Your startup needs a scoring dream team

In football, the coach is usually not allowed to play, while in business is the vision bearer is literally in the field to remind the team what they had practiced. [Courtesy]

I was watching the Community Shield match the other day between Liverpool and Manchester City, where the former lost during penalties. I noticed that team work is what holds the club together. 

And there is this new rule by Fifa that the team coaches can also be carded if they infringe on rules. Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola was very active on the touchline, passionately instructing his job players, but he soon fell foul of the officials. There was a foul that the referee did not penalise, which incensed Guardiola and earned him a yellow card for his angry reaction.

Football in Europe is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with many players paid over Sh50 million per week.

Stadiums are full to capacity for the whole season and team merchandise forever on sale.

It is a whole spectrum of a business cycle, but the whole industry is dependent on how the team of 11 on the pitch plays the game.

You can have the greatest striker but if your defence is poor, then the fullest potential of the player will never be seen, and with time the player will exhaust his options. A perfect example is a player I really admire, Lionel Messi - I think I did an article on him a while back.

Whenever he plays at Barcelona, you see a different Messi from the one that plays for his national team, Argentina.

That’s why it has been difficult for him to win any national trophy while his club Barcelona has been on top of the league for years. 

How this teamwork in soccer is important in any business is really simple. The coach has the vision. In football, he is usually not allowed to play, while the beauty of business is that the vision bearer is literally in the field to remind the team what they had practiced.

Vision bearer

The bigger picture is that everyone is important but the vision bearer has to select the team. That’s what we see every season as ridiculously high amounts of money for buying players are reported on international press.

My mother raised me differently, she never stood behind my shoulder to see if I finished my home work. She insisted that we should not at any given point get comfortable so that pushed me.

I was a very independent child with A’s written all over my report forms. What that character translated to was that I could do anything and that I should always strive for greatness.

When the ‘Rabbit’ career kicked off, I needed to select the winning team even though I didn’t have that Manchester City currency. The excuse most young business visionaries give me is that they don’t have money for capital and to sustain a team.

Yes, money is important but my approach is totally different; the first thing that you need is a  vision or plan, then the tea.

I had this ‘empire’ plan and since I loved moving in silence, I started assembling my team. I had a shop at the basement of Imenti House that sold T-shirts and did branding for small businesses.

During lunch hour, I would walk to the other side of the building for a meal, and every time I sat there I would meet a DJ by the name Junior who would show me his latest mixes. By the time I left he would have convinced me to buy the music.

Since I needed a personal DJ so that I could fit in that ‘professional’ artiste club, I convinced him to be my DJ.

I started getting gigs and it felt perfect having a DJ and not having to point out which track to play. Word went round and just like that, more business came my way.

Rabbit did not have King Kaka’s three-piece suits and elegant accessories; even though he was street smart, he would not look professional representing himself in meetings.

One of my friends, Dennis was then working in the banking industry and I convinced him to create time for my meetings and let people know that he was my manager.

Amazing staff

Ten years later, I have a full office and an amazing staff that believed in the dream without the money.

DJ Jr has built his brand, Dennis is my manager and business partner and I have people to handle public relations, communication, media relations, social media and studio.

I always point out this: Why get 100 per cent of Sh100 yet you can get 40 per cent of Sh10 million?

The writer is an award-winning artiste and entrepreneur.