Alexandria Proctor on penning ‘Upstart’

The more work I do with start-ups, venture capital, governance and just having conversations with strangers, the more I’m realising that our perception and morale as a nation is what will dictate our country’s future. People have to believe the future is going to be amazing, people have to believe that it’s worth fighting for, worth rolling up their sleeves to get stuck in. And most importantly, people have to believe that they are empowered enough to take control not only of their own lives, but of the course of our broader story as human beings. 

I wanted to write a story that would carry this message, but in a way that is fun, easy to read and as relatable as possible. I wanted to try to reach out through the pages to every South African, to shine some joy and excitement on the extraordinary fact that we’re alive and every day we get a chance to do something impactful with our lives — if we just take the leap and try. I wanted to say that no matter how ill-equipped we might think we are, or unready, or perhaps even unworthy; that these are no obstacles to building something incredible, and in turn letting that process build you into the person you perhaps always wanted to be. And what’s more is that along the way we will attract a cohort of people who are truly excellent. Working with great people is one of the best things in life. 

As for the journey of writing the book: it was my closest companion for the last couple months. When anyone asked: “What are you doing later?”, my answer invariably was: “Working on Upstart”. Hours and hours and hours that turned into weeks and months. Constantly an open window on my MacBook with the draft. It was my companion as work took me around the planet several times in recent months, and so I wrote it as I went; in airports, or at 36,000 feet up in the sky. In Mumbai, Jaipur and the desert of Rajasthan. In London, sitting at the cafe at the British Museum or Natural History Museum; typing away as the rain lashed and surrounded by millennia of earth’s history and civilisations. In my Camps Bay apartment on the endless hot evenings, in my childhood bedroom in jazzy Gqeberha, on trains in Spain, Airbnbs in Amsterdam, Lisbon, St Tropez. At lonely 3am; sitting up, again, doing an all nighter, alone as the world sleeps, in my digs room, and then again all morning in countless coffee shops. Upstart was always there. At times I resented it, this massive task hanging over my head, this challenge to do justice to this story that forced me to keep going after a full day at DigsConnect and/or NYDA, that forced me to keep learning how to expand my window of productivity.

Now that it’s actually out there, I mostly hope that this book winds up in the hands of all the kooky, confused and uncertain kids that want to start companies but don’t know what the hell to do or how to begin. I hope they find this story about the kookiest kid of all, the most confused kid of all, that somehow went from 0 to 1.

Upstart by Alexandria Proctor is published by Melinda Ferguson Books