has to go out and raise like tens of millions but when you think about relative cost of being in South Africa and you know yeah you had can you just tell the audience like from a talent perspective what kind of Talent were you getting where were you getting the talent and ultimately how much did it cost I think it'd be eye opening for for Founders this is why I advocate for everyone who build in South Africa it is just it is like an Undiscovered gy it's like a mea for Founders it's incredible for like basing your team there the time zone is obviously very Central which is incredible it's English speaking for it language in terms of communicating to your team in terms of hiring there C support everything it's just phenomenal of course it's also because the cost of living is so low like salaries are proportionately Al a lot lower than what you're paying in other countries uh and also it's just you developing our country you know we need we need jobs there so you're just doing a good deed for the world also the talent is phenomenal I think the reason why you know we got so many talented people that work that the kind of skill set that startups need you're looking at you know as if it's the whole range of software developers everything from devops Front End backend um intros whatever to your marketing teams your sales teams your customer service teams like all of that is in cave toown and the reason why people aren't is because it's so beautiful it has such an incredible quality of life that people don't want to go so you will find an amazing density of talent in the city like I think our is some of the best in the world and I really would Advocate I think that afri on years is some of the best in the world I would say the most famous sou African entrepreneur most famous entrepreneur in the world is obiously South African yeah he's busy and even though I think he's kind of renounced his you know birth country a little bit um the I still in the AIT you know you still kind of hear it coming through some the words that he says the know we're talking about Elon Musk you know from yeah you know exactly and so for this amazing talent like you know from like the low end maybe like customer support Avent type roles to you know Engineers what was that salary range that you were paying GE yeah I mean for you coming a customer service you're pay maybe like and obviously everything has a scale but maybe like 10,000 round a month you're looking like for customer service uh do you want me to try put this into dollar amounts while we're going or should I give rans maybe it's good to do rans because then all your listeners can go they can go look up the the Rand All exchange rating just 500 600 you know US dollars per month for you know kind of customer support which know I had staff in the Philippines and it's usually like two grand you know a month for you know staff in in the Philippines which is a hot spot for customer support and here you can get it for fraction of that what about engineers Engineers you're looking maybe so we would hire I mean after hiring the always just to hire people that were super smart and from there and had a good vibe from there you kind of learn anything so guys who maybe were we didn't want in was less than about it's like let's say two to three years experience so maybe mid level to we've stop being able to afford the maybe like the fiveyear mark you know post post it's a university ex five year so between like two years to five six years experience um and for that you probably pay maybe 60,000 around a months um but these were like brilliant Engineers like we get really good guys like out ofy who we knew yeah maybe two years three years experience and paying what 60,000 Grand a month yeah and that for you know run the about three to four grand a month for you know a seasoned mid mid-range you know mid experience level you know engineer uh which is you know wildly inexpensive and you pay for that in the US uh us depends on what city but you probably be closer to like 12 to 15 grand a month yeah yeah no when of these stuffs have you raised so much that's in crazy so it's you know four five times more expensive um you for for talent in the US and so yeah so there's you know definitely an Arbitrage play for Founders that are building you know companies can be looking to to South Africa for for potential Talent I'm I'm a b overseas you know Talent there's just so much good talent also there so good talent also kown mus G an excuse to come to K to to check in on your team it's amazing to spend the summer there like when I I really I'm so appreciative and I really love northern Europe the US it's think incredible being able to have access to very grateful to these countri for welcome me in as you know as a Founder an entrepreneur now as a v capitalist but I'm not going to lie when it comes to you know Jan and F I don't want to be anywhere near the Northern Hemisphere so being able to fly right down south of K on then it's just magnificent and you to have your teamx that's English speaking it's a central time zone uh it really would advocate for highing talent there so yeah those are developers um sales team pay on commission but then you're paying maybe like a salary of depending on the level again letd say 25,000 to 30,000 round a month um so 30,000 maybe like a commission upside on that Biz div is pretty similar I'd say um yeah and me find the salaries pretty pretty reasonable and justifiable you know you raise 12 million Rand that goes a far you know goes a long way uh for