Mo Mbalam

Mo Mbalam, laughing, holding a microphone on stage
Founder & operator. Systems thinker. Christian. Wannabe runner.

I’m Mo Mbalam. I design, build and sell software, and the companies behind them. I think a lot about how the world works, and how it should.

These are my field notes, where I put my thinking. Some of it is settled. Some of it is me working things out, frustrations included.

What I write about

Faith. God, the church, and living as a Christian at work and at home.

Family. Raising kids, and the people who make the rest of it worth it.

Money. Who it works for, and how to make it work for the people with the least of it.

Work. Startups, selling, and how good teams get things done.

Farming. Growing food, and making it pay for the people who do it.

Life. Running, and the world as I see it.

Field notes

All notes
  1. Finance Bought Ledgers Instead of Workspaces Every finance team I’ve worked with runs on three systems: an ERP, a spreadsheet, and someone’s inbox. Work · 2 min
  2. Just Don’t Die: Startup Survival as the Ultimate Milestone Last year, our CEO dropped a deceptively simple directive: “Just don’t die.” Work · 2 min
  3. Turn chaos into startup momentum: being intentional about processes If you’re a founder or spend a lot of time in the startup space, you’ve probably heard “Move fast and break things.” Work · 2 min
  4. From Sales Aversion to Sales Advocate: How I Learned to Love the Lifeblood of Business I’ll admit it—sales was never my thing. Work · 2 min
  5. Lessons from the Circle Market in Ghana If you’ve ever walked through the bustling marketplace known as “Circle” in Accra, Ghana, you’ve likely experienced a seller’s persistence up close. Work · 2 min

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Experience

  1. 2024–

    Anchor YC S22

    Head of business development and partnerships

    Banking APIs for businesses across markets: virtual accounts, USD cards, payouts and bill payments.

  2. 2023–24

    Paystack a Stripe company

    Country sales manager, Ghana

    Signed enterprise merchants and saw them through to going live.

  3. 2022

    Yoola

    Co-founder and CEO

    Financial planning for African millennials, built mobile-first. Selected for Startupbootcamp’s fintech accelerator in Amsterdam.

  4. 2017–21

    Flippify later Triva

    Co-founder and CEO

    Goal-based savings for young Ghanaians. Won DataHack4FI Ghana, raised a pre-seed round, and pitched in Berlin at Germany’s Start-up Night! Africa.

  5. 2014–18

    LendingSquare

    Founder

    Ghana’s first peer-to-peer lending marketplace. Savers lent to borrowers directly, at better rates than banks gave either side.

  6. 2011–14

    University of Ghana

    Accounting associate, Finance Directorate
mo@mbalam.com