Builders Vs Supporters
People tend to shy away from building things especially real companies, ventures, and startups because building comes with an enormous amount of work. It is demanding, consuming, and often unforgiving.
If one is not careful, building a company can quietly take over your life. Two‑thirds of your entire life could easily be committed to it sometimes even more. That’s how one can be swallowed by the hard realities of execution and the constant effort required just to keep the company alive. And if the venture eventually becomes successful, the demands only increase.
Because of this, many people naturally tilt toward the entrepreneurship support ecosystem — platform providers, enablers, accelerators, incubators, and ecosystem builders. In comparison, this path often allows for more balance and flexibility with life. Much of the work revolves around conversations, strategy, partnerships, and ensuring you are within the right networks.
Let me be clear: this is not in any way to undermine the work done by people in the support ecosystem. I have been there, and in many ways, I am still there. I can imagine and I know firsthand — how hectic and demanding it is to support founders who are themselves under intense pressure. My point is simply that, relative to builders, support roles often allow one to lift their head up, breathe a bit, and flex in ways that builders rarely can.
You might wonder why I am bringing this up.
Recently, while out in Lagos during one of our usual outings, I ran into a friend who is very active in the support ecosystem. He asked me if the conversation we had about three years ago still holds true, specifically whether I still maintain my original stance of being on the builders’ side of the divide.
My response was simple and even more certain than before: I am a builder.
I reaffirmed this to him clearly. While I continue to support entrepreneurship through my work at Labspace, and through the Founder Institute where I am also an alumnus and while I actively help many other entrepreneurs within my network, my conviction has only grown stronger. Much of this comes from long‑term, lived experience, dating back to our earliest ventures, building from scratch, learning the hard way, and staying in the play.
Another reason I am putting this out again is because of where we are as a country.
At this stage, we have had countless panels, conferences, accelerators, incubators, and well‑intentioned platforms. Yet, it increasingly feels like we are short of founders who are daring enough to solve real problems. We are also losing a lot of brilliant minds to the chase for quick visibility and spotlight often without the deep work required to build systems, people, products, and institutions that actually last.
This post is, again, by no means an attempt to downplay the work done across the ecosystem divides. I have not even touched on one of the most difficult aspects of the support side: funding ventures - a long‑term, patient game that, in my opinion, is among the hardest parts of the entire ecosystem.
I am simply saying that: at this moment in our country or even the continent at large, we need more builders. More people willing to stay in the trenches. More people committed to deep work.
In short, we need more Steve Jobs right now than Paul Graham.