Olumide Shoyombo, veteran investor and entrepreneur says many startups fail for the same reasons marriages break down.
Speaking on The Echo Podcast hosted by Olushola Olaleye, the investor offered a blunt assessment of the human factors which include lack of trust, poor communication and misaligned expectations, undermining startups,
He argued that founder relationships, not just funding or ideas, often determine whether a company survives.
“Co-founding a startup is like getting married,” he said, describing business partnerships as long-term commitments that require deliberate effort and shared values.
The comparison reflects a growing concern in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem, where disputes between founders have increasingly contributed to company failures. For Shoyombo, the breakdown usually begins with trust.
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He pointed to his relationship with longtime business partner, Kazeem, noting that both men spent about a year working together before formally launching their venture. That early phase, he said, helped them test reliability and build mutual confidence.
Trust, he added, is easy to damage and hard to rebuild. “Imagine I borrowed money from him and didn’t pay back,” he said, highlighting how quickly credibility can collapse.
Beyond trust, unclear roles often create friction. Shoyombo said successful partnerships depend on understanding each person’s strengths from the start. In his case, he combines technical knowledge with strong social skills, while his partner brings deeper technical focus and a more reserved approach, differences that have supported execution.
He advised founders to resolve disagreements quickly and avoid external distractions, warning that ego and outside opinions can escalate minor issues into major conflicts. In strong partnerships, he said, performance, not personal validation, should be the priority.
The discussion also turned to investing, where Shoyombo outlined why he prioritises founders over business ideas. His approach, he said, is built on a simple rule: “founder first.”
According to him, one of the clearest warning signs is a lack of teachability. Founders who resist feedback or fail to adapt often struggle to navigate changing market conditions.
“Every time I have backed a founder who is not teachable, I have lost money,” he said.
That view underscores a broader shift among investors as funding becomes tighter and expectations rise. Increasingly, backers are focusing less on bold ideas and more on the character, discipline and flexibility of the people behind them.
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Shoyombo also pointed to personal risk-taking as a signal of commitment. Founders who delay full involvement until after securing funding, he said, often fail to inspire confidence, while those who invest in themselves are seen as more credible.
By the end of the conversation, Olaleye described the discussion as similar to a business school session, reflecting the demand for practical insights in a more cautious investment climate.
For Shoyombo, the lesson is that startups rarely collapse because of weak ideas alone. More often, they fail because the partnerships at their core were not strong enough to survive pressure, much like a bad marriage.
