Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Missing Piece: Why Sales & Biz Dev Should Lead Your Nigerian Fintech Journey

Transcript

The Missing Piece: Why Sales & Biz Dev Should Lead Your Nigerian Fintech Journey · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Before
• 0:04
  we begin today's episode I would like to give a
• 0:07
  warning and it's tied to the episode that we did
• 0:11
  yesterday and this is the warning I want to give. I
• 0:16
  am a layman when it comes to faintings and all things
• 0:20
  tech and startup related. So
• 0:24
  take that on board when we discuss some of these ideas
• 0:27
  that I'm coming out some of these things from a
• 0:29
  sales and business development perspective. The
• 0:33
  advantage that sales as a discipline has over other
• 0:37
  sales is that to be involved in sales we have
• 0:40
  to be multifaceted and the sales functions allows you
• 0:44
  to pick up skills that are useful in other business
• 0:47
  departments and in other industries. So
• 0:49
  that is the reason why someone like me who is
• 0:53
  interested in business process can give opinions
• 0:57
  on other industries and other sectors. So
• 1:02
  I do not have a tech background or none of that
• 1:07
  stuff. So when it comes to discussing
• 1:09
  the technical particulars in this episode or if I said
• 1:14
  anything that had technical ramifications in the
• 1:16
  previous episode just take that on board. However
• 1:18
  all the things that I say regarding sales and business
• 1:22
  process and business practice are valid and with
• 1:26
  that let us move into the show now that I have that
• 1:29
  caveat is out of the way. Let's
• 1:31
  see. Okay one more thing I'd like to
• 1:33
  give a shout out to podcast listener. His
• 1:35
  name is Odafe Omo Emevo. I hope I'm pronouncing that
• 1:40
  name properly. He connected with me on
• 1:43
  LinkedIn yesterday. He's a sales manager with GLO
• 1:47
  if I remember correctly. I accepted it and of course
• 1:50
  I asked him if he has any questions just like I will
• 1:53
  for the rest of you who reach out to me. So
• 1:56
  I love hearing from you guys. So
• 1:58
  connect WhatsApp, connect LinkedIn, any socials. I'll
• 2:02
  give my details at the end of the show. So
• 2:05
  today I'd like us to look at the typical advice that
• 2:08
  people get in Nigeria for starting your FinTech. So
• 2:12
  if you're listening to Nigerian Tech blogs, so I'm
• 2:21
  sorry to Nigerian Tech podcasts and those sorts of
• 2:23
  things. This is the typical advice that
• 2:26
  you're going to get on how to start your FinTech in
• 2:28
  Nigeria because the current series that we're on is
• 2:32
  how you can use your sales and good sales and business
• 2:36
  development frameworks, practice and principles to
• 2:39
  inform starting up your FinTech so that your
• 2:42
  FinTech will actually succeed because one thing I
• 2:45
  failed to mention yesterday was as much as we see
• 2:47
  that lots of boys and girls are in the news
• 2:49
  these days, you know, you raise 5M, you raise 10M,
• 2:52
  you raise 20M dollars, you know, to start your
• 2:55
  FinTech. There's also the sad news that we
• 2:59
  hear once in a while, maybe once a month or
• 3:01
  maybe every other month, this FinTech died because
• 3:05
  of this. This FinTech stalled because of
• 3:08
  that and blah blah blah blah. So
• 3:10
  this is how to make sure that you start your FinTech
• 3:13
  idea and that your chances for succeeding go up. So
• 3:16
  that is what I'm devoting this podcast episode,
• 3:19
  yesterday's podcast episode and the next ones that
• 3:22
  will follow. I can't say how many, maybe
• 3:23
  four or five on making sure that we can use good
• 3:27
  sales and business development practice to make
• 3:29
  sure that your FinTech succeeds. So
• 3:32
  the typical advice that you're going to get that
• 3:34
  is out there is that number one, you should
• 3:37
  start by identifying a financial service gap. So
• 3:40
  you look at the whole ecosystem that you want to
• 3:44
  tackle, whether it's in transfers or payments or
• 3:48
  what else, data management, you know, all these sorts
• 3:52
  of things. Look at it, see where you think
• 3:55
  that there's a gap and then develop your value
• 3:58
  proposition. Then after that, craft a
• 4:01
  business model. So that is what most Nigerians
• 4:03
  say you should do first when you want to start
• 4:06
  your FinTech. And that makes a lot of sense
• 4:08
  because yes, you have to get very clear on what
• 4:11
  your concept is before you begin. It's
• 4:14
  not attractive to try and talk to potential employees
• 4:17
  or potential investors or stakeholders in the space.
