108 - In a world obsessed with numbers, don’t forget: the real asset is human
In metrics-obsessed investing, it’s easy to forget that the true asset is people. This episode reframes pipeline thinking and explores why investing in human potential matters, especially in Africa.
The Pipeline Isn’t the Point. The People Are.
In venture capital and early-stage investing, the language of pipeline is everywhere: deal flow, traction, stages, and metrics.
But if you zoom out, you’ll see something deeper: behind every pipeline is a person. A builder. A mind. A life.
In this episode of Pattern Cognition, we explore a core reframe that matters for anyone allocating capital:
Are you investing in deals… or people?
Here’s why that distinction matters:
• Data tells you what’s happening. People tell you where it’s going.
Great founders don’t just manage numbers. They shape outcomes through insight, energy, and persistence.
• Metrics are the map. People are the vehicle.
In emerging markets like Africa, conditions shift fast. Founders with deep context and adaptive capacity are the real advantage.
• Human potential outperforms spreadsheets.
Some of the best bets look unremarkable on paper until you meet the founder.
• Pipeline is a proxy. People are the product.
We build systems to manage deal flow, but the real question is: are we identifying and empowering the right humans?
• The long game is relational.
Financial capital follows social capital. The more trust and understanding you build, the more upside you unlock, not just in returns, but in impact.
This episode invites you to look deeper than numbers and start designing your investment thesis around what actually drives results.
Listen to this episode of Pattern Cognition to learn how to navigate these challenges and invest wisely.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction: People vs. Pipeline in Investing
Links:
Website: https://www.sidmofya.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidmofya/
Transcript:
Is it pipeline or is it people in a quantitative numerical investing world, it's easy to think of just pipeline. But fundamentally what we're investing in is people and reframing the need for pipeline, um, as its people. That have certain characteristics and we may need to reframe mean by pipeline and be able to invest in these people, I feel is important and extremely important, particularly in Africa.