Only two of those are software.

The third is where most of the work actually happens, and it’s the reason finance teams feel perpetually behind.

I spent three years as an accounting associate at one of the largest public universities in Ghana before I ever worked in tech. The lesson from that seat has stayed with me: the ERP never tells you what the work is. It tells you what the work was, after someone else has already done it somewhere else.

The actual work is chasing a vendor for a missing invoice. Reconciling a payment that came in under a slightly different name. Figuring out why last month’s recon has three mismatches that no one has touched in two weeks. Rebuilding the context of a conversation that happened between three people in Slack, your counterpart’s inbox, and a phone call you weren’t on.

None of that lives in the ERP. None of it lives anywhere, really.

Sales teams solved this problem decades ago. A CRM is not a database of customers. It’s the system that remembers where every conversation stopped, who owns the next step, and what the state of every deal is. Engineering solved it with Linear. Support solved it with Zendesk.

Finance never did. Not because finance is less complex. Because finance bought ledgers instead of workspaces, and mistook one for the other.

The consequence is that every finance team I’ve watched operate, from a small outfit in Lagos to a multi-country treasury function, loses most of its hours to coordination rather than to accounting. I’ve always said accounting is often the easy part. The coordination is where the close stretches from 3 days to 12.

I don’t think this is a software gap. I think it’s a category gap.

What finance is missing isn’t a better ERP or a smarter chatbot over the data. It’s a layer that holds workflow state across the tools the work already happens in. Email, chat, the ERP, the spreadsheet. One memory across all of them.

This will get built. And I suspect the teams that get there first will be the ones with the least ERP tech debt to unwind in the first place. Which probably means the smaller teams. And probably, eventually, the ones furthest from where the ERP companies were originally designed for.

Why “Just Don’t Die” Matters More Than You Think.

What makes longevity so critical? Imagine: you build a brilliant product, secure initial investment, and then falter at runway month 12. All that promise evaporates. By reframing survival as the key metric, you shift focus from vanity metrics to fundamentals: cash management, customer retention, and operational discipline.

The Survival-First Mindset

• Focus on Core Value: Experimentation is important, but early-stage startups must ruthlessly protect the one feature or service that delivers revenue.
• Adaptability Over Perfection: Building the perfect version takes time you may not have. Release early, learn fast, and iterate.
• Cash Is King: Track burn daily, not monthly. Every expense needs to be questioned: “Will this help us stay alive another week?”

Real-World Lessons in Startup Endurance

• Airbnb’s Lean Beginnings: During early struggles, the founders slept on air mattresses and sold cereal boxes to stay afloat - literal survival tactics that bought them time to tweak their platform.
• Buffer’s Transparent Burn: By openly sharing their financial runway and metrics, Buffer built trust with users and investors, reducing uncertainty and securing additional support when needed.

Tactics to Extend Your Runway

1. Negotiate Vendor Terms: Ask for extended payment schedules or discounts in exchange for longer-term contracts.
2. Lean Hiring: Hire multipurpose operators rather than specialists.
3. Strategic Partnerships: Leverage alliances to share development costs or co-market, expanding reach without paying full freight.

Beyond Survival: Turning Endurance into Growth: Surviving isn’t the end goal - it’s the foundation. Once you’ve extended your runway:

• Invest in Brand: Build a story that resonates; long-term companies must convert survival into a loyal community.
• Scale Responsibly: Growth initiatives should be aligned with the cash flow you’ve stabilized.
• Build Resilience: Institutionalize processes that help weather future storms, from remote working protocols to diversified customer segments.

Next time you find yourself buried in KPI dashboards, remember those three simple words: just don’t die. If you can stay alive long enough, you’ll find that opportunities to innovate, fundraise, and scale naturally follow.

What survival lessons have shaped your startup journey? Share your experiences in the comments or reach out because in the startup world, the best metric is simply being here to chase the next big idea.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been obsessed with redesigning my workflows and documentation. Here’s my biggest takeaway: intentional processes aren’t bureaucratic; they’re a cheat code for scaling without burnout.

Run with me (I love running):

Why this matters now and not later

Early-stage startups often avoid processes like they’re the plague. I’ve done this several times as a founder. “We’re too small!” “It’ll slow us down!” But guess what?

• Chaos costs more time than structure ever will.
• Misaligned teams = missed opportunities.

I reduced the number of emails sent to inbound leads by 2 by simply embedding my calendar in my emails.

