Stick to one big idea at a time

Fahim Saleh, CEO of KickBack Apps and an investor of Pathao, MindFisher Games- makers of Heroes of 71 series mobile game, and several other international startups, has an exciting and motivating journey as an entrepreneur.

Hisham Khan interviewed Fahim Saleh and tried to capture his journey and insights about entrepreneurship.

Question (Q): What motivated you to start your first venture? Could you share your first successful or unsuccessful product.

Answer (A): I would say starting my venture was a combination of boredom, curiosity, and the promise of financial freedom. I was mesmerised by the Google story and how the founders became billionaires by writing some codes. Learning mostly from online tutorials, I launched my first venture, teen-hangout.com- a social network, at the age of 16. That kindled my passion to create something new while giving me a hope to make a living out of it.

My first successful venture was when I met another teenager, Kyle Kapper. We teamed up to channel our passion to build Internet properties such as websites, tools and contents. Within two years, we were generating 100s of thousands of dollars a year from our network of websites. I have experienced failures too, but I learned several lessons from each of them.

Q: Entrepreneurs reportedly start by focusing on a problem to solve. What was your viewpoint in coming up with the ideas and opportunities?

A: To be honest, I love thinking about intuitive solutions to the problems I see around me and in the society. My problem is figuring out which problem I should be solving. Earlier, I used to think that I could do it all - five businesses at once. I would work on all of them at once and have no idea why things would not work out.

Now, I stick to one big idea at a time. The problem you should be solving is one that you have domain experience in, potential people in your network that can help, and other advantages that many people may not have in that particular business area. If my bandwidth is too low and I want to pursue something else, I always find an independent team that can run the project.

Q: In your words, what properties does a successful company have?

A: Starting any business is about processes - product, execution, marketing, etc. If you can lay out your procedures and have your team execute on them, you will give yourself the best chances of succeeding efficiently. I have always balked at business plans and financial models but only within the past few years, I realise their importance. It provides a discipline to your business, a framework for success.

Having the right focus is incredibly important. No matter what you are doing, start from a base and grow from there. If you are starting a social network - begin with a particular audience. If you are doing a location-based app, start in one specific city/town. You can always build out from your base later, but a business with no base is a skyscraper with no foundation. It will be likely to crumble under pressure.

Q: What is the rule of investing in good ideas?

A: The number one rule is-- can this be scaled? If there is a good product-market fit and the entrepreneur has genuinely looked at the numbers, capital should be able to grow the business into something sustainable. For frontier markets, an additional rule is we have to ask ourselves whether the market needs this product. Countries like Bangladesh and Nigeria are still in need of services/products that help them live their lives. If you are creating the next 'cupcake delivery app', do not expect a multi-billion-dollar hit.

Q: Could you share which are the countries you have currently invested in and in which types of start-ups.

A: Currently I have invested in - KickBack Apps (USA), Madlipz (Canada), Pathao (Bangladesh), Mindfisher Games (Bangladesh), NinjaFish Studios (USA) and Gokada (Nigeria).

I am currently working on a new ride-sharing company in Nigeria (Gokada) as well as on the launch of some new entertainment apps through KickBack Apps.

Q: Could you share some learnings from investing in different countries' start-ups.

A: I find many similarities between the countries. There are so many smart, capable founders who cannot find access to capital. There are cultural differences. It is important to find local partners who are incentivised to mold the business to work for the country. That is another problem in these countries as usually local investors take such a big chunk of the business; the entrepreneurs are no longer incentivised. Investors should always take a minority stake in any business - let the founders own it and put your money to work.

Q: What are the common problems that all the start-up companies run into and how can they be managed?

A: Trust is essential which goes back to culture. If everyone on the team trusts each other, there is no second guessing, and things can move full speed ahead. A problem that I see a lot is a lack of focus, especially in Bangladesh. People want to do too many things at once. I know you want to have several features in your first build but when you are a four-person team, creating the perfect product with several features is going to be impossible, and it is going to hurt your initial traction. Hence, stick with one feature and execute it efficiently and effectively.

The idea is 5 per cent if not less, and execution is 95 per cent if not more. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Any good team can make a good product, but it takes more than a good product to succeed. Is it the right time for the product? Is your competition weaker than you? Will you have enough money to reach initial traction? Is there a product-market fit? All these need to be considered.

Q: What is the 'Art of Start' according to you? Is there anything you would like to say to the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs?

A: Focus, attack a niche, grow from a seed, stay lean and always iterate.

My suggestion would be to put your ego aside, work together, stay focused, and work hard. It is also important to think of failure as a great lesson, learn from the mistakes, and get going again stronger than ever.

The interviewer can be reached at [email protected]