office space is cheap um I mean Cap's probably one is the most expensive city in in South Africa I think even in Africa um because there's such a lot there's a huge amount of foreign interest and so you have obviously like a lot of people coming in from Europe in the US that are buying a lot of property there um you s great for the economy and I'm glad everyone's investing in in the city but it does make it difficult for local South Africans but comparatively again to Europe and America it's it is a lot more affordable so your office space your utilities the biggest downside to building in South Africa for a long time was our low sheding so for a long time the state pity is scum has been blighted by um quite severe corruption and it led to many many many years of uh time blackouts uh that's that's varied in intensity but in the good times will be maybe an hour a day and bad times will be eight 10 you know 12 hours a day with electricity the there's a lot people start you know working around that they create set of generators back of power one of the really good outcomes of that and not the outcomes of J to just I'm not advocating for you know blackup throughout throughout the country and it was horrific for the economy it was really tough to work and the M I've been watching my whole team was sitting there because the laptops had gone dead the Wi-Fi is down and used pay much of your money being ticked you know going away with every second of the clock because my team just couldn't work and it was incredibly frustrating was horrific business but the one plus side is that defitely had the biggest adoption of solar panels and distributed any generation I mean you look at how air on their solar panels in Stall which is incredible you're talking about kind of like a mov to more sustainable um energy and I think that I think that self generation is a really good a really good uh solution look talking about you know for the future and and sustainability so having one centralized um Power manufacturer and then Distributing n across the country so that was kind of one plus side Al think it shows that African resilience to adversity like there's no power which in the 21st century is like in to try operate around that but it's like cool you going to make solution I'm sit around and be like this sucks we did do that also with sit around and say that sucks but also we got cracking on Solutions you know like this is the new normal what are you going to do about it and obviously look at it from a very high level policy point of view how do we make sure that we kind of fix this you know this why has this going to state where our government made this happen but also what we doing the short term and that was kind of making Solutions around that and and afrien seeing opportunities in business there for example okay you want need toall solar P people need your like energy how do we kind of account for this right now so yeah I think resilience breeds um or adversity breeds resilience so that was the one down side so I think it's a good tip for for Founders that are looking at you know recruiting talent to to consider that quick plug for Founders looking for an edge raising Capital companies on thunder. BC have gone on to raise over a billion dollar since joining our Network it's absolutely free just go to join. thunder. BC to get started and if you leave a comment on this video down below with your company's name and the problem you're trying to solve you'll be interested to win a free coaching session with me okay that's it just comment down below now let's get back to the show I want to switch gears a little bit we talked about disconnect we talked about you know raising money there and what that was like you know he went through a very normal Journey you know it sounded like just s Africa and um but you're on to something different so it looks like you you know steep down di connect uh as far as the CEO role sounds like you're still on the board um but you have since written and launched a book and you have uh launched a fund so I would love for you to tell me like what went through your head to say that my my tenure is done here at then dig connect and then to move on to why you chose this other path yeah um and also just to give some context to the listeners that I just came back from a and I got my time back so that's why I'm dressed like like I'm going to like a what do you call a baseball match because Lally just post run Pro to him um so yeah the the change it was it was insane you know I think I didn't realize at the time just how just how defining it would be um making that change I mean from University I went straight out of University I to this wild University launching a company it's all I known how def find myself it was my density it was my life it was my livelihood was all these things even my Visa when I travel is genely based on like it's you know a tech Talent Visa entreprene Talent Visa so it's very much my everything I had known yeah what led up to that's I mean I could do a whole podcast just on that and what led to and what led to me leaving um but I think it was like a Confluence of events of changing context that L to place where I just wasn't the right CEO for the company anymore I think where the company was going what the the board want with the shareholders wanted was very different to my skill set and the kind of vision that I have for the company and it's it definitely in many regards B kind of like but in other ways it's kind of amazing I buil something that so many people