• 4:20
  And you're saying, we've noticed
• 4:22
  this, we can sort of do this, we can sort of do
• 4:25
  that. It'll be nice for you to
• 4:26
  absolutely be clear to say that given this framework
• 4:31
  in trying to achieve 123 and 456, we have noticed
• 4:34
  that there's a gap here. And
• 4:37
  because of that, this is the idea, this is the app,
• 4:39
  this is the technology that we propose to solve the
• 4:43
  problem. And it's going to solve this
• 4:45
  gaps in 456 and 123. And to do that, the business
• 4:50
  model that we're going to use is, we're going to use
• 4:53
  this and this and this, our marketing channels are
• 4:55
  going to be blah, blah, blah. And
• 4:57
  you know, you get the whole picture. So
• 4:59
  it's much more attractive when you sit down in front
• 5:01
  of future business partners or investors, and you're
• 5:06
  able to clearly articulate what the idea is, what the
• 5:08
  concept is. So yes, I'll agree with the
• 5:11
  typical advice that you see out there on the blogs, on
• 5:14
  the podcasts, on the websites. Not
• 5:17
  if you want to start a fintech, identify the gap
• 5:21
  in the financial service or the framework or whatever,
• 5:25
  develop a value proposition, craft a business model.
• 5:27
  With that, I say I agree. Then
• 5:30
  the next thing you would hear typically is, pundits
• 5:33
  would like to say the next thing you have to do is
• 5:35
  to understand the regulatory framework. Now
• 5:37
  this is what that means for those of us who don't
• 5:40
  have to play with the big boys and the big girls. I
• 5:43
  started off my business journey as a wedding
• 5:44
  photographer. When you're starting off as a
• 5:46
  wedding photographer, or as an event planner, you're
• 5:49
  typically not worried about regulatory frameworks. Well,
• 5:51
  you should because data protection is something that
• 5:53
  applies to all businesses in Nigeria. But
• 5:58
  typically as a wedding photographer, the only
• 5:59
  people that you're worried about really, at least in
• 6:01
  Abuja anyway, is Amak. Amak is the Abuja Municipal Area
• 6:05
  Council. Those are the people who show up
• 6:07
  to your house to say you put an advertisement
• 6:09
  outside, you put a sign outside, because of that
• 6:11
  you owe us 300K, and then you guys stop quarreling.
• 6:15
  They want to padlock your house,
• 6:16
  they want to take down the signboard, you know, blah
• 6:18
  blah blah. So that's the reason why lots
• 6:20
  of businesses in Abuja are running businesses out of
• 6:23
  residential houses without putting any signs up and
• 6:27
  all that. It's because everybody is trying
• 6:30
  to run away from Amak. Because
• 6:32
  unfortunately, well, I'm not saying that what people do
• 6:35
  is right, but when it comes to enforcement, it's
• 6:38
  basically just touts running around with clubs and who
• 6:41
  wants that kind of attention. So
• 6:42
  I'm not endorsing people breaking the law by
• 6:46
  starting business in residential frameworks. In
• 6:48
  fact, so in residential, what's it called?
