I mentioned a while ago that I was going into early retirement so that I could spend the rest of my life with my family, “Baby boying” on Nneka’s budget, but she shut me down, saying, “Not on my watch! Get off your behind and do something useful with yourself.”

Okay, she didn’t exactly say that, but you get the idea. My long-term goal, however, is to retire early and become a full-time househusband. Wish me luck!

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get to the meat of this post.

For the longest time, I would typically write about my professional journey, sharing my experiences when I left a company and when I joined a new one. But after my last company, Paystack, I broke with tradition.

I ended up taking a self-imposed sabbatical once I left Paystack. It was also much-needed. I couldn’t remember a time when I had an extended period of time to myself to eat, watch movies, sleep, and do something unrelated to work and this was a much-needed break. During that time, I did some soul-searching: what do I want to do with the rest of my life? What do I like to do? What is the next step in my career? I started journaling my ideas and matching them to my strengths. It was clear that I still enjoyed developing software, leading engineering teams and building products, and getting my hands dirty with code.This was really all I wanted to do.

The more I thought about it, the more I learned and the more I saw the demand in the market; there was and still is a dearth of strong technical talent. Every strong talent I knew was leaving the country to work for other companies, leaving a void in the market with founders struggling to build and ship products. With this in mind, I decided to start Alta Labs, a technology consulting firm.

I had spent the last 3 years breathing, sleeping, talking, and dreaming about Alta Labs and nothing else. It was no surprise that the company consumed my every waking moment. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I’m an “all-in” kind of guy; there’s no middle ground for me and I’ve had the best time managing a small but driven group of young individuals who wanted to make a difference in Nigeria’s technology ecosystem.

I’m proud to say we’ve been able to help a few founders ship products, we contributed to product teams and founders gaining clarity on their ideas and product roadmap, and through training and hiring scaled the engineering organization of quite a few companies. And we’ve loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately, every good thing must come to an end and this is no exception. The Alta Labs journey has reached its end, and it’s a bittersweet moment for me and the team. The exhilarating feeling of seeing your creation in the wild, the frustration when things didn’t go as planned, and that last-minute adrenaline rush you get as you’re about to ship is something I will always cherish. Alta Labs reshaped me and helped me grow faster than I ever imagined. For me, the last 3 years became a period of learning. That opportunity allowed me to wear many hats; not only was I a technological leader, but I also had to learn how to become a business leader, and I will be forever grateful for that experience. We had a great time, made mistakes, and learned from them. I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who put their faith in us and to those who were there when I needed counsel, thank you!

What Next?

I am beginning a new journey with my co-founder Olufunbi Falayi, a journey that is a culmination of the last 11 years of my life. It’s beautiful and terrifying and it’s in an industry that I’m passionate about. Today, I’m the co-founder, CEO and CTO of Klump along side my co-founder, ‘Funbi who is our COO and CPO.

What is Klump?

Klump is a Buy Now, Pay Later technology company with the mission to enhance the online and in-store checkout experience for customers by providing flexible payments on your purchases. Klump’s initial focus is on marketplaces with higher-margin, discretionary-spend categories, such as apparel and footwear, fitness, accessories, and beauty. Klump will also focus on the education, travels and healthcare industry verticals.

So, Why Klump?

We had gone to bed like any other night in March of last year. Livy became restless by 11 p.m. or so. We did everything to soothe her, from singing to dancing, but nothing helped. She was gasping by 5 a.m., and it was clear that she required medical attention immediately. That day, we visited four different hospitals before finding a pediatric centre that could treat her. All of this occurred between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. On the way to the last hospital, I watched as my baby was strapped to a stretcher with a drip in one hand and oxygen to breathe well. That sight broke me. A billion thoughts ran through my head. She’s still with us, still standing, still my gorgeous little princess, after 8 months of in and out hospital visits. God, I LOVE THIS GIRL.

Why am I telling you all this? Our health insurance had run out on the day she needed it the most, and I was out of money. I’m not referring to the type of ‘broke’ where you have some money but no cash in your utility account. I mean, I was completely drained. To put things in perspective, one of the hospitals required a Covid-19 test before admitting her, but I couldn’t afford the N35,000 ($60) test charge. That was how bad it was. That evening, I had to call her uncle, who came to my rescue.

What does this have to do with Klump? Klump, though not starting with healthcare(but we will eventually cover this sector), is a company near and dear to me, if a service like Klump had existed that allowed me to pay Livy’s medical expenses over time, it would have been a God-send. I would have used their service without hesitation. Hundreds more parents, like me, will be able to pay for our family’s medical insurance without having to put a 100 per cent down payment. Klump will only require a 25% down payment and will let you spread the remaining 75% over three months. In addition to medical insurance, Klump will allow parents to pay for their children’s education in instalments.

Livy was able to receive medical care because I contacted Reliance HMO, asked them to activate our account, and assured them that I would pay them at a later date. They did and turned on our plan solely on my words. I had never met the company’s founders, and they had never met me, but they had been serving my family for the past 3 years. Dr Femi, Ope and Mayaki, my God will bless you all and the entire crew.

Klump is special to me. I know it’s cliche to hear founders talk about how they started companies to solve their own problems, while this sounds exactly like my case, it’s much more. My hope is that no other parent will have to go through what I went through that day. I don’t wish that on anyone and I am trying to avoid that with Klump.

Our goal at Klump is simple:

1) Build a strong culture that we(my colleagues, myself and our shareholders) all will be proud of.

2) Excellent product that delights the end-user

3) Customer obsession

4) A fun work environment

And generally try to have fun while at it.

So if I haven’t replied to your email or returned your call, I apologize. I am going to get to them now. The last few weeks have been crazy.

This is new territory to me, my co-founder and a lot of our team members. We don’t pretend to know everything, but one thing is certain, we will do our very best to provide best-in-class service.

This is by no means an easy task. There will be many good days and many bad days, but our hope is that we will have more good days than bad days.

Thank you and God bless,

Selah.

I'll love to hear from you

Do you want to say hello? Email me - celestineomin@gmail.com

I tweet at @cyberomin