Akin Owolabi
We live in an era where the marketplace no longer has walls, it has algorithms. Every product, personality, or idea competes not just for customers, but for attention. And attention, as every entrepreneur has discovered, is the new oil.
Yet, attention today does not flow quietly. It often explodes through clashes, conflicts, and controversies. The digital economy has turned even feuds into forms of marketing. In this strange world, silence is invisibility.
The viral clash between Nigerian social influencer VeryDarkMan (VDM) and crypto entrepreneur BLord is not merely a social media spectacle; it is a mirror reflecting the chaotic logic of modern entrepreneurship. It shows how visibility can be born out of conflict, and how reputation can be built or broken by perception alone.
But beneath the noise lies a deeper truth: every entrepreneur now operates in a battlefield of narratives. The question is not whether you will face a feud, it is how you will emerge from one.
The Battle for Perception
In traditional business, the strongest company won by building better products. In the digital age, the most influential company wins by building stronger perceptions.
The VDM–BLord feud began with a phone but it evolved into a war of credibility, ethics, and identity. One claimed to expose deceit; the other defended prestige. What played out on millions of screens was more than gossip, it was the anatomy of modern branding.
For entrepreneurs, this is not entertainment. It is education. In every business — whether you sell crypto, fashion, software, or real estate — you are fighting not only competitors, but also the narrative that defines you.
Perception is not a reflection of truth; it is an engine of belief. The one who controls the narrative controls the market.
VDM, by positioning himself as the defender of the public, seized the moral narrative. BLord, by defending luxury, tried to preserve prestige. Both understood something profound: the crowd does not buy logic, it buys story.
And this is where entrepreneurs must evolve. You cannot simply sell a product anymore; you must sell trust, emotion, and meaning.
The Age of Feuds Is the Age of Transparency
In every century, business has had its revolutions — the industrial age, the oil age, the information age. But our current revolution is one of radical transparency.
There are no private boardrooms anymore. Every deal, every complaint, every misstep can become tomorrow’s trending topic.
The VDM–BLord saga unfolded like a real-time documentary. Screenshots, videos, and live rants turned private accusations into public theater. Within hours, reputations built over years were redefined by a few viral clips.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is brutal but liberating: you cannot hide behind branding anymore. Authenticity has replaced authority. The crowd can forgive mistakes, but not manipulation. They can tolerate imperfection, but not deception. Transparency is now strategy.
The best entrepreneurs of this decade are not those who never err, but those who own their stories before others weaponize them.
The Psychology of Conflict in Business
Why do feuds attract us? Why does conflict capture so much attention? Because human beings are drawn to drama; it is how we process dominance, power, and morality. The business world has simply digitalized this instinct. Every feud becomes a modern gladiator match. The crowd choosing sides, rewarding authenticity, and punishing arrogance.
Smart entrepreneurs understand this psychology and navigate it with grace. They know that every attack is also an opportunity to define oneself.
When your competitor criticizes you, when your product faces backlash, when your customer complains online — you stand at a crossroads:
React emotionally and lose control, or
Respond intelligently and turn the conflict into credibility.
The first path burns your brand. The second path builds your legacy.
The Art of Ethical Power
In the digital economy, power is visibility but ethics is sustainability. BLord’s flashy self-promotion may have brought millions of eyes, but it also brought scrutiny. VDM’s moral crusade won admiration but also fatigue. Both discovered a timeless truth: influence without integrity collapses on itself.
The entrepreneur who wins today is not necessarily the loudest, but the one who plays the long game. He or she understands that clout fades, but credibility compounds.
Ethical power is not about avoiding confrontation; it is about mastering it. It means standing for something, a principle that survives every storm of public opinion.
When values guide your actions, even feuds can refine your brand. When vanity guides them, even fame becomes a prison.
Building a Reputation That Outlives Controversy
The difference between a brand that thrives after conflict and one that dies from it is resilience of character.
Every entrepreneur will face misunderstandings, betrayals, and backlash. The digital audience is fickle; they love you today, they test you tomorrow.
So how do you build a reputation that survives?
Be radically honest. When you make mistakes, admit them first. Apology is the new PR.
Document your truth. Control your own narrative. If you do not tell your story, someone else will twist it.
Respond, do not react. Anger fuels your enemy; clarity disarms them.
Stay consistent. The crowd forgets fast, but it remembers patterns. Show them integrity over time.
In short, you cannot stop storms but you can design your roof.
The Digital Battlefield
Social media has given everyone a microphone, but not everyone has a message. The temptation is to confuse attention for achievement.
Entrepreneurs must remember: followers do not equal foundations. A business rooted in hype will always need more drama to survive. But a business built on value will attract loyalty even in silence.
VDM and BLord both commanded audiences, yet their feud revealed the same weakness in the modern economy — too many brands chase visibility without depth.