• 6:53
  Residential areas. Because
• 6:54
  those of you who've been listening to you show from
• 6:56
  the get, you know how it gets around festivities,
• 6:59
  because my neighbor runs a commercial kitchen, even
• 7:02
  though this is a residential area. So
• 7:05
  you guys know how I'm trying to record a podcast,
• 7:07
  and then you have cows moving in the background,
• 7:09
  because it's Salah or whatever, and then there
• 7:11
  are tons of cows all over the place. So
• 7:13
  anyway, what I'm just trying to say is, for most
• 7:17
  other business people, there's a regulatory
• 7:19
  framework that they have to deal with that some of us
• 7:21
  who started out as wedding photographers, or maybe
• 7:24
  carpenters, or maybe tailors, or maybe you sell,
• 7:31
  you're starting a fish pond at your backyard. So
• 7:34
  there are lots of regulatory frameworks that
• 7:35
  other people have to deal with that we don't have to
• 7:37
  deal with. So for people in the fintech
• 7:39
  space, you're probably going to have to call up CBN,
• 7:44
  do some inquiries. Does CBN, that's the Central
• 7:47
  Bank of Nigeria, do they regulate in any way the
• 7:50
  kind of activities that you want to do? You
• 7:52
  probably have to reach out to the SEC, that's the
• 7:55
  Securities and Exchange Commission. Do
• 7:57
  they in any way regulate what it is that you want
• 8:01
  to do? You might have to put one or
• 8:03
  two phone calls through, or go and visit somebody in
• 8:05
  the Ministry of Finance, maybe your cousin works
• 8:07
  there, you go and ask your cousin or your sister -in
• 8:09
  -law or whatever. Ask a few questions. Ministry
• 8:13
  of Finance, do they regulate in any way the
• 8:16
  things that we're supposed to do? So
• 8:19
  if you start off with a very common sense approach
• 8:23
  to it, like okay, this is what I want to do, maybe
• 8:25
  we should look at CBN, Sec Finance. By
• 8:28
  the time you start having conversations with other
• 8:30
  people, you know, your uncle, your father, your
• 8:33
  wife, your brother -in -law, your boyfriend, your
• 8:35
  girlfriend, by the time you start asking people what's
• 8:37
  up, you will get a sense of which other stakeholders
• 8:41
  you need to be talking to and what other regulatory
• 8:43
  frameworks that you have to comply with. So
• 8:46
  that's the second stage that people say you should
• 8:50
  do when you want to start your fainter, sorry, excuse
• 8:53
  me. Sorry, forgive me about that. The
• 8:57
  usual. My son had a, what's it
• 9:00
  called, inflamed tonsils and as usual, I'm the only
• 9:04
  person in the house who catches these things. I
• 9:06
  don't know why. So yeah, he has passed it on
• 9:09
  to me and that's what I'm struggling with at the
• 9:11
  moment. Okay, so where are we? Yes,
• 9:15
  so for all the people who are saying, understand the
• 9:17
  regulatory framework, yeah, I agree with that and I
• 9:20
  endorse that bit of advice. So
• 9:22
  sit down, learn your co -founders, try and understand
• 9:24
  what's the regulatory framework that you're going
• 9:25
  to deal with. Flowing out from that, there's
• 9:29
  going to be some licensing that is going to be
• 9:31
  involved because when it comes to fainter, remember
• 9:33
  we're talking about financial services, you're
• 9:36
  going to be handling people's money. And
• 9:38
  I guess that's the reason why lots of people are
• 9:39
  trying to start fainter in Nigeria because when it's
• 9:42
  fainter, we don't hear small, small money, you
• 9:44
  know, as a wedding photographer, when you're
• 9:46
  collecting your pay, if you get like 400k, 500k, you
• 9:50
  know, you go and give testimony and you pay your
• 9:52
  tithes because that's good money. But
• 9:54
  these fainter boys, everybody's talking million,
• 9:56
  billion, billion, billion, billion, million and
• 9:58
  billions. So, you know, as in big, big
• 9:59
  money. So when it comes to that kind
• 10:01
  of money, know how licensing is involved. So
• 10:05
  if CBN and SEC have regulatory purview, you're
• 10:09
  going to have to pay your fees, you're going to have
• 10:11
  to get your licenses from CBN, Central Bank of
• 10:14
  Nigeria, and from the Securities Exchange
• 10:15
  Commission. You might also have to look at
• 10:18
  NCC, that is the Nigerian Communications Commission,
• 10:23
  you know, depending on what it is that you have to
• 10:24
  do. So for people who give that
• 10:28
  kind of advice on the blogs and on the podcasts,
• 10:31
  I agree and I endorse, you have to look into
• 10:34
  licensing. Then another thing that fainter
• 10:37
  boys and fainter girls need to look into is to choose
• 10:39
  the business structure. The reason why I bring this up
• 10:43
  is because everybody just assumes that you have to
• 10:45
  go big and do the, your, what's it called? Oh,
• 10:50
  not PLC, what's it called? Anyway,
• 10:52
  you get the point. Everybody
• 10:53
  assumes that you need to go, go to CAC and have a
• 10:57
  formal cooperation made. But actually, there are
• 11:00
  different business models out there in the market.
