Designer. Entrepreneur. Investor.
Websites I’ve found that deserve a mention
I love telling the story of Yebo Fresh to people. Which is why it’s even more special to see big brands also now telling the story.
A company born out of a garage, with a desire to impact and serve the underserved. Fuelled by the pandemic I can’t wait to see how the Yebo Fresh South African footprint grows and matures.
Today calls for a tiny celebration. It marks the official end of South Africa’s hard lockdown… We’ve now entered into a “Stage 4” lockdown, which is much the same, except we are now awarded morning exercise hours…
I helped Sentian put together a little light-hearted video showcasing some CCTV family keepsakes of the past 5 weeks, that their customers had sent in. It’s been a memorable chapter for all of us.
These are tough times, much tougher for some than others. South Africa always dishing out a fair share of perspective. Us with CCTV have the privilege of a house that requires protecting.
A recent interview with Disrupt Africa covering:
Last week I sat down with a good friend doing fantastic work in the SME space in South Africa, Marnus Broodryk.
Marnus convinced me to join him on his SME.Africa podcast. 4 years since our acquisition I enjoyed reminiscing over our journey and the learnings, however distant and fuzzy some parts feel. We also spoke about what keeps me busy these days.
Despite having a voice for print I enjoyed the interview.
Listen to “The Founder of WooThemes & WooCommerce [EP10 S2]” on Spreaker.
Most of us default to retweets and quick shares on Twitter these days, but for posterity and future reference I’m going to blogroll a few articles I found particularly interesting this month.
Most founders dream of building a product that eventually becomes a household name and sells for a billion dollars, but chasing that goal comes with some downsides. We chose a different path.
Chris Savage & Brendan Schwartz – Founders of Wistia
I’ve followed the @wistia team with keen interest for many years – @woothemes was an early user. This chapter is a fascinating and important read for any business owner contemplating future growth and how much control they are willing to sacrifice for it.
While there is much written about growing a startup, there is far less written about being acquired, successfully integrating a startup or scaling within a large company. In retrospect, I wish I had been better prepared and more knowledgeable, and hope my lessons learned below can prove valuable to CEOs and founders everywhere.
Todd Sacredoti – Founder of BrightRoll
🤯 So many parallels, so many I wish we’d knowns. A hugely insightful read for business owners about the lesser spoken acquisition process.
This really terrifies me as a dad – seeing my 6 year old, and even 2 year old boy, falling victim to these dangerous rabbit holes of deep, dark YouTube. A must watch for parents…
TL;DR Keep your kids away from YouTube.
A fantastically told founding story behind Naadam, a sweater company breaking a cashmere cartel.
This video perfectly highlights the importance of good storytelling in shaping a genuine customer connection with a brand, and in turn selling lots of products.
It is both daunting and surreal to see what our generation can conceptualise, and in a few years from now build. To shape a future reality our children will see as quite ordinary!
In November 2014, from Cape Town to San Francisco, I was miraculously upgraded to fly first class. On not one, but two long haul flights via Dubai. A total of over 20 hours in a flying palace. It was an incredibly surreal and scarily opulent experience.
It was my first (and only) time flying Emirates business class, that I only just managed to justify pocketing – celebrating a crazy few months at WooThemes. Presumably Emirates were keen to impress and win some business travellers over, with a surplus of first class seats available. Only at check-in did I realise I had been upgraded.
I wish I’d documented the flight better, but only managed a handful of pictures.
A year and a half later my favorite vlogger, Casey Neistat, got the same VIP Emirates treatment and did a fantastic job of documenting the experience. The video has gone completely viral with over 20 million views in 7 days. I think Emirates can justify Casey’s upgrade a lot better than mine….
I still can’t believe I took that flight and can only imagine how much that ticket would cost today. (An absurdly, unjustifiable amount…)
This week I discovered the artist “Twinkle twinkle little rockstar“. Thanks to an episode of Mr. Robot of all places.
If, like me, you are a sleep-deprived parent used to the constant soft noise of baby carousels and nursery rhymes on YouTube baby channels, then this artist is a welcomed life line.
There are some great covers to musically educate your little ones – from the earliest of ages.
For the last 3 years I have been exploring Table Mountain National Park in pursuit of capturing its beauty like never seen before timelapse video.
Recommended in 4K! Follow Brendon Wainwright on Instagram.