Please help rate my profile

Stage 1
1

Hello All,

I’m happy to be here. Please I need help to evaluate my profile for the stage 1 application.

I’m applying for Exceptional Promise. I am also confused about which route I should apply to as I will be having just about 5 years 3 months of professional experience in January when I will be applying.

Background:

In the last 5 years, I worked as a software engineer in 3 startups. One in the music streaming industry, and the other two digital payments.

In 2 of these startups, I was one of the founding engineers working on the products that have now been used by over 1million users, when I was still working there I worked extensively on core projects which were innovative and are still being used to date.

I am currently Head of engineering in the third startup where we are creating a community messaging platform stitching together like-minded groups across the Diaspora & Africa on top of this we are building and scaling crypto-powered money pools/commerce communities for Web3 projects worldwide. I joined as the first engineer and I have been able to help the startup launch its product, and with the product, we have secured partnerships and funding.

Outside the above, I have been volunteering as a facilitator and mentor in a technology-led social enterprise for the past 2 years, where I have been training and mentoring female leaders who have interests in tech.

Recommendation Letters:

1- CTO of my current company.

2- Team lead at Facebook, he was a cofounder in my current company and knows my work.

3- Founder of the social enterprise I mentored at.

Mandatory Requirements:

1- You led the marketing or business development at a product-led digital technology company, demonstrably enabling substantial revenue and/or customer growth or major commercial success, as evidenced by reference letter(s) from leading industry expert(s) describing your work, senior global commercial executives inside the company and/or at company partners/customers, or similar evidence.

  • Letter of support from my current CEO

2- * Outside of your normal day-to-day job role, you established, led or were a senior contributor to a large technology-led industry initiative, evidenced through reference letter(s) from global senior project executives.

  • Letter of support from the founder of the technology-led industry initiative where I mentored.

3- You command a high salary or other remuneration for your services, as evidenced by commercial or employment contracts with salary information including any bonus and equity options and history of earnings.

  • Here I am not sure what the definition of a high salary is, is it in accordance with UK standards or by in my country, my salary in my current company is in the top 1% for engineers in my country, as evidenced by data from glassdoor.

Optional Criteria:

1— How do I demonstrate that I have a proven track record or examples of innovation in the digital technology sector as a founder or senior executive of a product-led digital technology company or an employee working in a new digital field or concept?

- Made significant contributions to the development of an innovative USSD based digital payment and banking application in 2016:
Innovation: In 2016, USSD was a new concept in payments and banking in my country, at this time the possibilities of conducting payments and banking without the internet, but using USSD was new.

  • evidenced by a support letter from the CEO
  • Technical diagrams showing contributions identified in the letter above.
  • some images showing proof and traction of product in the market.

I am a bit confused here though, the USSD digital payment solution is regulated, it requires 3 entities to function, the telecommunication providers, the USSD aggregator(Service providers) and the Banks/fintech (Service users). To me, the main innovation here is in the USSD solution, which the company I worked at owns.

My work here was in the USSD aggregator(Service providers) sector, however, my contribution to this innovation was the implementation of some internal systems that helped scale the service users end product and improved the availability of the core USSD gateway application owned by the company I worked with. My company owns a USSD solution (product) that several enterprises leverage to implement their USSD digital payment solutions, will this company fly as a product-led company? I am not able to find any documentation or press release evidencing this where my company is mentioned I guess due to contractual reasons, but I could find that of the service users (banks) that are using the USSD gateway to provide the solution, is there a way I can use these press releases from our customers to support and prove innovation and impact of my work.

- Made significant contributions to the development of a music content platform in 2018.
Innovation: In 2018, the entertainment contents in my country were mostly streamed from foreign applications, which in some cases are not available to users in my country, or in most cases were not easy for indigenous content providers to showcase their contents and in other cases, the user experience was foreign and does not have the local feel. The app I worked on was the first indigenous entertainment content platform in my country, my contribution was on the core backend application and content provider system, my contribution helped the app to integrate with its first partners and also first enterprise user who had a user base of over 6 million users, the application is still in the market and has continually recorded success afterwards.

  • Evidenced by a support letter from the former Director of products of the company when I was working there.
  • Technical diagrams showing contributions identified in the letter above.
  • some images showing proof and traction of product in the market.

OC 3- How do I demonstrate that I have made significant technical, commercial, or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member, or employee of a product-led digital technology company?

- Significant contribution: I individually handled the development of key sub-projects of the parent project, which is USSD based digital payment and banking application in 2016:.

  • evidenced by a support letter from the CEO
  • Technical diagrams showing contributions identified in the letter above.
  • Screenshot of contribution summary as shown by Github.

**- Significant contribution: I led the development of the content provider system, my contribution helped the app to integrate with its first partners and also first enterprise user who had a user base of over 6 million users, the application is still in the market and has continually recorded success afterwards. **

  • evidenced by a support letter from the former CTO of the company when I was working there
  • Technical diagrams showing contributions identified in the letter above.
  • Github contribution screenshot.

- Made significant contributions to the development of a community messaging platform stitching together like-minded groups across the Diaspora & Africa.

  • evidenced by a support letter from the former CEO of the company.
  • Technical diagrams showing contributions identified in the letter above.
  • Github contribution screenshot.

I look forward to your feedback please, I am also not sure about the requirements for the support letters In the OC1 and OC3. Do they have to still be working in the said companies, and also are they expected to still be working in a product-led company to be eligible to recommend?

