We are delighted to announce 4 new investments through our new fund. This fund is aimed at finding, funding and supporting groundbreaking market-creating innovation opportunities to create prosperity and position Africa as a formidable force in global markets.

Our new portfolio companies have developed innovative solutions to solve critical societal problems such as access to financial services for the unbanked, creating borderless trade opportunities for African merchants, enabling Africans to make digital payments without internet connections, and providing access to credit for middle-market African businesses.

Our newest portfolio companies include:

[Topup Mama](https://www.topupmama.com/) – a restaurant management platform for African restaurateurs to unify and optimize the fragmented food and beverages supply chain. We invested in Topup Mama because the founder understood the problem deeply, having grown up as the son of a restaurant owner and experiencing the daily challenges and constraints to growth. The founders are ideally suited to disrupt this billion-dollar market. *Restaurateurs can start shopping [here](https://shop.topupmama.com/en/).*

[Fluna](https://www.fluna.co/) – a B2B SaaS treasury management and financing platform leading the charge to close the $5 trillion total credit gap in developing and emerging economies. We believe the Fluna founders have a deep understanding of the barriers to private credit, and they are building a comprehensive product that enables African businesses to grow into and surpass their potential. *Companies can get started [here](https://www.fluna.co/request-access).*

[Shekel](https://shekel.africa/) – a dealership management system that enables auto dealerships to access to financing, enabling millions of Africans to own vehicles. We invested in Shekel because it will redefine mobility as an accessible need for most Africans, and we are excited about how Shekel will evolve into a critical rail that underpins the urban mobility sector. *Auto dealers can signup [here](https://shekel.africa/) to get started.*

[Catlog](https://www.catlog.shop/) – a social commerce platform that enables merchants on social media platforms reach massive audiences with cutting-edge sales and marketing tools. We believe that social commerce is a strong contender for the dominant form of online commerce within highly dynamic African markets, and Catlog is well-positioned to unlock tremendous economic opportunity for millions of small business owners. *Merchants can create a free store [here](https://www.catlog.shop/app/sign-up).*

These companies join the portfolio of six existing VP Fund IV investments in startups transforming how Africans access financial services through [lowered barriers to banking services](https://blochq.io/), [innovative Point of Sale tools](https://tractionapps.co/), [mobile money agents](https://www.moni.africa/), [borderless trade](https://plumter.com/), [offline payments](https://vendy.money/) and [card issuance APIs](https://union54.com/).

We know that founders often need more than just money to succeed. That's why we're here with a platform of services designed to support our portfolio companies at every stage of growth: from co-iterating on go-to-market strategy, partnerships, fundraising, to helping our founders find exceptional talent—and just about everything else in between.

If you are building a company that solves a critical problem for society,  we would love to learn more, please reach out to us [here](https://www.venturesplatform.com/apply). 
 

large_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

medium_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

small_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

thumbnail_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

Announcing our Latest Investments

As we reflect on our activities in 2021, we are grateful to our team, investors, community, partners, and, more importantly, the founders we've been fortunate to back, who have made this a fantastic year. 


Some highlights of the year that was;

1. This year has been our most active; we made our first investments in Egypt and Zambia. We invested in 28 new companies in 2021 across four countries, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Zambia. 

2. Eleven portfolio companies got into some of the best accelerators globally, nine into Ycombinator, one into Techstars, and one into Ondeck.

3. We hosted a day-long retreat for founders within the portfolio with participation from a few veteran founders and executives such as Sim Shagaya, Adia Sowho, Ugodre Obi, and Odun Longe. 

4. Over $150M in follow-on capital was raised across the portfolio in announced and unannounced deals. Overall, our startups recorded strong growth across key metrics and also returned capital to our investors. 

5. We co-hosted a webinar with the London Stock Exchange on Going Public on the LSE as an African company.

6. We announced the first close of our $40M Pan-African fund, with participation from local and global investors such as Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), United Africa Company of Nigeria (UAC), VFD Group, Michael Siebel (CEO Ycombinator), Adam Draper, Shola Akinlade (Co-founder Paystack, early portfolio company), and other high-profile institutions and individuals. This new fund will enable us to double down on supporting the best entrepreneurs, building products, tools, and services aimed at moving Africa forward; we would also be investing more in our portfolio support function and participating in follow on rounds in portfolio companies. Read more here. 



