How This Tech Company Went from $100 to a 30 Million Dollar Valuation in Under 3 Years with Uyi Abraham

0:01Light that, Sparkfire Nation, JLD here, and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Billion Dollar Moves. Today, we'll be breaking down how this tech company went from$100 to a$30 million valuation in under three years. To drop these value bombs, I had brought Huye Abraham and DaEo Fire Studios. Huye came to America with only$100 and a suitcase of clothes and founded Vonza.com, the first black-owned all-in-one software for entrepreneurs and creators to create and sell online courses and easily grow their business online.

0:42And today we'll be chatting about this rags to riches story, the importance of the unique proposition of value, why you want to be the number one solution to a real problem in this world, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Huyi and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into.

1:21Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business? Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Uyi, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, Fire Nation, it's so good to be here today. So one thing that I believe about being successful, a lot of people disagree on, is that I know, I believe that you don't need money to start a business in 2023, which a lot of people disagree about because now we are in the digital economy where anybody with a knowledge, a skill, and expertise can take that information and turn it into a coaching program or an online course, and they can literally start and build it to six, seven, or even eight figures without spending a dime.

2:29Boom, Fire Nation. And that's why we're going to be talking today about how this tech company went from$100 to a$30 million valuation in under three years. And Uyi, you are a modern day rags to riches story. I mean, you're showing everybody that the American dream is still alive and well. You came to America with just that$100 in your pocket and you built a successful tech company. Tell us that story. Yeah, thank you so much. So I was born and raised in Nigeria. So I came to America a few years ago with only$100 and a suitcase of clothes. So I am pretty much the American dream. So I came initially to go to school to become a medical doctor.

3:14So my dream was to be a gynecologist. I went to help women, treat women and stuff like that. So when I came over here, started taking classes in medicine and stuff. I just lost love for medicine. And I found out that my true passion was entrepreneurship and to help people to actualize their own dreams. So from$100 to now leading a tech company called Vonza. And now we're helping thousands of entrepreneurs to take their knowledge, skills, or services and turn it into income and business. But what was the real breakthrough? Like you just had$100. Like how did you even start with that? What was that first domino to fall?

3:57Very good question. So with$100 and a suitcase of clothes, of course, you know, I have to start from the bottom. My first job, I was working at a movie theater and I was making about$6.15 an hour. But now, if you compare that to what I could have been making in Nigeria, which we survived on about a dollar a day, it was like a big breakthrough for me. Because growing up in Nigeria, I remember that we only ate like a full leg or thigh of chicken on Christmas, Easter, on all birthdays. We went to bed many times without food. We walked miles and miles to school. So I really kind of came from that humble beginning.

4:40So coming to America, even making$6.15 an hour was like a breakthrough to me. So from there, I started working one job to the other. So it was when I got married and I noticed that the job thing was not going to call it for me. You know, that was giving me what I needed to be able to take care of myself and my family. I knew I needed to understand this entrepreneurship thing. So I did what everybody else told me I should do, which was get a storefront and try to start a business. So I started designing websites for people. I started running a print shop and doing like a FedEx Kinko type thing.

5:18And then it was around 2010 that I began to have that breakthrough in my mindset that the brick and mortar type of business was not the easiest kind of business to start. So I learned a skill, I started preparing taxes for people, and then people started coming to me and asking me to teach them on how to create or launch their own tax businesses. And that's how I started creating courses and coaching programs. And then at about 2019, you know, I was launching a program online and I was using one platform for my course, another for my email, another for my membership, another for my physical products, and then using Zapier to tie them all together and my system crashed.

6:02And it was so shameful and embarrassing for me. And that's where I had the idea to build an all-in-one platform that gives an entrepreneur, a coach, or a consultant all the tools they need in one single place. So that your entire business is on one platform instead of on multiple platforms. So that's how the idea of Vonza came about. And I want to dive deeper into this because one thing that I always tell my audience is they need to create the number one solution to a real problem in this world. And then nothing can stop them from winning. I'm not saying create the number one solution to a huge problem or to the biggest problems or to problems that have so many competitors creating solutions for.

6:48I'm saying, hey, find a niche that is being underserved. Find an opportunity that's not being dealt with properly or is being ignored for some reason, and then say, I'm going to create the best solution to this problem right now. How did you provide value with Vonza in this scenario? Let's dive deeper here. Yes. So that's a very good question. And before I even answer that, I always tell people, too, the secret to everybody's success is in a pain, a frustration, or something that they really feel like they can add value to or change. Every business I've ever started in my life was because of a personal pain or frustration that I had.

