Kofi Gyekye is a serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Lane, the world's largest and most innovative workplace experience platform, connecting 300+ properties across 22 cities and 8 countries.
We are trying something a little different with this episode. Kofi along with his cofounder Clinton, has actually built and sold Lane, so not really still unfound.
But he was so interesting and the journey so compelling, I couldn’t resist sitting down with him as a guest.
Kofi grew up in Europe with African parents. He was good at school and realized that he loved the dual pursuit of creativity and analysis - the perfect foundations for his journey as product visionary. A serendipitous meeting at university party, resulted in Kofi’s partnership with his co-founder Clinton across 3 separate ventures. It was when Kofi was considering an RFP for a marketing campaign, for office buildings, that he decided to do something he had never done before in his career – see what’s like to work in a office. So, he spent a day exploring and observing at big skyscraper office. The epiphany hit him: why can’t the office environment be as convenient and seamless as home. And so Lane was born.
In the whirlwind that followed, the company did Techstars, grew from 10 to 200 people, landed clients all over the world, and then in late 2021, sold for $200M to unicorn Proptech company VTS.
Kofi has a great story. You’ll want to listen in.
In this episode Kofi and Dan discussed:
- Growing up as an African in Italy
- How the combination of analytical and creative make him great at product
- The evolution of fulfillment and its connection to impact
- The journey of selling your company
- The future of work, and oh the way, real estate
OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS EPISODE:
AfriBlocks
The global pan-African freelance marketplace and collaboration platform.
More at afriblocks.com
MORE on KOFI and LANE
Kofi:
linkedin.com/in/kofi-gyekye-3812044a
Lane:
Follow Founders Unfound: Like and share - help us grow!
#blackfounders #founderstories #foundersafricandescent #b2b #proptech
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!