Resilience Spotlight: Tendai Shamu Fuelling Innovation with Resilient Angel Investing

1. Overview of who I am

My name is Tendai Shamu, and I’m an angel investor who recently relocated to Africa from the UK. As a kid, I was the one constantly asking “Why?” and probably annoying everyone in the process. Looking back, it’s no surprise that my love for problem-solving and creating opportunities has shaped my journey.

This curiosity led me to several entrepreneurial pursuits. I was part of a team that built two tech startups, both of which ultimately failed, partly due to our side hustle approach. However, I also contributed to four small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that thrived and successfully exited. One of these ventures was acquired and later evolved into 'Wheely,' now a global vehicle-for-hire company.

Today, through my work with First Serve Ventures, I’ve found the perfect alignment of purpose and passion. I provide capital to first-time founders at the earliest stages of their journeys while supporting them operationally, mentally, and strategically. My focus is on building businesses with strong foundations that can weather challenges and create lasting impact.

2. Resilience in Action

Resilience, to me, is an art form. It’s not just about weathering the storm, it’s about figuring out how to harness its energy. It’s a blend of persistence, continuous learning, and adaptability, and it’s a skill the worlds of investing and entrepreneurship demand in spades.

Investing, much like building a startup, can be unforgiving. Resilience isn’t optional, it’s essential. Over the years, I’ve seen it take countless forms, both in my journey as an investor and through the startups I’ve supported. Let me share a few stories that highlight its importance.

In 2016, I invested in Revolut when it was valued at £45 million. Today, it’s a £45 billion company, a mind-boggling 1,000x return on paper. But here’s the catch, I still haven’t had the opportunity to sell my shares. Revolut remains private, and most follow-on rounds have been focused on growth or employee options, not on paying out early investors. It’s a sobering reminder that patience and grit aren’t just nice-to-haves in investing, they’re non-negotiables.

In another deal, I faced the challenge of dilution. By the third funding round, I’d invested far more than I initially planned just to maintain my ownership stake. Each new round shrank my slice of the pie and left me juggling priorities for other investments. It’s disheartening, yes, but resilience means staying in the fight and protecting your vision, even when the numbers start to feel daunting.

Then there’s the less glamorous side: founders who vanish after securing investment. It’s rare, but when it happens, the lack of communication can derail trust and progress.

For startups, resilience shows up in even more varied and challenging ways.

Co-founder disputes can rip companies apart. I once backed a cybersecurity startup that had just gotten into Y Combinator. Everything looked promising until the technical co-founder suddenly quit. Watching the remaining founder pick up the pieces and keep the company moving forward was nothing short of inspiring.

Founders often face brutal decisions. Do you extend the runway by laying off loyal early employees, knowing they were instrumental in building the company’s DNA! I’ve seen founders wrestle with choices that feel impossible but are necessary for survival. Resilience isn’t just about optimism, it’s about making tough calls with integrity and grit.

Resilience isn’t just a mindset, it’s a set of actions and systems that support long-term success. For founders, it’s about building strong operational foundations, staying adaptable, and holding onto the mission even when the path ahead feels impossible.

As an investor, resilience is riding the highs and lows, knowing that every challenge holds an opportunity to grow. It’s staying steady, learning from setbacks, and recognising that the storm doesn’t define you, what you do with its energy does.

3. Importance of Resilience in the Startup World

Startups aren’t just smaller versions of big companies, they’re entirely different creatures. They operate in high-risk, high-reward environments, where the line between success and failure is razor-thin. In this world, resilience isn’t optional, it’s the lifeblood that keeps founders and their teams in the game.

Let’s break down how resilience works in the unpredictable world of startups.

Startups often operate in “winner-take-all” markets. It’s not just about winning, it’s about staying in the race long enough to get to the finish line. Companies like Amazon understood this early. Starting as an online bookstore, they kept their options open, always planning for bigger e-commerce horizons. They didn’t just bet on books, they bet on adaptability and scalability. This optionality, the ability to keep multiple strategies alive while staying focused on the core mission, is a hallmark of startup resilience.

