Stripe buys Paystack for $200M, Starting a Startup as a developer and Interview with Seun Faluyi from a developer to x10 Product Manager
This week we take you into the breaking news of Paystack's acquisition by Stripe and other amazing stories in tech in Nigeria.
This week, it’s about chaos, money and more money.
Hot Topics
Paystack is acquired by Stripe for $200m; Paystack is Nigeria’s first accepted startups into YCombinator[The San Francisco based Startup Accelerator], raising $120k seed funding and a subsequent $1.2m, and $8m Series A round. From its found 5years ago, it has ground to serve more than 60k businesses in Nigeria and Ghana. With the acquisition, the company will be integrated into Stripe’s Global Payment and Treasury Network(SGTN) and retain its brand identity. It will expand to other countries in Africa in the coming years ahead. For us, this is a watershed moment for Nigerian startups, as more investors will now pay attention to startups from the country knowing fully well that an exit is possible. The question in the mind of most Nigerian young people is, will the government gets its acts together to maintain a sustainable business atmosphere for them to grow?
Feminist Coalition Raised 73m for #EndSARS protest; FeministCo, the coalition of highly successful young Nigerian women that bounded together to help protesters raise funds, provide legal aid, security, feeding, and all supports needed to keep putting motivated through this period in Nigeria. On their website, they listed the total amount raised and total disbursed to the people in the field. Raising a whopping 73M Naira in a week is not a small thing and we appreciate their effort, transparency, and support towards a better Nigeria.
CBN push to shutdown Fintechs and restrict donations to Protest: Earlier in the week, the CBN shutdown Flutterwave and Feminist Coalition’s account thereby restricting people from being able to donate to the movement. FeministCo, then went ahead to open a BitCoin account and so far has raised 4.5 BTC. This signifies what’s possible even in the face of a tyrannical government. Yesterday, CBN restricted direct inflow into fintech accounts. It Mentioned Paystack, Flutterwave, Interswitch, and others. There is pressure to get them to rescind the decision.
Jack supports #EndSARS protest, verifies key protesters; The EndSARS hashtag stopped trending earlier in the week and people wondered if the government had anything to do with it. Jack, Twitter CEO who visited Nigeria last week, on Wednesday Tweeted in support of the protest and help facilitate speedy verification of protest leaders, and the creation of an hashflg for the protest. After he tweeted that people should donate to FeministCo, the site went down from excess traffic.
SARS is Disbanded, SWAT is not accepted which way forward for Nigeria? The IG of Police on Sunday last week held a press conference announcing the disbandment of SARS and then the launch of SWAT. Many people saw it as wearing a new cloth for dead-body just as is about to buried and thereafter, the hashtag for #EndSWAT was launched. Protester demanded 5 things, #5for5 that need to be addressed before they can leave the streets.
Features for the week
How to start a startup as a developer, Read below full article below
Massive Leap from a developer to x10 product Manager, Seun Faluyi, takes us through his journey and how you too can. Read the full interview below.
Frontend Roadmap; things you need to learn to become a world-class frontend Developer.
Frameworks
How to start a startup as a developer
Many developers look into the future and ask themselves, do I want to write code for the rest of my life? What’s the peak of my career? Will I ever become a billionaire by writing code? I have asked myself these questions multiple times, and I want to believe a lot more people have done the same.
Have an idea
Idea they say rules the world, it is difficult to change the world without an idea. So, you ask yourself, where do great ideas come from? How can I generate startup ideas? Well, sometimes it comes in form of a dream [you know, like seeing a burning bush, lol], or in form of a pain-point you are experiencing. And as a developer sometimes it comes in form of thinking in big pictures for a problem you solve for one client and see how applicable the solution is for other use cases. This is the beginning and you must take it seriously. Nothing great happens in a vacuum and the pursuit of problems to be solved is the beginning of greatness.