cared so much about that they was they believe so much in a version that they F to the best and just have to different from M and that's all right like they you know my co-founder was is absolutely incredible and was definitely the right person for what the company needed in the next stage of what majority of shareholders felt was right for the company and so it just kind of got to a point where it was time I think um I been incredibly no for for Founders to have that realization and to put what's in the best interest of the company because I've meet some Founders where they should do what you're doing but they they don't because their identity so wrapped up in the the organization uh and they you lose sight of the fact fact of you know this is to grow Beyond just the founder you eventually um and you know it's great for the company kind of hit that next stage when founders kind of realize like hey you know I played my role got it to this point you know was bring in the the next you know Champion for for the organization I guess from that transition that realization what led you to deciding that a book was a good idea yeah I mean just before I go the book just say I think that I think that you know obviously the founders played the critical role in in like value Genesis and in building new things and in sorry about the cough I don't know what's going on there G So Co 20 right the founders definitely was you know critical role and they definitely I think it's important to all support Founders and to back their Vision but think it is I think humility is so important I think Founders I definitely could get very egotistical I think Founders definitely do I think it's such an immense privilege to have other people if it's investors or you know Angel Investors or institutional invest whatever other people who take their hard own money and they're willing to trust you and back you and back your vision um to put that into your company and into and into what you're building and I think that it's an immense privilege it's an immense immense privilege and it's definitely something to think deeply about and what you you you're the custodian of you know of their Investments and when it comes to making decisions like that to put yourself second it's in a sense it is yeah it is in a sense putting yourself second but also in a sense it's just you sticking true to your values your values are you know I'm going to take this responsibility you've given me this Duty very seriously and know that right I'm actually not the right of this company more I'm not the right person to give you you know what you believe are the right returns um I think it's being true to your values um and to your reputation to know that you will only ever deliver the best value and and the highest possible uh yeah just the Excellence Excellence of work and and knowing what Excellence is and what the best path is and very we true to I think it just I think it's the best decision you can make not only for your shareholders invest for yourself also and the longevity of your success as an entrepreneur as a CEO and as a Founder because life is long you know in the says life is short and go very fast sometimes I me I can't believe when I turn 30 I was like whoa what that's I'm still 15 aren't I like in my heart like when did this happen but also life is long you know and reputations are are kind of all we have at the end of the day and if you plan to build muscle businesses you want to do great things I think think that like knowing that you've always been true to your word been saying to investors I will always Endeavor to to to to Excellence and I think that's important it's a privilege it's a privilege to people trust you with that um and it's I think you should never take that I don't want to take that likely the so the change happened in that you know so one of the things I spoke about were has some really times to leave is that I struggle with Focus I love doing lots of things I love Contex switching um um and when I struggle to say no to Opportunities also which is something I'm working on it's hard to kind of say you know what what adds to the bigger overarching vision and what detracts um the book the book was interesting because I really love writing I think that the power of Storytelling for changing the world is massive if not the most important thing we have I mean see um in uh in sophian the whole argument that Harari makes is that everything's a story you know everything from what an economy is the currency is to a country to everything you know we just like make up these things this like broad-based consensus on okay this actually exists right let's like act like it does the next thing you know it's like it exists now right and I think that the ability to like really connect human beings I think we relate so deeply to stories and so you can convince someone with like stats and with with data but I think that to convey it in really human terms I think is really powerful and so I've always loved writing I I have a a Blog newsletter called the aviation club and um when I post on on socials update my you know my my journey there for anyone I always try to make it you know almost like a narrative I think it's more to engage with um I post I regularly on Tik Tok and on Instagram and on YouTube and all those plac and I just I love telling the story and I feel like you know every time lands at the right person and makes them feel hopeful or excited or inspired or like I'm going to do this thing I launch that thing it is the