Àsà: The truth and nothing but the truth

Morning all. It's 9:31AM here on the Island (Marina). Great day God willing. Day's started the routine manner it's been whenever I'm on the Island with an initial check-in at the "Western House" for breakfast. It shouldn't surprise anyone that one literally has to break the banks just to get a good meal on the Island. The obvious reason being it's at best a corporate area with lotsa banks etc. Anyways, I'm in here now, 14th floor all alone until my peops check in few hours from now. Have to hit the ground running with installations on my Dell which is the main reason I'm working off here today. Before then though, this 'monster' has to have its way hence, my doing this :-).

[sigh]...I was thinking through Àsà on my way here. So, it's no longer news that I sleep, dream and wake up to it lately. In fact, as far back as I can remember in recent times, I haven't gone a day without doing something in its respect. Just last night, I worked into the wee hours of today implementing an idea that'd crossed my mind in respect of its "cast" module. Yet, at some point as I had this morning on my way here, "this is all to prove a concept and nothing more"! Believe it or not, "nothing is clear in terms of what it'll readily become". True, I have all these great thoughts, ideas as to multiple possibilities that can come out of it hence, my doing this; in the end, the ultimate truth is there's simply 'no guarantee'. It's that simple. The tweaks and resources spent on the whole will only amount to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) which in itself may lead to more iterations of the process that may see me back here in my solitude fine-tuning or even working on a different product entirely. Adding to that, it may involve looking to another platform which translates to learning new stuffs or getting more hands. Or even more, settling for a different subject...I could go on and on but I guess the picture becomes clearer as to the reality beyond all my excitement about the present phase. As excited as I've been, my reality check's not been in doubt. It's no wonder that I'm quick to want to leave this phase and move on to the next. Yet, is the next phase itself going to be any easier? There's still a long way to go in relative terms to transforming Àsà into a different form of MVP (Most Valuable Product). Let's put things in proper context here taking the mobile version that's almost cooked as case study. First thing that comes to mind when I'm done with it in about 2 weeks is that I have to promote it. You may wonder why I have to do this for an MVP more so for one that's going to be free. [laughs]...take a look at the mobile app markets peops. You'll find beautiful free apps that only serve to make up the numbers for the platform owners. I can't count how many brilliant apps I've seen that haven't hit the hundred mark in download figures. In order words, these brilliant products are yet to appeal to the users for 'free' let alone appeal to advertisers who represent the least form of sustainability. Get it! While promotion will remain an ongoing process for as long as I can't even tell, another phase to the project is presenting it to likely partners by way of content owners who may be keen on partnering with the brand to deliver on some projects that may bring returns. So, let's in keeping with a positive mindset believe that by the end of the day, Àsà gains traction, is that the end? I wish! See, next stop would likely be acting on the feedback received over the flagship as best as possible cos some may be technically demanding beyond the skill-sets available (enter collaborators *wink*). Then there's the need to sustain the tempo with regular releases in contents else the users find their way to some other competitor(s) who's probably sleeping in God-knows-where (China, Yaba, Yankee, Accra...) as I speak and just waiting for the next big idea to copy and replicate. On and on, it becomes a sorta rat race where even then, you're grappling with how to make money and sustain the cash-flow especially if there's the investor factor to deal with. In the end, it's a cycle that just may never know any end but this here is where it all begins. For me, it's an exciting journey given my passion. But there's just not discounting the reality even as I enjoy the thrill. Even now, there's enormous amount of work still to be done given my multi-platform goals. There's the folks from NICO whom I still have to deliver on my promise in respect of their contents. While I hope I don't spend the rest of the year building from platform to platform and promoting the same thing, I can't but go with what the whole dictates. It's the reason I told "Sholly Pee" that she'd have to be patient for this baby to grow to the point where it can take care of its parents :-). On second thought, Àsà in its present phase seems more to me like a foetus (God, I hope I got this right; been ages I did Biology) that only becomes a baby when it's been certified acceptable by the users. As it is, we're not sure if we have a business yet. That's the simple truth and I can't fool myself into believing otherwise. I'd talked about the bottom-line for this phase as being to determine if the concept is acceptable. If so, by whom (who exactly is the target market). And then, can a business be made out of it? So many questions but then they'll all be put to rest in due time: soon.

To cap this up, I have some excerpts I got off the Twitter page of Entrepreneurial Evangelist (watch out for that soon) Bosun Tijani some days ago. I think it captures this foregoing epistle so here we go.

By the way folks...Start-Ups are businesses seeking a repeatable and scalable business model - IMPLICATION: you need an MVP to qualify
Focus on building a working prototype and a minimum viable product (MVP). Let's not get carried away by the hype around d term "Start-Ups"
Ingredients required to 'Prove a Concept' differs from that to make a successful Start-Up. BUILD - Monetiize - Scale!!!

Swell day all.