Build an MVP [Minimum Viable Product]
I have seen a lot of people complain that it’s difficult to get a co-founder or to raise money. Yea, it is. Because no matter how grandiose your idea is, some people need the look and feel to convince them to buy into them. To actually see if you have the capacity to solve the problem you are attempting to solve, you must first build a smaller, usable version of the product you want to build a startup around. As a developer, you have a better chance of starting a startup compare to those who don’t know how to code. Give yourself a 30-day-deadline to build an MVP and launch to attract people that need your product and those who will help you. If you have a full-time job, it makes a lot of sense to use your free time to build this. Coding at night? Perfect…build while others sleep.
Do I need a co-founder?
Most investors seldom fund lone founder, so if you hope to raise funding one day, it’s always great to design for it from the get-go. Sometimes you can build out the idea, but most times, you will need people with complementary skills to help you shape your product and convert it into a startup. As a developer, you can start planning your path, by befriending people in other departments where you currently work. Do you see that guy in marketing, yes…the social media junky? He may be the guy that will co-found with you in the future. Your fellow developer or designer could also be the one. Paystack founders were friends and have worked on couple of projects in the past and when the need to start a startup arose, Shola [Paystack CEO] was quick to call on Ezra whom they have worked seamlessly in the past to co-found with him.
Looking for customers, who are you building for?
No startup has ever failed because of too many customers, most failed because of too few customers. Don’t fall in love with the beauty of your design or the scalability of your code. Until customers fall over themselves to use your product, you do not have a startup yet. So, it’s important that as you attempt to build up your idea, you must pursue users and customers to enable you to build a sustainable company. Building a startup is so much more than just the code.
Business model
So, you know how to code? Great, how about how to make money? Do you know how to sell or how to charge your customers? Like I shared above, a startup is so much more than the code. You need to learn about business model. Business model is a way you make money for your startup. For so much value that you create, how do you capture some for yourself, your co-founders, and your investors? As a startup founder, your responsibility will go beyond just writing code, it will including finding and executing a sustainable business model. This is what is called product-market-fit [PMF]. Think of equilibrium, this is it for a startup. Business model Canvas is a good start.
How to build a pitch deck
Pitch Deck; the dreaded PowerPoint document that you need to sell your idea to investors. Pitch deck helps you to convey your idea, plan, and your executive summary to convince investors to buy into your idea. As a startup founder, you must endeavour to learn to craft a compelling pitch deck. This helps you to be able to raise funding for your startup. Go here to learn how to create a pitch deck.
Raising Money
Ever wondered how two young men from Lagos were able to build a startup in 5 years that is more valuable than 3 Nigerian banks combined and sell the same for $200M? They raised money! Some people grew up with the idea that investors will hijack your company if you collect money to build your business, I am not oblivious to the fact that that is a genuine fear but the possibility of building something great increases with the value of money you have in the bank as a startup. Worrying about paying for your server, salaries, rent, and internet are the most draining things that stunt startup growth and kill great ideas. When you are planning to launch a startup, you must gradually build a trusted connection with angel investors or VCs to enable you to raise funding when the need arises. People give money to those to trust and like, so it’s important that you build this trust and likeness in time before you need it.
Launching your startup
A common saying in the startup ecosystem is; greatest ideas die on the localhost. My friend, no matter how great your idea is, no matter how big your dreams are; though valid, they will not come to pass until you launch your startup. To launch, pick a selected list of your most trusted friends or customers you think needs your product the most and are willing to provide feedback. These are your launch cohort, share the link to your app with them, ask them to use it, and give you feedback, you could start by offering it for free, or charge later to see their reactions.
Building a solid team
The moment you launch your idea, remember that you can’t do it all. You must start thinking of how to build a solid team of doers, those who will help you build a proper company, and do the things that you cannot do by yourself. Start thinking about this early to ensure that you are able to think ahead, design a system to get the best out of them, and ensure they add value. Picking from our pool of friends is a good way to start.
Massive Leap from a developer to x10 product Manager, Seun Faluyi, takes us through his journey and how you too can
Below is our interview with Seun Faluyi, Seun is a fast raising product manager with x Company. He started out as an engineer and since pivoting to product management has never looked back. He shared his journey, excitement, and how you too can make a pivot in your career.
DevStream = DS
Seun Faluyi = SF
DS: Please share with us your engineering background
SF: I started out my engineering career I would say from my final years at the university(2014/2015) where I spent time working as a freelancer. Before this time, like many other people I had been passively coding in VB for about 3 years.