![Screen Shot 2021-02-27 at 9.25.05 AM.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1640182732/Screen_Shot_2021_02_27_at_9_25_05_AM_cdc6d6c9a8.jpg)



We believe the internet is still in its early stages in Africa; individuals and businesses are increasingly discovering the “magic” created on the Internet. We are seeing; an acceleration in the adoption of digital tools by individuals, businesses, and government institutions; growth in the creator economy, social commerce, remittance, health, payment, and several other verticals.

Over the next decade, we will witness an increase in the adoption of digital tools by individuals and organisations across all sectors, including; Education, Health Care, Finance, Government, and more. Technology will drive changes and improvements in education and cross-border trade delivery while introducing new efficiency and accountability in governance. It will improve how we access and consume health services, help organisations manage their processes, and increase employee productivity. Technology will be critical to Africa’s economic growth, and technology companies will emerge as some of Africa’s most valuable companies.  

Our mission remains the same; we will be right there at the centre, funding, supporting, and cheering these founders building market-creating innovations as they solve for non-consumption and build the future of Africa.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has been a part of our journey, and we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.


large_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

medium_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

small_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

thumbnail_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

Ventures Platform 2021: Year in Review

Can you believe it? It’s been FIVE glorious years. How time flies, right? 

Honestly, we thought we knew all about entrepreneurship, but boy, we were wrong. 

The events of the last five years, notably the COVID-19 pandemic, have served as an eye-opener to many organisations worldwide, Ventures Platform inclusive. 

Now more than ever, we firmly believe that entrepreneurship is the most sustainable path to creating economic prosperity. So while we may just be five years old, we have learnt a lot. Through our work in that time, we have seen entrepreneurs innovatively tackle some of Africa’s biggest problems, leveraging technology. Their strategies led to better results than other non-entrepreneurial approaches.

For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when countries and organisations were in disarray, and many had to shut off operations, we, on the other hand, viewed it as an opportunity for growth by quickly embracing a three-pronged approach. This involved digitising our processes, partnering with NSIRF to provide business advisory services to startups, and driving engagement through the Policy Dialogue Series.

This approach enabled us to work with startups in recognising and capturing new business opportunities presented by the pandemic, thereby enabling them to stay profitable and expand their impact within their community. 

Between when we kicked off in 2016 and where we are now, there have been significant changes - mainly for the better. Here’s a brief recap of our achievements as captured in our 2020 Impact Report.

### The last five years at a glance.
In the last five years, Ventures Platform has:
- Held 44 Startup Programs
- Supported startups that have created 283,976 Jobs 
- Trained 8,300 people 
- Championed12 Policy Initiatives
- Supported 314 female entrepreneurs 
- Supported 636  entrepreneurs
- Invested in 60 startups (equity)
- Provided $588,811 equity-free funding

### What lies ahead: 2021 and Beyond.

Our key takeaway from our experience so far is the reaffirmation that, indeed, innovation and entrepreneurship is the best way to deliver on the promise of a prosperous Africa. 

Our survey observed that mission-driven startups have greater chances to stand the test of time and have the most effects in terms of job creation and access to essential goods and services. These startups have also been successful in developing solutions that address critical value-chain gaps and create new markets. 

For these reasons, Ventures Platform will be transitioning from solely supporting startups through time-bound programs to creating a continuous support system. We believe this will encourage entrepreneurs to use creative, inclusive, and long-term business strategies to produce goods and services that increase access, create employment, and boost economic success.

### You made it possible!

In retrospect, we know that none of these would be possible without our resilient team, unwavering and supportive partners, founders, mentors, advisors, and family and friends. You all made our vision a reality.

Thank you for making the last five years epic!


large_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

medium_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

small_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

thumbnail_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

5 Years, and the Journey's Just Begun: Ventures Platform Foundation 2020 Annual Impact Report

Over the last few years at Ventures Platform Fund, we have backed 60+ companies, working with some of the best founders building the future across Africa. As we scale our work going forward, we are growing our team and looking to add rockstars to support our work of investing in the future of Africa. 

Working with us at Ventures Platform Fund means supporting founders with a  deep-rooted desire to win. Founders envisioning what the future of Africa would look like and building products, tools, or services that drive Africa towards that future. Being on our team also presents a rare opportunity to help founders through their various levels of growth in building and scaling their companies and offers unparalleled insight into the broader startup ecosystem in Africa. 

