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The Business Idea Paradox: Why Obsessing Over Your Secret Recipe Can Be a Recipe for Disaster · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello, and welcome to the show. Before we begin, the usual
0:05
apologies because I'm recording late in the day and so the house
0:09
is full. My wife is listening to house
0:11
music in the kitchen while she's getting some stuff made for the
0:15
little ones. And yeah, of course, children
0:18
watching TV, you know, running all over the place.
0:20
So the usual. So expect some of that noise to
0:22
bleed into the background. Now, I have to apologize that my
0:26
schedule has been thrown out of whack recently and that's the
0:29
reason why I've not been able to record in my usual prepared
0:33
quiet place. And so I've been doing lots of
0:35
these hot and about recordings. So, you know, these unusual
0:40
recordings. Anyway, today I wasn't able to
0:42
make the record the podcast as usual because I had a training
0:48
session much earlier in the day lasted for an After that, there
0:52
was a debrief and then there were a couple of things that I
0:54
had to attend to outside of the house.
0:56
So anyway, just a long winning apology just to say there's
1:00
going to be noise. So let's just bear with me.
1:03
Let's let's make do, let's see. OK, so yesterday I think I set a
1:09
record in the history of the podcast because if I remember
1:11
correctly, I think I did a 7 minute episode yesterday or
1:15
maybe two days ago. So for those of you who liked
1:18
that episode, you know, who like the brevity of it, let me know.
1:22
Maybe it's something I should continue doing, but if you guys
1:25
think there's no problem with the 2030 minute rambling
1:27
episodes that I do every now and again, please let me know,
1:31
especially when you hit me up on LinkedIn or on WhatsApp.
1:35
This your first time of listening to the show and you'd
1:38
like to be in touch? I always give my contact details
1:40
at the end of the episode. So currently we are looking at
1:45
I've been addressing people who have limited business experience
1:48
and who want practical guidance. That's for people who are first
1:51
time entrepreneurs. And that's the question that I
1:54
have been looking at. The summary of the question now
1:57
I broke it down into a couple of things, 5 tips that I think
2:01
first time entrepreneurs need to know.
2:03
And if this is your first time listening to the podcast and
2:07
you've missed a bunch of stuff already because three days ago I
2:12
tackled one, which was that your business name is not as
2:14
important as you think. So don't spend too much time on
2:17
it. If this sounds counterintuitive
2:20
to you and it sounds confusing, then just skip back two episodes
2:25
when you're done with this and you will get my ideas in the in
2:30
the full nuance, in the full context and you get what it is
2:33
that I was trying to talk about. Then two days ago, I think we
2:38
did branding, yes, your branding is not as important as you
2:41
think. So don't spend too much time on
2:43
that. Then the next one, OK, yes,
2:49
that's the one that we're going to tackle today.
2:51
That's your business idea is not as important as you think.
2:53
So don't spend too much time hiding it or trying to protect.
2:56
Then what we're going to do after that is we'll look at the
3:01
idea that there's no business idea that is so good that it is
3:04
going to sell itself. Because for those of you who are
3:06
newbies, some of you are laboring under the fantasy that
3:12
you're going to find something, some products, some some
3:14
service, some something that is so good that the thing will just
3:17
sell itself. It'll just fly off the shelf.
3:20
As in people will beat themselves to your door.
3:22
It happens to some people once in a while.
3:24
But truth be told, you're the first person in the eye of the
3:27
tornado. And so yes, you make a killing.
3:30
But The thing is, there's nothing that cannot be copied or
3:33
replicated. And so everybody else goes in
3:35
and then, you know, the windfall, the competitive edge,
3:38
the whatever just disappears. So in actual truth, there's no
3:42
idea that it's going to sell itself.
3:44
If you happen to find that kind of thing, just know that your
3:49
your head start is going to be eroded pretty quickly.
3:52
And then the final thing that I'm going to look at at the end
3:54
of the series is to show that business is a team sport, even
3:58
for those of you who want to be lifestyle business owners.
4:00
And the example that I gave in one of the episodes was the lady
4:02
who makes a car not far from here.
4:04
Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings, I don't sure whether
4:07
to buy the akara is a cottage thing.
4:09
So she's wearing the akara. Her daughter is helping her.