coolest most incredibly rewarding feeling ever and actually I have a folder of my phone of screenshots of messages of people s me saying that oh my gosh I heard this talk or I read this blog post or I read this or that all read your book and it's inside start this or do that or you know get involved and it is like the coolest experience you know that like a human being's life has like been changed for the beta like and with the the the Ripple effects of that I think it's absolutely remarkable and yeah so the book i' been writing for a long time and I actually go approach the book deal um I'd always wanted to write more seriously I must have submitted maybe like hundred short stories articles to like you know the New Yorker um most of which just got ignored I did get one rejection letter once which is very exciting so then they read my articles I like progress they were in it very exciting since there're nothing else from them unfortunately um so I obviously kept trying and I think with everything in life you can't just wait sit around waiting for your big break you have to like keep doing the work and you know wait for that kind of to attracted by making the effort as opposed to just waiting for man to fall from the sky and feij you and so I start this newsleter and I was publishing like crazy I was buing up a mailing list and emailing it out and telling the story and got approach approached by they're called NB Publishers they're biggest publishing house I think in Africa it's owned by nasas which is one of the biggest um like media companies the world even yeah they're pretty they're pretty big they're they're on only best for example which is definitely Nas but so yeah sou African company um that's so cool I love that so NB Publishers one of the one of the companies and they said we love your story it's quite interesting talking about I think take start was started becoming this really like exciting thing this is like 2020 what November 2021 they approached me that's are becoming really like a a Hot Topic in South Africa and they like the angle especially because I was born on the eve of South afric's democracy so it's like again this context of sou Africa going into you know the apartate state into democracy and what they me the Mandela years we call the Born Free Generation Um like almost like a new country what does that mean in that there to have this a buring Tex start I've seene and the complexity of who I am and all that so there's a lot of really interesting narratives there I think and especially when you want to read about startups like the gold St obviously is why it combinat everyone goes on YouTube watches those videos like ah this is how you do it and there's a lot of information like building MVP and customers and iterating that is universal but it's a very different Market condition building in developing economies especially in South Africa across Africa it's very different and I think that talking about that and how to navigate those Dynamics is interesting because it hasn't been documented a lot and so I started writing the gave the book deal and I said hell yeah without really thinking about could I do this because a month before then i' also be I start get well government work at a national level the president of South Africa s MOS had appointed me to the board of the National Youth Development agency and I started getting really involved in governance in South Africa um I've been South Africa's Delegate for things like G20 at C 28 bricks and getting really involved there and shaping policy around you know Youth Development especially with um entrepreneurship and kind of start of angle so yeah it was a lot I said yes to the vook um and it was just two crazy years of my life and then obviously mov to London you know to Offshore the business year because we start expanding globally and so two crazy years of a lot um a lot a lot I was just doing everything all the time I mean I'd be sitting like in taxis writing up start while I had like a meeting in the background you know flying off to India for G20 and you know working on it just it was absolutely mad uh a huge part of the book was written in Amsterdam I really love the city and I was there for a while to just everywhere um and then published that in February this year day my birthday and yeah I had book to in May so Ste down as CEO in April had booked tour in May book was at number eight in South Africa on the best sellers list so that was really exciting because usually the books that sell South Africa are like about rugby Mandela politics you know and Jesus and I say that being you know for devout Catholic but that's kind of what sells so to have like a book about take startups and with people actually reading it I was like hell yeah right on that was really exciting and that was the book it was incredible journey and I I'm I still write L still on my my newsletter and I definitely when I've done enough you know more cool things I'll be writing the second book I just need more content more content first which is probably the fund well the last you few minutes we have here let's talk about your your fun and and how you're thinking about that and uh you know basically what type of companies are you are you looking for so the fund I think like everything in life action aware I kind of not wait for the science but you kind of like life pushes give you a little nudge in a way it's happen so after leaving disconnect and after book tour I was kind of thinking gosh what I do with my life now you know like I was think up