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The Founder Roundup
Offline record keeping, student study suite, & Nigerian streaming service
Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! A big thank you and welcome to all our new subscribers. If you haven’t reached out and introduced yourself yet, please do! I’d love to meet you.
– Luke
"In the world of startups, it's not about having a perfect plan; it's about being able to pivot, adapt, and learn from your mistakes."
On the latest episode of the Backseat Startup Podcast, I had Brett Calhoun, Managing Director & Partner at Scale Capital, on the show. A user asked for advice as they head into fundraising mode. Brett and I gave our thoughts and discussed the importance of relationship building in fundraising.
Our friend Justin Gordon at Vitalize VC writes a fantastic newsletter breaking down how legendary founders built their businesses. Hit the link below to subscribe!
Kunle Odebunmi of Luca
“Through a previous venture where we deployed solar solutions for working classes and small businesses, we discovered that when we asked for basic information such as a bank statement or business record, small business owners were not able to produce them. Some small businesses [in Nigeria] didn’t have any form of record at all, so we were not able to deploy solutions to them. This highlighted a severe need: small businesses need a tangible solution to keep relevant records to make decisive decisions and scale.”
Through Luca's powerful offline-first mobile platform, small business owners are able to promptly record sales, analyze profits and expenses, manage customers and inventories, and issue invoices. Luca puts the ease of digital management in the business owner’s hands.
The offline application tracks the data, similar to how we use Excel, and then once the business owner connects to wifi the information transfers into Luca’s digital system for tracking and analysis. This is an important feature for business owners in Nigeria because internet access is expensive to access 24/7. Through working offline, Luca saves business owners money and still allows the benefits of digital tracking once the information is synced.
Luca has rapidly scaled to 16,000 clients by leveraging a freemium model. They are currently working through the Techstars Detroit Accelerator program to catalyze future growth.
Alex Kerr of Kumo Study
Alex Kerr was working towards her degree at university when COVID hit. As classes moved online, she realized that there weren’t many resources out there to help students with ADHD stay focused in an asynchronous world.
“That’s when I really looked around to see if there were any technologies that could help me to stay focused and organized while I studied. An idea had been in my mind for a while, and then came to life because I found out that others had this same problem: a need for a tool that streamlines the whole research and study process. That’s when the first stage of ideation and customer interviews gave life to Kumo Study.”
Kumo Study is a student-centric platform that harnesses the power of technology to streamline all processes associated with studying, researching and writing.
The education product is in the form of a chrome plug-in, through which users can easily create folders to save notes, citations, and bookmarking relevant websites. Students can manage citations, easily identify where citations go within the body of a paper, and notate within relevant articles quickly and easily.
The chrome plug-in is free for students to use - just sign up, download the plug-in and you’re good to go.
The current MVP is simple, but as more users provide feedback on what works, what doesn’t, and what they want, Alex plans to build out features to fit her market. Soon, users will be able to cite and annotate within PDF files, ZOOM meetings, and much more.
Roy Amoo of Azure Voice
Music streaming service, Azure Voice, is making waves in the African music industry by helping artists manage their intellectual properties and maximize their royalties.
Azure Voice is the first music administrator in Nigeria that provides a comprehensive catalog to music creators and other music users. Their website offers unlimited streaming of music in audio and video formats across all genres and playlists.
Since there are very few music metadata companies in Africa, Azure Voice is among pioneers in this space. The solution is the offerings Azure Voice provides, which break down barriers and open doors to opportunities previously untapped.
Participate in a Founder Focus Group: If you’re a founder who has raised or plans to raise VC money, we’d like to hear what your experience was like. Fill out this form to sign up.
From our friends at Resolute Future: Welcome to Entrepreneur Ecosystem - where founders can connect with mentors, and resources designed to help you build and scale your business. With access to software, professional services, finance, marketing & development resources, our ecosystem is the perfect place to connect with like-minded individuals and turn your ideas into a reality.
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