Business, Progress, & Strategic Decisions
I remember browsing online a few days ago and one of the first posts I saw was on PayDay and how much a particular executive was receiving monthly. I gathered from the post that this executive was receiving $15,000 every month. In my local currency, it is a desirable figure, but the salary was not what caught me. I was more interested in the news surrounding the intended acquisition of the financial technology company.
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Before I read the post, I hadn't made use of PayDay, although I was aware of it. If you are just hearing about PayDay for the first time, it is a fintech company that allows you to make transactions in dollars and other currencies. PayDay also allows you to trade stocks and make international transactions. Coming online and seeing that the owners decided to sell the company just 6 months after it raised $3 million did not settle down well with me.
Usually, when business owners decide to sell their businesses, it is mostly because they can no longer afford to stay afloat. But this was not the case with PayDay. Information gathered showed that they were doing well; they could afford to pay a monthly salary of $15,000 to an executive, they had and could retain employees, and they recently raised over $3 million. Anyhow you want to look at it, PayDay was probably in its best state yet. That begs the big question: Why did they decide to sell? More importantly, what can you learn from them?
If you have been following every update around the company's acquisition, you may have heard that the decision to sell the company was a result of managerial conflict or something of sort. Unfortunately, whether confirmed or not, most people in society happen to think of this first, before actually realizing that other factors could be responsible. This blog post is not written to judge or to try to investigate what happened between the management of PayDay. Instead, this piece is to educate you on a crucial lesson: Love your business, but love progress more.
Now it is time to get controversial. I will ask you a question. Don't be in a rush to answer. Think about it for a while before you continue reading, business and progress, which do you think is better?
One thing I have noticed in a lot of African (especially Nigerian) entrepreneurs is the belief that it is unwise to leave your business. I have seen many people, who, although, business savvy, refuse to move on from their businesses. I had a conversation with a business owner one time, and she outrightly told me that she'd prefer to remain in her business and make losses than work for someone else and make a profit. Unfortunately, this too is the thoughts of many young entrepreneurs. They feel they are doing other people a favor by working in their companies.
Leaving your business for greater opportunities doesn't make you a bad person. Twitter (now X), Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc., were not created or founded by the people who are managing them today. Did Jack Dorsey love Twitter? Most certainly. If he didn't, he would not have made the investments to create it. When he saw a better opportunity, did he take it? Yes. Did Twitter fold up as a result? No.
So, before you get emotional about the decisions of PayDay's owners, remember that they too are business people. They, too, love their PayDay, but they are willing to expand and progress. Isn't that what business is all about, after all?
I cannot overemphasize this: do not let your love for your business stop you from expanding or progressing. It is important to note, however, that your love for your business does not eliminate the fact that not all deals are good and should not be accepted. In fact, some deals, when accepted, would be the collapse of your company.
How you know which deal would result in the greatest benefit for you and your business, and which deal would lead to its collapse, is beyond the money being offered for the purchase. As of last I read, Moniepoint has been in communication with the management of PayDay since March. They wanted the company since that time. Most certainly, Jack Dorsey of Twitter did not sell his business in one day. He, too, took time to do some strategic and critical thinking.
What business do you do? Have you had a deal for acquisition or partnership before? How did it go? What did you do? Tell me in the comments.
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