doing kind of like the founder resets of just like chilling out a bit um cortisol resets and I lasted about a week it was so boring like I didn't need to get get back to work um the South African general relations this year obviously been massive forward democracy globally I think 49% of the world went to the polls this year like there was a huge amount of people voting and and change in global politics and because I work with the government one of the initiatives that I started was called 1 million for democracy and the goal was to get a million young South Africans Rich to vote to new vote reform and we end up getting 1.6 million uh new Young sou the voters role which is incredible the one downside is only not not all of them showed up on actual voting day to vote so next time we got to know get them voted but then actually get into the polls on voting day but that was pretty exciting and the election happened was incredible results I think incredible result for the country and then the inauguration happened the prin inauguration on 18th of June and so I had flown down to ptor the union buildings for the inauguration U which happening in the morning and that afternoon I actually had a call with the United Nations uh the development program and how that happened is doing my book tour I had been approached by someone who come to my talk and she said look I love to get email address I absolutely love what you UPS out about and C to understand more about th startups in you know in South Africa and I was like well I read the book on it so speaking to the right person and I got an email two weeks later from literally the head of thep saying hey we're having you know I want to host a strategy lab and I'd love to hear your context on what you're doing so it was a group of maybe like 10 of us and it's actually the afternoon of the Pres inauguration so it's Saturday that morning you know watching our democratically elected president being sworn in which was this incredibly moving experience and then I was supposed to go to the hotel to do the call with the undp and because the police blockades I couldn't get out the venue so I to go find like basically like a little broom closet close to the's office to take this call so I'm on the call and we Ching about very like un type situations you know like every the biggest issues facing ity you know it's it's water scarcity and so regeneration Agriculture and conflict and how do we solve like you know all these crisis that that facing Humanity Rising conflict in the world and uh kind of linked to the UNP sustainable development goals and they're coming from very high level like even most people on the call you know the 10 of us were they were mostly from government policy public policy NGO backgrounds I mean I'm kind of this little startup in the corner and they're coming on from very high level point of view which is like you look at policy look at like the global government so involved it's look at corporate media's business and these are all very important aspects but I think you know looking at the biggest issues facing Humanity I think you look at ATT that from every angle possible and i' obviously have this incredible experience of startups and I see especially in Africa how startups are a fantastic vehicle to affect really rapid solutioning to lot of problems and where those problems are you know obviously often with most of the case it's purely commercial it should be you looking at startups I I believe in free capitalism but when you're developing L businesses especially in Africa like almost by default this business are driving progress and are creating jobs and are developing economies and developing you know the civilizations of the countries there and so I think that if we're looking at some of the standable development goals looking at startups that are working on Solutions commercial Solutions so they're more sustainable than just charity that are addressing those issues it gets really exciting I think and so on the core I was like you know could it could be really interesting to set up a a venture what I'm calling this a venture house I don't know if it the been used before I feel like I don't know if I just coined this or not Aventure house which would be Aventure Capital fund certainly Capital allocation we allocation but also vure studio uh accelerators incubators all these kind of terms to look about how to basically create a nurture startups to to fix these problems as commercial Endeavors but like focusing on the biggest issues we fac because if they're on a mission to let's say look at Water SC or water management or anything with agry tech like that that farmers or that people wouldn't pay for but also does help us um not only Safeguard civilization but promote some sustainable development goals like that's a really interesting confidence she said us confidence a lot today it's definitely my word of the day and so that was kind of where the seeds of the idea started started sort of taking know sprouting a bit perhaps and from this I quite quick you know from that first idea to like oh want to make this happen because when I started Ching to people about it you almost have to speak in Iden existence and that's the cool thing of being a found is that you have an idea you have curiosity you have energy and there's just willpower and that's how you take this like H moment just sun it's like real and exists out there people are talking about it and it's like you know obvious the first thing we always do is like buy the domain say