3 Startup Lessons From the LionHeart Movie
I may be a little late to the party… but never too late to drop some gems.
The LionHeart movie by Genevieve Nnaji made history as the first movie from Nollywood to make it to Netflix (first Netflix original film produced in Nigeria). This movie captured the attention of international media and has since made waves for its content and direction.
However as an entrepreneur, I cannot help but highlight 3 things that stood out for me from this movie. These may be obvious lessons every startup founder is familiar with, but they never grow old and are ever green.
Empathy: The sacred art of walking in your customers’ shoes cannot be over-emphasised. The is the only way to keep your business alive — understand what your customers need and give that to them. I have never seen any business that does not thrive on meeting customer’s needs. The moment Adaeze conducted a discrete, impromptu customer investigation and discovered that her customers were moving over to the competition because of the high prices of bigger buses, that changed the course of her company’s success journey. So once again, fellow startup founder, please walk in your customers’ shoes to improve their experience. Understand what your customers go through before, during and after they have used your product/service. That will go a long way in keeping your company successful, after all this is the era of the customer.
Expressions: Many startup founders underestimate the essence of storytelling. Imagine pitching a popular founding story to an investor/audience/customer who has probably heard it many times over and cannot relate with it. Notice how Adaeze sounded robotic and unsure when delivering her well-rehearsed story; her potential partner saw through the smoke-screen. It wasn’t until she told her true story and tied it into her motivation for success that Alhaji Maikano bought into her idea and decided to give her a chance. As an entrepreneur, sell your story first, it enables your stakeholders to empathise and key into your product.
Emotions: This personally is a hard one for me to tackle and I know lots of first time founders who also struggle with it. Being overly sentimental or emotional in your business can ruin your company. Imagine if Adaeze had become so inundated about not being selected as the Acting MD that she decided to stand by, sulk and watch the company drown in debt. Because she was invested in the company and actually cared about its growth and not just titles, she was able to set sentiments aside, sit up all night and come up with a plan to save her company. Learning to set emotions aside and do what (the right thing) needs to be done is a must-have skill for every startup founder.
A special shout out to all female startup founders out there. Put a price (priceless) tag on your integrity and remember that your integrity speaks for you long after you have left the room.