How to build processes that don’t suck

Start lean, then iterate

Borrow from the build-measure-learn loop: treat processes like product MVPs. Don’t overcomplicate, just start!

I’ve spent hours and days mapping out documentation for some of our processes. Before I started, I always thought of writing pages and pages of documents, and that scared me. I decided to start with just one slide and everything else followed.

Document for humans, not robots

• Use tools like Google Slides or Notion templates, and keep it visual and collaborative.
• Pro tip: Host quarterly “process hackathons” to kill redundancies.

Autonomy > Control

• Replace rigid rules with decision frameworks: “If it’s under €250 and aligns with our values, just do it.” Result? Fewer bottlenecks, faster execution.

Measure what actually matters

Forget vanity metrics. Track real impact:

• Time saved per task
• Team satisfaction levels
• Error rates vs. output volume

The real win? culture.

When your team understands the “why” behind a process:

• Accountability becomes automatic.
• Creativity thrives within guardrails.
• Fire drills turn into focused action.

Since overhauling my workflows, I’ve slashed meeting hours by 30% and engaged better, all while keeping burnout at bay.

That’s all from me.

I’d like to know that ONE process that transformed your startup.

Have you seen lean methodologies win (or fail) in your journey? Drop a comment below, I’d love to learn from your experience!

PS: If you’re thinking, “We’re too early for this,” you’re not. Start small. Iterate. Watch momentum grow.

When I started my own business, I found myself having to “sell” my startup, my vision, and my solution. At first, I did it reluctantly. But the more I engaged with potential clients, partners, and investors, the more I understood that sales wasn’t about pushing something unwanted onto others. It was about connection, understanding needs, and building relationships. I came to realize that sales is the lifeblood of any business, especially in the B2B space. Without sales, even the best ideas remain just that—ideas, with no impact, no growth, and no sustainability.

Why Sales Is Essential from Day One

While waiting for the train and casually chatting about business, Sul. Mohammed and I agreed on one thing: sales should never be an afterthought in building a business. For years, I thought I could focus solely on product development, strategy and operations, assuming the “right” people would naturally see the value. But that approach often leads to disappointment. Instead, sales should be part of your business strategy from day one. Here’s why:

Sales Drives Growth

Sales generates the revenue that fuels growth. It’s what helps turn ideas into viable, scalable businesses. You can’t grow without revenue, and you can’t have revenue without sales.

Sales Validates the Product

Sales is the ultimate validation, whether B2B or B2C. Talking to potential customers shows you firsthand what they need, what they’re willing to pay for, and what they don’t. Sales allows you to refine your offering based on real-world feedback.

Sales Creates Relationships

I used to think of sales as transactional, but it’s actually about building lasting relationships. When you’re focused on delivering value, people begin to see you as a trusted partner rather than someone with a sales pitch.

Sales Gives You a Competitive Edge

Understanding sales gives you insights into your customers’ pain points, industry trends, and competitor weaknesses. It’s a strategic advantage that informs your entire business.

Building Sales into Your Business Strategy

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone launching a business, it’s to make sales the cornerstone of your strategy. You don’t need a huge sales team at the start, but you do need a plan to reach your market, communicate your value, and drive growth. Sales is a skill, one that can be learned, honed, and enjoyed—even by those who may have started off hating it, as I did.

Today, I view sales differently. It’s not about pushing products or interrupting someone’s morning. It’s about building a bridge between what you offer and what others need. Embrace sales early, and you’ll see it for what it truly is: the heartbeat of any successful business.

In the world of sales, we’re taught that perseverance, customer understanding, and timing are key. Circle’s sellers live and breathe these principles every day. Here’s what we can learn from them:

1. Customer Perception as Potential Opportunity
   Sellers at Circle don’t wait for customers to approach—they actively engage with every person who crosses their path. While not every passerby will buy something, their approach maximizes chances by assuming every interaction holds potential. For Sales Managers and Business Development Managers, this approach reminds us of the importance of keeping pipelines full and actively pursuing new leads, treating each potential connection as an opportunity to learn or close.

2. The Power of Relentless Follow-up
   In Circle, if a shopper shows even a hint of interest, they’ll find the seller immediately by their side, offering reasons why their product is the best choice. This reflects a fundamental principle in sales: persistence. Effective follow-up, timed well, can mean the difference between a conversion and a missed opportunity. In professional sales settings, of course, this persistence is tempered with subtlety, but the principle remains—following up can make all the difference.