If all of these resonate with you, please apply, share and spread the word.

Head, Fund Operations -[ https://bit.ly/3jIXFtC](https://bit.ly/3jIXFtC)


Head, Portfolio Support - [https://bit.ly/3DJE4RR](https://bit.ly/3DJE4RR)


Head, Engagement and Community - [https://bit.ly/3zMdtB6](https://bit.ly/3zMdtB6)


medium_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

small_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

thumbnail_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

VPF Is Hiring.jfif

Ventures Platform Fund is Hiring!!

I recently met an aspiring entrepreneur who was pitching me this brilliant idea for a mobile app he was working on and he was super pumped about it. He went on and on about all the features they were going to roll out and why there is currently nothing on the market like what he was building.

This happens all the time, so I asked him two questions: what problem are you solving? Who are you solving the problem for? He apparently didn’t have an answer to either. So, my advice to him was simple; rather than waste time, effort and money building tech nobody is going to use (he was non-technical). He should identify what problem he is solving and validate if the problem exists.

[Rather than waste time, effort and money building tech nobody is going to use, you should identify… Click To Tweet](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://www.venturesplatform.com/?p=7140&text=Rather%20than%20waste%20time%2C%20effort%20and%20money%20building%20tech%20nobody%20is%20going%20to%20use%2C%20you%20should%20identify%E2%80%A6&via=VPlatformHub&related=VPlatformHub)

### So, two quick lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
- Identify and validate the problem: go out there and talk to people, figure out if they have that problem, and find out how they currently solve it. You can either build a product that solves a problem or build a product then go search for the problem your product can solve. I recommend you do the former

- Build a Minimum Viable product: Don’t be quick to think that an MVP is an app or a website. It’s basically anything that allows you to validate your assumptions. E.g. If you want to solve the problem of finding schools for parents, rather than spend money or time building an app with search functionality, why not create a google form for parents to fill in the type of schools they are looking for and send out to all the parents you and your friends know. When the responses come in, manually look for those schools and send 3 matching schools to each request and ask the parents to allow you to handle the booking process and pay you a small fee. This is just an example of how you can test the proposed solution.

### Whatever you are doing now or intend to do, make sure your startup idea solves a problem. Don’t start a business to build an app but rather to solve a pain people are experiencing.




large_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

medium_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

small_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

thumbnail_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

Two quick lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

My phone vibrates as a WhatsApp message gets in from a friend who now works at a startup accelerator. ​ “Do you intend on starting a start-up?”.

“Just like that?” ​I mutter underneath my breath as I exhale heavily.

If you — like I am — develop software for a living, you probably receive different morphs of the same question all the time. One thing they forget is that we don’t all have the same paths. If we all started going door to door making pitches for funding, who will build the products?

The problem is a simple one when you put some thought into it. There is a percentage of people out there that think one needs to understand the nuances of developing software to build a tech start-up. Similarly, there is a percentage of people that believe every software developer is cut out for building and running tech companies. They are right and are wrong at the same time.

Admittedly, they are lots of great software developers with the drive for entrepreneurship and the ability to execute — ​Looking at you Mark Essien ​- and it’s great when these skills come together. Should that become a yardstick to measure everybody’s success? No, for many reasons. A good percentage of software developers enjoy what they do and just want to build great solutions. No one needs to be a CEO to be a part of something great.

No investor hands the money over to a founder just because they say so. A very simple question has to be answered every time -​ **Why?***italic text*

**Why***italic text*​ the burning desire to go through with this?

**Why***italic text*​ do you think your solution will work.

**Why***italic text*​ would you keep going when no one else believes.

While it’s really exciting to daydream about running a company and posting a billion-dollar valuation after a short period, it’s not all petals of roses on that walkway. You must be ready to deal with the thorns to pick the flowers. The tech start-up scene has seen a lot of growth over the last year. A side effect of this magnitude of growth in any sphere is that a lot of people begin to see the glam and the basic principles (problem-solving in this case) that have caused that growth to begin to die off. I’m just a software developer with no experience running start-ups but I have been around start-ups and founders just enough to give this a lot of thought.

