#98 - Shola Akinlade

About this episode

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/shollsman">Shola Akinlade</a> is CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://paystack.com/">Paystack</a>. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch.<br><br>Shola’s on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/shollsman">@shollsman</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br><br></b>00:26 - What is Paystack?<br><br>01:06 - Shola's background and previous company<br><br>4:26 - Paystack's YC application<br><br>6:01 - Meeting his cofounder<br><br>7:26 - Interviewing at YC<br><br>10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company<br><br>10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US<br><br>13:26 - Nigeria's payments market<br><br>15:56 - Paystack's growth<br><br>19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring<br><br>25:26 - The best part of doing YC<br><br>29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa<br><br>30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?<br><br>30:56 - Educating US investors<br><br>32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?<br><br>33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?<br><br>35:21 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack?<br><br>37:46 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack?<br><br>39:56 - Building for Africa<br><br>42:16 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria?<br><br>42:46 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company?<br><br>44:06 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack?<br><br>44:41 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design?<br><br>48:41 - Shola's outlook<br><br>50:36 - What he misses about life before Paystack<br><br>52:51 - Paystack in five years<br><br>54:16 - Music recommendations</p>