From start-up to stay-up.
Most ventures die before year five. The ones that don’t share a small set of frameworks. I write about them, and I run a consulting practice for founders who want to apply them.
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What I write about.
The Stay-Up Philosophy
Long-form thinking on what it takes to grow a venture past year five.
02Founder Execution
Practical frameworks on goals, productivity, and the gap between intention and action.
03African Capital
Capital structures, term sheets, and the operator-investor lens, written from inside African markets.
04Teams & Governance
Building, hiring, and governing under the constraints of an early-stage African venture.
Recent essays
The Year Nothing Happened: How to Read a Flat Year Before You React to It
Three quarters in, the numbers look like last year's. Before you call a strategy offsite, work out which…
Parting Well in a Small Market
The person you let go in March will be across the table in November, working for your biggest…
Formal Is a Capital Strategy: Why the Compliance You Resent Is the Asset Investors Read First
Founders treat registration, tax clearance and proper books as a cost imposed from outside. They are the price…
I’ve been on both sides of the table.
Founder of five ventures across Southern Africa. Author of Beyond Inception. Operator-investor on small African deals. I’ve watched companies survive year five and watched companies die in year three, and the difference was never what the founder books said it would be.
This site is the longer answer. I write the frameworks I wish I’d had earlier, and I work with founders who want to apply them through TBGA Consulting Group.
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