• 11:02
  There are some people who run
• 11:03
  fintechs and do a sole proprietor. Okay,
• 11:05
  well, I haven't heard of sole proprietor, but I have
• 11:08
  seen theoretically that it is an option. There
• 11:12
  are some people who do partnership. Not
• 11:15
  everybody does, you know, that big public company,
• 11:18
  limited liability company, basically. Now
• 11:21
  an example is remita. As far as I know, remita is
• 11:26
  not a public company limited by shares. Okay,
• 11:30
  well, actually, I should have checked that. Maybe
• 11:31
  remita is not a good example. But
• 11:33
  anyway, maybe you guys can go and do the research,
• 11:35
  but you you'll get what I, what I'm trying to pass
• 11:38
  across. It is not every single person
• 11:41
  in the fintech space, or who has this kind of ideas
• 11:45
  that runs a, a corporation, a limited liability
• 11:51
  corporation, they can be different things, they can
• 11:54
  be partnerships, they can be they can have different
• 11:57
  legal structures. So check and choose
• 12:00
  accordingly. So I endorse that stage, you
• 12:03
  guys need to do your research before you set up
• 12:05
  your setup your fintech. Then
• 12:09
  people also say you should register with the CAC. I
• 12:12
  mean, that's just common sense, because you can't do
• 12:15
  business without registering. I
• 12:18
  mean, you can, but then there's issues of liability,
• 12:21
  what else, liability asset protection, different sorts
• 12:25
  of things that are involved. If
• 12:26
  you have a lawyer, or if your younger brother or
• 12:28
  younger sister has finished law school, you know, talk
• 12:31
  to them accordingly, and they'll put you through on
• 12:33
  a couple of things. I'm not saying they should rely
• 12:35
  on those people's advice, but I'm just saying that
• 12:37
  in the beginning, when you're doing all this small
• 12:39
  small talk, small small research, it's not bad to
• 12:42
  ask people that you have easy reach and easy access
• 12:46
  to. Then another stage that people
• 12:51
  would recommend is that you choose your technology
• 12:56
  stack. What tech stack means, I know
• 12:59
  people like saying that a lot tech tech tech tech
• 13:01
  tech tech, but basically what that just means is
• 13:03
  choose the infrastructure, or choose the platform,
• 13:08
  choose something that you're going to build this
• 13:10
  technology on top of. So is it going to be mobile?
• 13:14
  Is it going to be payment
• 13:15
  systems? Or is it going to be a data
• 13:17
  management thing? I've already referred to these
• 13:19
  sorts of things before. So like OPA, I mentioned them
• 13:23
  in a previous episode. They're
• 13:26
  a payment processing company. So
• 13:30
  for them, that's the tech stack basically. So
• 13:33
  payments and then the things that are involved,
• 13:35
  mobile phone, because you have to develop an app,
• 13:38
  and then it's not ATMs, all those things called
• 13:41
  POS. Yeah, the thing that you swipe
• 13:43
  your card on, POS. So you choose. So
• 13:47
  yeah, of course, I endorse that that is also something
• 13:50
  that you should be doing if you're going to start
• 13:53
  your fintech. Then of course, back to what we
• 13:56
  said earlier about regulations and all that,
• 13:58
  there's going to be plenty of security stuff that you
• 14:01
  have to comply with. And you have to research
• 14:03
  because there's the one this is why I gave the
• 14:05
  caveat earlier, in case I'm giving you guys wrong
• 14:08
  information, or if I'm telling you guys to comply
• 14:10
  with the wrong things, but the spirit of what it is
• 14:12
  that I'm trying to say is correct. So
• 14:14
  I think there's something I think it's PCI DSS, I
• 14:17
  think that is the payment card industry data security
• 14:21
  standard, if I did my research correcting, if I
• 14:25
  got it wrong, you technical guys are back, no, but the
• 14:28
  spirit of what I'm saying is correct. There's
• 14:31
  also going to be Nigerian data regulations, you know,
• 14:36
  data protection that you have to comply with,
• 14:38
  consumer protection that you have to comply with, all
• 14:41
  these sorts of things. So I endorse this part of the
• 14:46
  process as well, because this is finance, you're
• 14:49
  going to be dealing with lots of people's money.
