The What, The Where, and The How

I ask my self, What exactly is the business I want to go into? The ideas I have to date can be found easily on a Google search. I know in many cases it's who gets to market first with a solution, that is then adopted, that wins. So that takes me to the Where question. If It's the African market then the odds are better that I can be one of the few in the market. I generalize though as Africa is a large discontiguos market. In that case I'm left with the How question. In an early conversation with a software guru friend, it is obvious that any of the solutions I am considering can be easily built with a "little money". I figure this is a cheaper option than offering founders equity to bring on board a tech guru. I don't mind having partners but no one is really jumping at the idea of a business focused on Africa at this point.

Back to the Where question. Even if the business is focused on Africa it has to be based in the US. It will be easier from a legal and contract enforcement perspective. I don't think it makes a difference from a fundraising perspective. If i'm going to get any funding it'll be from African investors. No matter the experience of the team, robustness of the idea, or validation of customer demand, US VCs are not interested. I once spoke with a Partner at a VC firm in California who said "VCs in California are not keen on taking flights to the East Coast to monitor investments talk less of investing in Emerging Markets". Of course this was 3 years ago before the major emerging markets became cool again. I have to say Africa is considered more of a frontier market. I digress.

I've got to get back to figuring out what it'll take to execute on the idea. Whichever one it is.