The Problem We Were Actually Solving
As a solo founder and engineer, I wanted to create an e-commerce platform that made it easy for Nigerian artists to sell music beats online. What I quickly realized, however, was that this was not just a technical problem, but also a platform one. In Nigeria, many of these artists didn't have bank accounts, so the traditional platforms that relied on bank transfer or PayPal to facilitate payments were not an option. Furthermore, since many of these platforms relied on Stripe for payment processing, and Stripe did not support most Nigerian banks, we were left without many viable options.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
In the beginning, I tried working with some Nigerian payment gateways that integrated with Stripe, hoping that it would solve our problem. The initial results were dismal - these gateways had high fees, poor documentation, and unreliable payment processing. I spent countless hours debugging payment issues that seemed to arise out of nowhere. For example, I remember one case where a customer paid for a music beat, but the payment failed because the payment gateway did not correctly handle bank transfers.
The Architecture Decision
After those failed attempts, I decided to take a step back and reevaluate our architecture. I started researching alternative payment systems that could work in Nigeria, including mobile money systems like Paga, Moniepoint, and Flutterwave, which offered a wider range of payment methods that didn't rely on bank accounts. I also realized that we needed a payment processor that could work seamlessly with these mobile money systems. After weeks of research and discussions with potential vendors, I finally settled on a payment processor that supported all these mobile money systems and had a low fee structure.
What The Numbers Said After
The change in architecture had a significant impact on our business. Since we started supporting mobile money systems, we saw a 300% increase in orders within a month, and our monthly revenue (MRR) grew to a point where it covered all our overhead costs, including development and marketing expenses. Our churn rate also decreased, as customers were able to easily purchase music beats online.
What I Would Do Differently
Looking back, I realize that I put too much emphasis on integrating with traditional platforms in the beginning. What I should have done was research alternative payment systems and processors from the start. In hindsight, I also should have tested our payment processor more thoroughly before launching, to avoid issues like the one I encountered with the failed bank transfer.
Despite the challenges, our decision to move away from traditional platforms paid off in the long run. By embracing mobile money systems, we were able to tap into a previously untapped market and grow our business.
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