The bottom line, everyone with solutions to problems should be encouraged to put them out. A lot of the infrastructure to help is being built and built well too with hubs and accelerators being set up to aid founders. A scary thought is that the system begins to fall for what I like to call “the buzzword syndrome” with everyone jumping on ideas just because they seem cool.

Entrepreneurs need to keep in mind that building a company from scratch is difficult and every company needs to stand for something or it’ll fall for anything.

Michael Obi is a software developer that’s enthusiastic about community-driven growth.
He’s always looking to share and listen to ideas.
He currently works at [Crackle](http://crackle.ng/) Nigeria, an Abuja-based Software company.
Michael can be found [here](https://twitter.com/twisted_myk).

thumbnail_where is your startup.jpeg

where is your startup.jpeg

You’re a software developer. Where’s your start up?

I have worked with/tons of smart people over the years, and one thing that eventually happens is they see opportunities for business everywhere. The tough job of picking one idea aside, they are then faced with the reality (read as “almost impossible task”) of getting from the idea stage to the business dynasty they imagined it will become.

Most times they don’t.

Ideas typically start out as something that you stumble on, then it begins to nag you, and comes back to you even when you ignore or discard it. Sometimes, even others close to you will realize that you are the best person to solve a particular problem. Some other people might have even attempted to run with it, but you will feel personally insulted at the way they attempt to solve the problem.

[Google’s I/O 2017 video](https://youtu.be/BEtPCT7ZcE0) below is very visual about how ideas can work.

You once had an idea, right?

That’s why you’re reading — but that’s all it was an idea. The process of transforming an idea to a business can seem daunting if you don’t start.

#### The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now! — Chinese Proverb

All our lives we have been taught about business this way;
- get a brilliant idea
- work out a perfect 20+ page business plan
- find investors
- build business
- get rich (or die trying)

But building a business is hard — so hard that often, passion and talent are not enough, you have to be sure that there is a business in the first place before sinking your savings and your inheritance in a non-starter.

Here’s a more practical way to go about it;
- get a brilliant idea (to be done by you, typically in the shower)
- think of whose problem you’re solving — i.e. customers* (to be done by you alone or with a smart friend)
- talk to these people to confirm that you are solving the problem right (to be done outside your house with said people — never done alone)
- create an MVP — a small version** of what your solution will look like, offer customers and ask them to use and possibly pay (to be done alongside prayers and fasting)
- apply learnings and build product when you are certain your product fits the market (to be done by you and smart friend(s))
- please don’t die trying, accept failure, learn from it, and move on (to be done by you)

Do I imply that you throw caution to the wind and not plan? No. Please plan, but do not spend all month, or year, planning — there is no point in writing a business plan that is unusable or written on the premise of things your customers don’t need. So rather than write, act. Rather than postulate theories of what customers want, go out and interact with them.
[PS: Not sure how to approach customers? Read this.](https://medium.com/@fola/2ba04367ba08)

                                                                       ***************************

Notice that there is no direct mention of investors in this approach I suggest. That’s because investors are not there to help you start a business, they are there to help you grow it.

You once had an idea, now go build the business!

*Customers used very loosely here — is typically 1 or more different customer segments
**small version is relative — [read about MVP’s here](lhttp://scalemybusiness.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-minimum-viable-products/)

Drop a line in the comments or reach me [@folasanwo](https://twitter.com/folasanwo) on Twitter





small_A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

thumbnail_A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

You Once Had A Business Idea

According to a survey carried out by NetCraft, the number of websites on the internet has approached about one billion; while this is good for the information technology sphere, it is getting harder for startups, who are new entrants, to get visible in the already saturated space on the internet. To entice people to visit your site, you must have great content — and your information must be helpful enough to retain them. The best way to do this is by blogging. We’ll look at 5 reasons why blogging is great for your startup.

Customers like to believe they are closely knitted with founders, it gives them some form of confidence: writing articles and blog posts create a connection between the writer and the reader — therefore, while you build an amazing company, you should build an amazing blog too!

Let us journey through five benefits of blogging;

#### Blogging can interest investors
Venture Capitalists and Investors are constantly searching for potentially great businesses to invest in — aside from the fact that blogging helps give you a lead through search engine optimization, it gives the investors’ confidence in your startup when they see how much information and mastery you have in your industry.

