Fireside Chat with Shola Akinlade, Founder of Paystack | #AFTSNBO24

Overview: “Maker” Mindset and Entrepreneurship

Shola Akinlade (co-founder/CEO of Paystack) describes his path as a “maker” and builder rather than a conventional entrepreneur. He began with design/web work and approached entrepreneurship as creating something beautiful or remarkable, not achieving perfection from day one. He also emphasizes that the hardest early step is simply getting going.

The Realities of Entrepreneurship

He highlights two major challenges:

• Loneliness / constant churn: As the business moves fast and serves new customers, relationships and networks constantly shift, making it hard to “keep” the same community over time.
• Talent and delegation: Finding the right people and deciding what to do personally versus delegating is difficult, with no simple delegation guide.

What He Sees as the Best Part: Driving Impact

Akinlade frames the best part of the journey as driving change and seeing impact. He points to Paystack’s growth, including:

• Y Combinator acceptance, despite early skepticism about the market size for card payments in Nigeria.
• A major increase in card-payment activity compared to 2016.

He also notes that Africa still has persistent, large-scale problems—specifically that Africa has a large population share but a smaller share of digital commerce—which represents ongoing opportunity for builders.

Fundraising and Pitching: Counterintuitive Advice

On fundraising and pitching, he offers several key points:

• Founders should focus on building a great business. Investors’ job is to invest in those businesses.
• The story matters, but it must explain what is truly “remarkable” and why the company can win—especially compared to other businesses in the same category.
• Paystack’s investor pitch framework included:
  • Payments are broken in Africa.
  • The team can fix it due to prior bank/software experience.
  • Early traction already existed (e.g., an MVP with hundreds of users), strengthening the investment case.

For growth and acquisition, he describes momentum as a snowball effect: YC acceptance and early fundraising created increasing leverage, which ultimately led to an acquisition.

Acquisition Experience and Key Milestones

He says the acquisition felt initially anticlimactic and ordinary compared to earlier milestones. However, his most memorable breakthrough was receiving the YC call, followed by a rapid fundraising sequence that accelerated Paystack’s trajectory.

Advice for Investors and the Ecosystem

He recommends that investors take Africa seriously by prioritizing:

• Commitment
• Resilience
• Persistence
• Clarity

He also stresses support without taking over: investors may sometimes want to run the company, but he argues the company should remain guided by the founder’s vision and execution—investors should support rather than be overly intrusive.

He extends this to the broader ecosystem as well: people with influence and resources (e.g., banks, schools, prior employers) should help promising builders who are heading in the right direction.

First Paycheck and Personal Notes

When asked about his first paycheck, he says he gave it to his parents (with their support continuing). After the acquisition, he bought more premium sneakers from a Nike store.

Presenters or Contributors

• Shola Akinlade (Founder of Paystack)
• Interviewer / host (not named in subtitles)