4:11
The sun brings in firewood. But you can see that even at
4:14
that level, you can see that there's some sort of a team.
4:17
So it's the same thing. Those of you who rear snails at
4:20
the back of your house, you think that it's a solo thing.
4:23
It's not really a solo thing. You have a delivery person who
4:25
has to deliver the snails. Let's see what else you have a
4:31
what are they called Minder? Are they minders?
4:33
And I'm not an angry person anyway.
4:35
But the person who comes and looks after the snails and
4:38
cleans and, you know, cleans the pen and all of that.
4:42
So it you think like you're doing things by yourself, but
4:46
The thing is you actually do have some sort of team around
4:49
you. So the sooner that we realise
4:51
and start anticipating for that, I'm planning for that what the
4:53
team is going to look like, the better.
4:55
So business is a team sport. There's no solo sport, there's
4:58
no self-made, there's no self-made that there's always a
5:01
team. It just depends on how extensive
5:05
or how simple the team is going to be.
5:08
So those are the things that I think first time entrepreneurs
5:11
need to know. If you're curious as to why not
5:14
for those of you who are listening to the show for the
5:15
first time, why I said that your business name is not important
5:18
and branding is not important. Then skip back three episodes
5:22
and then the one before now and you'll get I'm caught up to
5:25
speed. Now today I'm going to look at
5:28
the which one? OK, yes, that your business idea
5:33
is not as important as you think.
5:35
So stop spending too much time hiding it or trying to protect
5:37
it. Now, this is the one that my
5:39
brothers and sisters who have legal backgrounds are going to
5:42
take serious contentions with me over.
5:46
So yes, my academic background is in law.
5:48
And some of you who have legal backgrounds will be saying,
5:51
look, you're a learned fellow. How can you say that your
5:53
business idea is not important, so don't protect it, blah, blah,
5:55
blah, intellectual, intellectual property law, IP protection,
6:01
international property protection, patents, copyrights,
6:03
you know, blah, blah, blah. So lawyers, you'll be up.
6:06
Now I'm saying that, look, this guy, what are you talking about?
6:09
So like I've been saying, there's some nuance here.
6:12
So listen to me, or rather just be patient and listen.
6:15
So this is my rationale. Everybody always thinks that
6:19
they have a great business idea. Believe me, everybody does.
6:22
I went through that phase and we all go through that phase like
6:26
you feel like homo, this idea is the bee's knees.
6:29
Like this is the best idea ever. I need to protect this thing.
6:33
I can't talk about it. If someone finds it, they'll run
6:36
away with it. They'll do this, they'll do
6:37
this, you know, the whole thing. And then people see one thing is
6:43
one thing we need to understand is that ideas in themselves, you
6:45
know, do nothing. It's the execution that counts.
6:48
So actually might be a great idea, but if you're spending so
6:51
much time consulting with lawyers, drafting non competes,
6:54
drafting Ndas, that's a non disclosure agreements, working
6:58
in secrecy and stuff like that, you're losing momentum over the
7:02
execution of the idea, which is the main thing.
7:05
It's not that this idea is fantastic, it's whether you do
7:07
anything with it. That is the main thing,
7:09
especially for those of us in the SME space, you know, small
7:13
and medium enterprises. If people like Samsung, and I'll
7:18
get to them, Samsung, Apple, all these people.
7:21
If I want to be playing such fancy games, you know, work in
7:23
secrecy, you have such a big thing, blah, blah, blah.
7:25
Who will be the first to market? Let's protect this, let's
7:27
protect that. You know, like the whole thing
7:28
with the large language models going on right now, charging PT,
7:35
Charging PT, That's these people.
7:38
OK, What's their name again? That's Microsoft in partnership
7:41
with this guy, this billionaire, I can't remember his name.
7:44
And then Google on the other end.
7:46
So if they're playing all these games, you know, who has the
7:48
better technology, who has the better algorithm?
7:51
Let us patent this. Let us whatever you know.
7:53
Yeah, let those big boys and girls play at that level.
7:55
But on the SME space, like just let's get real, it's not about
8:00
the idea, it's about the execution.
