Startup Notes

About Startup Notes.

Hey there, I am Pheneas, a founder building from Nairobi.

I started Startup Notes to write about the work behind building companies, funding local ambition, and creating better work across Africa.

The question is practical: what helps a company become useful, competitive, and durable enough to create good work?

The work behind it.

Here are some of my portfolio companies and products.

Phindor

AI application development for enterprise and business automation.

JuaFlow

AI agents for business conversations, now past 1M interactions.

Clerqe

Conversational financial workflows, with local-language work supported by NVIDIA.

Nokiu

A contactless supermarket for modern shoppers.

What I keep returning to.

Africa needs more people starting and growing companies. It also needs more local investors backing what gets built here.

That is the thread running through the notes: company building, local capital, AI for everyday work, and the choices that help a business compete and last.

The long view.

An Africa where more people can build companies, more local capital backs them, and more work pays enough to move life forward.

Stay close to the work.