“You Have to Start Before You Are Ready”: LemFi’s Ridwan Olalere on Adaptation and Ambition
LemFi founder Ridwan Olalere recently shared valuable insights into startup growth and adaptation, emphasizing the importance of launching even with imperfect assumptions. Speaking at Pitch2Win5, he illustrated LemFi’s journey from pre-seed to Series A, highlighting the pivotal role of iteration and embracing early launches despite imperfections.
Embracing Imperfection and Rapid Iteration
Olalere emphasized LemFi’s initial fluidity, noting how the core idea evolved from stock trading to digital banking before settling on remittance services for the African diaspora. This pivot heavily influenced key aspects of the business, including design, target market, licensing strategy, and initial product features. He also humorously admitted that some early projections, like the estimated 170 million Africans in the diaspora, were exaggerations. LemFi intentionally launched in Canada first, despite its relatively small Nigerian diaspora, prioritizing faster licensing over optimal market conditions. He encouraged entrepreneurs to prioritize action over perfection, pointing to the initially flawed app design and limited functionality as crucial stepping stones in building their product, distribution, and user feedback loops. He stated that if you are not embarrassed about your design pre-seed then you aren’t starting early enough. Even incorrect financial assumptions, like underestimating transaction processing costs, provided valuable learning experiences.
Olalere’s candid account underscores the critical lesson that startups must be willing to launch, learn, and adapt rapidly. His story serves as a powerful reminder for aspiring entrepreneurs: don’t let the pursuit of perfection paralyze you – start before you are ready, iterate constantly, and embrace the inevitable bumps along the road.
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Related Keywords: LemFi, Ridwan Olalere, Adaptation, Ambition, Start before youre ready, Fintech, Entrepreneurship, Business Leadership, Career Advice, Overcoming Fear
