The Signal

I build businesses in real-time so you can follow along, and learn how to start your own startup.

👋🏽 Hey, I’m Simon.

I started the Signal in 2019. It was a business-idea newsletter that built up a decent following, and I got some great feedback on it.

I wrote about ideas that excited me and how I would execute on them.

Life got in the way, business got in the way, and I ran out of steam. The Signal moved homes and I slowly neglected it.

Then, I got back on the horse and started writing again. But scrolling through the online startup world, I realized that every man and his dog is writing about business ideas. Bleh. So… 2020.

Ideas are nothing without execution.

And I think that’s why I was able to grow the original Signal organically, I wasn’t just writing about ideas… I was proposing a way to act on them. So… I’ve decided to go a step further and actually act on them.

That’s what the Signal is about - it’s about teaching you execution. How to build a business, step by step.

So, are ideas gone?

Nahhh! I still get a bunch of them every single day, and I’ll still write about them from time to time for you guys to read through. But the crux of this newsletter will be about executing ideas.

What’s up with the logo?

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my relatively short startup experience, it’s that success is about persistence. Almost no success comes from a silver bullet.

Success is about layers. Every single day the work you put in is a layer.

I think that the logo sums that up really nicely. It’s also the vague shape of my favourite mountain.

Also inside:

• Startup lessons

• Growth hacking 101

• Marketing

• Product design

Who Am I?

It’s me, Simon. Hey 👋.

I’m a passionate entrepreneur. I love tech, startups, and the world of business. I’ve started a few companies, failed with most, and sold a few too.

I’m the current Head of Product and CEO of a fintech business in Africa. We’re building the infrastructure for 21st-century financial services in Africa.