• 14:53
  Sorry, one moment. Okay,
• 14:57
  I'm back. Sorry about that. I
• 14:59
  had to go and attend to the boys because they were
• 15:01
  just acting, you know, acting a fool basically.
• 15:04
  You know, this is what some
• 15:05
  of, okay, no, maybe that's too harsh, but anyway, it's
• 15:07
  just part of the deal. I mean, for those of us who
• 15:10
  have young kids, especially young exuberant boys, but
• 15:14
  anyway, I can't blame them. You
• 15:15
  know, it's not like back in the day when we were
• 15:17
  growing up, you know, space and the family compound,
• 15:21
  you go on climb trees, you ride your bike, you know,
• 15:23
  that kind of thing. So with children being closed
• 15:25
  up. Anyway, that shouldn't be you guys
• 15:28
  problem. So where was I? Yes,
• 15:31
  I was on security and compliance regulations. Then
• 15:35
  the next step that people would recommend for setting
• 15:37
  up your fintech would be that you assemble your team
• 15:40
  and get some expertise around you. Of
• 15:42
  course, they would say get people who have fintech
• 15:44
  skills, people who have tech development skills, you
• 15:47
  know, our web developers and our people and, you
• 15:51
  know, all that jazz, then business development skills,
• 15:55
  that's where people like me come in. And
• 15:57
  then of course, people with legal expertise, because all
• 15:59
  these compliance that we've been talking about, you
• 16:01
  know, data protection, payment protection, what
• 16:07
  else CBN, this, that, or whatnot. Yeah,
• 16:11
  that's what you need legal people for. So
• 16:13
  of course, I endorse this part of the process. Then
• 16:17
  people don't recommend that you should secure funding,
• 16:22
  which is you talk to angels or VCs. Now,
• 16:27
  some people wonder what's the difference angel or VC,
• 16:29
  they're essentially the same thing, but with this key
• 16:33
  difference. Now the key difference is this.
• 16:36
  Currently, as at the state of
• 16:40
  business practice or things global and Nigeria, it
• 16:44
  looks like angels, mostly solo individuals, but then
• 16:48
  VCs, the way that they operate is something similar
• 16:51
  to what, like in the UK, they would say private
• 16:56
  equity banking, more or less. So
• 16:58
  it's much more formal, more official, but the idea is
• 17:02
  the same, the angel or the VC is giving you money to
• 17:06
  start this business. They want to return on the
• 17:09
  money. Typically, they're looking for equity,
• 17:11
  and when they share in your business, you know,
• 17:13
  blah, blah, blah. So yeah, it's just that, yeah,
• 17:18
  VC more buttoned up, more formal. Angels
• 17:21
  tend to be a bit more relaxed. Maybe
• 17:23
  people doing this thing solo. So
• 17:25
  if you're one of those people who is lucky to
• 17:27
  come from a family where your uncle is a billionaire
• 17:29
  or something, so uncle Sule, that's him. He's
• 17:34
  an angel. But then if you go and meet,
• 17:37
  let's say Tony, a loomie loo and dangote and what's
• 17:42
  the other guys name, or $3 and a bunch of them, let's
• 17:45
  say they put together something to invest in
• 17:49
  specific vehicles and blah, blah, blah. That
• 17:52
  is going to be a much more formal process than
• 17:55
  dealing with uncle Sule, you know, who is your the
• 17:58
  billionaire from your family or from your village. Then
• 18:01
  some people also say crowdfunding, but then I
• 18:04
  wonder crowdfunding to get money for your fintech in
• 18:10
  Niger. Not quite sure, but I haven't
• 18:13
  done the research. But for those of you who are
• 18:15
  in this space, and that is the reason why I was
• 18:17
  giving caveats in the beginning, if it's something
• 18:19
