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Life Lessons: How to fail and win
A business biography that follows the life of Alan Knott-Craig as a serial entrepreneur in the telecoms and tech spaces, tracking his wins and losses, and the lessons along the way for both business and life. Known in Stellenbosch business circles as the ‘Weapon of Mass Financial Destruction’ after a major flop at Mxit, he was able to rebuild his own confidence and that of his peers by becoming a shrewd, highly innovative and successful businessman, true to his own principles and convictions.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2024
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About the author
Alan Knott-Craig
15 books4 followersAlan Knott-Craig is a South African mobile entrepreneur with a passion for African business opportunities. He is former CEO of iBurst and now runs World of Avatar, the company that recently acquired Mxit. His first book was the very successful and inspirational Don’t Panic compiled to remind South Africans ‘why not to pack for Perth’.
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December 3, 2024#LifeLessons – Alan Knott-Craig
#Tafelberg
We love success stories. It thus follows that books claiming to include the secret to success are plentiful. Far fewer are those finding purpose in failures.
The author explores the latter, although it seems unlikely at first glance. He is, after all, a telecoms and tech entrepreneur who has founded or funded 21 companies, including the well known Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit, and HeroTel, and freely admits that he is ‘guilty’ of being born into privilege, but this disclaimer is followed by: ‘This book explains what I’ve done with the lucky ticket I won in the lottery of life.’ (13) And that includes the failures, but also the lessons learnt as a result thereof.
Contrary to popular belief very few successes were born that way: ‘I only spoke my first words at age four. Up till that point, my parents were a little uncomfortable with my IQ. They probably still are.’ (15) And that was only the beginning. He admits that he was known as ‘a weapon of mass financial destruction’ (75), that he was told by his wife ‘If you don’t get a job soon, there will be problems.’ (101), that ‘My arrogance in those days is cringe-worthy.’ (45), and that very low points were part of the journey: ‘On the drive home, I called my mom. When she answered, I start sobbing uncontrollably. I guess I wasn’t fine.’ (66)
Some of the lessons learnt may appear illogical, even contradictory, but the text explains convincingly that there are truths concealed in statements, such as: ‘Keep quitting till you find… what makes you come alive…’ (144), ‘Sugar is addictive, as is government money.’ (148), ‘Excellence trumps loyalty.’ (152), ‘Ideas have zero value.’ (157), and ‘Reading fast is a superpower.’ (173)
It is said that we will not live long enough to make all the mistakes ourselves. Rather learn from those made by others. Such as the author.
#Uitdieperdsebek
#Tafelberg
We love success stories. It thus follows that books claiming to include the secret to success are plentiful. Far fewer are those finding purpose in failures.
The author explores the latter, although it seems unlikely at first glance. He is, after all, a telecoms and tech entrepreneur who has founded or funded 21 companies, including the well known Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit, and HeroTel, and freely admits that he is ‘guilty’ of being born into privilege, but this disclaimer is followed by: ‘This book explains what I’ve done with the lucky ticket I won in the lottery of life.’ (13) And that includes the failures, but also the lessons learnt as a result thereof.
Contrary to popular belief very few successes were born that way: ‘I only spoke my first words at age four. Up till that point, my parents were a little uncomfortable with my IQ. They probably still are.’ (15) And that was only the beginning. He admits that he was known as ‘a weapon of mass financial destruction’ (75), that he was told by his wife ‘If you don’t get a job soon, there will be problems.’ (101), that ‘My arrogance in those days is cringe-worthy.’ (45), and that very low points were part of the journey: ‘On the drive home, I called my mom. When she answered, I start sobbing uncontrollably. I guess I wasn’t fine.’ (66)
Some of the lessons learnt may appear illogical, even contradictory, but the text explains convincingly that there are truths concealed in statements, such as: ‘Keep quitting till you find… what makes you come alive…’ (144), ‘Sugar is addictive, as is government money.’ (148), ‘Excellence trumps loyalty.’ (152), ‘Ideas have zero value.’ (157), and ‘Reading fast is a superpower.’ (173)
It is said that we will not live long enough to make all the mistakes ourselves. Rather learn from those made by others. Such as the author.
#Uitdieperdsebek
January 9, 2025
Excellent book, thoroughly enjoyable, informative & very relevant to South Africa! well done!
May 6, 2025
This is an excellent well-told story about a successful entrepreneur in South Africa.
A very good read for anyone looking for motivation and inspiration.
