Ocham

As someone who has spent years trying to create a dignified market for Kenyan developers, I think we should be celebrating founders who are building their own products using AI. Look at what Mbiti has done with Aluta. Why should he spend KSh 500,000 or even KSh 3 million hiring developers to build something he hasn't validated? Having a working product doesn't guarantee sales. Many of us have built technically brilliant applications that nobody wanted to pay for. By building it himself, Mbiti has saved money that he can now spend on marketing, acquiring customers and validating the business. And what many devs don't seem to get is that if Aluta succeeds, Mbiti will eventually face technical challenges that require experienced engineers. But instead of asking investors for KSh 10 million to build an untested idea, he can now say, "We have 10,000 paying customers, our infrastructure can't keep up, and I need KSh 10 million to hire engineers who can help us scale and cut server costs by 50%." That's a much better problem to have, and a more compelling case for investment. I think developers need to appreciate this. Let founders who understand their markets validate their ideas as cheaply as possible. Our opportunity comes when those ideas succeed and need SERIOUS ENGINEERING EXPERTISE Mimi hapa, I'm positioning Reduzer to support founders like Mbiti and Kairo as they grow. Because one successful founder could end up creating two or three dignified, well-paying jobs for Kenyan developers for years.