Vinny Lingham, the co-founder of Newtown Partners and CEO of
Civic, on investing in bitcoins and putting yourself first.



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What  is the most interesting investment you have ever made?



I think bitcoin has to be the most interesting. I was an
early investor in bitcoin and it is interesting because of the way the whole
industry has gone nuts, up and down, and on roller-coasters.



What was your most regrettable financial blunder?



I have got many. I think it was buying fancy cars when I was
younger. You go and buy a car that you can barely afford and then you live in a
small place. 



And then you realize that you may be spending a lot of money
on a vehicle instead of either saving or paying off debt. It’s okay to buy cars
when you can afford them.



Do you have any particular investment philosophy?



I have lots but you have to build your own investment
philosophy that works for you. Everyone has different risk tolerance. Some want
lots of risk and others want no risk. 



I think the mistake is to take no risk but you shouldn’t
risk it [too much] either – so find the right balance.



How does one build this balance and financial discipline?



Have a budget and stick to it. If you have a fixed income,
you need to have a fixed income budget.



What do you understand about being financially free?



Financial freedom is an illusion. Because if you really are
financially free, it would mean that you are literally sitting on cash and
living off interest for the rest of your life.



When you’re young and&nbsp;
you make money, you’re free for a while and then you get yourself into
the next big project and you are not really free. So, financial freedom can
come and go. [Being financially] free forever is very hard to get to.



The only time you are free forever is when you put all your
money in the bank and take no risk and if you can live off that income, then
you are really free. 



But if you keep investing and growing your wealth, you are
not always free because you always have to&nbsp;
look after your investments. So financial freedom is really hard to
achieve if you’re always investing. 



Even now when I have a lot of wealth and investments, I am
free but I still have to make sure that my investments don’t fail. So, you are
still a slave to your investments in a sense. 



What are some of the business goals on your bucket list?



It would be interesting to go into an IPO company, I haven’t
done that yet.



What are some of the financial lessons you have carried with you since your youth?



Pay yourself first. It is all good saving money, but you
have to take care of yourself as well. Don’t live too close to the edge, and be
balanced. 



–  Interviewed by Karen Mwendera

Vinny

‘Financial Freedom Is An Illusion’

Will This Battle For The Soul Of Bitcoin Destroy It?

In the heart of San Francisco, not too far from the Golden Gate Bridge, lives one of Africa’s most successful technology entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham – an erstwhile university dropout from the University of Cape Town.
It seems that almost any chance encounter could spark the imagination of the entrepreneur, who became a Global Young Leader in 2009. A simple moment in a coffee shop gave birth to an idea that would make him millions.
“I walked into Starbucks in San Francisco and paid for my coffee using a mobile gift card on my iPhone. It was then that I decided to build an app that could let consumers do this for any merchant out there.”
His research showed a great demand for such gift cards. So in 2012, without hesitation, Lingham left his job as the CEO of Yola.com, one of his start-ups, to launch Gyft – a digital gift card app. The app sells gift cards and makes it easy for businesses to offer loyalty programs to consumers.
Gyft grew into a success and became one of the top gift card services in the world. It also appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show.
Last year, Lingham sold Gyft to First Data – a global payment processing company – for $54 million. This was another great feat for the man who gained international success from his other start-ups, including the Silicon Cape Initiative and Clicks2Customers.
But Lingham’s new-found success in the United States (US) was miles away from his humble beginnings in South Africa. He grew up in the Eastern Cape and later moved to Cape Town where he studied Information Systems at the University of Cape Town. In his final year, Lingham dropped out to pursue his own ventures.
Lingham relocated from Cape Town to the US is 2008 with hopes to compete in the global technology market and take advantage of the opportunities that Silicon Valley offers. The US market promised platforms and billions of dollars for tech-entrepreneurs to develop and test business and technology ideas and has made household names of companies such as Snapchat and Uber.
“The South African market is constrained by both capital and the skills to execute and therefore the approach has had to be different. Investors in South Africa by and large do not understand how to finance, grow and support early stage start-up technology businesses – the balance sheets, financing and execution strategies are not well understood here – but in the US it’s become a well-oiled machine,” he said.
Lingham says there are few opportunities for investors in South Africa to exit their start-up companies as larger companies are not interested in mergers and acquisitions.
“Almost every business in Silicon Valley, doing more than $50 million a year in revenue, has a corporate development person who has a full-time job finding companies to buy. That culture has not permeated into South Africa and so the upside for angel investors is quite limited when it comes to making a return on investment in a short space of time.”
He says there is a need for entrepreneurs in Africa who are focused on shaking up the system and drive down margins of larger companies. This could draw the bigger companies into mergers and acquisitions.
In 2014, Lingham served as a judge on the South African version of Dragons’ Den. The television show, which originated in Japan, allows entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch business ideas to a panel of businesspeople in search of financing.
“Through this experience, I learned that I really have an affinity for consumer products – I really loved the entrepreneurs who were pitching ideas that consumers would want to buy, such as TodPod and CandyWasted – which recently aired.”
When it comes to advice for budding entrepreneurs Lingham keeps it simple.
“Focus. Do one thing really well, and try to be the best you can be at that one thing.”
He says far too many entrepreneurs try to do too much too soon.
“I meet too many entrepreneurs who are doing five different things in their business and making money from either none of them or some of them – both being bad strategies. You need to find a product market fit and focus on your core business. That’s the key,” says Lingham.
When he’s not launching businesses or advising budding entrepreneurs on new ventures you can find Lingham on the golf course, with family or even in the line of a coffee shop awaiting his next million-dollar idea.

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‘Financial Freedom Is An Illusion’

Will This Battle For The Soul Of Bitcoin Destroy It?

A Million-Dollar Idea In A Coffee Shop