I also worked with a tech consultancy firm doing web development, digital marketing, web content management, product ownership, etc. At this consultancy firm(GiTech), I worked across different programs but the majority of my work was dedicated to building the front-end side of things of most of our projects.
I then joined Andela in 2018 as a software engineer.
DS: What are you most excited about in your engineering journey
SF: I would say meeting people and working on something exciting. I’ve worked on some products that I’m really proud of and these are globally used products. I also love the thrill of meeting really brilliant and exciting people.
DS: What frustrated you the most as an engineer
SF: Deadlines. All my life, I’ve worked in very fast-paced environments. These organizations want the product delivered yesterday and as a result, you could get frustrated or burnt-out if you are not catching up fast enough.
DS: In your experience as a developer, share with us how working locally and internationally changed your approach to work and building products
SF: Working with more global teams opened my eyes to the fact that was a better way to build products. Whilst working with some local teams, we did not have scrum ceremonies or followed agile practices. I’m glad this is changing now.
I learned valuable skills like cultural awareness, communication, writing, and other people and team skills whilst working with global teams.
DS: Why product management?
SF: This is an interesting question with lots of answers. But I’d give one or two. I’ve worked in a team of really talented people but because we did not have a product person we spent lots of resources building something that did not fly. I’ve also been in a less talented team where we had a great product person and we were able to build an awesome solution. I wanted to be that guy that would drive a solution that solves problems.
Another reason: In my career journey, I’ve had the privilege of wearing many hats like software engineering, QA, product, marketing, web content, writing, etc. I’ve even built a company that did not go so far...lol (a story for another day).
I believe product management was a great fit for me as it puts me in the centre of the whole tech conversation.
I have some other reasons but let me not bore you out.
DS: How did your engineering background shape your approach to product management?
SF: My engineering background has made me build more empathy for engineering work, it makes me put down better and realistic estimates, I know what to say to stakeholders around requirements without having to consult with engineers all the time, engineers can’t lie to me by spinning up some heavy engineering terms (lol), I help engineers resolve blockers eg I recently had to go through an API doc in order to let an engineer know what he needed because I did not want to interrupt his task. The list goes on. I wrote a little bit about it here:
DS: Talking from both sides of the table, how can developers best work with their product managers and how can product managers get the best out of developers?
SF: Product managers need to have empathy for engineering work and understand that this it could be a very tough role sometimes. They should also be able to advocate for engineers especially when stakeholders are setting very ridiculous expectations.
Engineers should also understand that PMs have very tight KPIs and they should also try to work closely with their PMs and communicate proactively especially if set expectations will not be met. Engineers should also be more committed to the product they are building, some engineers can pick up 3 side projects that they do not have the capacity to joggle, this sometimes affects deadlines and the quality of work that is been delivered.
DS: Looking back at your career, if you know then what you know now, what would the direction have been?
SF: Looking at my journey so far and comparing it with what I know now, I would have done a few things differently.
I would have put learning valuable industry skills above theoretical academic education. I really support the idea of schooling online and working remotely at the same time, in fact, that is what I’m doing now.
I would jump on hard task early enough, sometimes beginners tend to shy away from tasks because of inferiority complex or fear of failure.
DS: How should junior developers/designers think about and approach their careers?
SF: You should see your career building just as if you are trying to build a house. If the foundation is not solid, the entire building will crumble. Build your foundation on principles such as integrity, honest work, hard work, and also seek mentors.
DS: If there is anything you will like to share with everyone, go ahead and tell us.
SF: I would love to re-iterate the last point I mentioned above. Mentorship is very important if you are blocked on a particular task/initiative for a very long, reach out to people ahead of you.
I’d end by quoting Denzel Washington:
“Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living—if you do it well I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.”
Nigeria is on the verge of greatness, the future will not be built by current old guards who brought us so much pain and agony, but by us, with one tweet at a time pushing for reform, creating innovative products and making the world a better place. It’s our time!
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Yours in Code
- @Yabacoder; for random tech tweets and interesting coding projects, feel free to follow me on Twitter.