Day 365: we crawled, started walking, and plan to fly.
We've told the Fidia founding story many times, and we're still not tired of telling how we went from a couple of friends trying to solve mutual problems to a startup that now serves thousands of Nigerians.
We, like every unicorn today, have lofty goals that will undoubtedly outlive us, and our unwavering passion serves as the driving force.
Little beginnings...
Little Fidia was born on July 17th, 2021, even though this dream was conceived long before the official launch. On this day, we introduced the world to our flagship feature, the payment link. The payment link signalled the start of the fantastic offerings we had in mind. We launched the first version of the creator profile on November 1st, 2021, a few months after receiving feedback and improvement suggestions. This phase, like that of a new baby, involved a lot of experimenting and learning. Based on our zeal, we launched another sister feature called product pages on December 3rd, 2021, allowing Fidia creators to sell digital products.
Our modest beginnings included the addition of integrations (Google Analytics and Facebook Pixels), QR code generators, and the transfer feature, which allows fidia creators to transfer money to one another on fidia. Looking back, this was a defining period in which every single moment solidified our future steps. Nothing beats the satisfaction of building the dreams of thousands of African creators. We would relive those experiences.
We started crawling 👼...
Every good thing, as every dream, requires nurturing to grow or flourish. We had a dream, and we began to make it a reality by building what we could, completely fuelled by passion. We realised, like infants, that being born isn't enough to ensure survival; we needed to nurture this dream, so we began to look for opportunities. We encountered a few hurdles along the way, but we persevered, hoping for the big break. On January 9, 2022, we officially announced that we had been backed by On Deck and had been accepted into the first cohort of the On Deck Accelerator Program (ODX1). With this support, the Fidia dream began to take shape, and it was a watershed moment for us founders, as well as a guarantee that we would not stop anytime soon.
Our first walk 🧒🏽...
The On Deck Accelerator Program (ODX1) propelled us into our early stages of walking. We expanded in all directions, and every aspect of Fidia improved. Our team grew from three founders to a full team of 11 talented individuals. We began by reviewing all previous versions of our products, researching additional solutions we could offer creators, and preparing to place these tools in the hands of multiple creators. So we spent months building, learning, and unlearning before unveiling a Better Fidia. Our platform was completely revamped, and we launched Creator Profile 2.0, which is now our most popular feature, as well as Referrals and several other improvements. These changes were well received by Fidia creators and drew in more non-Fidia creators.
Still walking 🚶🏽...
We began the journey of getting the product into the hands of as many creators as possible, putting our best foot forward. We have signed Fidia Ambassordors, partnerships, and sponsorships as additional ways to promote our message. We never stopped building because we introduced recurring payments to strengthen our payment links; added the ability to customise using the design tab on the creator profile, and went a step further by introducing invoicing, which allows creators to bill clients professionally. We now serve thousands of Nigerians, a significant increase from where we began. The team is still actively working and walking passionately towards our goal.
The plan to fly 🛸...
We are only on day one, and as we celebrate 365 days of impressive growth, we are reminded that we are one year closer to our goal. One of our dreams is to bring about a much-needed revolution in the creator economy, and we look forward to the day when we become a household name for creators.
Today we appreciate all Fidia creators for choosing us; you are the reason we build and the ever-passionate team for consistently working towards a better Fidia. This is only the beginning of our journey, and we envisage the future with so much optimism.
Cheers to us all and cheers to an exciting 365 days!
With Love💙,
Fidia Team.