A very good read for anyone looking for motivation and inspiration.
January 12, 2026
Synopsis: Privileged white man fails upwards repeatedly until he finds success. Burns millions in investor money along the way.
The book is filled with spelling errors and generic “life lessons”.
The book is filled with spelling errors and generic “life lessons”.
September 25, 2024
Not to be confused with his dad, the former CEO of Vodacom, this book is a business biography of author and founder of fibertime™ and Project Isizwe following the life of Alan Knott-Craig, tracking his wins and losses, and the lessons learnt along the way for business and life.
As a serial entrepreneur in the telecoms and tech spaces for 13 years, this Stellenbosch entrepreneur has founded, funded or run 21 companies, including Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit and HeroTel. His first book was Don’t Panic compiled to remind South Africans ‘why not to pack for Perth’. In Life Lessons he charts his journey on a cut-throat rollercoaster ride to becoming a successful businessman.
The first third of this book is about his younger life with chapters on bullies, brothers, lemons and lemonade. Having left university in 2000 as a chartered accountant he worked at Deloitte in New York for a short period.
Returning to South Africa in 2003 he founded Cellfind, one of South Africa’s first mobile-location-based service providers.
He lost me in the second third of the book which is overloaded with acronyms and names of businesses, raising capital, losing it, the business, his job and his rag.
My attention returned in the third part of the book when he ably described telecoms in third world companies and the need for high speed optical fibre, cellphone towers and radio waves and the pros and cons of trenched fibre over aerial fibre.
The final section, Lessons Learnt is inspirational and necessary for newbie entrepreneurs or those already established.
Knott-Craig successfully balances the craving for success and profit against his mission to connect everyone to the internet.Not to be confused with his dad, the former CEO of Vodacom, this book is a business biography of author and founder of fibertime™ and Project Isizwe following the life of Alan Knott-Craig, tracking his wins and losses, and the lessons learnt along the way for business and life.
As a serial entrepreneur in the telecoms and tech spaces for 13 years, this Stellenbosch entrepreneur has founded, funded or run 21 companies, including Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit and HeroTel.
His first book was Don’t Panic compiled to remind South Africans ‘why not to pack for Perth’.
In Life Lessons he charts his journey on a cut-throat rollercoaster ride to becoming a successful businessman.
The first third of this book is about his younger life with chapters on bullies, brothers, lemons and lemonade. Having left university in 2000 as a chartered accountant he worked at Deloitte in New York for a short period.
As a serial entrepreneur in the telecoms and tech spaces for 13 years, this Stellenbosch entrepreneur has founded, funded or run 21 companies, including Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit and HeroTel. His first book was Don’t Panic compiled to remind South Africans ‘why not to pack for Perth’. In Life Lessons he charts his journey on a cut-throat rollercoaster ride to becoming a successful businessman.
The first third of this book is about his younger life with chapters on bullies, brothers, lemons and lemonade. Having left university in 2000 as a chartered accountant he worked at Deloitte in New York for a short period.
Returning to South Africa in 2003 he founded Cellfind, one of South Africa’s first mobile-location-based service providers.
He lost me in the second third of the book which is overloaded with acronyms and names of businesses, raising capital, losing it, the business, his job and his rag.
My attention returned in the third part of the book when he ably described telecoms in third world companies and the need for high speed optical fibre, cellphone towers and radio waves and the pros and cons of trenched fibre over aerial fibre.
The final section, Lessons Learnt is inspirational and necessary for newbie entrepreneurs or those already established.
Knott-Craig successfully balances the craving for success and profit against his mission to connect everyone to the internet.Not to be confused with his dad, the former CEO of Vodacom, this book is a business biography of author and founder of fibertime™ and Project Isizwe following the life of Alan Knott-Craig, tracking his wins and losses, and the lessons learnt along the way for business and life.
As a serial entrepreneur in the telecoms and tech spaces for 13 years, this Stellenbosch entrepreneur has founded, funded or run 21 companies, including Cellfind, iBurst, Mxit and HeroTel.
His first book was Don’t Panic compiled to remind South Africans ‘why not to pack for Perth’.
In Life Lessons he charts his journey on a cut-throat rollercoaster ride to becoming a successful businessman.
The first third of this book is about his younger life with chapters on bullies, brothers, lemons and lemonade. Having left university in 2000 as a chartered accountant he worked at Deloitte in New York for a short period.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews