Personal Development Through Work: A Conversation with Boma Praise Josiah

Essay Interview #001

‘Essay Interview’ is our written interview series where we sit down with guests and chat about growth and personal development. For our very first instalment we spoke with Boma Josiah.

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Boma Josiah is a digital product designer who’s all about helping early-stage startup founders bring their ideas to life. We first crossed paths back in 2018 at the Stutern Graduate Accelerator program, and since then, I’ve watched him grow into a serial entrepreneur.

Boma’s founded and co-founded three startups: Bookly (2018) and Cline (2021), both in the edtech space, and most recently, Clarion (2024), an AI-driven data analyst tool. His journey is a masterclass in personal development through ideation, and I couldn’t wait to chat with him about how to identify, test, and validate startup ideas.

In our conversation we cover:

a. Spotting the Right Idea,
b. Managing Emotions in the Founder Journey,
c. Developing Good Taste,
d. Harnessing Focus,
e. Advice to 20-Year-Old Self;

We also do a round of rapid fire questions. Prepare to learn and be inspired!

[Silas] For early-stage professionals who want to jump into an idea, what signs should they look for before taking the leap?

[Praise] Deciding what to build is one of the biggest challenges people face when starting out. For one, there are many possibilities, so narrowing it down to the one thing you should make is understandably a tough choice. 

There are three things I’ll recommend here. 

The first is a framework defined in the book The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick. Start with a problem (even better if it’s a problem you have). Look for five people you know who have the same problem and have a conversation with them. Don’t tell them your idea, just inquire about the problem. Ask if they’ve experienced it recently and if they’ve been looking for solutions. A good signal is if the problem has been so painful for them that they’ve been looking everywhere for a solution but haven’t found one that works great.

Second, I’ve found it helpful to balance that with a sense of purpose. Among all the problems you can solve, go for one that resonates deeply with you. It’s easier to stick with it in the long run when you feel a sense of personal fulfilment working on it.

And third, don’t overthink the idea so much that it keeps you from starting. Ideas rarely come fully-formed, they evolve naturally as you start exploring them. So don’t wait for the “perfect” idea before you start exploring it.

[Silas] Founders often experience a mix of emotions when experimenting with new ideas. How can they manage those emotions and use them to fuel progress?

[Praise] This is such a personal question for me as someone who’s struggled with my mental health while building a startup (this made me build a small side project in 2023 where I curated mental health resources for founders: mentalsupply.webflow.io). 

The biggest challenge in this area is that building a business feels deeply personal—like it’s your baby—which makes it easy to over-identify with it, to the point of seeing yourself as a failure if the business doesn't succeed.

You need an objective distance (you are not your business), it takes some practice to get used to it, but it’s important if you want to stay sane. 

Realize that building anything comes with a rollercoaster of emotions. There are days when you’ll feel like you’ve got everything under control, and days when you’ll wish you were doing something else entirely. It’s all a part of the journey, so practicing awareness helps a lot here.

On the dark days, remember why you started. If the idea ties to your personal purpose, remind yourself of that. Keep a list of the small wins and be grateful for them.

[Silas] Taste plays a key role in refining ideas and projects. How should early-stage professionals approach developing “good taste,” and how can it evolve over time?

[Praise] My approach to developing good taste is “thoughtful consumption”. 

The things we expose our eyes and minds to, are the things that shape us (what you see is what you become), that includes our taste.

To develop good taste, look for the best examples of work in different fields. For me, that’s art, architecture, industrial design, fashion design, film, and even music.

It works a bit like osmosis: gradually and unconsciously, you’ll begin to assimilate the patterns inherent in great work.

I do this by following curation accounts on Instagram, subscribing to newsletters, listening to talks on YouTube, podcasts, etc.


[Silas] Steve Jobs once said, “Focus is about saying no to a hundred other ideas.” How do you personally stay focused to deliver efficiently on your projects?

[Praise] Focus is hard. There are always a lot of things calling out for your attention. Especially with building a product: there are tons of decisions to make and alternative directions to explore. It gets overwhelming. 

What I’ve been learning to do recently is to become comfortable with missing out on certain things. 

The whole idea of focus is that you WILL miss out on some things. It’s our inability to accept that that creates the problem with focus. We want it all.

It's never a “once and done” thing. It’s a constant negotiation I have to make with myself. 

When a new idea pops up and grabs my attention, I have to go through the decision process again: is this something to do now or shelve for later? does this take me off-track from my current primary focus? how did I decide on my current focus, has anything changed since then?


[Silas] Looking back, what advice would you give your 20-year-old self about staying on the path of personal and professional growth?

[Praise] I’ll tell him to be more deliberate about building relationships. Growing up as a shy, introverted kid, I struggled in social situations. As a result, making friends didn’t come easy. 

There’s a wealth of value you can get from being around the right people, it’s been an important accelerant in my career and I wish I had cultivated that sooner.

Second, which is closely related to the first, would be to share my work in public no matter the stage I am in my journey. It doesn’t have to be perfect, the growth is what matters.

Rapid Fire:

→ What book are you currently reading or would highly recommend?

I’m reading The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch.

→ What’s one piece of software or hardware you can’t live without?

My whole life is on Notion 😂

→ Where can our readers connect with you?

My personal website: https://josiah.wiki