8:03
So while you're hopping from lawyer to lawyer, you go to
8:05
Abuja or you go to Lagos, you're trying to do Ministry of
8:09
Commerce, you're trying to protect your idea and
8:11
everything. You're losing momentum and the
8:13
execution is the main thing. Now, if you guys don't believe
8:17
me, let me just share a couple of statistics to bring you guys
8:21
in on what it is that I'm trying to say.
8:24
So if you try and do some research over the number of
8:28
ideas that people painted or that people have some
8:31
intellectual property protection and do absolutely nothing about
8:34
it, you'll find some interesting statistics.
8:37
Now First off, I've not been able to find any single
8:40
definitive answer. And of course that makes sense
8:42
because the world is a big place.
8:44
So to compile that statistics, I mean like what?
8:46
I'll be work, but I found some interesting things coming from
8:50
the OEPM. It is a very funny unofficial
8:57
Espanola, the patent E Marcus, that is the Spanish Patent and
9:04
Trademark Office. So for those of you who are
9:07
Spanish speakers, forgive me for murdering your language.
9:10
Yeah, forgive me for murdering your language, but I think you
9:13
should give me maybe 50%. I tried, hopefully I tried.
9:18
So according to the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office,
9:22
around 36% of the ideas that people have IP protection for,
9:29
they do nothing with. So about 1/3 of the people have
9:33
these fancy ideas. They go through all the stress
9:36
of protecting it and then they do absolutely nothing with it.
9:40
So they have figures ranging from 36% all the way up to 80%.
9:47
I mean, think about it, in some cases, 80% of the people who
9:52
thought they had the best idea in the world, they met with
9:54
lawyers, they did everything. You go and do the patent, you go
9:57
and you know all your legal gish bound, protect everything.
10:00
And then 80% of the people do absolutely nothing.
10:05
So this is what I'm talking about.
10:07
Now in Niger, of course, figures are hard to come by.
10:11
So I don't have the the figures on Niger.
10:16
But back when I was still in uni, and this was a long time
10:19
ago, in my intellectual property classes, my law classes in the
10:23
OAU, one of my, my, my IP professor lecturer, this was
10:30
just classroom banter. So it's unconfirmed and it's
10:33
unverified. So don't you know, go to any
10:37
trade journal and quote me on the statistics.
10:39
But you know my professor just talking at the time, he said
10:41
that over 80%, he said in fact over 90% of the intellectual
10:48
property protections that are issued, you know for commercial
10:50
case applications in Nigeria, people do nothing with them.
10:54
Not like I said, he was not quoting, he was not saying this
10:57
like statistically or as per he has done the study and all.
11:02
So this is just classroom banter.
11:03
So he was just levelling with us.
11:05
So you have seen that between Niger and between OEPM.
11:11
What was that again? So let me check my notes.
11:13
Where's that Espanol Espanola, Spain.
11:17
So between Nigeria and Spain, between 36 and 80 or 90% of
11:22
people go through all the trouble, get the lawyer, do all
11:26
the legal dish bound and do nothing.
11:28
So that's what I'm trying to tell you guys.
11:30
That is the execution that counts.
11:32
It's not about how fancy the idea is.
11:34
Now, there are lots of reasons why people have patterns or
11:38
different kinds of intellectual property protections and do
11:40
nothing with them. Or sorry, if you're a first time
11:44
listener. When we say intellectual
11:45
property protection, this is what we mean.
11:47
When you're running a business, you have all kinds of property.
11:50
Sometimes you have physical property, like let's say
11:53
Coca-Cola. Yeah, Coca-Cola will be a
11:54
perfect example in Nigeria. Coca-Cola is NBC, Nigerian
11:58
Bottling company. They're the ones that have the
12:00
rights for distribution. So Nigerian bottling company,
12:03
they have physical property. So the factory in Alausa, in
12:07
Niketja, that is physical property.
12:09
The machines, that is physical property.
12:11
The land, that is physical property.
12:13
So all of that is physical property, but then NBC also has
12:16
intellectual property. That means property that you
12:18
can't see property that is an idea.
12:21
So the branding, the logo, the trademark, the the non
12:25
tangibles, the property that you can't touch, that is
12:28
intellectual property. So when we say IP protection, it
12:31
just means we're using instruments of the law to
12:33
protect people's idea or non tangible property.
