Back in secondary school, my report card was so red, you’d think I was studying Fine Arts with a major in bleeding ink. One term: Mathematics F9. Intro Tech F9, Social Studies E8. I handed the sheet to my dad on the balcony as he announced the results out loud.
My mum overheard from inside and screamed, “Did you not pass anything at all?!”
Truthfully, I did pass the easier subjects like Yoruba. But today, I’m co-owner and CTO of a tech platform, leading a team, writing codes, and building tools that empower people to rent, resell, and donate fashion items across Nigeria.
This doesn’t mean I’d not previously engaged in other jobs before going into tech. The road from “red biro scholar” to CTO wasn’t paved with gold. It was filled with failure, late-night miracles, unpaid jobs, accidental networking, and a lot of “try-again” moments.
This article is not about glorifying loss. It’s about showing how failing forward is often the secret to becoming someone you never imagined you could be.
Every Success Has a Backstory
In 1998, a company called Confinity tried building a cryptographic product. It failed. Then it pivoted to payments and became PayPal. That “failed startup” launched the careers of Elon Musk (Tesla), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), and Peter Thiel (Palantir).
Netflix nearly went bankrupt renting DVDs. Twitter was born from a failed podcast platform. Olamide was told his music was too “razz” to go mainstream.
Today, he’s behind some of Nigeria’s biggest musical exports Fireboy, Asake, and others. Every great leap often begins with a great loss.
Startups Are Just Survival with Branding
People love throwing around the word “startup.” but let’s not deceive ourselves. In many cases, “startup” is just a fancy word for ‘we’re still figuring things out with no money.’
It came from Silicon Valley, tech bros building companies in garages and pitching to VCs while eating instant noodles. But in Nigeria, our version is different.
You’re bootstrapping, dodging NEPA, building your product, replying to emails, doing deliveries yourself, and still pitching to people who think your logo looks “too modern.”
If you’ve ever juggled five roles, managed two unpaid interns, and begged a cousin for your first ₦10k client you don’t just have a startup, you’re running an extreme sport.
Red Biro & One-Night Wonders
Let’s go back a bit.
Junior WAEC? I didn’t even tell anyone I was writing it. I wanted peace of mind to binge- watch movies. But somehow, I passed.
Senior WAEC? I forgot I had Government the next day. I hadn’t even opened the textbook. But by a twist of fate, I found an old copy the night before, read it till dawn, and walked into the hall like James Bond. Distinction.
My friends who winged it relied on whispered answers. I winged it with grace and luck.
Lesson: Sometimes you don’t need months of prep, just one good night and the courage to show up.
Syntax and Stumbles: Learning by Breaking Things
When I taught myself to code, I thought I was learning tech but what I was really learning was how to keep failing and fixing things.
Your code won’t run. The API won’t respond. GitHub will confuse you. And that one bug? It will teach you patience, frustration, and humility.
But this is where tech is beautiful. You don’t have to get it right the first time, you just need to keep improving. In fact, most tech innovations are born from trying things, failing, debugging, and trying again.
That process? It trains your mind to think like a builder.
Buggy Builds and Better Ideas
As co-owner of Reusers, our early days were chaos. Android builds were buggy. One campaign we thought would “break the internet” didn’t even trend in our WhatsApp group.
But every mistake gave us direction. We listened. We iterated. We fell in love with the problem, not our original idea.
As Waze co-founder Uri Levine put it: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.” That line saved us.
Networking: The Startup Fuel You Can’t Ignore
Let’s talk about one secret many underestimate: relationships.
A few years ago, I got a relatively big gig through a friend I met during a freelance job. At the time, we were just two hungry guys trying to survive.
But we stayed connected, shared ideas, and helped each other. That friendship later opened doors to bigger gigs and better platforms.
In startup life, your idea matters. Your execution matters more, but your network might matter most.
Look at Airbnb. It wouldn’t have taken off without their network of early backers and mentors. Or Andela, which scaled through strong global tech relationships and community partnerships.
If you’re starting out, here’s advice:
- Don’t ghost people after
- Give value before you ask for
- Stay helpful, curious, and
In a world where one introduction can change your life, relationships are underrated capital. Some Will Win. Some Will Lose. All Must Show Up. Let’s not pretend. Not everyone who fails will win.
Some people get lucky early. Others build for years and never quite break through. Some products go viral, others barely load.
But what matters isn’t the outcome, the mindset.
- Do you still show up?
- Do you still try again?
- Do you learn from every “no”?
That’s what separates those who fade from those who eventually figure it out.
The Final Plot Twist
If you’ve ever been rejected from a job, ghosted by a client, shipped a product nobody downloaded, or posted something that got zero likes, congrats. You’re not a failure.
You’re a builder in motion. In tech, business, and life, we don’t succeed because we avoid failure. We succeed because we keep walking through it with purpose.
So, if you fall, do it boldly. Fail fast. Learn faster.
Then rise again with a new idea, a smarter approach, or a fresh connection. The story isn’t over, it’s just getting interesting.