#### It can help you build a customer community
Blogging will help you build a brand — a brand's customers will get attracted and glued to, and it will further heighten expectations about your product or service offerings. Once you have a community that seems ‘loyal’ to you, you rest assured of some form of followership.

#### It can define you as a thought leader
Customers are not only looking for products or services; they are also looking for information about your offerings. People will come to your blog because they are looking to find answers to their questions. You then become trusted and respected.

#### It can help you get that co-founder and employee
People with the skills you need are also on the lookout for founders who need their skills. Blogging helps to build a form of relationship between potential co-founders and employees before they begin to have detailed conversations about their potential engagements

#### It can generate organic traffic with content marketing
People will naturally tilt to your startup when they know that they would get relevant information on your blog. This is a sure way to build trust within a selected industry. Content marketing will help you draw in and retain traffic.

Some founders cannot write, or they are not dedicated and consistent enough to blogging — nevertheless, the benefits of getting a blog up as a start-up is tremendous. In fact, blogging is at the centre of all your digital marketing endeavours. Do you see why you should start a blog today?

Let’s get to work!

[Lamide](https://twitter.com/lamidejohnson)

large_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

medium_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

small_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

thumbnail_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

5 Reasons Why Blogging Is Great for Your Startup

I probably spend more than 90 percent of my time reviewing products and talking to startups. One of the things I find myself saying most often is: “your product needs to be 10x better than the closest alternative.” Okay, great, but is it ever that simple?

Do you have what it takes to build a product that’s ten times better than what currently exists? How do you even go about that? We can assume the products we use today were not built by idiots — they are often really smart people. So, building something exponentially better than its closest alternative requires a fundamentally different way of thinking. Elon Musk puts it [nicely](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3sBlRgzTI):

“I think it is important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is … we reason by analogy. We are doing this because it’s like something else that was done or it is like what other people are doing… it’s like slight iterations on a theme.”

According to Musk, First principles “is a physics way of looking at the world…what that really means is that you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there…that takes a lot more mental energy.”

When solving a problem, entrepreneurs often look at competing products or existing ways of doing things and try to make it all “better”, by adding features to what already exists. But this rarely leads to success. Those competitors can just as easily add those features, and there will be no real reason for users to even try your product. Worse still, you may come off looking like a clone with added features.

One way to get around this is to consider the outcome you want to achieve, and ask yourself, “How would I think about this problem if these existing products did not exist? How would I build this solution if nothing else was doing the ‘job’ before? What’s the best way to solve this problem without any preconceived ideas?” I‘d argue that the car was invented using the First principle thinking because an improvement to a cart is not the car — it’s a faster horse!

Rest assured, this is difficult and uncomfortable: our thinking processes are bound by convention and analogy to prior experiences. Those are safe. But often, the best way to solve a problem is not to improve on what exists, it is to create an entirely different (better) solution. And often, the largest rewards are reserved for those who solve the hardest problems.

large_ventures platform 10x.png

medium_ventures platform 10x.png

small_ventures platform 10x.png

thumbnail_ventures platform 10x.png

ventures platform 10x.png

## Eighteen days ago, @vplatformhub turned One!

While the party heads on the [VP team](http://venturesplatform.com/#meet-the-team) planned to stage a party to celebrate the journey so far, the sombre and more serious ones on the team prevailed. : — ) We didn’t have a party. What we did do instead was individually reflect and conclude that while we had come so far, there was more work to be done.

Since we commenced operations in 2016 a lot has happened. Earlier this year we graduated our first cohort of six companies, more on that here. Happy to say; [Jalo](http://www.jalo.com.ng/), [Mobile Forms](https://mobileforms.co/), [Wesabi](https://www.wesabi.com/), [Payconnect](http://www.payconnect.ng/), [Proteach ](https://proteach.ng/) and [Lizzies Creations](http://www.teseem.com/) are all kicking ass and taking names.

We also restructured the business; spinning off our co-working/co-living infrastructure operation — and essentially became a rent-paying tenant at Ventures Park. Additionally, we began laying the foundation to enable us to make more social impact and do non-profit work. All of this further helping us hyper-focus [Ventures Platform](lhttp://venturesplatform.com/) on funding and supporting early-stage companies.