12:39
The idea behind it is you can't put your blood, sweat and tears
12:43
and develop something. There's somebody to come and
12:44
steal your idea. So NBC in Nigeria, they're the
12:47
ones that own Coca-Cola. If I decide to start another
12:51
business and I say let me try and pull the first one, instead
12:54
of calling my own Coca-Cola, I will call my own.
12:57
I'll call my own cola Coca. They can take me to court and
13:02
most likely they'll win. They'll say, look, Mr. Judge,
13:05
this young man is trying to pull the first one.
13:07
He's hoping to sell his cola Coca, and you see people into
13:12
thinking it is Coca-Cola and the court will say, yes, young man,
13:15
look, you can go and do your own drink, but you can't call it
13:18
anything that sounds close to Coca-Cola, which is why in
13:21
Nigeria the NBC owns Coca-Cola and Fanta and the rest.
13:26
But then you have other companies like Biggie.
13:28
Biggie has their own Coke kind of things.
13:31
There's Biggie, there's what else?
13:35
La Casera. OK, no, La Casera has like a
13:37
Fanta ish thing and a Sprite ish thing, but the Coke competitors,
13:42
there's well, and it is Coca-Cola, there's Pepsi,
13:45
there's Biggie, I can't remember.
13:48
Let's just leave it like that. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Biggie.
13:50
But they all have to sell on the different trademarks, different
13:54
logo, different brands, different everything so that
13:57
there's no confusion. So when we say IP protection,
13:59
that is what we mean. So back to where I was, yes.
14:02
So there are lots of reasons why people go ahead do all this,
14:05
Viola, and they don't do anything.
14:07
Now, one idea for people not doing anything about it is
14:09
because you go through all this trouble, you get the lawyer, you
14:13
do everything, you drop the paperwork, you do non disclosure
14:17
agreement. You don't want anybody to come
14:18
people with you, everything. And then when you enter the
14:21
marketplace, you just realize all more this thing is not
14:24
commercially viable. Like I thought this was a good
14:27
idea. We've entered into the
14:30
marketplace, but man, nobody wants this thing.
14:33
Let me give you a real live example.
14:35
Cement. Cement is used all over the
14:39
world. People build buildings, build
14:42
bridges, build whatever. There's some people that have
14:44
come up to say environmental concerns, blah, blah, blah.
14:47
We need to come up with an alternative, you know, all kinds
14:49
of things. So the search has been on for
14:51
something that will be better than cement.
14:53
And yes, there are some products that people say technically are
14:56
better than cement. Now, I am not an engineer, so
14:59
don't go and ask me if these things are better than cement.
15:01
Whether the environmental, whether the strength is better,
15:04
whether the environmental impact is better, I have absolutely no
15:07
idea. But I know that there's some
15:09
people who came out into the market with this ground breaking
15:11
technology. They're trying to move into
15:13
Nigeria and Ghana. And the idea was that you should
15:16
be, they will be able to what's it called Uproot Dangote,
15:21
because Dangote is the big cement guy with this fantastic,
15:24
wonderful idea. And you go ahead, you patent it
15:27
is patented, the protection is there international everything.
15:31
But nobody is having that. Everybody just wants to continue
15:36
using cement. People will go and buy Dangote
15:39
and give, buy all the, all the other stuff.
15:41
And then, but then you know, like what's this fancy thing?
15:44
So you spent all the money, all the whatever to try and develop
15:47
this thing. I'm not saying you shouldn't try
15:48
and compete with Dangote, you know, if you want to because
15:51
it's a big industry, it's a big business, cement.
15:55
So yeah, if you're able to come up with something that cannot
15:57
sit down with you, you know, it's all good and you make good
15:59
money. But for now, all that work and
16:04
it's not commercially viable. So the patent is just sitting
16:07
there like that when you never know what the future might hold,
16:10
you know, maybe things might change.
16:12
So you have this fancy idea by the end of the day, it's not
16:15
commercially viable, as in there's no demand for it.
16:18
So the money that you wasted in lawyers and everything is just
16:21
wasted. Now, some people also use these
16:24
things to play games. It's defensive patenting.
16:26
That is where you hold the patent.
16:28
You don't intend to do anything with it.
16:30
You just don't want your competitors to do anything with
16:33
that idea. So it's your way of just holding
16:36
them by the balls. So if you have a patent and
16:38
they're trying to do something, you say, hey, Mr. so and so,
16:41
Madam, so, so and so. You can't do this thing or cease
16:44
and desist. I have the patent.
