Counting 2016

Intro

My head has been trying to do a subconscious account of 2016 in the background. After doing a draft on my phone, I finally get to write this.

The year of the start. The true start.

After one failed start, Loystar takes off this year. Febuary 2016 I and my co-founders started the company and began working on our first product. By April we had a prototype ready and got the first paying customer same month. That was a great feeling.

The Team

Privileged to be working with brilliant minds who also have the courage to give us a chance to take a shot at this. I already have good pictures of the future in my head and hope we can build something we all can be proud of.

Telling the story

The pitch is all ours, we've got the ball to play.  That's a line from one of my power tracks.
While we developed the product, we also had to sell the vision. We had 7 pitch events including the DEMO Africa 2016 event  that held in Capetown - which I could not attend due to visa denial. The 6 other events held in Accra and Lagos and was largely successfully. Thankful for the opportunities.

Deal flow. 

Having launched our first product in April, and pitch Loystar at several times in the course of the year, this has resulted in various deal sizes on the table, all amounting to at least $60k and non-cash support worth over $10k from MEST Africa, DEMO Africa, Speedup Africa, Arise Invest and of course, our customers. Not bad for a early early stage company like ours and it goes on to give a sense of what's expected. Very well appreciate the belief of the various investors/partners.

Good people.

The good people of 2016. So many, ain't even gonna name a drop. But the top of the cream know who they are... and I may not have known them so well.. but they still are  very very good people.

Let's get Physical.

2016. Buffest year ever, even though it's almost all gone. Learnt to dance kizomba, a salsa variant. Went out to run 33 times with 43.71 miles covered (runs I tracked). Was out with nature: canopy walk, surfing, bot gardens. Shout out to the crew. Good times.

Let's get Spiritual

This was the year I discovered the biggest biggest desire of God is to be believed.
As a founder, I have experienced first hand.. countless times how it is not to be believed. For the number of people who believe you, there are also the non-believers. It isn't the nicest of feeling to not be believed; but when you are believed, you want to prove to your believers that they made the right choice.

So when I discovered God really wants to be believed, I could very well relate to it. It's kind of empathizing with God to some extent.
I think believing is really what (our) Faith is about. It's a very tangible force because it involves work. (You cannot believe and not take action, that's just a mere wish).

Cheers to Twenty17

So 2017 is to believing more. Believing God's Word (that has always been my impetus) and doing the work. Believing in my team and doing the work, believing more in myself and doing the work.

Thank you 2016, thanks to every one who was a part of it and Cheers to a grand Twenty17.