Then there’s the waiting game. For many startups, the feedback loop is painfully long. Founders often pour years of effort into building something without knowing if it will succeed. Resilience here is about turning uncertainty into a strength. OpenAI is a perfect example. Years of patient refinement, experimentation, and small, calculated risks led to breakthroughs like ChatGPT. During that time, they treated failure as a learning opportunity rather than a setback.

But resilience isn’t just about the product, it’s about navigating the scepticism that comes with innovation risk. Airbnb’s early days were marked by ridicule. Renting out rooms in strangers’ homes sounded absurd to most people. Yet the founders believed in their vision. They faced the doubts head-on, iterated their product, and ultimately created a company that revolutionised travel. Resilience is often about trusting your instincts when others don’t.

The startup ecosystem is full of noise. Media buzz, unicorn success stories, and investor pressures can easily derail focus. This is where radical honesty becomes critical. Founders like those at Stripe have embraced transparency, openly discussing challenges with their teams. By building trust and fostering honest communication, they avoided the hidden morale crashes that come from pretending everything is perfect.

Capital is another pressure point. Startups rely heavily on funding, and a bad funding round can derail even the most promising idea. Sustainable resilience is the answer here. It’s not just about running the business, it’s about staying effective as a founder. Elon Musk, despite his intense schedule, often speaks about balancing work with moments of rest and reflection. Sustainable resilience is what keeps founders sane and ensures they can lead effectively over the long haul.

Time-sensitive market opportunities add another layer of complexity. When you’re racing against competitors, resilience becomes a team effort. Companies like Slack have shown how distributing responsibility and building early warning systems for problems can keep teams agile and focused under pressure. It’s not just about individual strength, it’s about creating a culture that thrives under stress.

Finally, resilience is about knowing when to let go. Strategic quitting is as vital as perseverance. Netflix mastered this when they pivoted from DVD rentals to streaming. It was a risky decision, but it allowed them to scale into the global giant they are today. Sometimes resilience is about cutting losses and moving forward with clarity.

Startups are messy, chaotic, and unpredictable. But the ones that succeed are the ones that embrace resilience, not just as a mindset, but as a strategy. It’s the ability to adapt, endure, and evolve that separates fleeting successes from enduring ones.

4. Resilience in the Real World?

One of the hardest lessons in resilience came in 2024 when I lost both of my grandmothers, Phoebe and Stella, within the span of a single week. It was devastating, a stark reminder that life, like business, can be unpredictable and relentless.

That loss taught me a profound truth about emotional resilience. It’s not about staying stoic or holding everything together. True resilience is about letting challenges shape and transform you, all while staying anchored to your core values.

A similar lesson played out in business when I worked with a startup facing a massive supply chain disruption just days before its big launch. It was a make-or-break moment. Watching the founders tackle the issue head-on was a masterclass in resilience. They leaned into resourcefulness, sought support from their community, and made bold, quick decisions.

Instead of hiding their struggles, they were transparent with their customers. That vulnerability turned into a strength. Their community rallied behind them, fostering incredible loyalty and trust. What began as a crisis ended up transforming their supply chain into a competitive advantage. They didn’t just fix the problem, they rebuilt their system to handle future shocks even better.

These experiences taught me that resilience isn’t about bouncing back to the same place. It’s about evolving into something stronger. It’s what some might call becoming “antifragile.” The startup didn’t just survive, it thrived, turning a setback into a springboard for growth.

The same principle applied in my personal life. After losing my grandmothers, I found a way to honor their legacy by reflecting on the lessons they taught me, lessons about perseverance, kindness, and staying grounded in the face of adversity. That strategic vulnerability, the willingness to pause, reflect, and grow, has been a transformative approach for me.

In both life and business, resilience often means letting go of the instinct to simply push harder. Sometimes, the strongest response is to take a step back and reimagine what’s possible.

Resilience isn’t just about endurance, it’s about adaptability, reflection, and finding the opportunities hidden in challenges. It’s not just about weathering the storm. It’s about learning to thrive because of it.