16:45
If you try yourself, I will call my lawyer.
16:48
That's, you know, you're just trying to stop the competition.
16:50
So these are some of the games that people play.
16:52
Like I say, it's mostly a big boy and a big girl thing.
16:54
So those of us in the SME space, let's forget, you know, forget
16:58
these games. We will get there.
17:00
You know, when we hammer, we're multi millionaires and
17:03
billionaires, yes, we'll start playing games defensive and
17:05
patenting, but we're not there yet.
17:07
And then sometimes people don't do anything because of funding
17:10
limitations. So it's a good idea.
17:14
You've registered, you've gotten patent protection, you've gotten
17:18
whatever protection it is that you need, but you don't have
17:22
money. So because you don't have money,
17:23
you can't produce. So these things happen.
17:26
Then there's also market saturation.
17:28
You go and protect this thing, you come into the market, but
17:31
then the market is saturated because they are kind of similar
17:34
things. And it makes it difficult for
17:36
this, your new idea, to gain traction.
17:39
So look at the mobile phone situation now.
17:41
So Apple has their own patterns, Samsung has their own patterns.
17:45
But for you and me, the consumer that uses these things, like,
17:48
man, we can't tell the difference.
17:49
Money is just that. I take your phone, I rip it out
17:51
of the container and the thing works, the underlying patent
17:55
thing. So at the end of the day, really
17:57
like how much protection is it really?
18:00
Or at least on that stage. So it happens, you patent, you
18:03
enter market exaggerated. The cost of my mind doesn't even
18:06
know what the difference is. So at the end of the day, you
18:09
know, was awesome. Then let's see.
18:13
So these are lots of reasons why people don't, people go through
18:21
all the stress of intellectual property protection, but then
18:23
they don't do anything. But now let me try and put the
18:27
counterbalance what I've been saying, intellectual property
18:30
protection is not a bad thing. If you can and if you have the
18:34
money, yes, travel to Abuja or go to no.
18:40
I think it's in Abuja. I don't think they have an
18:41
office in Alausa anymore. So it'll be Abuja, it'll be
18:45
ministry of, is it commerce, minister of Commerce or ministry
18:49
of I can't remember. Anyway, that's where you will go
18:52
to go and lodge your, to apply for your patents and apply for
18:57
whatever it is that you want to your trademarks, you know, and
19:01
all those things. That's where you go to go and
19:03
register all these your ideas, you know, so that nobody will
19:06
steal your ideas. So intellectual property
19:09
protection, it's not a bad thing.
19:10
It's a good thing because after all, you don't want people to
19:13
spill your to steal your ideas. But the point I'm just trying to
19:17
make is that most of you who are worried about somebody stealing
19:20
your idea, you are doing all this IP stuff, all this
19:23
intellectual property stuff, you are doing this thing
19:25
prematurely. What you should be doing is
19:30
this, make sure that the idea is commercially viable first.
19:36
It's also something I've spoken about in the previous episodes.
19:40
You want to make sure that the idea is commercially viable
19:43
first. If it is viable.
19:44
And it looks like on Monday, some traction here, then you
19:46
know, Russia and protect everything and then wrap it up
19:48
because you've seen that it might work.
19:50
So for those of you who are trying to build stuff, because
19:53
I'm talking to someone right now, it's an app anyway.
19:56
It's not like the guy is going to be a client or anything, but
19:59
it's an interesting conversation.
20:01
I mean, I promise you guys that when the MVP is out, we I'll
20:04
make a podcast episode on that. Not like I'm trying to promote
20:08
the guy's stuff, but I'm just trying to show how lots of sharp
20:11
boys and girls in Nigeria are working on different things.
20:14
So a minimum viable product is the smallest version of your
20:17
product or your idea that somebody can order or somebody
20:21
can say yes to or somebody can say no to, or somebody can try
20:25
out and say this thing is good or somebody can try out and say
20:29
this thing is bad. Put out your MVP, put out the
20:32
smallest version of this your idea 1st and then you will get
20:38
feedback from all these people when they say are correct, this
20:41
is a good thing. Figure out why they're saying
20:43
yes and why they're paying you money.
