Limitless Innovation Summit, Milan. Shared a talk on how the gamification of retail (mixing gaming with product discovery) is the future and what we are building at @astralabs2050 ✨
Glad to be recognised by @guapmag on their #guapblacklist 2022 for work done as a web3 product founder 🥷🏿
It’s been a difficult and rewarding process over the past couple of years building @astralabs2050 & @agrifyafrica and this wouldn’t be possible without my amazingly talented teammates who have joined me in working on potential unicorns and have given their time and effort to go from idea to working prototypes.
I’m looking forward to taking a backseat next year and making sure they can be celebrated for all the great work they do pioneering product led innovation in tech categories black people don’t often get to say they are the the first create products for globally 🖤
It was great working with the amazing guys at Guap, who are doing great work championing black creators and innovators:
Lead Producer: @the.anthea
Creative Direction: @shenellkennedy@6wildd
Production Assistants: @sayo.olu@jada.puliga
Photographer: @jessicaelizaross
Graphic Designer: @6wildd
Lighting Assistant: suzzetteortizdop
Stylists: @gracemusungu@kaylsgj
Hairstylist: @kreszendsackey
Makeup Artists: @sofiaparadis
Makeup Assistants: @angelpickney@its.hels_@cerenyilmazdogan
Set design: @maureenkargbostudio 💫
Big thanks to @adidaslondon , @piccadillylights & @guapmag for the opportunity, bring on 2023 💪🏾✨
I read somewhere that nurturing a vision can be like planting seeds in the dark, you can’t see what’s happening until they start to grow.
2025 was really a year for growth for @agrify.earth and @astralabs2050 and I can’t thank God enough for bringing helpers our way that allowed us to validate business models and have first paying customers.
For Agrify it was acceleration in the XRPL ecosystem that led to accelerators in Europe and Asia that led to building out a real solution to help farmers with traceability and exports. For Astra it was a collaboration with LagosxParis that helped us digitise Nigerian fashion brands and understand how best to position virtual reality pop ups as a value add for IRL fashion experiences and conferences.
I am forever grateful to God for the opportunity to keep playing this game, is not easy at all to stay at it through ups and downs and if you see anyone even try to build a startup please encourage them because you have to figure it out everyday as you are literally building what you cannot see yet.
This year I really understood what it means to be a servant leader, and serve the interests of my teammates. I understand now that you cannot lead a team if you are not serving them, if you do it for yourself or are led by pride you will be left by yourself when when tough times come and the most important part of long term games are dedicated long term people.
Here’s to a new year with God’s blessings, grace and boundless favour. When we need to do things outside of our comfort zone may we never lack courage, and may we also have respect for the talents that we are blessed with so that we do not take them for granted and multiply them as God has asked us to.
It’s my birthday today, and reflecting on the journey so far I call this era of my life Act 3.
Act 2 which was most of my twenties was more about audacity, now it’s knowledge and I get to play the game with more understanding.
My understanding increased a couple months ago, out in Paris. I applied principles I’ve come to see as true and we got to pitch onstage at Paris Blockchain Week, won the official online Hackathon, the Mercy Corps Agentic AI For Good Prize and got backed by Ripple (XRP).
At the start of my journey into tech I was 25 with no investors, no tech skills and no initial team to lean on.
Here are three principles that would’ve really guided me back then:
First, African wealth is built on the trade of commodities or the enablement of trade—Owo ni koko fr. It’s not like Silicon Valley where you can build tech like digital fashion NFTs in the Metaverse (haha) it’s all about trade and from day 1 you have to understand who is buying and who is selling and why. As a previous metaverse founder, I now focus more on how technology can enable the trade of physical things like agriculture.
Second part of the game all young and brilliant hustlers must understand—especially those without access to a network of angels for that first cheque—is that impact innovation is a cheat code. That brilliant idea you have, tie it to one of the sustainable development goals, and solve a problem with a scalable business model. There will be grants to build your MVP, when the problem your technology solves is a real painkiller and not just another vitamin.
Thirdly, tech hackathons are the best way to start. If you can figure a good use case for innovative tech early, it’s a great route to mvp. Teams react better to external pressures than internal ones, and if you can spot the hackathon early enough and use tools like chatgpt to understand what it will take to build the product you can assemble a solid team and build an MVP before it ends.. Check dorahacks, devfolio and devpost for hackathons.
God bless the works of our hands, as we play this game of life. Looking forward to great strides as I enter the third act of my life.
