Building Tech Businesses that Scale in Africa

1. Sw7
Building High Scale Tech
Businesses in Africa
This is the intellectual property of Sw7. All intellectual property belonging to Sw7 is confidential and may not be distributed or used without their consent.

2. • Sw7
• Cloud – What it means to the Customer & You
• CLTV & CAC – How the Changes change your Business
• Getting Your Strategy Right
• Building Functioning Funnels
• Close
Agenda

3. THE Sw7 TEAM
This is the intellectual property of Sw7. All intellectual property belonging to Sw7 is confidential and may not be distributed or used without their consent.

4. Odette Jones - Irish in Jo’burg via Brussels & London.
Background Human Capital & Performance Management in Europe &
Emerging Markets for NYSE, NASDAQ & LSE Listed Corporates. Launched
Sw7 in 2014.
Focus on teams, structures, processes and behavioural traits that drive
entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial success.
Sw7 Cofounder, runs @Sw7 Workspace - our Tech Incubation Space,
Homeschooling our three kids.
Odette Jones

5. Thirteen years in and around Europe “inside the beast” - IT for financial
institutions
Bought a boat, took three years to sail back to SA “the wrong way” around
South America
Started a tech business in 1997 - Business Intelligence/Performance
Management. Listed in London 2009, did two fund raises, six acquisitions,
got out 2011
Rode my motorbike from Cape to Cairo - it was the right thing to do.
Started IT Board advisory & innovation/acceleration 2012.
Tech acceleration 2013 and launched Sw7 2014.
Keith Jones

6. THE Sw7 JOURNEY
This is the intellectual property of Sw7. All intellectual property belonging to Sw7 is confidential and may not be distributed or used without their consent.

7. “Scaling
business and
innovating is
hard”
Largest
technology
innovation
social media
community
(LinkedIn) in
Africa
“If you think
scaling a
business is
hard, try
doing it with
your partner”
Sw7 is a
performance
management
based
accelerator
with a
measurement
and outcomes
based
approach
The largest
Tech
Accelerator in
Africa!
Nine cohorts,
150 graduate
businesses
Mentored
300+ tech
businesses
Microsoft
Amazon
Google
Partners
First
Fintech
Accelerator
in
Africa
Start with Seven (Sw7)
One Hundred
Technology
CEOs,
Founders &
VCs
mentoring

8. Tech in Africa
Africa is Quite Big
We are a B2B first economy
Our markets are complex, fragmented,
distributed and skills are variable
B2B Sales means longer sales cycles and
slower lift innovation businesses
Markets lift from the bottom; our small
businesses are embracing cloud
It may not feel like it, but we are leading
the largest digital boom on the planet

9. To the Customer
• Choice (Shop around)
• Time to Value (Low deployment risk)
• Low Cost (Low Capex)
• Easy to Deploy (Click buy)
• Easy Scale (Scale on demand)
• Consumption based pricing (No shelfware)
• Headache free maintenance (Manageable costs)
What Cloud means
To Your business
• Cash Crash (it takes a while to lift)
• Annuity Revenue (customers stay sold)
• 2x to 10x SHV (businesses are stronger)
• Smaller Deals higher volume sales
• Larger upfront investment of time & energy
• Scale Acquire and onboard customers faster
• Lower Customer onboarding effort – less
effort on bespoke requests

10. Customer Choice
• Build to Sell
• Spend 80% of your effort figuring Go To Market & Onboarding
• No matter how easy you make onboarding – it’s not easy enough
There are two “Sales”
The first is when the Customer decides to buy your product and
the second is when the Customer deploys it to get value
Build for the first Sale first

11. Old School “Art” CLTV & CAC
Salesman’s Sale, Developers Dream – Features, features, features

12. New School “Science” CLTV & CAC
Customer’s Choice – Easy, Built For Me, Low barriers to Entry

13. To the Customer
• Choice (Shop around)
• Time to Value (Low deployment
risk)
• Low Cost (Low Capex)
• Easy to Deploy (Click buy)
• Easy Scale (Scale on demand)
• Consumption based pricing
(No shelfware)
• Headache free maintenance
(Manageable costs)
What Cloud means - Strategy
How you meet their need
• Differentiate (Sell to a Niche; Why You; Secret Sauce)
• Meet their specific need (Integrate into their environment)
• Create a Large Funnel (To fill the cash hole you need to
create volume of ‘like’ customers; targeted marketing)
• Convert your Funnel Efficiently (build a strong funnel
conversion capability)
• Easy engagement (however easy you make it, it’s not easy
enough; sell to a niche so you understand the need)
• Upsell (get in at a low price and add value as they need it)
• Code for the first sale – (Features are only relevant if you
have a customer)

14. Get Your Strategy Right First
“Solve in Sequence”
The MSU Framework is expensive in Cloud businesses

15. Focus on Lead Indicators
“Know Your Numbers”
Manual/digital only doesn’t work
Effective Funnels are blended LowTouch/High Touch
Knowing the blend for your Market/Customer is everything

16. Cloud is a not about tech, it’s about the
new business models it enables
• Sell to a proven need – if you wait for a change in behaviour it’ll be a long wait
• Sell the way the Customer Buys (new is not good)
• Make it Easy – Every step has to be easy (signup, legal, support, information, integration)
• If you think you are in a niche, go lower
• Know Your Numbers
• Build large funnels & convert efficiently
Cloud businesses are built, not converted

17. Sw7 are on a mission to accelerate
Seven Thousand Businesses in Africa
Let’s Connect!
Twitter - @Sw7co
LinkedIn - Tech Startups Founders & Developers Africa
This is the intellectual property of Sw7. All intellectual property belonging to Sw7 is confidential and may not be distributed or used without their consent.
Thank you!