As an entrepreneur, you must decide whether you want to be famous or formidable. Fame gets clicks; formidability builds companies. Influence fades with trends; substance endures through decades.
Turning Feuds into Fuel
Every conflict holds energy, and energy can destroy or create. When Tesla faced critics, Elon Musk turned their doubts into determination. When Netflix was told it would die after Blockbuster’s reign, it turned rejection into innovation. When Flutterwave and Paystack faced skepticism, they turned resistance into relentless execution.
Use your feud as fuel. The criticism, the gossip, the accusations are data. They reveal what people believe, what they fear, and what they misunderstand. A wise founder listens deeply, extracts insight, and responds not with tweets, but with transformation. You cannot silence noise. But you can outgrow it.
The Power of Silence and the Discipline of Strategy
There is a spiritual discipline in silence. In a world addicted to reaction, silence is the loudest statement. It communicates focus, confidence, and mastery.
When attacked, not every entrepreneur must respond. When misunderstood, not every business must fight back. Some battles are best won by progress itself.
The world eventually believes results. If you are consistent in excellence, even your critics become witnesses to your evolution. Sometimes, the wisest thing a leader can do in a feud is to keep building.
From Feud to Legacy
Every feud mirrors an inner conflict, the war between ego and purpose. Ego seeks to prove; purpose seeks to improve. Ego wants to win arguments; purpose wants to win impact.
An entrepreneur ruled by ego becomes reactive, defensive, and exhausted. An entrepreneur guided by purpose becomes creative, centered, and unstoppable.
The true test of maturity in business is not how you handle praise, but how you handle provocation. When you reach that stage where insults no longer shake you, where you channel negativity into productivity, you become untouchable because you are now fueled by vision, not validation.
Lessons from the Digital Arena
From the smoke of every online feud, a few timeless lessons rise:
Attention is temporary. Trust is permanent.
Transparency is currency. In a connected world, secrets rot faster than lies.
Reputation is architecture. Build it with integrity, not improvisation.
Conflict reveals character. How you fight determines how the market remembers you.
Clout without clarity is chaos. Always know your why.
The crowd crowns and cancels. Build your castle on principle, not popularity.
Every entrepreneur must therefore design a dual armor; brand armor (for perception) and moral armor (for endurance).
The New Rulebook for Entrepreneurs
In the age of feuds, the new rulebook for business success reads differently from that of the industrial age:
Instead of control the message, it is curate your truth.
Instead of avoid controversy, it is transform it into clarity.
Instead of grow quietly, it is lead transparently.
Instead of defend ego, it is protect purpose.
Your audience does not expect perfection anymore; they expect honesty, courage, and evolution.
The entrepreneurs who will dominate the next decade are not those who dodge criticism, but those who harness chaos into credibility.
The Nigerian Entrepreneur’s Challenge
In Nigeria’s vibrant, volatile business landscape, perception wars are frequent. The country’s digital economy is booming but so is online rivalry.
From fintech to fashion, founders often face smear campaigns, Twitter outrage, and influencer politics. The instinct is to react emotionally. But the opportunity lies in rising above the noise.
Nigeria’s new generation of entrepreneurs must master this art: to be visible yet virtuous, viral yet valuable.
The world already sees Nigerian entrepreneurs as bold risk-takers. Now, it must see them as ethical innovators; people who can build trust in a noisy world.
Leadership Beyond the Feud
At its core, leadership is storytelling. The greatest leaders in history faced feuds — Mandela, Jobs, Bezos, Dangote — but they refused to let conflict define their destiny. They understood that battles are inevitable, but bitterness is optional.
Leadership means absorbing the heat without losing the light. It means using criticism as reflection, not retaliation.
Every entrepreneur leading a brand must therefore learn emotional mastery. Your brand becomes what your emotions broadcast. If you are grounded, your audience feels stability. If you are reactionary, your audience feels chaos. The calm leader is always the credible one.
The Future of Business Warfare
Tomorrow’s business battles will not be fought with products or ads — they will be fought with narratives, data, and values.
The new battlefield is perception. The new weapon is authenticity. The new victory is trust. Entrepreneurs who understand this will outlast those chasing clicks. The crowd has a short memory, but it never forgets sincerity.
Conclusion
So, how do you win in business in this age of feuds?
You win by outgrowing noise, not ‘outshouting’ it.
You win by mastering transparency, not manipulating optics.
You win by focusing on value creation, not viral distraction.
You win by being fiercely ethical in a world addicted to performance.
You win by being rooted in purpose while others are swept by popularity.
And most importantly, you win by remembering this truth: Your greatest brand is your character.
In an era where followers rise and fall like tides, your character is the only thing the storm cannot drown.
The entrepreneurs who will define the next decade are not those who never face feuds, but those who learn to transform conflict into clarity, controversy into credibility, and chaos into growth.
They are not just building businesses. They are building legacies.