  that people do and has been successfully done, and
• 18:23
  there's a legal framework that surrounds the whole
• 18:25
  thing, then when you connect with me on WhatsApp
• 18:27
  or LinkedIn, please let me know so that you know, I
• 18:30
  can take dressing and address that accordingly on
• 18:35
  future episodes of the podcast. So
• 18:38
  what I have said so far about securing funding,
• 18:42
  assembling a team, the regulations that you have
• 18:45
  to comply with, what else registering with CAC,
• 18:49
  choosing your tech stack, choosing a business
• 18:51
  structure, licensing with CBN, SEC, NCC or any other
• 18:56
  stakeholders, getting clear on the concept. Those
• 19:01
  are steps that make a lot of sense and I
• 19:03
  wholeheartedly endorse. But there is a problem with
• 19:08
  this script that people, this popular script that is
• 19:12
  on the podcast and that is on the blogs, and this is
• 19:15
  the downfall of the script. You
• 19:19
  will find that when most people are talking about
• 19:21
  these things, you won't see any stage that usually
• 19:24
  involves some form of a hypothesis test or some
• 19:28
  qualitative research before you incorporate and all
• 19:32
  these sorts of things. In my own opinion, I think
• 19:35
  that that is the primary reason why Nigerian fintech
• 19:38
  startups are feeling because they are not getting
• 19:41
  product market fit. They will say that the reason
• 19:45
  why they failed is lack of funding, but in my own
• 19:47
  opinion, they failed because there was lack of product
• 19:50
  market fit. Product market fit or market
• 19:53
  validation is that stage where you're trying to
• 19:57
  answer, is there demand for this idea or for this
• 20:00
  product? Do people even want this thing
• 20:03
  that we want to start? So you go, you talk to
• 20:07
  investors, it makes sense on paper, you raise a
• 20:10
  bunch of money, but then at the end of the day,
• 20:12
  people don't really want it or the problem you're
• 20:16
  trying to solve, people don't think it's a big
• 20:17
  problem, you know, all those sorts of things. And
• 20:20
  that is the beauty of where we sales and business
• 20:23
  development people come in because the very act of
• 20:27
  running sales motions, going out and talking to people,
• 20:29
  doing all the qualitative research as they call it,
• 20:33
  you know, quantitative is all the stuff that you do.
• 20:35
  The market size is this on
• 20:37
  paper, somebody reported this, somebody reported
• 20:39
  that, that's a quantitative, sorry, yes, a bit, yes,
• 20:45
  that's quantitative. Then the qualitative is what we
• 20:48
  salespeople do. We're going out, we're talking to
• 20:51
  people, we're having conversations, we're trying
• 20:54
  to figure out what people's needs are, if there's a
• 20:57
  problem, how bad the problem is, those sorts of
• 21:00
  things. That is the reason, that is one
• 21:02
  of the downfalls of this popular script. Business
• 21:05
  development people, people with sales aspectees are
• 21:08
  not brought in early in the process. Then
• 21:10
  you will now say that this startup failed because they
• 21:15
  were not able to secure funding to move to the
• 21:18
  next stage. The reason why investors will
• 21:20
  not give you money to move to the next stage, well,
• 21:23
  it's complicated because there are macroeconomic
• 21:25
  factors that are involved. If
• 21:27
  it looks like the Nigerian economy is going to shite,
• 21:29
  then maybe people might want to spend their money
• 21:31
  elsewhere, invest in some other place, maybe South
• 21:34
  Africa, or they take their money back home to New
• 21:36
  York or Netherlands, or wherever they're coming
• 21:38
  from. So yeah, those things happen.
