There’s a book I keep coming back to called The Upstarts by Brad Stone. It’s one of those stories that make you sit back and think about how wild this world has become — where a simple idea, a laptop, and a few lines of code can shake entire industries. It talks about the rise of Uber and Airbnb, those companies that didn’t just change how we travel or sleep, but how we live, how we think about ownership, and even how we hustle.

And honestly, reading it feels like watching the modern economy unfold in real time. It’s messy. Brilliant. A little scary too.

The thing about Uber and Airbnb is they didn’t build new things — they reimagined old ones. Uber didn’t make new cars; it just connected people differently. Airbnb didn’t build hotels; it gave ordinary people the power to turn their homes into income. That’s what disruption looks like — not magic, just perspective.

But disruption always comes with noise. You can’t change how the world moves without stepping on toes. Uber fought taxi unions and city laws. Airbnb faced angry hotel owners and nervous regulators. But they kept moving — fast, unapologetic, sometimes reckless.

And when I look around, I see bits of that same spirit here in Kenya. Startups like Wasili, Little, Twiga Foods, Linkmtaa, and countless fintechs — they’re taking our everyday chaos and giving it form. They’re digitizing the mama mboga, the boda guy, the market system. They’re solving problems no one in Silicon Valley would even understand. But just like Uber and Airbnb, they’re also learning that real change never comes without resistance.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the law is slow. Innovation is fast. And in between them is this wild gray area where most startups live.

In The Upstarts, Uber would launch in a city without permission, then deal with the legal mess later. Airbnb would ignore housing rules until governments started to notice. It was bold — and also kind of chaotic.

You see the same dance happening here. Fintechs lending money before the Central Bank could regulate them. Ride-hailing apps popping up faster than the government can write new transport policies. Crypto startups testing systems nobody fully understands yet.

The question is, where’s the line between bold and irresponsible? Between disruption and exploitation?
Because if we’re honest, innovation without ethics can quickly become harm dressed up as progress.

Another big theme in The Upstarts is power. It’s fascinating how startups often begin as stories of rebellion — two friends in a small apartment trying to fix something broken. But once success kicks in, that humility starts to fade.

Travis Kalanick, Uber’s founder, became famous for his aggression. “Win at all costs” was his religion. Brian Chesky of Airbnb was more idealistic, but even he had to navigate scandals and compromises as the company grew.

Power does something to people. It starts as confidence, then morphs into control. One day you’re just trying to build something; the next, you’re defending decisions you swore you’d never make.

In Kenya, our startup scene is still young — but you can already see it. Founders becoming mini-celebrities. Investors shaping product decisions. The energy of “let’s change the world” slowly turning into “let’s secure our next round.” It’s not always bad — it’s just the growing pains of leadership. But it reminds us that vision is easy when you’re small. Integrity is harder when you have power.

I find it funny how startups start out as the rebels, then end up becoming exactly what they fought against.
Uber started as the underdog fighting the taxi industry — now it is the industry. Airbnb wanted to “belong anywhere” — now it’s accused of making housing more expensive in cities.

That’s the irony of growth: it slowly turns rebellion into structure.

Even in our local ecosystem, the vibe changes once money enters the room. What used to be friends coding late at night becomes HR policies, compliance meetings, and investor updates. It’s necessary, sure — but somewhere in that process, some of the soul gets lost. The culture that made the startup exciting starts to fade under the weight of professionalism.

The real challenge isn’t starting something cool — it’s keeping it human after it starts working.

What I love about The Upstarts is that it doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It shows the burnout, the scandals, the chaos. Behind every “billion-dollar idea” are people — overworked teams, exhausted founders, communities trying to adapt.

Uber’s growth came with protests and lawsuits. Airbnb’s expansion left neighborhoods fighting over gentrification. Progress, it turns out, always has a price.

And maybe that’s what we never talk about enough — the emotional cost of building something new. Startups make heroes out of founders, but behind the headlines are people who haven’t slept properly in months, people whose relationships crumble under pressure, people constantly pretending to have it figured out.

It’s a beautiful dream, but it’s heavy too.

When I look at Kenya’s startup scene — from the fintechs in Nairobi to the agri-tech innovators in Eldoret — I see the same energy Brad Stone wrote about. The hunger to change things. The impatience. The chaos.

But I also hope we do it differently. That we build with empathy, not just ambition. That we remember people aren’t “users” — they’re human beings with stories, struggles, and trust. That we measure success not just by funding rounds, but by impact and longevity.

Maybe the next great African startup won’t just be about disruption. Maybe it’ll be about balance — knowing when to push, when to pause, and when to care.

Because the truth is, the world doesn’t need more apps. It needs more meaning.