Every now and then, there’s someone screaming and shouting how Nigerian developers are terrible and how they never deliver on projects. But the problems are actually inherent from the position of both parties; the client and the developer.

This is either from the place of ignorance or just plain naivety or both parties are just plain gullible. Grab a seat, get your soda and popcorn ready. Let me explain.

In the boom days of ride-sharing, it wasn’t unusual to have someone reach out to us and ask us to build a YARSA (Yet Another Ride-Sharing App). This was especially true when Uber or any of the global giants announce a new funding round.

Things became interesting when the local players started announcing their rounds MAX($7M+), GoKada($5M+), OPay($100m+). The weeks after this round, we will get some major inbounds. Everyone wanted to get in on the YARSA train..

Keep in mind that this isn’t a problem, I mean, it’s a gold rush so why not? But the problem is every single request that we got always wanted the project the following week. Like the one a full-blown Uber-Esque product next week…

Naturally, we always turn down this request. It doesn’t even matter how much the client is putting on the table, we just can’t do it. Not possible. Uber as a company has north of 2,000 engineers across its product team. We are a team of 10 persons. See where I am going with this?

Building a YARSA takes time. Like a lot of time. Uber is a 10+ yrs old company. With years of engineering experience under their belt. It’s impossible for us to photocopy their product in 4 weeks. Heck, we can’t even do that in 4 months.

Now, the funny part is when the client has a N2M budget that they intend to pay in 5 trenches. It will not work. So naturally, we don’t work together. So they do the next best thing, get some Nigerian freelancer to build one for them.

Now because the freelancer has no experience what it takes to build a product of that nature, they quickly give an estimate say 2 months and they get the first 30% down payment. 6 weeks into the project, the freelancer is still struggling with painting and moving the car on a map.

Then there are few things that (s)he has to deal with 1. Demand forecasting 2. Surge pricing 3. Driver Allocation. 4. ETA calculation 5. Payments - Card or COTC(Cash on Trip Completion) 6. Geo-fencing 7. City Activation. 8. Traffic. 9. Shortest Distance, etc.

Then as if this isn’t enough headache, the client comes back with brand new features that were never discussed, and since freelancer has no idea how to manage scope creeps, (s)he takes it on. The client suddenly wants Uber Eats and then things start to go south..

It’s already 10 weeks - 2 weeks after the expected project completion date. The client is angry, freelancer goes into hiding and stops answering their phone. The client is upset, the freelancer is tired and stressed because of the ever-changing product requirements. Resentment sets in.

The problem here is that the freelancer has already spent the initial 30% and obviously has no way of paying that money back.

The client gets frustrated and takes to social media. Then do what most people will do when they are really pissed - drag and entire community into the mess they co-created.

Here are a few problems:

1. The client and the freelancer never decided on clearly defined product requirements.
2. The freelancer gets gigs once every 4 months and didn’t want to pass up on this one. They needed the cash.
3. The client felt they were getting a bargain for finding someone that can build another Uber for N500K. This is especially true when they had just read one article about someone who built an app for next to nothing and sold it for millions.

Here is a few recommendations, dear potential founder/client.

1. Find a company with a track record that has what looks like an ability to do this.
2. Don’t expect to fit in a product that took 10 years to build and refine into a 4 months product development cycle. Don’t do it.

Before you think about replicating another company’s product, think about how many people they have working on that product and understand that you will never get the same product quality working with a freelancer.

What you want to pay for an entire product doesn’t even cover the salary of one of the engineers that work on that company abroad whose product you want to copy. There’s a case for “you get/got what you paid for.” Take your time also and do some digging. Ask question.

Also, don’t be gullible, you can’t expect to get a Ferrari with a Corolla budget. If you think you can, then we need to question your values as a person.

Also, understand that Rome was not built in a day. These things take sweat, blood and tears. Plus even the shiniest products have underlying defects. It’ just how much bandaid that’s put on it that makes all the difference.

Freelancer, speak to experienced people before taking on a project you have no experience building. Your sleep, peace of mind and name is far better than playing hide and seek.

Lastly, if you’re thinking of building a product and you need some help bouncing off ideas off a team and get some help around product dev. We(Alta Labs) are happy to speak to you. Please note, this is a paid session. Send a DM and we set up a meeting.

I'll love to hear from you

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

I tweet at @cyberomin