7:34So with me, with Vonza, I was just frustrated with tying multiple tools together, needing integrations, needing a team, when all I really wanted to do was to just serve my clients and run my business online. And there was nothing at the time around 2019. Now, fast forward now, a lot of businesses trying to, like, go all in one, blah, blah, blah. But years ago, the mindset was that if you want to create a platform for courses, then just be so good at that. If you want to create a platform for membership, then just be so good at that. If you want to create one for funnels, then just focus on that.

8:11But when we started in 2019, we were like the real trailblazer in this industry. In 2019, nobody was thinking of all-in-one, S &P Kajabi that was doing all-in-one. But with Vons, I wanted to do something that was better than Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, by building from the ground up a true and concise and complete all-in-one platform. Now, some people say they have only one platform, but they only create like four or five features. Forms has like 12 features in one, like your courses, your website, your digital products, and physical products, your emails, your scheduling, SMS, forms, and a bunch of other features.

8:53So about 12 features you want. The idea for this is to streamline online business for entrepreneurs. Nowadays, it's so expensive to pay for 10 plus tools to run a business. And it's really scaring a lot of people away from starting a business online because they've been told they have to sign up for this, sign up for that, sign up and just all over the place. So we solve the problem by building the simplest to use platform out there on the planet. That is also the most complete, right? That really doesn't require any need for external, you know, integrations, you know. And John, one thing too I love about Vonza too, our philosophy is that anything, any feature on Vonza can be used from start to completion in under 60 seconds.

9:46So we have the 60-second rule. What does that mean? If a coach, a consultant, or an entrepreneur want to release or create their e-book on Vonsor, for example, it has to pass the 60-second test. That means they must be able to start from scratch and finish up in 60 seconds, or we have to keep improving on that feature until it's that simple enough that even a six-year-old can create and launch any digital product in 60 seconds. So that really set us apart because simplicity is very, very important because, again, I was frustrated. You know, I hate tech frustration. That's one of the reasons I started Bonza.

10:26The other thing that sets Bonza apart, too, is that we have this two-way rule whereby every single thing anybody wants to do on the platform, there must be two ways to do it so that people don't have to be looking for stuff. because that was under frustration I had with software, whereby all I want to do maybe just to have the red button somewhere, but I have to go through five steps to change that red button. But in Vons, there's two ways to do everything. Every screen, there's always one way and another way to do it. So it doesn't matter what feature or module you're in, you can quickly and easily create something for your audience.

11:09So that's how and why we started Bonza. So our passion is to really make online business simple because online business is changing the game and brick and mortar business is never going to be the same. And we want to be in the forefront by bringing simplicity and streamlined business for entrepreneurs. Well, I commend you for doing that, brother, and Fire Nation. I hope you're kind of seeing opportunities within your passion, your excitement, your enthusiasm, as well as the skill sets and value that you could bring to the world within that same thing, that solution to a real problem. And we're going to talk even more about this thought process when we get back from thinking our sponsors.

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13:43Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. We're back and I want to even dive deeper down this hole because I think it's so helpful for entrepreneurs, for small business owners, for people that are at different stages of the journey, the beginning, the middle, you know, really catching momentum. Because I want to talk about the importance of unique proposition, of providing a unique proposition of value to individuals. Because nobody wants just a pale, weak imitation of somebody else. Because the second best of something else, people are just going to go with the best. So how does Vonza accomplish the goals of providing unique value to their clients, to their customers?

14:29Very good question. And it's even more difficult because Bonsai is bootstrapped. If somebody doesn't know what that means, that means we self-funded from day one. And we have competitors who have raised millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. So they got all the money to do the marketing and take oxygen off the marketplace. But we are still winning by just leading with simplicity, right? that, hey, if you want a simple-to-use platform without needing a team or to be technical and most robust platform, then Vonsai is going to be your best choice, right? But if you have a team and you got this money to throw around and you don't care so much on simplicity, then maybe Vonsai is not your thing.