20:44
If they say no, I'm not going to use this thing, it is bad.
20:47
Find out why and then you take this feedback and then throw
20:51
that back into product development.
20:53
And then you can now go and patent your stuff and you know
20:56
they have something good, something good on hand.
21:00
Another benefit of this whole thing of trying to validate your
21:02
idea first, moving out into the market, trying to do some sales,
21:06
trying to sell, trying to give people a version of your product
21:09
or service that they can use is it'll give you a sense of who
21:12
your ideal customer is. So that when you patented and
21:16
ready to hit the market, you now have a clear idea.
21:19
OK, OK, we are going to now start chasing these people that
21:22
we list our product, our service.
21:23
We should be looking at buggy people and dear people living in
21:27
the FCT, between FCT and national state who are between
21:31
the ages of this and this and blah, blah, blah.
21:33
You have a very clear sense of who it is you're chasing after.
21:36
And when you have clarity on these sorts of things is the
21:39
best way to go about it then anyway, so that's my idea.
21:44
Show you people are just doing premature IP.
21:47
So be sure that this thing works first before you now wanna start
21:50
doing your intellectual property and protection.
21:53
Now, defensive patenting, like I said, eventually we'll get
21:56
there. You know, small by small.
21:57
You know, a baby crawls first, then you walk and then you run.
22:00
So we SME folks know Allah. We're at the stage of crawling
22:04
and walking. Now.
22:05
Eventually we'll be running. I'll be driving for Ferrari and
22:09
Lambo and everything. So we'll get there.
22:11
So when you get to that level, the whole thing about defensive
22:17
patenting is you're trying to get a competitive Moat.
22:20
You're either trying to stop your competitors from doing
22:22
something because they try to do anything.
22:24
You say look, or boy or girl, hold yourself.
22:27
I have the patent. If you misbehave, I'll call my
22:30
lawyers and we'll shut you people down.
22:33
So that is one idea, competitive move.
22:35
Sometimes it is to force people into collaborations.
22:38
Like, look, I want to do this thing, but you know, conditions
22:44
are not pure as in I know to go, I don't have enough you, you
22:49
also want to do this sort of thing.
22:50
I have this IP. You, you have this IP.
22:53
Let's collaborate and let's make this thing work.
22:54
There's no need for this thing to be a fight.
22:57
In that case, people are taking a collaborative approach.
22:59
They're trying to increase the size of the pie.
23:01
And that is precisely the sort of thing that Samsung and Apple
23:04
have done in collaborating over the different IP intellectual
23:09
property that they have. So they have been those sorts of
23:12
collaborations. You know, so Apple will say,
23:14
Samsung like guy, there's no need to fight now.
23:17
Like let's just cooperate. After all these African markets,
23:20
this Asian markets, there's money to be made there.
23:22
So let me bring my own IP to the table.
23:24
You bring your IT IP to the table, you collaborate, let's
23:27
say, how much money we can make, you know, selling phones to
23:29
Africans and Asians. And then they cooperate and then
23:32
they enter the market and everybody's fine.
23:36
So those are some of the games that they play at.
23:38
The big boy had a big girl level.
23:40
So we'll get there in Jesus name, like barrel alone, as my
23:43
your bad brothers and sisters will say.
23:46
Then for the other ideas where people don't do anything with
23:49
their IP protection, with their intellectual property, with
23:52
their fancy ideas, you know, the solution is still the same
23:55
funding limitation. Are you broke?
23:57
That's the reason why I've been talking about validating your
23:59
product, the service or the idea.
24:02
If you show that there's demand, you'll be able to raise money
24:04
from investors. It doesn't have to be a fancy
24:07
thing. Your rich uncle from the
24:09
village, you can want to talk to him like uncle, I have this
24:12
idea, this one I'm doing. I've already gotten the patent.
24:15
I've locked this thing now. But uncle man, Broco, this is
24:19
how much I need to set up the factory.
24:21
What is how much I need to buy this raw material or whatever.
24:24
Have that conversation. If you can show uncle that
24:26
people are buying. People are rushing this thing.
24:29
He might say, OK, this my nephew like you're a serious boy,
24:32
you're a serious girl. I know how this thing is moving.
24:35
So how much do you need? What am I getting in return?
