Hacker Studio

Similar to Maker Studio or Builder Studio

A function of the Hacker studio can be to receive consulting opportunities to work on tough problems that people face by using digital technologies and product development principles then finding a way to make those things scale and develop teams around those. From here, they can launch companies to serve wider audiences and so on.

I imagine this place as somewhere where smart people come together and think about amazing ideas that they can build, what the future can look like and how they should live. It is a blend of hacking, building, product development, philosophy and tech and entrepreneurship. That's the environment that can be the backbone of a technologically advanced society. Thinking about accounts, sales and marketing is great but the underlying reason for those things is just as important if not foundational to what we are doing. Having that foundation in the people who build things is a recipe for success.

Incentive Structures and Ownership

For the structure of incentives and compensation, they will get shares in the organisation over a vented period and based on the projects that have started and worked on. This is based on what you have built and we support you along the way to build it. You can be incentives based on how well your product is doing based on revenue, growth and profits. You can suggest any idea and work on it for a specific period of time to prove it out. This is very clear from the beginning. No bullshit about starting ideas that I want.

For this programme or studio, I believe that the member should pay to be part of it. This will make them more invested in the idea and seek to build it out and prove it.

It can be like a retreat or get away from the hustle and bustle. They are young so they can quit their jobs or go to university less and work with other bright minds like themselves on great ideas. They can learn from each other and develop even greater things.

Long-term View on People

Further down the road, the dividends will be great as they will launch successful companies that we can invest in and grow together. The goal is build them and have a long-term view on their success, not demanding results when they don't need to. No expectations, as long as they are paying.

Universities as havens for hackers and innovators

University is such a great place to do this but they spend useless time on useless topics, assignments, CATs and exams. With the youthful energy, relative free time, low expenses, low expectations and no obligations, smart students can be exposed to innovation and building great applications and technologies that people want to use. That was The most important thing that we didn't get taught in school and it is such a shame. What a shame.

Fundamental Stack

I like OpenAI, DeepMind and other great companies, we need to build on top of an existing technology stack that allows us to ship various products that work. This is very similar to how Mpesa blew up. They focused on being a send money application from one feature phone to the next. They maximised on the growth in that department until they became strong enough to launch new products like pay bill, till numbers, M-shwari, Fuliza and so on. Building later products on a fundamental stack is crucial to success. For Tesla, it is their electric car. For DeepMind, it is their AI algorithms to solve tough intelligence problems. For OpenAI, it is also AI but for general-purpose applications that can be provided to others at a cost. For the Hacker Studio, we need a fundamental stack that we should focus on maximising from the beginning. I should test this idea out with Shukran.