₦airaland Forum

Hi everyone,

During the quarantine period, i developed a keen interest for Start-ups, unicorns, angel investors, VC and all the entrepreneurship buzz word that ever existed. I once stumbled on Shark Tank (An American TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors like Mark Cuban, for a business deal). This was where I learnt what an equity was, a convertible note, company valuation, business scalability, sales projection, breaking even, profitability and many other things.
My idea of starting/building a company completely changed when I watched these shows and learnt how, many business have raised money and failed, others have bootstrapped and succeed, some have sold their company, some run into debt, others have misplaced priority while a chunk of them are creating products nobody needs. The Nigerian start-up ecosystem really does interests me, think of the likes of GOkada, was doing so well and then came the government ban. The Nigerian government seems to be an enemy of progress and make it harder for foreign investors. Against all odds, some start-ups have marveled our wildest expectations


PAYSTACK: I pretty sure many people are familiar with the names Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, these tech geeks built an Online payment platform for SMEs, scaled and sold to STRIPE for $200m. Truly every Nigerian was proud of this great achievement, I myself felt enthusiastic about the possible potentials for Nigerian start-ups not to mention what happened with Jumia's IPO at the NYSE. Alas, I felt a rush of hope for the Nigerian dream. About Paystack, I tried to analyze how they grew and what made them so valuable to the international market.
Many reviews i read emphasized on right timing, market need and ease of use, others felt they got the right support and funding from YC. But I met a few people who insisted that the company should not have been sold. Dare, a friend of mine pointed out that Paystack could have built a foundation for the silicon valley of Nigeria, he was not too happy with the fact that we "sold" what should have been "ours" to hold as Africans. Btw Silicon valley is like the Tech headquarters of the United states, it camps many successful giants like Twitter, Facebook, Google etc. Contrary to my friend, I hold the opinion that Paystack has already laid the foundation. There are many other start-ups doing amazingly well like Piggyvest, cowrywise, fluterwave Farmcrowdy etc. But is Nigeria willing to support these guys and many other young founders in the long run? Will there be more acquisitions or they should "stay African"?
Let me know your thoughts and let's talk about how Paystack was funded in its early stage.
(I feel the need to stop here for discussions- before I continue)

Next discussion: Grants, funding and investment brouhaha for Start-ups and SMEs in Nigeria.

Childofthelord:
Hi everyone,

During the quarantine period, i developed a keen interest for Start-ups, unicorns, angel investors, VC and all the entrepreneurship buzz word that ever existed. I once stumbled on Shark Tank (An American TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors like Mark Cuban, for a business deal). This was where I learnt what an equity was, a convertible note, company valuation, business scalability, sales projection, breaking even, profitability and many other things.
My idea of starting/building a company completely changed when I watched these shows and learnt how, many business have raised money and failed, others have bootstrapped and succeed, some have sold their company, some run into debt, others have misplaced priority while a chunk of them are creating products nobody needs. The Nigerian start-up ecosystem really does interests me, think of the likes of GOkada, was doing so well and then came the government ban. The Nigerian government seems to be an enemy of progress and make it harder for foreign investors. Against all odds, some start-ups have marveled our wildest expectations

... Hi, i like your write up, i am a nig fan of shark tank too, not watched in a while though. The Nigerian start up space also intrests me, maybe some day i could be like a mark cuban, kevin o'leary.. As regards the guys at paystack, i think they did what was best for them. Imagine if they got bigger, then ran into problem, maybe a serious competition comes around, or something like that. Imagine if they could not secure the type of funds to stay afloat from new set of investors. Do you thing a country like Nigeria will bail them out, just because they believe they are "national tressure". The guys are made fie live, they could easily start another company and hold on to that one longer... #just my opinion. P. S, keep thw write up coming, i am learning from you.

Good one