More recently, on May 15th we commenced the second cycle of the Ventures Platform acceleration program with [six exciting companies](http://venturesplatform.com/2017/06/19/ventures-platform-begins-second-accelerator-cohort/) in the batch.
It is an amazing learning experience and we keep experimenting, remembering we are but a start-up, helping start-ups’.
. . .
### Here are some hacks we recently implemented.

1. To further support our alumni we began offering quarterly business review sessions that allow us to spend periodic time with alumni founders, review progress, play devil’s advocate or simply just catch up. 

2. We standardized reporting expectations from all current and alumni companies to ensure accountability and measure progress. We are in this for a “haul”.

3. We developed and shared with our founders a useful but simple start-up [corporate governance](https://www.slideshare.net/kola2gs/recommended-corporate-governance-accountability-framework-for-vp-companies) framework. Please share your comments below, we would love to hear what we have left out.
. . .

### We also learnt a few lessons.

- While there are legit reasons for employed people or entrepreneurs to pursue projects as side hustles, we have learnt for a fact that the ideal VP founding team need to be completely sold out to the idea and work full time on it.

- Getting all companies in a batch to grow at a similar pace towards a showcase like a demo day is not necessarily practical. Some ideas just take more time.

- Build a process and trust the process. In doing this we have since incorporated a very strict investment selection committee constituting of our investors, board and core team to make the final call on the selection of accelerator companies as well as outside accelerator investments.

- We also learnt to trust our instincts and that investing really is an art not much of a science.

- The chemistry and health of the founding team are superior to the idea.

- There are more people talking about investing / angel investing/startup investing and the likes — than there are people writing checks. Sad!
. . .

In the coming months, we look forward to learning and sharing more.
- 
Kola Aina

small_pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

thumbnail_pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

A note on Hacks & Lessons @ 1

## (Unit Economics)
Unit economics is extremely critical to the survival of any business. I will attempt to keep this as simple as I can. I hope it passes the “Moms test”.

One of the biggest lies startups can ever tell themselves is, “we will lose a little money on every customer, but we will make it up in volumes”, it’s as good as pouring more water into a leaking bucket hoping it would hold, cos now we have poured a lot of water into it. If you are losing money at a smaller stage, it amplifies when you are bigger if the holes are not fixed.

Unit economics is the method used to determine whether a business model can be successful or profitable. It looks at the direct revenues and costs associated with that revenue acquisition.

2 questions at the core of understanding unit economics are:

### i- How much does it cost to acquire a customer?
E.g. If Accounteer provides accounting services to companies on a subscription basis, let’s assume companies pay N10,000 annually for access to this service. Sounds good? But for them to get companies to pay N10,000, the companies need to have heard about them, so they do several ads on Facebook, Google, and maybe newspapers, they spent N250,000 doing all that. They got 20 companies from this exercise. In essence their CAC (customer acquisition cost) is N250,000/20 customers =N12,500.

### ii- How much is a customer worth?
Here, there is a concept called LTV (lifetime value), simply put, it means how much you can make from that customer over the lifetime of their relationship with your product.

Bullshit Alert: Startups are usually quick to say the customer is going to use their product forever. That’s not true, as there would be competing options, the company might go out of business, or they build the same solution internally the list goes on and on.

So let’s assume each customer stays for 2 years here. So you make N10,000(annual subscription fee) x 2years= N20,000, whereas you spent N12,500 to acquire them. So in an actual sense, you are making N7,500 from the customer.

This is a simple way to understand Unit Economics. As long as the customer gives you more money than what you spent on getting that customer, you have a deal (LTV > CAC). If your CAC is higher than your LTV, that’s a death alert. You need to stop whatever you are doing and head for your war room and figure out a way to acquiring customers for cheaper or maybe charge customers more (this works if customers really want your product) or both.

General advice, you should be making at least 3 times what it cost you to acquire a customer.


medium_pound-iso-color.png

small_pound-iso-color.png

thumbnail_pound-iso-color.png

pound-iso-color.png

How to think through your Business

### In 2016, we had lots of fun and got some stuff done. Some stats;
- 3850 cups of coffee
- 755 Visitors
- 204 Start-up founders
- 103 Co-workers
- 63 office hour sessions
- 12 Techpreneurship events
- 7 Incubated companies

### VP Hybrid-Incubation Program
On June 3rd 2016, Ventures Platform Hub was officially opened by the Honourable Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, with a mission to *“become the most ideal community in Africa for nurturing disruptive and financially sustainable technology ventures that also have a social impact” *— long for “becoming the most awesome start-up Launchpad.”