3. Resilience in the Face of Rejection
   Circle’s sellers face rejection constantly. Shoppers say no, brush them off, or ignore them outright. Yet they bounce back immediately, ready for the next opportunity. This resilience is something every Sales and Business Development Manager needs to cultivate. Rejections are a part of the job, but a willingness to move forward without being discouraged is a key factor in long-term success.

4. Understanding the Customer’s Need for Space
   Finally, at Circle, there comes a point when a potential buyer expresses frustration or needs space. Sellers recognize this quickly and step back. Sales professionals need a similar intuition, learning to read a customer’s comfort level and knowing when it’s time to pull back and give them room to make a decision.

In our daily roles, we may not operate in such a high-energy, face-to-face environment. However, the core sales principles found at Circle are universally applicable: see opportunity everywhere, follow up relentlessly, be resilient in the face of rejection, and understand when to give a little space. Circle’s marketplace teaches us that salesmanship is not just about pushing products but about understanding the customer and responding dynamically to their signals.

As we navigate our own “markets,” we can take a page from Circle and approach every day with energy, adaptability, and respect for the customer.

The excitement was palpable. I rushed to find our CEO, Segun Adeyemi, eager to share the news. But he was already ahead of me, beaming with pride and celebrating this incredible milestone.

When I woke up, the dream felt so real, so inspiring, that I couldn’t shake it off. It got me thinking about the incredible potential that Anchor has to transform the financial landscape in Africa.

Imagine a future where:

• Small businesses can effortlessly access credit and financial tools, fueling their growth and empowering local economies, leveraging Anchor’s credit infra.
• Large corporations can seamlessly embed financial services into their existing products, creating new revenue streams and enhancing customer loyalty.
• Global businesses can access multiple African markets without necessarily setting up locally. You can offer services locally and receive your money in any currency, anywhere.
• Fintech innovators can leverage Anchor’s robust platform to build essential solutions, driving financial inclusion and transforming the way people interact with money.

This dream, while just a figment of my imagination for now, speaks to the very real impact that Anchor is poised to make. We’re not just building a company; we’re building a financial ecosystem that will empower how financial services are delivered to businesses and individuals across Africa.

We’re already doing this in our initial market, Nigeria, empowering businesses of all sizes to seamlessly integrate and offer financial services – from bill payments, payroll, neobanks, healthcare, remittance companies, and global businesses sitting in India, the Americas, and Europe and effortlessly receiving and making payments in and from Nigeria.

This is the future Anchor is building, and it’s beyond my dream last night. We’re actually building the infrastructure to make it a reality.

Whether you’re a business leader looking to innovate, a developer looking to build the next generation of financial solutions, or simply someone who shares our passion for empowering the delivery of financial services in Africa, I invite you to connect and be a part of this exciting journey.

And then it hit me. A long-forgotten deal flashed into my mind, along with an old boss’s words: “Time kills all deals.”

As a sales professional, I’m no stranger to stress and the constant juggling act of closing deals. But in that moment, I realized I wasn’t always applying the right kind of pressure – the kind that moves things forward without causing harm.

Could the principles of Thai massage – building trust, applying pressure, focusing on the customer’s needs – help me improve my sales game?

Turns out, the answer is a resounding yes.

Let’s talk about pressure – the right kind, and the right amount. In Thai massage, pressure is applied with intention and skill. My therapist carefully targeted areas of tension, always checking in to make sure it wasn’t too much. It’s about using the right technique at the right time, not brute force.

The same applies to sales. Persuasion is a form of pressure, but it should never be aggressive or manipulative. It’s about guiding the conversation, offering insightful suggestions, and gently nudging the customer towards a decision that benefits them.

Knowing when to follow up, push a little, or give a gentle nudge to get the deal across the line is just as important as knowing when to apply pressure during a Thai massage.

And just like a Thai massage is more than just a physical experience – it’s a holistic journey that leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated – a good sales interaction should be more than just a transaction. It’s about creating a positive, memorable experience that leaves the customer feeling valued and appreciated.

So, the next time you’re feeling stressed or struggling to close a deal, take a page out of the Thai massage playbook. Build trust, apply pressure with intention, focus on the customer’s needs, and create a memorable experience. You might be surprised at how much it can transform your sales game – and maybe even your shoulders!