What You Will Learn in This Post I will share hard numbers, actual decisions, and strategic reasoning with you so you can learn from what my cofounders and I did and see that it is OK to take risks where you don’t know for sure if something is going to work out. I will not discuss the unique operating decisions or industry dynamics because they are not important to embrace the spirit of our experience so that you may be encouraged to go boldly to build your vision. You will
Last week, Stripe announced it had purchased the Nigerian startup, Paystack for an estimated 200 million dollars. Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, Paystack is a platform designed to deliver a safe, convenient, and modern payment experience for customers and merchants in Africa. Background The idea for Paystack was born when Akinlade built a simple way of integrating a card transaction into a website. It was the simplicity of how it worked that propelled him and Olubi to think about developing it into a platform for others.
Five weeks ago I joined Brandwatch as their first-ever VP of Global Community and Belonging. The night before my first day I had the first-day jitters and tossed and turned in bed. The following thoughts ran circles around my mind, “What if my performance doesn’t live up to the expectations set in the recruitment process? What if important stakeholders are directly opposed to my views and approach?” And of course that age-old anxiety inducer: “What if I got it all wrong in the interviews and I just don’t vibe with
Subscribe to the Techish Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And Other Platforms. This episode of Techish is a career special: Abadesi and Michael discuss: Should I have a side hustle? I want to become a product designer but do I need to know how to code? My boss is bothering me now that we are remote! Extras: Techish on Patreon: Advertise with Techish: Please rate and review the Techish podcast
Subscribe to the Techish Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And Other Platforms. Episode Content: In this weeks Techish Abadesi and Michael discuss key chapters in Arlan’s brand new book Its About Damn Time. 💰 Turning yourself into money🙋🏾♀️ Writing your own invitation 🤔 Curiosity is king Pre-order your copy of Arlans amazing new book Extras: Techish on Patreon: Advertise with Techish: Please rate and review the Techish podcast
In the decade I’ve worked in the tech industry I’ve come to learn how common lay-offs are. In 2012 when I was a manager at Groupon, I had to lay off teammates I had hired after the share price slumped post-IPO. When I was a manager at HotelTonight in 2015, I watched as some of my fave teammates were laid off to cut costs after the founders tried and failed to raise another round of funding. Just last week I joined the millions of professionals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
Last summer I gathered over a dozen womxn of color startup founders and small business owners to connect in Seattle, Washington. We shared our backgrounds, experiences, expertise, challenges and successes as a collective given the historical and systematic exclusion in the business ecosystem. We bonded on our common experience of being ‘the only’, steadily pioneering our own industries. We would have never thought that six months later the world would be facing a global health crisis and we’d be scrambling to secure funding to survive. On average, womxn of color
What I love about the tech design community, is that we are so invested in our collective growth. I find myself constantly looking to network, collaborate with, and learn from other designers in the field. The following list is a collection of some of the Black Designers across the diaspora who are creating stunning experiences, invaluable products, but most importantly, long-lasting communities. 1. Mariam Braimah @ Netflix Design Team Mariam is a Product Designer at Netflix. She also founded the Kimoyo Fellowship, which is a design program teaching the skills required to become an
This post first appeared on Elpha, a community for women in tech to talk candidly online” If you’re a woman (particularly a woman of color) in tech, you’ve probably felt it. That feeling that you’re the “only one” in the room. The feeling that you don’t belong, that you need to prove yourself, that you’re alone. According to a study by Leanin.org and McKinsey & Company, one in five women report being one of the only women in the room. In senior leadership, this is twice as common: 40% of women are the only
Arlan Hamilton — founder and managing partner at Backstage Capital — summarized best why investing in Black Female Founders (BFF) isn’t just important, but could produce high yields: “Less than 0.2 percent of all early-stage venture funding goes to Black women, while we make up approximately 8 per cent of the U.S. population and are one of the fastest-growing entrepreneur segments in the country,” Arlan wrote. “It is my firm belief that because Black women have had to make do with far less for centuries, equipping them with early-stage capital that is
