From the Founder's Desk — Sule Victor Joshua, Co-founder & Head of Operations & Expansion
The language of investors is not written to confuse us. It is written to compress a lot of judgement into a few short words. Once we understand these terms, board meetings stop feeling like exams and start feeling like conversations.
“Every investor is asking the same question in twelve different ways: do you know your numbers?”
11. ROI — Return on Investment
The simplest of all metrics. Invest ₦1m, earn ₦1.5m → ROI = 50%. ROI ignores time — which is exactly why IRR and NPV exist.
12. IRR — Internal Rate of Return
The annualised return of an investment over time. Private equity firms use IRR constantly. Higher IRR = better investment, all else equal.
13. NPV — Net Present Value
Money today is worth more than money tomorrow. NPV discounts future cash flows to today's value. Positive NPV = good investment. Negative NPV = reject.
14. Cap Table (Capitalisation Table)
Shows who owns what: founders, investors, employee stock options, and their ownership percentages. Every startup — including every KIAGO TECH venture — should keep one accurate and up-to-date from day one.
15. Dilution
Every fundraising round usually reduces existing shareholders' percentage ownership. Owning 100% before a round and 80% after it = you have been diluted by 20%. Dilution is not automatically bad — a smaller slice of a larger, better-funded pie is often the right trade.
16. Valuation — Pre-money and Post-money
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pre-money | What the company is worth before the new investment. |
| Post-money | Pre-money + the new investment. |
| Example | Company worth ₦900m + investor puts in ₦100m → post-money = ₦1bn, investor owns 10%. |
17, 18 & 19. TAM, SAM and SOM
- TAM — Total Addressable Market. The entire possible market (e.g. "Nigeria spends ₦5tn/year on facilities management").
- SAM — Serviceable Available Market. The portion you can realistically serve (e.g. corporate buildings → ₦800bn).
- SOM — Serviceable Obtainable Market. What you can realistically capture in the near term (e.g. ₦10bn).
- Investors expect founders to distinguish all three — quoting only TAM signals an amateur pitch.
20. Moat
Your durable competitive advantage — what makes it hard for someone with a bigger budget to erase you.
- Brand — customers trust you first.
- Network effects — the product gets better as more people use it.
- Patents and proprietary data.
- Switching costs — leaving hurts more than staying.
- Regulation, licences, and hard-earned distribution.
21. Churn
Customers leaving. Monthly churn of 5% means 5% of customers leave every month. Lower is better. High churn quietly kills LTV, CAC payback, and every other metric on this page.
22. EBITDA Positive
Operations are profitable before financing and certain accounting items. Many startups celebrate this milestone loudly — but investors also want to see the path to true net-income profitability.
23. Unit Economics
Do you make money on each customer? Revenue per customer ₦100k, cost to serve ₦40k → healthy unit economics. Weak unit economics cannot be rescued by more spending; they get worse at scale, not better.
24. Break-even
Revenue equals expenses. You're no longer losing money. Not the same as "profitable" and definitely not the same as "cash-flow positive."