the we know the LinkedIn page you're like okay we're halfway there you know EP think s I've done a LinkedIn post it's real but then people start talking about and they use the word to hear like the word of your idea like in's mouths this crazy surreal moment you're like it exists now and from there to started chatting to friends about it the most incredible people and what's blown you know what's absolutely blown me away is just how generous everyone has been with their time and their effort and their their advice you know and helping me figure this out I mean I've never done a business model for FS before I didn't know how the finan worked the economics worked I didn't know how the legals worked and it just been like literally allocating hours over the last couple weeks of their time to sit with me and work through with me and introduced me to people on their Network um and this is not only sou Africa where my n is quite strong but in the UK I'm both to Berlin next week and then I'm going to Amsterdam meetings there definitely to head to the stage just because people even I got some friends in Dallas like oh yeah we're to introduc you to these people they're incredible they're like 10 exual Mission I mean I was an event the other day and there was an um an ex- mayor of like a major African City and he was like what the sounds incredible and you know definitely be trying to the African development back let's set it up and I was like oh my God like wow so everyone's been amazing and yeah that's it I mean actually I um I when I say I Clos my first deal it's more of an Angel check than the fund necessarily because I think the same approach you starting the company or starting anything you can't just sit back and you know oh I need to R from LPS first be a very long process setting that up and say structuring up and where do you establish it and all those kind of situations but rather like let me run with it so when we start getting involved when we start working with stles we start cutting Angel tricks and you're kind of doing the two concurrently um speaking about then through that Al been I found a co-founder potentially it's but look I found a co-founder for the fun which is really exciting um really knowing down the feast is for each fun like fun War what's it going to look like G you that set up so I think you have to figure it out why you're doing it and it kind of takes shape just by sheer momentum in a way and yeah so this is you know what's this is what the vision this is one working on and then after first the 5 10 you know 15 year Horizon is to then sh success of funds that work each have like a different Focus there in this border Narrative of of this this Venture house um of Faris Ventures that are looking at solving the biggest issues facing humanity and saving the world you know it's a fantastic story just kind of hearing the the Journey from you know trying to find a place to live you know to to launching a fund uh how to save the world oversimplify uh a very long um you know before we part just in like you know two or three sentences what would be some advice for for other Founders out there um that you would give oh can I give three pieces of advice the first the first piece of advice I want to say is do not forsake your health like it's not worth it like it is everyone's going to say this to you you're not going to listen until you have your first big burnout or until something goes wrong and then you'll be like ah but really just like do not forsake your health do not like sacrifice sleep exercise your relationships happiness putting things off like you want to be building full life you want to build something absolutely massive you can race to finish something and you're like you work like crazy for 10 years and then like chill like it's chilling is boring like you want to be working your whole life on like really exciting big things that do that slow and sustainably I say my first piece of advice like I yeah I mean it's I mean you starting your 20 you have love energy you kind of can like Bully your body AB B but like you you will pay for it later way the soon you can catch a wake up and like okay you prioritize sleep and you prioritize like eating good food and I say that having literally had like half a St of chocolate for breakfast really like Pro my face exactly only half so have having after the meeting um that was my first few advice my second piece of advice is cringe maximize right you should totally cringe maximizing like if people are laughing at you you're doing the right thing I means you're actually doing the work you're doing the right thing like there's nothing will hold you back more than your own idea of oh my gosh like people going to laugh at me they're going to mark me like you have to suck at first to eventually get better like how many times did Freddy Mercury probably get on stage and he was bu off for being too Centric or not hanging the right notes or whatever and he's like Freddy Mercury you know and I watch his videos and be like whoa and it's just an absolute icon but he started off being probably a total loser like all of us starts off being and but that's the only way it can get better if you're sitting around trying to be too cool and you're like oh like you're not going do anything like cringe m maximize that's how you know you're on the right path like should totally be like like maximum embarrassment in yourself in OB with reason but putting yourself out there constantly itating constantly like putting it out there it's just that's