Love,
Delz
❤️🔥
Was actually meant to post this in January but somehow it’s April and the start of Q2.
We’re telling a story right? so here goes.
Last minute last year, the web3 chief @folajimi_daodu was like Delz do you want to come to Saudi? I was like can’t really afford to right now, he was like say less and magically sorted out a first class ticket and hotel. He’s the actual goat for this! I got to go to Riyadh for the first time, and that weekend I learnt lessons that are paying off right now.
The main thing was really understanding the power of building relationships and making industry friends. All the people with all the resources you need to do anything in this life, are human beings in need of companionship and good relationships. They all want good people that are not just talented but also humble and teachable. People that are smart and driven, they want to be able to say I helped this person become who he his today.
I’m the sort of person who loves to figure things out on my own. It’s one of my biggest flaws and If the plans work out and success shines it’s light on me one day, I’ll talk about how big a mental shift for me to understand why it’s not just about what you know but who you know and your network is something you should build as you build your startup. Be impressive in your talent and mindset, but let your humility be the most impressive thing about you.
This is such a LinkedIn post, I know but there’s more coming. Big shoutout to the egbons Jimi Daodu and BizzleO for 3 days of shaping my mind in December 2024, that really prepared me for 2025.
Writing this story a quarter at a time🫀
Doing a life lately dump here, as always just trying to document the journey so far. Truth is we don’t know what day will be our last, so I use this to make sure the story is always up to date.
Got an all expenses paid opportunity to go to Silicon Valley and learn how to build web3 startups from OGs that have built companies and blockchains worth billions, got true insight on what it really takes to go all the way and met other exceptional web3 founders building amazing companies.
Took that back into Astra and Agrify, first by completely rearchitecting the Astra product and value proposition to become a different product that solves real problems for real users, while assembling a great new team.
Then with Agrify meeting farmers and doing true consumer discovery and then pitching at the Nigerian satellite week, making key connections with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and then meeting the team building Nigeria’s carbon framework to become a contributor.
God is always in control. I’ve learnt to be true to myself and be honest about my short comings and things are much clearer now. Also figured out truths I didn’t know before that will guide me forever.
With two months till the year ends, it’s very key to do enough running around so next year starts with more opportunities and less difficulties. If you’re into fashion or agriculture let’s put our minds together, there’s always a way we can work together.
Writing my story, one quarter at a time.
Shalom 📿
My favourite thing in the world is the sky, because it’s nature’s way of painting time.
Though the tonal gradations from early mornings sky blue to late evenings blood orange are beautiful, it is that way to serve a more important purpose.
To let us know that this is what you should be doing right now, just by looking up.
Same way you have to look up to see the sky, you have to keep your head up to stay on track and keep going young dreamer.
Soon, the world will be yours.
Carpe Diem ❤️🔥
Gratitude reel, mum said to count the blessings and you’ll see what God has been doing.
I’m now in that stage of the journey where I’m a second time founder, having raised funds and learnt the sort of lessons you can try to explain to people but can only truly learn if you experience them yourself. I have battle scars to show from being in the arena and making hard decisions and bearing the brunt of mistakes, I thank God for the lessons learnt because I’ve learnt things no accelerator will teach you.
It’s a new year, that officially starts in February for me and as always it’s another year of constant hustle. Astra is still the first metaverse startup built by an all black team, and while we couldn’t get the sort of traction we wanted (I mean even meta don’t have a killer app yet) we’ve learnt so much from thousands of demo tests. We were metaverse before facebook became meta, and we’ve built so many different products that the vr use case we’re now developing is one based on the sort of true insight you can only get from years of building, measuring, learning and iterating.
With Agrify, we’re working on a first of its kind methodology for carbon sequestration through agroforestry. It combines computer vision with satellite imagery and the blockchain to prove carbon capture through farming in a first of its kind way that will unlock debt free capital for farmers. The prayer is that it impacts lives all over Africa, but we’ll have to see how it goes as always God has the final say.
All I’m trying to say really is that we have to keep going, even when it doesn’t seem like it’s going well despite all the effort invested, when you remember why you started, pause and look back you’ll see how everything adds up.
S/o to everyone working in a field with no handbook and figuring it out on the way. It’s not easy at all, but it’ll eventually be worth it. Your job is to document the journey, so when the next kid wants to follow the road less taken they can have a reference.
Here’s to a successful 2024. I wish you well with all the love the burns my heart everyday I wake up, and a passion to end my life with examples of undeniable impact.
Delz ❤️🩹