2

@Akinduko, hello and welcome to the community. I am not an expert, and my feedback is based purely on my experience. The overall profile looks strong to me. MC and OC3 look ok, OC1 need to be strengthened a bit.

Trying the Promise route seems logical if you don’t have work experience beyond five years and three months (in your CV). If the assessor finds your achievements impressive, he has the right to endorse you as Talent instead of Promise.

You have three letters of recommendation, but two are about your experience in the same company. You could find someone who knows your work and achievements from your first start-up?

MC:
Generally, only letters and contracts might not be sufficient.

  1. Especially letter from CEO of your current company is already third (!) letter from this company.
  2. Letter about your volunteering seems ok, but do you have any additional external pieces of evidence?
  3. I think the contract proves you work for the company and get paid. It is the least important evidence, and I have seen people rejected with six-digit salary figures.

OC1:
If the primary company revenue comes from the USSD product they develop, it is a product-led company, which should be ok. If the company owns several products and acts as a systems integrator, highly likely it will not. How does the company position itself on its website?

You (and your recommenders) have to focus on the innovative part of your contributions and describe in detail what is designed (ideas, diagrams, concepts) exclusively by you, what is that, who use it, how it helps.

Yes, you definitely can have a reference letter focused on innovation/impact from the clients (companies) that use your solution.

OC3:
It is pretty straightforward to prove in your case:

  • Having led in the development of high-impact digital products or services;
  • Having worked as a key engineer in the core product of a start-up, showing evidence as to how you have contributed to its success.

If your recommenders are (in theory) eligible for Global Talent, then they are fine.
According to the guide:

Each person who writes a letter for you must:

  • Be a senior member of their organisation
  • Know your work

So yes, they can change their places of work.

Best wishes,
Savva.

3

Well Said. I am also not convinced he has a strong case for innovation. I think those in New field or concepts with traction in the market have a better chance for innovation.

4

Thank you @Savvkin and @Francisca_Chiedu.

Feedback really appreciated.

I am sorry I missed some other information, updating my pieces of evidence to below:

MC:

  1. Letter from CEO of my current company, Github summary showing my contribution, snapshots from articles announcing major Partnerships of my current company, I was hoping to add my CEO recommendation because he mentioned the funds raised by the company, spoke about where the product was before I joined and after.
  2. Letter about my volunteering? with images of me training on different occasions on the website of the initiative.
  3. For the contract, in your experience, should I remove it or I should keep it, additionally I planned to add my equity options certificate as well. Would you advise that I also show other consultancy contracts outside full-time employments with high salaries for product-led companies?

OC1:
By law/regulation, as at the time I was working in my first company, non-financial institutions like telecommunication companies, could not integrate directly with financial institutions like banks. That necessitated USSD aggregators like my company, so my company built a product that is a “USSD gateway” as at that time only a few USSD gateways existed in my country. My work was mostly around the Gateway, of course, I didn’t build it but I did work that contributed to the innovation, which my CEO acknowledged. USSD is the primary source of revenue for the company. The company due to its nature by regulation has service users who leverage the USSD solution to create other innovations, these service users are enterprises, who also sometimes through my company create other innovations. @Francisca_Chiedu I was able to find a screenshot showing the USSD revenue that was processed through my company on a regulatory body website showing great figures, in your opinion would this be good enough to prove traction, or still not convinced it is innovative enough.

  • What about my experience working in an indigenous content provider platform. When I was working there, it was the first to exist in my home country, we also implemented features that did not exist in other popularly known music streaming platforms. It has 100K+ installs in android, and signed major deals with major global players in the entertainment industry both locally and internationally. I could back those up with evidence from press releases, and my contribution could be evidenced by the CTO when I worked there.

  • I am also thinking about using my experience in my current company working on crypto since it’s a new field too. But I have not added it because we don’t have good market traction or revenue yet, it has a lot of potentials which I could prove and has signed major deals with top players in the crypto space. Will this suffice?

Your feedback will be sincerely appreciated.

5

I think you should keep the contract, as it connects you to your company. Additional consultancy contracts are questionable, as the assessor may assume you’re generating your primary income from technical consultancy.

OC1:
USSD: It was one of three companies on the market, confirmed by an independent source (regulatory showing significant figures), but still you (and recommender) have to describe what innovations are made by you.
Music streaming: Instead of “we implemented”, better focus on “you designed and implemented” for OC1.
Crypto: It can be useful to strengthen your case. I have seen successful endorsements of early-stage startups, gaining around as low as £1k monthly revenue only. If it is promising and innovative (try to explain in detail, so even non-tech people understand), then it will do.

6

Is there any reason you are no doing optional criteria 2. I think your evidence is better suited for OC3, you can demonstrate the impact of your work. The evidence you have listed for Innovation make not be strong enough.

7

Thank you @Savvkin,

@Francisca_Chiedu for OC2

The only evidence of OC2 I am able to provide is for the one I have been doing constantly for 2 years now, and it’s for the same organisation. Same that I provided in the MC

Outside that, I have not had any other activity that happened more than 6 months ago to show.

8

6 months ago? Do you have articles or publications within the last 5 years?

9

@Francisca_Chiedu, sadly I don’t have any that is tech related in the last 5 years. Apart from the initiative where I was a mentor, I only did voluntary technical advisory for another startup during this period, but I recently saw that it doesn’t count as an evidence anymore in the latest update.