critical I'd say and the third thing is um I'm on the whole maxing Trend right now I've obviously been waiting for some on Twitter that I'm saying maxing behind everything is um destiny maxing like sometimes I think the story you tell yourself about yourself is the most important thing like if you start really thinking that like you know you're living your destiny you're living your calling you're living your truth you feel like you seeing signs like honestly like like tell yourself like this is actually like you know the success or the vision or the actualization of what you're working towards I feel like you're seeing like science the affirmative making this happen and even though there's probably like a billion signs that are telling you not to do this ignore that like shut down like negativity like give yourself delusional optimism like absolute tunnel Focus because I mean this's a stat that I love I love Mountain I'm very much into my sports and Mountain is like one of my firm one my firm favorites and there's a stat that I don't want say I love it it's a bit grm but what's interesting is that more people die on the way down from Everest then on the way up and that's because they are so tunnel vision focused that I will get to top of this mountain and it's some experience when I climb kilan jarro I got so sick like I was horrifically Ill in Kilimanjaro but you go kind of crazy in a way you just like I will get to top of this mountain or I will die there's no plan be I mean it's kind of ridiculous now staying in London like bro I should have just gone down like relax for a week gone bed and try to get a week later not has been there for like a long time it'll last a bit longer but D you go crazy like I will get to the top or I will die and you get to the top and you're like okay maybe I actually will die now because I'm exhausted and you kind of like me and you give up and so I think the lesson in that is when you absolutely believe that is your Des that you're going to do this you're going to hit like that go you are born for this it's right everything is conspiring to help you get there like everyone is amazing the world's incredible you going to make it happen I really think you start seeing it you start believing it and then you're like it becomes so easy to finish then it's like when you're doing a ride you can see the Finish Line even though like a k back you're exhausting you want to stop now you can see it's just another 800 meters you will gas it way faster than you could have done before and that same thing also you believe you're so close you're going to make it and how many FS you speak to you they're like oh God if I knew how hard it was I knew what have started but now I'm in it it's too late to go back and I think it's that you know like ignorance is almost like your best friend like don't believe the haters don't believe the negativity be delusionally optimistic and self-confident and just go for it and like see the signs for your success everywhere I mean if anything it makes you happier so why the like not you know have more of a laugh and so even all go TOS up eventually I'll be like look for a while is awesome no I I I respect that a bunch and it kind of reminds me back for like you know the Steve Jobs reality Distortion field of just like make everything work to your perspective and drive that Vision home so hell yeah um Alexandria it's been an absolute pleasure having on the show sharing your story hearing and feeling your enthusiasm uh you know throughout the the show so it's it's been great and I look forward to to audience being able to listen to this and just for you know if they want to reach out or learn more about you or you know buyer book what would be the best way to do that um so I have a website Alexandri proctor.com um and that has links to basically everything I'm I'm on literally every single social media platform and I post regularly I love sharing the story so I post a lot on T or X um my insta is private but I generally do accept people just so I can kind of see who's on them but everything else I mean I got a Blog my YouTube channel U my book's available in sou Africa buy it in store if it's Global it's on Amazon so if in the US or Europe on Amazon um yeah kind of everywhere I love I love CH people engaging with people so if you send me a DM on any of my social platforms I'll almost different you apply SE call I love Yeah expand my network um if anything I'll probably convince you to come to CET toown you know so wow thank you so much we'll make sure to put those links to the show notes have a good one thanks so much bye thank you for watching today's episode as a reminder I'm your host Jason Kirby I built and sold multiple companies with over 135 million in transactions as either a Founder operator investor across multiple Industries I'm currently the managing director and founder of thunder. BC where we help companies and bounders at all stages navigate what capital to raise and who to raise it from and help improve companies odds of raising Capital if you need help reach out to us at help. under. BC if you like Today's Show please share with your friends give us a like or a comment down below and as a reminder this show is published weekly the get notified new episodes and our newsletter be sure to go to our website at join. thunder. BC and if you sign up today I'll send you a few freebies on how to negotiate a term sheet how to get a free list of relevant VCS and much more that's it no more Shameless plugs thank you and see you next week