This first episode of Launch to Seed, a monthly fireside chat with trailblazing tech startup founders in Africa, hosted live on Twitter Spaces, features an entrepreneurial powerhouse who, along with her two co-founders, beat the odds to launch a highly successful entrepreneurial venture in the midst of a global pandemic. Chioma Okotcha, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Payhippo, shares the startup’s origin story – from sending hundreds of unanswered, fruitless emails pitches in search of early funding to enjoying exponential growth today. Payhippo provides loans to small businesses in Africa in under 3 hours. The fintech startup launched in 2019, was selected for Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 batch and has since raised $4 million in two rounds of early-stage capital. The team has gone from three to 23 employees, growing the business to over $100,000 in monthly revenues. Chioma shares the fundamentals every startup should have in place from the outset as well as strategies for getting around stumbling blocks.Enjoy this lively conversation packed with practical guidance (choose the right team) and actionable advice (build a credible business case) for all those who aspire to the adventure of a lifetime: launching a startup venture.  

KEY QUOTES: “I started two businesses that failed – a stationery business and a beauty business – and the biggest lessons from that were about timing and partners. Who are you starting your business with and when?”“I had tons of friends with businesses and usually their issues were always around scale  and access to capital.”“(Co-founder Zach Bijesse) and I were aligned on what the vision was and what we wanted to do, starting in Nigeria.”“Having a co-founder is one of the best things you can do because your skills and the way that you work hopefully complement each other.”“It’s very helpful to be on the same page on your values and what you’re trying to build. That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to disagree or go in different directions at some point, but at least your foundation is solid.”“It’s very important not to spend a lot of time thinking about the reasons (something) wouldn’t work and instead actually starting and seeing if you have a viable product.”“In setting goals we tried to be conservative but also bold in what we wanted to achieve.”“You have to be clear around what your raise is about. It’s not just raising money randomly.”“What our technology does is really drill down into assessing a business and its capacity to handle cash … We are careful only to give capital that you can repay.”“(Payhippo’s) growth in the early stages was just completely organic…just building 25% every month.”“(The COO) is like the heartbeat of the company, so everything from finance to legal to HR to tech to product design, product management/development, fundraising and … taking care of the team.”“What helps (build entrepreneurial success) is your adaptability and being able to be flexible and bend around challenges without breaking.”“It can be very heartbreaking, but (raising funds) is all part of the process.”“We are working constantly, around-the-clock to build out this tech and make sure that it matches up and holds up to scale.”

FURTHER RESOURCES:www.payhippo.ngwww.firstcheck.africahttps://techcrunch.com/2021/11/03/nigerias-lender-payhippo-raises-3-million-in-seed-funding-to-extend-quick-loans-to-smes/https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/exclusive-nigerian-lending-startup-payhippo-joins-y-combinator-summer-2021/nc8wlrzhttps://techcabal.com/2021/07/02/payhippo-raises-1-million-pre-seed-to-improve-access-to-funding-for-smes-in-africa/