What Training For An Ironman Triathlon Event Is Teaching Me About Entrepreneurship: Lesson 1 — The Why

Why Am I Writing This?

As part of Goodwell Investments, I lead up our Southern African investment team making and managing VC deals in early-stage impact startups. This means I bring a lens of entrepreneurship to the world around me.

Right now, I’m training towards my first Ironman event. For those unfamiliar, Ironman is a long-distance triathlon event. I’m training towards a half which consists of a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bicycle ride, and a half-marathon 21 km run, raced in that order.

Through a series of posts, I aim to share my insights from training through the entrepreneurial lens.

So, What’s Lesson Number 1?

Training for this event is a 9-month journey for me. It’s long because I’m carrying a pre-existing medical condition (more on this later) and I was new to both swimming and road biking when I started so I needed time to build a foundation.

Given the amount of sacrifice and dedication this would require, I felt it important to identify the purpose of the journey. Training six days a week (sometimes twice a day), I thought I needed as much motivation as possible to get across the finish line.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). If you haven’t heard of it — MS is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.

My aunt suffered from MS and unfortunately died due to complications in 2020. She had a much more severe disease burden seeing her disability heighten over time. Since diagnosis, through medication, meditation, diet, and exercise I have managed to keep my disease burden to a minimum. But, her death reminded me of the seriousness of the disease, the gift of our bodies, and helped me establish a purpose.

I want to challenge, enjoy and celebrate my physical and mental abilities.

This is what I keep coming back to. It’s a privilege to swim, bike and run. Every time I go out to exercise I remind myself of the purpose — to challenge, enjoy and celebrate my physical and mental abilities. Some days it’s more motivating than others but it always keeps me focused.

What Does This Have To Do With Entrepreneurship?

The North Star, the purpose, the why, and the vision. Whatever it is that you call it, it’s important you define it when you start your entrepreneurial journey.

Entrepreneurship whilst fulfilling in many ways is also a lonely, long, and draining journey. Having a well-defined purpose will help you stick to it and keep you motivated and committed along the way. You need to figure out what will keep you coming back and direct your efforts to ensure that you meet your goal.

Netflix wants to “entertain the world”, Uber wants to make “transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone”, MFS Africa wants to “make borders matter less in digital payments”, GoodNatureAgro wants to “help African small-scale farmers reach the middle class” and Flutterwave wants “to make it easier for Africans to build global businesses that can make and accept any payment, anywhere from across Africa and around the world.”

“Clarity about a company’s North Star leads founders and companies toward their goals and helps investors envision the company’s future growth.” — CB Insights

Often we speak to early-stage entrepreneurs who are unsure of what their next steps should be. Most of the time this is because of a lack of purpose which translates into a lack of focus and direction. This sees entrepreneurs working on too many things and mindlessly adding to their business. With time being such a significant constraint for an entrepreneur, you don't have the luxury of time-wasting.

Outside of yourself, having a purpose makes it easier for investors, employees, and customers to understand your company and buy into the journey. As an entrepreneur, you are always selling. A well-defined purpose makes the sale easier and gives these stakeholders something to buy into, measure against, and direct towards.

Establish and come back to your purpose, find your focus, and drive action from there. You’ll feel more motivated, have more time for the things that matter, and have a better sense of direction.

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If you made it this far, thank you for your time. I appreciate you.