A weekly show where we discuss macro trends that affect the building of tech products and businesses. Also bringing on guest founders to share their expertise o...
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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46:51
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.
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54:21
The SA Startup That Is Saving 5 Lives A Day | Warren Myers | Aura
A fascinating episode about a Startup that is saving 5 lives a day with its emergency app. The scary stat is that it is quicker to order a pizza through a food delivery app than it is to get a policemen to your house.
00:00 BI78 | Warren Meyers | A ura
02:13 What is Aura and why start it?
04:01 Why is there a lack of innovation in policing
11:31 Creating a path and building a moat
16:47 Building for governments and expanding to UK
22:52 Managing supply and demand of a marketplace
26:10 How founders should plan their burn rate
30:57 How about this as a success metric!!!
36:07 Future of emergency detection
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54:18
Can Electric Mini-busses Work In South Africa | Justin Coetzee | GoMetro
Solving South Africa's transport issues is hard and complex. But with many years building GoMetro, founder Justin Coetzee is helping bring EV Mini-bus taxis to South Africa.
Justin shares his fascinating story about how leveraging data is helping make our complex network more efficient and helping lay the case for the move towards EV's.
Listen to the full episode to learn about 5 business ideas for asiring founders looking to get into the EV business.
00:00 Justin | Go Metro
03:22 Where GoMetro started - the common problem in SA
08:31 How South Africa is a pioneer in informal to formal transport systems
15:09 How to convince people when you are disrupting
17:42 Breaking into the international market
20:30 Where to start when planning to go international
22:53 Bringing EV's to SA
33:10 Specs of the EV Van
39:04 Managing the unit ecnomics of a single EV minibus taxi
42:29 Working with taxi associations
46:21 What the future has in store
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49:21
How To Get Funded And Build A Sales Management Platform | Sam Clarke | Skynamo
An interesting story about Skynamo, a sales management platform being built out of Stellenboch. They had to make huge decisions after receiving $32million funding just before Covid as they were rolling their expansion into the US and UK.
The Open Letter Team:
theopenletter.io
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobby-sequeira/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renier-kriel/
Guest links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-clarke-19900b4/
A weekly show where we discuss macro trends that affect the building of tech products and businesses. Also bringing on guest founders to share their expertise on how they would overcome challenges and take build on opportunities.
South Africa