Stop Planning. Start Building. Your Next Big Idea is Hiding in a Side Project.

Paul Graham, one of the most respected thinkers in the startup world, recently wrote about how universities should prepare founders. His central idea, and one I deeply agree with, is this: the best way to prepare for starting a business is not through "entrepreneurship classes" or business plan competitions. It's by getting good at building things, and developing a habit of doing it.

This insight is critical for you as a founder, especially if you're early-stage, in Nigeria or anywhere in Africa, and perhaps not from a technical background. We often feel pressured to have a grand plan, a perfect pitch deck, or even funding, before we've truly put anything tangible out into the world. But as I've seen building and running systems for founders, the real learning, the best ideas, and even the strongest teams often emerge from a more hands-on, less structured approach.

Why Building is Your Best Teacher

Graham's point is that the "hard part of startups is product: knowing what to build, and being able to build it." He argues that success hinges on customers liking your product, not on how well you can talk about it or what courses you took. This means the most valuable skill you can develop is the ability to create something and make it work.

Think about it: building something forces you to confront reality. You discover what's actually difficult, where the gaps are, and what users truly need. It's a much more powerful learning experience than theoretical discussions or market research alone. When you build, you understand a problem deeply, not just intellectually. This deep understanding is what allows you to create solutions that genuinely resonate with people.

Beyond learning, building things also helps you in three crucial ways. First, it's the best way to find co-founders. Side projects offer low-stakes environments to test compatibility, shared work ethic, and complementary skills with potential collaborators. Second, building makes founding natural. If you're used to taking an idea and bringing it to life on your own, starting a company feels less intimidating because you're already comfortable with the autonomy and problem-solving required. Third, and perhaps most surprisingly, building helps you discover great ideas. Graham states that the best startup ideas often "seem so implausible at first that anyone consciously looking for startup ideas would reject them." He suggests that these breakthrough ideas come from exploring "random side projects" that genuinely interest you, rather than trying to force a "startup idea." When you build what excites you, you're often ahead of the curve, spotting opportunities others miss.

This is why, as he notes, Y Combinator partners care a lot about the projects applicants have worked on, and not at all about their GPAs. Projects are the best source of knowledge, teams, and ideas.

How to Make Building a Habit

So, how do you cultivate this habit of building? It's simpler than you might think, and it doesn't require a lot of resources. Start small and low-stakes; don't aim to build the next big thing immediately. Pick a small problem you or someone you know faces, and try to solve it in the simplest way possible—this could be organizing a local community event, creating a shared spreadsheet to manage a group's finances, or making a simple website for a friend's small business. The goal is to finish something, however imperfect, and learn from the process. Next, follow your curiosity, not "market trends." If something genuinely interests you, explore it. If you're curious about how a particular type of delivery service works, try setting one up on a micro-scale for your street. If you enjoy designing, spend time creating logos or mock-ups for hypothetical businesses. These explorations, driven by genuine interest, are where novel insights and truly valuable ideas often hide. Also, focus on solving a real problem, even a tiny one. The most successful products start by solving a specific pain point for a specific group of people. Instead of trying to build a solution for "everyone," focus on one person's problem. For example, if you observe small businesses in your area struggling to track their inventory, perhaps your side project is to build a very simple, shared spreadsheet system for them to try, rather than a full-blown ERP. Embrace iteration and feedback: once you've built something, show it to the people it's meant for. Ask for honest feedback—what works, what doesn't, what's confusing—and use that feedback to make it better. Your first version doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to exist, and this iterative process is how products truly evolve. Finally, look for fellow builders. Actively seek out people who also enjoy creating, whether friends, colleagues, or people you meet in online communities. Offer to collaborate on their projects, or invite them to work on yours; working with others can accelerate your learning and lead to unexpected opportunities.

Adapting This Idea for Your Reality

Paul Graham's advice is timeless, but for founders operating in Nigeria and across Africa, with often limited resources and specific market dynamics, it requires a thoughtful approach.

"Building" for Non-Technical Founders

If you're not a software engineer like me, "building" might sound like coding. But it's far broader than that. "Building" means creating tangible value.

For a service business, building could mean designing and testing a streamlined customer onboarding process, creating a new service package, or developing a unique training program for your staff. For example, with BG Laundry, building involved designing the entire flow from customer booking to rider pickup to laundry processing, not just writing code. For a physical product business, building might involve prototyping a new product design with readily available materials, experimenting with different packaging, or manually assembling a small batch of goods to sell and get feedback. For a community or content platform, building could be organizing a small event, starting a WhatsApp group to test an idea, or writing and publishing a few blog posts to see what resonates. My FoundersDev project, for instance, is about building a system to generate and publish content, even though the content itself isn't code.

The core is creation and testing, not just conceptualization. What can you put in someone's hands (literally or figuratively) that solves a problem?

Resourcefulness and Local Context

In our environment, "side projects" are often born out of necessity and resourcefulness. You might not have access to venture capital for your first idea, so a low-cost, low-risk side project is not just a learning tool – it's often the only way to start.

You can leverage existing platforms; instead of building a full e-commerce site from scratch, you might "build" a presence on Instagram or WhatsApp, using tools like OPNMRT to handle orders and payments. This allows you to test demand and gather data with minimal upfront investment. Also, solve problems you already face. Many successful businesses here started because a founder was frustrated by a local problem—unreliable logistics, opaque pricing, poor customer service. Your side project could be a crude attempt to solve that very problem for yourself or your immediate community. For instance, consider a hypothetical business focused on creating transparency and efficiency in moving cargo, a significant pain point for many. Embrace "lean" by default; our operating environment often forces a lean approach, which is an advantage for building. You learn to make do, to iterate quickly, and to find ingenious solutions with limited resources. This mindset, developed through side projects, is invaluable.

The idea that "the optimal plan for preparing startup founders… costs nothing extra" is particularly true here. You don't need fancy innovation hubs or expensive courses. You need a problem, a desire to solve it, and the discipline to start building, even if it's just you and a few friends.

What I'd do this week

If you're looking to put this idea into practice, here are three concrete actions you can take this week:

• Identify one small, annoying problem: Think about something that frustrates you, your family, or your colleagues regularly. It doesn't have to be a "big business idea." It could be remembering to pay a utility bill, organizing a community meeting, or tracking inventory for a small side hustle.
• Design a "quick and dirty" solution: Without spending money or more than a few hours, sketch out or build the absolute simplest way to solve that problem. This might be:
  • A shared Google Sheet with clear columns and a simple formula.
  • A step-by-step written process you can follow and share.
  • A simple visual prototype (even hand-drawn) of an app or a physical product.
  • A WhatsApp group dedicated to solving that specific problem for a few people.
• Get feedback from one person: Show your crude solution to someone who experiences the problem you're trying to solve. Don't ask them if they'd "invest" or if it's a "good idea." Just ask them: "Does this help you with X problem? How does it feel to use? What's missing?" Listen intently to their raw feedback. This isn't about pitching; it's about learning.

The goal isn't to launch a startup this week. It's to practice the muscle of identifying a problem, creating a solution, and getting real-world feedback.

Making a habit of building is the best investment you can make in your founder journey. It’s how you truly learn, how you find your people, and how you uncover the ideas that will genuinely make a difference. Stop waiting for the perfect plan; start building.

— Samuel