Y Combinator
Y Combinator
Y Combinator
#98 - Shola Akinlade
56 minutes Posted Oct 16, 2018 at 2:00 am.
What is Paystack?01:06 - Shola's background and previous company4:26 - Paystack's YC application6:01 - Meeting his cofounder7:26 - Interviewing at YC10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US13:26 - Nigeria's payments market15:56 - Paystack's growth19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring25:26 - The best part of doing YC29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?30:56 - Educating US investors32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?35:21 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack?37:46 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack?39:56 - Building for Africa42:16 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria?42:46 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company?44:06 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack?44:41 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design?48:41 - Shola's outlook50:36 - What he misses about life before Paystack52:51 - Paystack in five years54:16 - Music recommendations
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Shola Akinlade is CEO and cofounder of Paystack. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch.Shola’s on Twitter @shollsman.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:26 - What is Paystack?01:06 - Shola's background and previous company4:26 - Paystack's YC application6:01 - Meeting his cofounder7:26 - Interviewing at YC10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US13:26 - Nigeria's payments market15:56 - Paystack's growth19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring25:26 - The best part of doing YC29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?30:56 - Educating US investors32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?35:21 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack?37:46 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack?39:56 - Building for Africa42:16 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria?42:46 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company?44:06 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack?44:41 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design?48:41 - Shola's outlook50:36 - What he misses about life before Paystack52:51 - Paystack in five years54:16 - Music recommendations