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Startup Launchcode

Growth Strategies to Scale Up Your Tech Business Using Lessons from Film Anatomie
Abiola Bonuola
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Insights from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria show that Nigeria’s movie production company, Nollywood, grossed over N800,000,000 (eight hundred million Naira) from theatre releases in 2022. Only a few decades ago, the industry was not as lucrative as it is today, due to factors like poor production output, and piracy. 

However, technological intervention in the production process has made Nollywood movies more appealing to a global audience. As such, through improved movie distribution channels, viewers can now access Nigerian movies in cinemas as well as on international movie streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Showmax.  

Cinematographer, Chuks Oteke, once shared the frustrations he experienced with his work some years back. According to him, clients constantly blamed him for poor movie output after he edited the shots he received from them. He tried to explain to them that the poor clips he received from them were the major factor contributing to the post-production output delivered.

In a quest to address this constant feedback and restore his reputation, he decided to carry out some research while working as a camera operator across various film sets. Chuks soon discovered that the use of poor production equipment was the cause of the problem. He explored building his own equipment as purchasing new ones was quite expensive. For him, the need to have the right camera angles, light, and much more to get the required shots birthed Film Anatomie. His curiosity and ability to improvise saw him create technologies needed by many movie producers in the country.

Although Chuks had a great solution to offer the largest movie production industry in the world (in terms of output), his business had a setback like many African startups; there was a need to reach the right customers and drive profit. 

Common among many business founders and owners, it is easy to get excited about owning a business of your own or founding the next big thing that will happen to humanity. However, it is important to note that it is one thing to develop great products or services, and another thing to be able to reach the right target market, drive sales and scale your business. 

Here is the good news; using an effective growth strategy, the business reached over 250,000 filmmakers and directors, generated 127 qualified leads, and recorded a 400% return on ad spend in only 90 days. 

How did they make this happen? Here are a few things tech founders can adopt from Film Anatomie’s growth strategy and Startup LaunchCode’s work on the business.

  1. Identify the ideal customer for your product or service and create personas for each of them.
  1.  Assess and optimize your online presence and footprint. Film Anatomie’s website was rebranded to improve the perception of the brand in the marketplace they were looking to engage.
  1.  Map out your customer journey, identify the touchpoints the ideal customer would go through in engaging with your brand, the key activities at each stage, and assign KPIs that your team would track.
  1.  Develop a content plan that would engage and nurture the prospect and move them further down the customer journey.
  1. Create a growth plan to monitor business activities. This can be for an average of 90 days.
  1. Consider launching an omnichannel campaign to reach the identified target market of your business.
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How Startups Can Adopt The Right Strategies To Reach Their Target Audience
Abiola Bonuola
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Africa has continued to record a rise in the number of new tech startups in the ecosystem. Based on an opinion piece on Business Day, this wave is not one that will fade off soon as more tech-driven solutions will be developed to solve problems peculiar to this region of the world.

More businesses are springing up and new products are being launched however, a major challenge faced by African tech business owners and teams is reaching and sustaining the right customer.

From my experience with helping tech businesses scale across Africa, I have come to realize that one of the problems with startups is that they build for investors over building for the user. While it is good to consider the investor when developing your product, relying solely on satisfying them is not a sustainable business model. Sustainable businesses are built by putting the customer first. So how is this done?

One of the most important questions to answer when developing a product is “Who is the customer?” This is important to consider before talking about investor funds.

Tech business owners need to understand that their business is not for everybody. You identify your ideal customer by using these criteria; they must have a problem (this is the business opportunity), they must want a solution, and they must be willing to pay for it.

While it is good to acquire users who have a problem and are in need of a solution, if they are not willing to pay for it you’re not going to have a sustainable business model.

An effective customer acquisition strategy for tech companies is offering free trial plans. However, for continued business patronage, the Founder or Business Team have to figure out how to move users from being free users to paying customers. To achieve this, the user must see value in the product. This then leads to the question “What does value mean to the customer?”  

A step to answering the value question is to identify what value is. The definition of value by business owners varies from the perception of value by the user.

A product can be created by two different manufacturers and perform the same function, however, they are priced differently. While both products serve the same function, one might offer more exclusivity than the other. As such, the exclusive experience of the other product can be of more value than its basic function to the customer. 

A framework Startup LaunchCode has successfully used to help tech businesses is defining “Who? What? Why? How?”. That is, who is the customer? What do they want? Why do they want it? How do we get it to them?

Answering the question “Who?” helps businesses define their ideal customer and their traits. This is done by defining their demographics which are factors like their age group, location, earning power, etc. Next, evaluate their psychographics. This means their belief system, how they think, and what job they want to be done. Lastly, examine what the customer wants to achieve and how they look at your product as the vehicle to achieve that. 

For startups with limited resources or funds, I often advise that they apply this method to get laser-focused on their target audience so as to maximize resources for an effective outcome.  While it is good to have high aspirations and dreams of expanding, it is advisable for tech startups to have a niche first. 

Businesses also need to identify the key purchase drivers for their ideal customer, the customer’s pain points, and frustrations. In addition, tech startups need to understand why their ideal customer is looking for an alternative like theirs and what gaps exist for their businesses or products to fill.

Understanding who your company exists for can be the challenging part of starting a tech business. However, once you identify who your company aims to serve, you can begin to grow from there.

  • Zion Thompson is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder with Startup Launchcode, a Growth focused Agency for early stage startups.
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For Startup Launchcode, It Takes A Village For Technology To Thrive
Abiola Bonuola
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The African technology ecosystem is experiencing a boom in the number of new entrants. Insights show that Africa’s tech market size is currently estimated to be worth over $115 billion and predicted to grow to $712 billion by 2050. What this means is that more businesses with technology-driven solutions are being established every quarter.

Leading business publication, Entrepreneur, disclosed that 50% of businesses fail by the end of their second year. The shortened lifespan of businesses, especially tech startups can be attributed to a number of factors. Some of which include wrong product-market fit, lack of funding, scarcity of skilled talents, government policies, wrong business model, poor leadership, etc.

On funding, The Big Deal stated that start-ups in Africa have raised more than $850 million through 150+ deals in Q3 2022. However this feat is considered poor in view of what the ecosystem has delivered over the past one year, when startups raised over $2.9 billion dollars in funding with $1.7 billion going to Nigerian startups alone. If funding is not coming in as expected, startups need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to continue to exist in 2023.

Common among many African tech startups is the lack of knowledge and limited community support that most business leaders in other industries experience. One would agree that having a community is similar to having a family. A community serves as a source of knowledge building and helps to develop relationships and resource pools for long term growth.

In order to help more tech businesses scale the many challenges that come with the early years of business operations, African tech consulting agency, Startup Launchcode, is on a mission to build a village where Founders can have innovative and actionable growth strategies that boost bottom-line and market share.

As such, Startup Launchcode, a company likened to the fairy godmother of African startups provides businesses with all-round growth and marketing support so founders are able to focus on building exceptional products that solves real life issues and keep their users happy, keep their investors smiling and their team inspired. The agency offers a range of services including market strategy, customer acquisition, growth consulting, brand storytelling, branding and design, as well as growth marketing.

Startup Launchcode has community services built for knowledge sharing and support tools; Founders School, Growthpod, and Launchpad. The Agency continues to provide businesses with all that they require to survive and thrive. To reach them, Founders can schedule a call on the Startup Launchcode website; https://startuplaunchcode.co/ .

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