The purpose of blitzscaling is to secure enduring market leadership in a valuable industry which allows you decades of profitable operations. Simply growing fast is a means, not an ends. (Chris Yeh, Co-Author of Blitzscaling)
I wrote that "the key unanswered question is whether such an approach is suited for the African markets of today." And it'd be interesting to have your general view here. How well-suited do you find blitzscaling approaches (or perhaps I should simply say 'speed-to-scale' entrepreneurship) to be for emerging markets? Or how would you think about it?
Are there any reasons to think they'll have more or less 'Glengarry Glen Ross markets' than the Western world, for example? And how would you categorize India's Reliance Jio and its market-winning price war relative to the blitzscaling framework you've developed?
From my understanding of African market, the more essential the service you are providing, the bigger space to imagine. Fintech in Africa now is more related to deposit, withdraw, send money, maybe lending added. These are things that are too essential to miss. And tech is just a tool. So I am more than bullish on tech-enabled infrastructure-level solution, rather than fancy pure tech product. And Fintech is for sure one of the very few. Another one I see a great potential is B2B commerce which are tacking painpoints in supplychain. Apparently Otrade and couple of other players doing.
I agree with you. It's interesting that you mention Konga/Jumia — I almost did so myself to make the same point, but ultimately edited it out. Money is clearly not always the answer though and not just in Africa, you can even look to Quibi as an example of that.
Your point about fintech is a very good one. There must be a reason why it's the sector that's received the lion share of VC funding in Africa over the past five or so years.
The purpose of blitzscaling is to secure enduring market leadership in a valuable industry which allows you decades of profitable operations. Simply growing fast is a means, not an ends. (Chris Yeh, Co-Author of Blitzscaling)
Thanks for your comment, Chris. I also saw your response to O'Reilly's article (https://qz.com/1572866/reid-hoffman-and-chris-yeh-defend-their-book-blitzscaling) where you emphasize similar points.
I wrote that "the key unanswered question is whether such an approach is suited for the African markets of today." And it'd be interesting to have your general view here. How well-suited do you find blitzscaling approaches (or perhaps I should simply say 'speed-to-scale' entrepreneurship) to be for emerging markets? Or how would you think about it?
Are there any reasons to think they'll have more or less 'Glengarry Glen Ross markets' than the Western world, for example? And how would you categorize India's Reliance Jio and its market-winning price war relative to the blitzscaling framework you've developed?
Thanks
Fantastic Read, love the update to the draft.
An example that moving fast and throwing money at it doesn’t always work in Africa is Jumia and Konga.
Fast execution is important in this market, but so is patience and sustainability.
I have no doubt they will figure it out.
After all Jumia is making a comeback via Payments.
If Opay is shutting down it’s other units to focus on payments,
And Jumia is saying it’s fastest growing unit is payments.
Does it mean the only vertical mature enough for scale in Africa is fintech ?
🤔
From my understanding of African market, the more essential the service you are providing, the bigger space to imagine. Fintech in Africa now is more related to deposit, withdraw, send money, maybe lending added. These are things that are too essential to miss. And tech is just a tool. So I am more than bullish on tech-enabled infrastructure-level solution, rather than fancy pure tech product. And Fintech is for sure one of the very few. Another one I see a great potential is B2B commerce which are tacking painpoints in supplychain. Apparently Otrade and couple of other players doing.
Thanks, Henry!
I agree with you. It's interesting that you mention Konga/Jumia — I almost did so myself to make the same point, but ultimately edited it out. Money is clearly not always the answer though and not just in Africa, you can even look to Quibi as an example of that.
Your point about fintech is a very good one. There must be a reason why it's the sector that's received the lion share of VC funding in Africa over the past five or so years.