The incubation team immediately swung to action and opened the applications for the first cohort #VPHub1. Combing through well-over 500 applications from across Africa was interesting. After 2 application stages, including video pitches, final interviews were held in Lagos and Abuja.

- 7 start-ups were selected for Cohort 1: Jalo, Lizzie’s Creations, Mobile Forms Africa, PayConnect, ProTeach, Wesabi, DriversNG.

- The program officially started on the 19th of September 2016. During the program, we provided work & living space, invested in, coached, shared with, challenged and stressed the hell out of the very incredible founders in Cohort1. We also learnt a lot from them to make the program better.

- We were very fortunate to have 20 amazing mentors and 5 advisors be an integral part of the program, sacrificing their scarce time to support the founders. We owe our mentors and advisors everything; they are the true MVPs!

- As of today, all our start-ups have shown healthy traction and are making good revenues. 2 of the 7 startups have gained international recognition, representing Nigeria in SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator in Finland (PayConnect) and at the African Entrepreneurship Awards in Morocco (Wesabi). Together, our start-ups have now cumulatively reached 8,756 new customers and counting.

### VP In the ecosystem.
Between working with our 7 companies, we also found some time to do good in the ecosystem.

- Working with SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator (Europe’s leading start-up and technology event) was a fantastic experience culminating in one of our incubated companies — Payconnect and Adaeze Sokan of Ventures Platform representing Nigeria in Helsinki, Finland.

- We hosted the Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD) boot camp. This was an interesting one!

- An august-visitor, Michael Seibel — CEO of Y Combinator, came calling while on his international tour and held office hours at VP for the startup community in Abuja and beyond. Michael was gracious enough to share their experiences at YC.

- We collaborated with the American Embassy in hosting a round table discussion with selected entrepreneurs during the visit of Macon Philips — Coordinator of the United States Department of State, Bureau of International Information. Macon is the former White House Director of New Media and worked on digital strategy for the Obama campaign.

- Techpoint embarked on their Innovation tour engaging with the startup community in North Central Nigeria and made a stop at VPHub for a few days, complete with a super-cool tour bus.

- VP Office Hours was opened for entrepreneurs to get free business advice from our pool of business experts, with over 60 startups getting help in 2016.

- We began working with Microsoft to foster a vibrant developer community in Abuja. We met regularly at the hub to share ideas, opportunities, engage and hang out in an informal setting, tagged: “Developers Hangout.”

We kick-started an Early-stage/ Angel Investor Meet Up series in Abuja/Northcentral Regional and had the pleasure of Mr Adedotun Sulaiman, Mr Kyari Bukar, Lexi Novitske, Yemi Keri and Bankole Oloruntoba at the first edition as speakers.

### You made it possible.
Looking back now, one realises that none of the baby steps we took this year would have been possible without the support of so many people like; [Micheal Sibel](https://twitter.com/mwseibel?lang=en), [YCobminator](http://www.ycombinator.com/), the [SLUSH team](http://slush.org/), The United States Embassy, [Macon Philips](https://twitter.com/iipcoordinator), Microsoft, [The office of the Vice President of Nigeria — Prof. Yemi Osinbajo](https://twitter.com/ProfOsinbajo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), [The Honourable Minister of Communications Technology — Barrister Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu](https://twitter.com/hmadebayoshittu), [Starta](https://twitter.com/startahq), [MEST](lhttps://twitter.com/mestafrica?lang=en), YALI, June, Longe Practice, [SLA](https://twitter.com/SheLeadsAfrica?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), [OO Nwoye](http://oonwoye.com/), Danjuma Enebi, Victor Ehikhamenor, Bunmi Okunowo, Afolabi Imoukhuede, Wole Olabanji, [Techpoint](https://twitter.com/techpointdotng?lang=en), Techcabal, Techloy, all our partners, service providers, investors, co-workers, founders, mentors, advisors, friends, family, the EP Team, the VP Team and most importantly You!

Thank you for making 2016 awesome!

