Posted on November 7, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Thoughts on my first month in Cape Town
To be honest I have to say that I can’t believe it’s only been a month since we moved to Cape Town. So much has happened this past month that I feel like an old pro navigating my way through the Mother City and living the relaxed life.
Well, not sure if that’s all entirely true but we are all settling in very nicely which is hugely positive for me. I certainly feel like we’ve made the right decision coming here.
On the work front I’m amazed at how much we’ve managed to achieve in the last 30 days. For the first time ever Stii and I have been in the same place for longer than a couple drinks and having Lester on board has been a blessing in disguise.
Lester has managed to turn the Afrigator Blog into an entertaining read and people are actually enjoying it. His skills from a marketing and product perspective has been invaluable and he’s really helping to humanise Afrigator in a way that I don’t think we were able to do.
In total, Lester and I have done 24 meetings this past month, Stii lectured at Nomadic Marketing and I did a brief session at the Graduate School of Business and we’ve meet some great people along the way. As a result we’ve established some really exciting partnerships and some of these are going to filter through in the next month.
Stii has been working very aggressively on rewriting Afrigator once again. We got to a point with Afrigator where we realised that a lot of what we plan to do in the coming months were not possible on our current framework so Stii’s been living off coffee and beer ever since. We joke and say that Stii does the only real work in this company and in truth, without him I don’t think we’d be as good as we are!
This month has been fantastic but the real reward has been seeing how a focused approach has really helped Afrigator gain some traction and growth. To give you an idea we increased our unique user base by 83% and our traffic to the site increased by 181% from September. We had a record breaking month which should make our shareholders happy.
I do realise that every month is probably not going to be as good as this past one but I feel extremely positive about our business and the direction it is going. While most of you can’t yet see the fruits of our labour it will become visible very soon.
I am a seasoned entrepreneur and currently the CEO of 
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November 7, 2008
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New blog post: Thoughts on my first month in Cape Town http://tinyurl.com/6xlctv
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November 7, 2008
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Good for you Justin, you guys are doing some really great work. I’m glad you got the backing and support to take Afrigator to the next level, it’s encouraging for other SA startups.
Awesome blog re-design btw
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November 7, 2008
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What do you mean “blessing in disguise”! There’s no disguise here – the blessing is almost bloody blinding, lol.
It has been a great month dude, even though my head was spinning for most of it and probably will be for this one too.
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November 7, 2008
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Thanks Melissa for the comments – including the blog redesign
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November 7, 2008
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Don’t worry Lester – this is how we roll at Afrigator – better get used to it!!!
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November 7, 2008
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All the really cool, good looking people live in Cape Town.
Well done on the excellent work, proud of you guys!
xx
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November 7, 2008
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I’m glad I fall into the good looking people category
Speaking of which T. When are we going to meet???
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November 7, 2008
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Justin – as soon as I brave the trek out from behind the Boerie curtain
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November 7, 2008
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Mate big congrats to youself and Stii mate. Is so nice to have you guys down here, must have another barby soon or at least a bit of a night out on the town
Chat soon mate and congrats again.
Chris
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November 7, 2008
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Thanks Chris
We’re planning a little get together soon. Will keep you posted!
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November 7, 2008
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Justin, awesome news dude. I’m glad to see the Gator finally taking off at such a rapid rate. All the best and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
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November 10, 2008
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Welcome in the Mother City, man.
It is the place to be!
Glad to hear you are having a good time too. I’m almost proud when I read how well you guys are doing. Keep it up (but make sure Stii gets his greens in as well).
I haven’t seen your blog in a while and I REALLY like the new theme ….. very nice.
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November 14, 2008
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Nice picture!
Pity about that ugly mountain blocking that great sky in the background
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November 27, 2008
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http://tinyurl.com/6xlctv
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November 27, 2008
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Welcome to Cape Town