24:37
You can start the conversation then market saturation.
24:42
If you try to validate your business idea, you're not going
24:44
to get caught in the saturated market because you going out and
24:49
doing the the leg work, the body work, trying to talk to people,
24:54
trying to sell something, putting out your minimum viable
24:57
product so that people can test it.
24:59
People can see it, people can buy it, people can criticize it,
25:02
people can whatever it you get caught in a saturated market
25:05
because this small, small moves that you'll be doing will show
25:08
you that, OK, there's room to continue or there's no room to
25:12
continue. So if you validate, you won't
25:14
get caught in a saturated market, that ain't gonna happen.
25:18
So summary, what I'm trying to say is protecting your business
25:21
idea is good though, but you want to be sure that the idea is
25:24
workable first and that there's market demand or there's room
25:28
for economic growth. You get my point.
25:31
And this is the sad truth. Very few ideas are completely
25:36
novel. Somebody's already working on
25:38
your secret idea and they're going to beat you because you're
25:41
taking too long developing the idea and talking to lawyers and
25:44
everything. Meanwhile, competitors are out
25:46
there doing great stuff. If you don't believe me, watch
25:49
any documentary. Who Invented the tire?
25:51
There's dispute. Was it the American guy?
25:54
Was it the Scottish guy? Sometimes it's just like the
25:58
idea was out in the ether. The American guy was working on
26:01
the idea. The Scottish guy was also
26:03
working on the idea. You know, these sorts of things,
26:05
they happen at the end of days. Who got to the market first?
26:08
Who was able to market more? Who was able to sell more?
26:10
These kinds of things? Who invented the TV?
26:13
Similar debates here and there. Who invented the light bulb?
26:18
Similar debates when you give credit to the American guy,
26:22
what's his name? What's his name now?
26:24
The one that is supposed to be an inventor.
26:27
I can't remember the one that was the patent on the light
26:29
bulb, you know, So it's not as if his own was the, and I don't
26:33
know the technical stuff because I'm not an electrical engineer,
26:37
but he was one that was first in the market.
26:39
So truth of matter is, no matter how great your idea is,
26:43
somebody's probably working on something similar.
26:46
So don't see how quickly you can get to the market, see how well
26:49
that you can execute. But then again, please take my
26:52
comments with a grain of salt. When I say validate your
26:55
business idea, I don't mean go and run and start sharing all
26:57
your ideas and business secrets on LinkedIn.
27:00
That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying just do some
27:03
small activities. See people are even interested.
27:05
If people even want to buy this thing in the 1st place, then you
27:09
can now start calling your lawyer to say this is the idea,
27:12
this is how it works. I think the instruction here, is
27:16
this a novel idea, Do you think this qualifies for patent
27:19
protection? How can we lock down the
27:22
trademark? How can we lock down our logo?
27:24
How can we, you know, blah, blah, blah, all those sorts of
27:27
things. So that's summary of what it is
27:28
that I'm saying. So my loyal friends and those of
27:32
you have been to law school, my educated colleagues, hope you
27:35
guys can see that I'm not saying that legal services are not
27:39
required and that IP protection is a bad idea.
27:42
It's a good idea, but let's not put the what was I saying?
27:45
Let's not put the cart before the horse.
27:47
Abhi, how do you say it? Just things in good order, in
27:50
due order. Let me put it that way.
27:51
Let's be sure it's a good idea and that is workable before we
27:54
now through time and money behind it.
27:57
So that's all for today. Please connect with me on
27:59
WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140.
28:03
The country code is +234. And also connect with me on
28:06
LinkedIn. My name is Tabishima Ayedia, I'm
28:08
the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
28:10
my name and e-mail address from the link.
28:12
We're currently listening to this episode.
28:14
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
28:16
I'll catch you guys at the next episode.
28:17
And for those of you who've been able to hear the music bleeding
28:20
in from the background, I hope that this is great testimony
28:23
that my wife has great taste in music.
28:26
Maybe I don't, but she definitely does.
28:28
And I hope you are entertained at the very least and maybe not
28:33
distracted by all that noise bleeding in from the background.
28:36
So I'll catch you guys tomorrow and we've done three.
28:41
I think we have maybe another two or three left and then we'll
28:45
be on to the next section.