AkawoPay
Taking a pre-launch BNPL product from idea to its first 50 businesses.
A waitlist isn't a go-to-market motion
AkawoPay is a BNPL platform for businesses and individuals. I joined as a Product Growth Specialist while the product was still being built. The initial plan was simple: get people onto a waitlist.
I challenged that approach because the product wasn't launch-ready yet. A waitlist without a clear next step would only create a pile of leads without a path to activation. So I focused on building the foundations for a real go-to-market motion — from positioning and research through acquisition, business development, onboarding, and activation.
Built the GTM motion the product didn't have yet
Before acquisition could work, the product needed a clear story and a clear order of operations. I worked both ends — the positioning and the go-to-market sequence.
Audited the product and found the real problem
I audited the MVP, Figma designs, website, messaging, audiences, and user journeys. The biggest issue was clarity — the website was speaking to businesses and individuals at the same time, making the value proposition difficult to understand. I recommended separating the experiences and simplifying the messaging around what AkawoPay actually enabled each audience to do.
Researched the market and the competition
I researched how potential customers handled cash-flow constraints, borrowing, support from family and friends, and existing alternatives. I also studied competitors including Carbon and other fintech/BNPL providers to understand their positioning, offerings, messaging, and pricing — which shaped the audiences we prioritized and how we talked to them.
Built a B2B-first GTM motion
Businesses needed to be onboarded before the consumer side of the marketplace could become useful, so I sequenced the motion accordingly: Acquire businesses → Qualify → Contact → Onboard → Integrate → Build supply → Expand to consumers.
Operated as the business development layer
I didn't stop at generating leads. I personally qualified prospects, contacted businesses, followed up with them, and acted as their primary point of contact through onboarding — effectively running the BD function myself rather than handing leads off to a team that didn't exist yet.
Business-first, by design
Not a loop — a sequence. The marketplace only works once enough businesses are live, so every early decision was made in that order.
Where the strategy became real work
The receipts — how leads actually got generated, sorted, and turned into onboarded businesses.
Meta Ads for business leads
Used Meta Ads to generate business interest, running multiple lead campaigns tied directly to website registration completions.
A real qualification system, not just a lead list
Built qualification criteria around active business and online presence, suitable business model, a live website, ability to integrate with the product, and fit with AkawoPay's target use cases — then personally called and followed up with every qualified business, tracking status by hand.
Separate onboarding for individuals and businesses
Built distinct onboarding flows for each audience — including a KYC step for businesses — plus customer events and metadata to support segmentation and lifecycle messaging afterward.
Re-engagement emails for cold leads
For previously generated leads that had gone cold, set up activation email flows to re-engage them and move them toward taking action — turning "Lead → ???" into "Interest → Understanding → Onboarding → Activation."
What the work actually moved
What this project taught me
"Lead generation is not acquisition."
A lead only becomes valuable when there's a system for qualifying, converting, and onboarding them.
"GTM gets messy in the real world."
You don't always have a sales team, product team, or lifecycle marketer sitting beside you. Sometimes you have to become all three.
"Product growth starts before the product launches."
Research, positioning, onboarding, and activation decisions can determine whether acquisition eventually works.
"The best growth operators get close to the customer."
Calling prospects, handling objections, and personally onboarding businesses gave me insight that dashboards alone couldn't provide.
Have a growth problem like this one?
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