15:16So simplicity has just been the biggest thing that we're waning on, whereby we're seeing people even come from our competitors to us because people just want software that works that is simple to use that makes sense you know and our 60 seconds rule have also helped us to to really design the software by from start to finish what i'm creating a course a digital product a funnel whatever of course if you want to customize it it might take you hours or even days depend on your you know your level of customization but if you want to just release something with a basic basic template that we have in the program you should be able to accomplish that and sell in 60 seconds so that's how we've really done that and second thing that also helped us to stand out is just telling our stories and that's why i'm so honored to be on your podcast today john you know because just in our story it helps people to really connect and my kind of rap to richie story coming to America with$100.

16:20So it's kind of, and Vonsai is also kind of championing for the underdogs. So Vonsai is championing for the underdogs too, right? You have a course of knowledge, you don't have a lot of money to push it or market it like all these other people. And you just want a platform that simply works. So that message also too has been connecting with the audience in the marketplace. So valuable to think along these lines, Fire Nation of how can I add unique, real value to my customers, to my clients, specifically in ways that aren't really being added right now or being value added at this moment in time.

17:00And we always need to be looking ahead. We need to be looking, Uyi, like what's next? So what's the future in your industry? So right now we've seen a big shift from just courses to community. You know, during the pandemic, courses was hard. Everybody and their dog were releasing courses. But now we're seeing that people want modern courses. They want hand-holding. They want community. They want to network. They want to do life, business, entrepreneurship with like-minded people. So what we did right now with Vonza, We're also kind of leading that by using AI technology and also to reimagining the old community fee.

17:44So community is what is hot right now. And if you are right there, you're a course creator or somebody out there that is a digital knowledge entrepreneur, you need to also start looking into how you can go beyond courses and offer community to people. So that's one of the biggest shifts that we see right now. The second value bump, I know you are the goats of value bumps. Another value bump, too, is that the niche industry is hard right now. It's not enough to just be a coach or to be a consultant or to be a course creator in a very broad niche. Now, people who are really selling and making money online, they are those who have niched down.

18:30So it's not enough to say, okay, I'm going to teach you how to make money online. Okay, how? Is it through stocks? Is it through NFT? Is it through, you know, cost creation? And what type is it? So niche industry is what is really, really hard now. So if you have the knowledge that is not niche or specialized, it's just harder. So you have to really, really niche down. Just, okay, I'm not just teaching people how to, you know, start a pet business. Okay, maybe my specialty is cats or dogs or chimpanzees, whatever the case is. It has to really be niche now and you have to over deliver because knowledge is very, very more available now than ever before.

19:14So you have to over deliver, you have to niche down and you have to build a community. Fire Nation, wise words from a wise man who started with$100 in his pocket. And a case of clothes. And a case of clothes. He did have clothes too. And has built Vanzeta valuation of over$30 million. Uyi, let's end with a bang. What's the one key takeaway you want to make sure our listeners get from our conversation today? This is the best time to launch a business online, right? You don't need a lot of money. You don't need to have good credit. You don't need to be handsome or beautiful. You don't need to be tall or slim or whatever.

19:59You just need to teach your knowledge, your story, or your expertise. And Vonza is a good platform that will help you to do that. And also to have a free forever plan at the time of this recording, whereby you don't have to put your credit card. You can just create and start selling. The only thing is that, hey, if we help you make money and you sell on our platform and you're on a free plan, you will take 10 % transaction fee. But if you don't like transaction fee, you can always go to any of the paid plans. So Vons has really made it easy. And right now, everybody listening should have some form of online business.

20:38Even if you have a nine to five, you can still use, you know, your knowledge, your expertise, or story, or passion, or whatever it is, to create additional streams of income and also help people at the same time. Uyi, where does Fire Nation go to take advantage of this awesome opportunity? Great, so go to Vonza.com and Vonza is spelled V for Victor, O for Orange, M for Nancy, Z for Zebra, A for Apple. Vonza.com Vonza.com and Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people, count them, five, that you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with Ooyi and JLD today, so let's keep up the heat.

21:19For links to everything we talked about, visit EOFire.com and just type UYI in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. That's U-Y-I. Just type those three letters Fire Nation and it'll pop right up. UYI, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, and value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and UYI for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation. Successful entrepreneurs are great at three things. We're talking productivity, discipline, and focus. That is why I created the Mastery Journal so that you can master those three things in 100 days.

21:58We're talking step-by-step. Visit themasteryjournal.com. And I'll catch you there or on the flip side. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled, How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts.

22:29Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business? Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Thank you.