Ep39: Is Copying ok in Entrepreneurship?

Dear Afropreneurs,

Last week we discussed some of the lessons we learned at last month’s Startup Grind Lagos meetup and one statement struck us.

A statement by Pradeep Pahalwani – “Do not be afraid to copy and paste in business” (You should purchase the full recording here)

We thought this was quite profound and decided to discuss it this week.

Many successful businesses have been born from copying and many have died as well. Is it morally okay to copy or is copying totally wrong? Is there an unspoken entrepreneurship code that screams: Don’t copy?

Seth Godin permits you to steal his ideas. He says this on TedX “Please don’t steal my car. If you drive away with it, I won’t have it any more, which is a real hassle. Please don’t steal my identity or my reputation either. Neither travels well, and all the time you’re using it, you’re degrading something that belongs to me. But my ideas? Sure, yes, please, by all means, take them.” Read the full article here

So many questions and so many takes on the issue. We have taken a stand but we will not reveal that stand in text. You have to listen to the podcast. However, we can tell you this, if you can do without copying, you are a superhero and we think you should go right ahead and show the world. If you decide to copy, you better be great at it else, why did you even bother?

Find out our stand on the matter.

What do you think? Drop your comments below or send us a message on twitter or Instagram -@theafropreneur (Follow us ;)).

In case you missed it, last week we discussed what we learned from Pradeep Palhawani at Start up Grind Lagos‘ Meetup. Listen and share with other entrepreneurs.

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Tagged as: AFRICA, African, afropreneur, business, copy, copying, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, godin, Ideas, palhawani, podcast, pradeep, seth, stealing, success.