Many people in the Nigerian tech community seem to believe Tech is the new “oil money” and they are not entirely wrong. Tech has paved the way to success for the average Nigerian youth that’s ready to put in the work. It is no surprise that a good number of Nigerians have also ventured into building their own tech startup in Nigeria.
Countless job opportunities have been created and more people are venturing into tech every day. Online academies like AltSchool and Sidehustle have made it easier for people to take tech courses, get certifications and eventually land their dream job.
Anyways, this isn’t why we are here today. I’m not here to bore you with all the details of Nigeria and its booming tech ecosystem. Rather, I want to let you in on something that might pique your interest; the founder’s guide to launching a tech startup in Nigeria.
When you refer to someone as a tech founder, people only hear “this is a millionaire”. It’s probably true for a few of them whose companies have attained the unicorn status. However, it’s a really rough ride to the top even if you’re a trust fund baby. I mean, you have to get actual users to use your product and spend a ton of cash on marketing and paying your workers.
Here’s what one Twitter user thinks;
Personally, I respect tech founders for everything they’ve been through. I doubt I have such patience.
The sleepless nights, seeking investors, managing people and trying to get them to believe in your dream and on some days they want to give up. It’s a lot to handle, let’s give them their flowers, please.
If unlike me, building a tech startup in Nigeria is something that you believe you can handle, then this article is for you.
I don’t want to rain on your parade but let’s start by saying 9 out of 10 startups fail in the first four years for different reasons.
That being said, your startup doesn’t have to fail. With the right knowledge about launching a startup, you will be several steps ahead of other founders.
How to build a successful Tech Startup in Nigeria
The key to having a successful startup is to start lean. Manage your resources as much as possible. You don’t have to employ so many people, and you don’t need any LLC from the get-go. All you need is a vision, your product, good time management, funding and sufficient entrepreneurial knowledge.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get into the main deal. We will discuss the foolproof ways to ensure the success of your startup.
Have a Minimum Value Product (MVP)
A minimum value product is what catches the interest of your users and the only way you can do this is by learning the pain points of your target audience. Introduce your idea to people, carry out research, look at your competitors and build a product that is better than what is already available in the market.
Your MVP should have enough features to satisfy the needs of your users and keep them glued to your product. You will also need to build a mockup of your product, this doesn’t mean you need to know how to code.
What you need is to have an idea of the fundamental functionality that your product needs to have. Jot them down and make a list of every action and click that should go into it. You will need this when you’re sharing your idea and vision with friends, family and investors.
Research
As mentioned earlier, you will need the opinion of your prospective users because your product is nothing without them. They are the ones that will use your product and if your app or website isn’t solving their problems, they will simply move on to another option.
Identify your competitors, get the opinions of your users on the limitations of said competitors and how your product can eliminate such problems. Approach friends, family and strangers alike to see if there’s truly a demand for your product, this will guide you on how to penetrate the market and deliver a product that users love.
Develop a framework for your product
Having a product framework will help you define your user goals and morph user pain points into actual product features. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the overall idea?
- Who are your target customers?
- Who are the end-users?
- What does your product aim to solve for them?
- Why are you building it?
Funding
Nigeria is hard and everyone living here knows how difficult it is to survive. Building a tech startup in Nigeria will make life even harder if you don’t have millions of dollars stashed somewhere. Funding your startup might be a pain in the arse for you.
However, you can always scale through this challenge. Just as was mentioned earlier, start lean. As a young tech founder without extra income, you can have a main job that takes care of your bills till you can depend on the profit from your startup.
You can seek help from family and friends who are willing to invest in your brilliant idea. A prospective co-founder can also contribute to the funding aspect if they believe in your dream and wish to work with you.
Recruit The Right Team
You might ask, how do I know the right team?
The right team is one that shares the same passion with you and is ready to put in the work to ensure that your startup succeeds.
The typical Nigerian work environment is ridden by intolerance of divergent views, viewing negative feedback as personal attacks, a lackadaisical attitude to work and a lack of meritocracy. This is not something you want in your startup, any organization with these qualities is set up to fail already.
Your team should be filled with brilliant minds who are open to correction, hardworking and determined to succeed.
On the other hand, you owe your employees a sane workplace where they can grow in every aspect while still devoting their time to work for you. If you can afford incentives and bonuses for your employees, it’s only right that you give them to those that qualify.
Nigeria is already hard, make life easier for your employees!
Prepare To Wear Many Hats
You’re building a startup and since you are lean on funding, you won’t have the financial capacity to recruit as many hands as you would like. This means you will need to take on certain roles like marketing, product management, design or even software engineering.
Even if you manage to recruit a few hands, you will still need to do more than just being the founder. Your employees, depending on how flexible they are will also need to fit into roles outside their job description sometimes.
In a startup, all hands must be on deck to guarantee success especially in the early stages.
If you lack the technical skills to do certain things and also can’t afford to hire too many people, you can watch youtube videos, read self-help books and take courses that can get you on the right track. You can also hire a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) who can handle all the technical aspects of building your product while you deal with the non-technical parts.
Rounding Up
Building a tech startup in Nigeria isn’t an easy feat but the road to success is never an easy one. It’s going to be a bumpy ride and many people get to the point where they want to give up. However, you must remember that quitters never win.
If you give up, you’d never forgive yourself in the end. So giddy up soldier, put necessary things in place like we’ve discussed in this article and shoot for the stars.
The sky will be your starting point as long as you do the right things and constantly push forward.
We all gonna make it (WAGMI)!
One Response
Wonderful piece