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Where is your startup today?

One founder's road through the twelve stages, and how to find your own place on it · 14 min

At the end of 2015, two founders from Lagos told Y Combinator they had processed two hundred dollars that month. Five years later Stripe bought their company for more than two hundred million. Follow Paystack through the twelve stages of a startup, meet a Nairobi company that walked them in another order, and place your own business on the map.

Takeaways

  • At the end of two thousand and fifteen, two founders from Lagos told Y Combinator they had processed two hundred dollars that month. Five years later Stripe bought their company, Paystack, for more than two hundred million dollars. They had walked the stages in order.
  • In two thousand and eleven, Startup Genome surveyed about three thousand two hundred fast-growing internet startups. About seven in ten had pushed their team, product or spending out of step with their customers, and not one of those had passed a hundred thousand users. A survey, not a law, but a pattern worth knowing.
  • Something to try: count through the twelve stages, stop at the first proof you cannot honestly claim, and say aloud to one person which stage you are in and what proof would move you to the next.

Chapters

  1. Two hundred dollars0:17
  2. Not a small big company1:36
  3. Twelve forks2:52
  4. The same road, in a different order5:34
  5. Same product, different stage8:42
  6. Name your stage10:04
  7. The answer12:27

References

  1. Y Combinator — Helping African Businesses Get Paid, Shola Akinlade of Paystack(2018)
  2. Allen, C. (Indie Hackers podcast, interview with Shola Akinlade) — #072 – Building a High-Growth Startup in an Emerging Market with Shola Akinlade of Paystack(2018)
  3. Lunden, I. (TechCrunch) — Stripe acquires Nigeria's Paystack for $200M+ to expand into the African continent(2020)
  4. Stripe — Stripe will acquire Paystack to accelerate online commerce across Africa(2020)
  5. Akinlade, S. (Paystack blog) — Paystack is joining Stripe(2020)
  6. Ndiomewese, I. (Techpoint Africa) — Paystack raises $1.3m in seed investment from local and international investors(2016)
  7. Lunden, I. (TechCrunch) — Paystack, with ambitions to become the Stripe of Africa, raises $8M from Visa, Tencent… and Stripe itself(2018)
  8. Ndiomewese, I. (Techpoint Africa) — Paystack secures $8 million Series A funding round(2018)
  9. Paystack — Pricing(2026)
  10. Blank, S. — A Startup is Not a Smaller Version of a Large Company(2010)
  11. Blank, S. — What's A Startup? First Principles.(2010)
  12. Blank, S. — About Steve(2026)
  13. Kene-Okafor, T. (TechCrunch) — Kenyan foodtech startup Kune raises $1M pre-seed for its ready-to-eat meals service(2021)
  14. Citizen Digital — Kune just raised Ksh.100M but founder's apologising to Kenyans over comments(2021)
  15. Njanja, A. (TechCrunch) — Kune Food shuts down barely a year after starting Kenya operations(2022)
  16. Siele, M. (Business Today Kenya) — Kune: After Spending Over Ksh100M in 1 Year, Food Startup Shuts Down(2022)
  17. Marmer, M., Herrmann, B. L., Dogrultan, E. & Berman, R. (Startup Genome) — Startup Genome Report Extra on Premature Scaling(2012)
  18. Blank, S. — It's Not How Big It Is – It's How Well It Performs: The Startup Genome Compass(2011)
  19. Indie Hackers (Transistor) — #072 – Building a High-Growth Startup in an Emerging Market with Shola Akinlade of Paystack(2018)