• 21:41
  But I think the primary reason
• 21:42
  would be that investors will look and say, okay,
• 21:44
  these boys and girls, yes, they raise 2M, they raise
• 21:47
  5M. These 5M that they use, what did
• 21:49
  they use this thing for? This
• 21:50
  5M, does it look like there's a way forward? It
• 21:53
  doesn't look like there's a way forward. There's
• 21:55
  no point in me dropping any more money. So
• 21:58
  I think it's because there's very little emphasis
• 22:01
  on the whole thing of testing your hypothesis and
• 22:04
  doing qualitative research and going out and talking
• 22:06
  to a bunch of folks. Do you have this problem? It
• 22:10
  is a problem worth solving. If
• 22:12
  we could solve this kind of problem, how much would
• 22:13
  you be willing to pay? We are working on so, so, so,
• 22:16
  so, so, and so when we're able to solve it, would
• 22:19
  you be willing to come on board as our first
• 22:20
  customer? These are conversations that you
• 22:23
  guys need to be having before you start this
• 22:24
  fintech. So if you guys in the fancy
• 22:31
  tech space start involving sales and business
• 22:33
  development people early in the process and start
• 22:35
  having these sorts of conversations, the chances
• 22:37
  of having a successful fintech on the back end go
• 22:40
  up because you're testing your hypothesis, you're
• 22:46
  validating the idea, you're giving good signs that if
• 22:50
  you go ahead, there'll be some form of product market
• 22:53
  fit. So that is the big downfall
• 22:57
  with all these models that you see out there. Get
• 22:59
  business development support before you incorporate,
• 23:02
  before you raise funds, blah, blah, blah. In
• 23:04
  fact, before you raise funds because the
• 23:06
  salespeople's expertise, salespeople, well, with our
• 23:11
  expertise ties in directly with all these sorts of
• 23:14
  things, fundraising, stakeholder management,
• 23:17
  stakeholder relations, you know, all these sorts of
• 23:19
  things. So that is just the downfall
• 23:21
  with the popular script. Everything
• 23:23
  you see on the blogs and you hear on the podcast,
• 23:27
  it makes sense, follow. But just shocking that part of
• 23:31
  involving sales and business expertise as early as
• 23:34
  possible from the beginning to make sure that you
• 23:37
  validate this business idea. This
• 23:39
  is what is going to make it easier for you to
• 23:41
  achieve product market fit in the future. And
• 23:43
  if you're one of these boys and girls who's been
• 23:45
  raising two M, five M, 10 M dollars to start your
• 23:49
  business, that is how you're going to be able to
• 23:50
  get the next batch of 10 M, 20 M, 30 M dollars,
• 23:55
  you know, for your business to grow. So
• 23:57
  I am not convinced. But then again, you know, I
• 24:00
  don't know how to read complex. Well,
• 24:03
  for me, it's in complex anyway, you know, when you
• 24:05
  look at people's, what's it called cash statements and
• 24:08
  blah, blah, blah, blah, I don't know how to read all
• 24:10
  that jazz. So maybe there's a limit of
• 24:12
  truth to this whole thing of we ran out of money.
• 24:14
  That's why the fintech failed. But
• 24:16
  I really, really think it is my strong suspicion that
• 24:20
  is because you are not able to question a
• 24:24
  hypothesis, you're unable to validate the business idea,
• 24:26
  poor product market fit. So you have all this money,
• 24:29
  you think this is a problem. By
• 24:30
  the end of the day, it's a problem. Yeah,
• 24:33
  but it's not a problem people are willing to pay
• 24:34
  for, or there's a bigger problem that you guys did
• 24:37
  not anticipate. So thank you very much for
• 24:41
  your time and attention. Remember
• 24:42
  to connect with me on WhatsApp or LinkedIn on
• 24:46
  WhatsApp, the phone number 080 64662140. The
• 24:52
  country code is plus 234. For
• 24:54
  LinkedIn, you can confirm the spelling of my name
• 24:57
  from the link where currently listening to this
• 24:58
  episode. So hit me up on socials,
• 25:00
  spend most of my time on LinkedIn. If
• 25:02
  you send it to me on what's it called threads or
• 25:07
  the other one, what's called Instagram, yeah, I'll
• 25:09
  get back to you, but maybe that might be next week.
• 25:11
  So thanks for your time and
• 25:12
  attention. I'll catch you on tomorrow's
• 25:14
  episode where we're going to start delving into the
• 25:16
  challenges with selling your fintech ideas.