### 2017 & beyond.
In closing, we are happy to announce that we will be hosting our first Demo Day on the 27th of January 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Spaces are limited, but if you would like to join us as an investor or learn more about the startups to be featured, please drop us a line at demoday@venturesplatform.com.
Applications for cohort2 will also open in January 2017, so keep an eye out on our website.
If you haven’t visited Ventures Park yet, please do so in 2017. till then, you can take a virtual tour by clicking here.
Know how we can be better? Please drop us a line at feedback@venturesplatform.com.

May you take flight in 2017!

Thanks to you; 2016 was awesome!

For most SaaS company founders, the ability to source, retain new clients, and increase the spending of current customers is essential to success. Every month companies gain and lose customers — this is a natural part of the business growth process. For early-stage companies, Churn has make-or-break effects and is an active part of the SaaS experience. However, losing more clients than you gain can signal an inferior product or an inability to define your target market. Founders, particularly at the early stages, need to be obsessed with acquiring and retaining customers.


When looking into churn, SaaS companies may have to peer a little deeper than the simple churn calculation covered in our last edition of Series V. Founders can look at churn from a subscription, revenue, and customer perspective. From the customer angle, look at the customers who leave your product or cancel their subscription entirely. The loss of 5 customers might seem inconsequential, but for B2B SaaS companies, those customers might be your most significant contracts, and that loss in revenue can damage your company. Keeping track of your customer churn can help you better understand revenue changes.

You are trying to determine the percentage of customers who move from one subscription level to another from the subscription level. Understanding why customers upgrade or downgrade their subscription plans can help you understand the value of more expensive subscription plans compared to more affordable options. You want to look at the revenue lost from users switching subscription levels or cancelling their subscriptions from the revenue perspective. These factors work in tandem to give you a clearer picture of how customers react to your product. For example, your company could lose 50% of its customers and not lose any significant revenue. This could be tied to subscription level shifts or free user declines. Looking at customer loss without nuance might cloud your judgment and force you to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

Regardless of how well your company tracks churn, the real work requires using the data gathered to create products users love and reducing churn. Here are some ways you can reduce churn for your SaaS startup:

**Product updates**: Always be talking to your customers, you can’t provide a solution to every customer problem, but you can focus on the issues users care about. If a sizable number of customers face a problem your company can solve, consider adding this feature to your update pipeline. If the benefits of adding this feature to the product outweigh the development costs, then it is a worthwhile endeavour. By consistently listening to your users and meeting their requests, you can create an exceptional product.

**Review supporting factors:** If your customer base is diverse, look into the unique characteristics that promote churn for each group. Do customers in a specific industry, vertical, or country have a higher churn tendency? If a pattern is forming, look into product modifications that can improve their experience and secure continued use for users in that segment.

**Long-term partnerships**: Most SaaS companies work with clients through a monthly payment agreement. Another option would be to secure long-term contracts ranging from 6 -18 months. In this time frame, the companies that take advantage of this offer will get familiar with your product and incorporate it into their operations. This familiarity with your product will reduce the likelihood of churn.

**‘Sticky” Factor**: Build features around user needs that can become a part of their everyday process. Once your product becomes an integral part of a client’s operations, you can achieve “stickiness”. The more embedded your product is in your client’s operations, the less likely they will leave your product. Always aim to make the switching cost from your product high.

**Best foot forward**: Working with corporate clients takes skill. If you have a customer about to churn, having your best representative manage conversations with this client might be valuable. Having an expert manage and maintain high-value partnerships can go a long way.

**Survivor Bias**: Survivor Bias in this context is the misconception that you should only focus on and learn from the customers that continue to use your product. But there is a lot to learn from the customers you lost along the way. The issues that forced those customers to leave might be you need to solve to ensure future customers remain satisfied. Consider creating a list of customers and compare their activity today from a year ago. Were there any changes in user behaviour before they stopped using your service? Taking into their fluctuations might give a more accurate picture of how users interact with your product. You might also benefit from surveying this group to find out what issues they faced.

Churn is inevitable, but the goal is to get to a point where your customer base is growing faster than it’s churning. Managing churn for your company takes time, effort, and a user-focused approach. If you focus on improving your product and customer satisfaction, you can reduce your churn rates.

Series V will continue to cover how churn impacts other business types and relevant topics to support founders on their entrepreneurial journey.

Unpacking SaaS Churn