Solving Crime In SA With WhatsApp - Creating A Crowdsourcing Platform
In this episode of How Would You Build It, we meet Mike Houghton and Nick Mills, the co-founders behind a bold new startup using crowdsourcing, data, and AI to tackle one of South Africa’s most pressing issues — crime.What started with leveraging the network effects of WhatsApp has now turned into a fast-growing platform backed by $500K in funding. They share how they’re collecting insights from communities, how AI is helping them build faster, and how they’re thinking about fundraising, speed, and scale.00:00 Intro01:00 Community Wolf founder story04:59 What is Community Wolf11:00 Tackling crime & safety in SA12:45 Data as a business model18:07 Building with AI27:27 Building in WhatsApp33:24 Area-based networks43:19 Marketing hacks49:31 Building for seed funding
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5 Secrets Behind Startup Success | Louis Buys | The Delta
Why do some startups thrive while others fizzle out?In this episode of How Would You Build It, we sit down with Louis Buys, CEO of The Delta, one of Africa’s leading venture studios, to explore what really makes early-stage startups succeed. With years of experience incubating and scaling over 100 ventures, Louis shares 5 hard-earned lessons that every founder should hear — from building culture to market sizing and the underestimated power of young founders.Louis has shared stages at Startup Grind Cape Town and AfricArena Berlin, helping shape the future of African and European startup ecosystems.👉 Join our founder collab👉 Subscribe to The Open Letter👉 More at HowWouldYouBuildIt.comTimestamos00:00 Louis- The Delta05:29 Moulding young founders14:08 How the Delta successfully paved the way for startups in SA 29:21 Growing in SA32:26 TAM40:49 Impact of AI in the venture space44:53 Building outside of SA46:47 The Delta Campus
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2 Powerhouses Combine To Help Shape The Next Gen Of Startups In SA | NextOrbit
Next176 & Byte Orbit have joined forces to groom the next generation of startups in South Africa. They have started a joint venture, bringing their unique skill sets to create an ecosystem to help startups take their concepts from ideas to businesses.
Listen to the episode to hear more about the story and how they plan to go about grooming founders and startups for success.
The Open Letter Team:
https://www.theopenletter.io
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobby-sequeira/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renier-kriel/
Guest Links:
https://byteorbit.com/
https://www.next176.com/
00:00 Introduction
05:22 Next Orbit
10:15 How Byte stopped building products people didn't use
13:22 Building for corporate
30:59 Focus areas for aspiring founders
32:32 What does Om and Next look for in a success story
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Building A Market By Providing Connectivity | Calvin and Wes | Sebenza Wi-Fi
There is a move towards connecting more people to the internet. We see it with the likes of Starlink and their move to make the internet accessible around the world. In South Africa, there is a massive need to get more people connecte. And without Starlink available, there are a number of providers who are looking to achieve this while learning about the local market and the user's behaviours.
Sebenza Wi-Fi is a South African startup that provides free wi-fi to commuters using mini-bus taxis. This solves several pain points across the industry. And for them, they get to activate thousands of people and brands utilising their marketplace. 00:00 Intro
02:48 Sebenza elivator pitch
04:26 How to identify and pursue opportunities
07:44 How to unlock the untapped market
11:24 How the first mover creates trust
20:26 Getting B2B sales for your marketplace
22:21 Managing your data
25:09 What does the future look like for future internet connections with Starlink
31:19 Growing your team as you scale
36:09 How to go about building the tech for your startup
41:31 Lightning round
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5 Principles for Startup Founders | Alan Knott-Craig | Fibretime & Mxit
Former CEO of Mxit joins us to share is journey of success and failures.
He shares principles he has learnt along the way as embarks on his latest venture, Fibretime.
A weekly show where we bring you founders, builders and innovators to share their expertise on how they would overcome challenges and build products and tech businesses.
South Africa