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Nov 3, 2023 · 16m · top-founders

First time Kenyan Founder Uses $1.50 FB Ads to Get First 100 Users, 64 DAU

Tony Mumo · 7m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Nathan Latka interviews Kenyan entrepreneur Tony Mumo, founder of Make Me Icons, exploring how he leveraged $1.50 Facebook ads to gain early traction and raised $18,000 in pre-seed capital ahead of a commercial paywall launch.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 0.5 Nathan pushing back 1.3
05100:0010:000:40–3:04 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Platform Origins, WhatsApp Pilot, and Beta User Metrics Nathan probes for specific metrics like active device definitions, while Tony explains the context of codeless web design demand in Kenya in a friendly and collaborative manner.3:05–7:25 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Early Customer Acquisition and Bootstrapping via Salary Nathan inquires into unit economics and customer acquisition costs, while Tony details using his prior marketing salary to fund Facebook ads in Kenya.7:27–11:42 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 App Development, Venture Funding, and Paywall Monetization Nathan calculates USD conversions for early development costs, institutional funding from AfriNext Ventures, and remaining runway in the bank.11:43–14:02 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Operational Team Structure and Technical Workflow Tony corrects Nathan's assumption that the team is only two people, outlining the six-person roster and their Flutter Flow workflow before completing the rapid-fire Famous Five questions.0:40–3:04 · Guest teaching 3/10 Platform Origins, WhatsApp Pilot, and Beta User Metrics Nathan probes for specific metrics like active device definitions, while Tony explains the context of codeless web design demand in Kenya in a friendly and collaborative manner.3:05–7:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 Early Customer Acquisition and Bootstrapping via Salary Nathan inquires into unit economics and customer acquisition costs, while Tony details using his prior marketing salary to fund Facebook ads in Kenya.7:27–11:42 · Guest teaching 2/10 App Development, Venture Funding, and Paywall Monetization Nathan calculates USD conversions for early development costs, institutional funding from AfriNext Ventures, and remaining runway in the bank.11:43–14:02 · Guest teaching 3/10 Operational Team Structure and Technical Workflow Tony corrects Nathan's assumption that the team is only two people, outlining the six-person roster and their Flutter Flow workflow before completing the rapid-fire Famous Five questions.0:40–3:04 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Platform Origins, WhatsApp Pilot, and Beta User Metrics Nathan probes for specific metrics like active device definitions, while Tony explains the context of codeless web design demand in Kenya in a friendly and collaborative manner.3:05–7:25 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Early Customer Acquisition and Bootstrapping via Salary Nathan inquires into unit economics and customer acquisition costs, while Tony details using his prior marketing salary to fund Facebook ads in Kenya.7:27–11:42 · Guest disagreement 1/10 App Development, Venture Funding, and Paywall Monetization Nathan calculates USD conversions for early development costs, institutional funding from AfriNext Ventures, and remaining runway in the bank.11:43–14:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Operational Team Structure and Technical Workflow Tony corrects Nathan's assumption that the team is only two people, outlining the six-person roster and their Flutter Flow workflow before completing the rapid-fire Famous Five questions.0:40–3:04 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Platform Origins, WhatsApp Pilot, and Beta User Metrics Nathan probes for specific metrics like active device definitions, while Tony explains the context of codeless web design demand in Kenya in a friendly and collaborative manner.3:05–7:25 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Early Customer Acquisition and Bootstrapping via Salary Nathan inquires into unit economics and customer acquisition costs, while Tony details using his prior marketing salary to fund Facebook ads in Kenya.7:27–11:42 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 App Development, Venture Funding, and Paywall Monetization Nathan calculates USD conversions for early development costs, institutional funding from AfriNext Ventures, and remaining runway in the bank.11:43–14:02 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Operational Team Structure and Technical Workflow Tony corrects Nathan's assumption that the team is only two people, outlining the six-person roster and their Flutter Flow workflow before completing the rapid-fire Famous Five questions.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%0:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%3:00 · Nathan 44% · guest 56%3:00 · Nathan 44% · guest 56%6:00 · Nathan 60.3% · guest 39.7%6:00 · Nathan 60.3% · guest 39.7%9:00 · Nathan 18.8% · guest 81.2%9:00 · Nathan 18.8% · guest 81.2%12:00 · Nathan 51% · guest 49%12:00 · Nathan 51% · guest 49%15:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%15:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:43 Tony corrects the team size premise

Tony immediately rejects Nathan's assumption that the company is only two people, explaining they have expanded to six.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 1:46 Drilling into active device definitions

Nathan refuses to accept a high-level metric without drilling down into exactly how a daily active device is measured.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:20 Explaining the Kenyan codeless design market

Tony educates Nathan on why codeless web design courses represent the highest-demand entry point for local software learners in Kenya.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:12 Real-time foreign exchange and runway calculations

Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by converting 500,000 Kenyan shillings into exact USD runway figures on the fly.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Platform Origins, WhatsApp Pilot, and Beta User Metrics 4301 Nathan probes for specific metrics like active device definitions, while Tony explains the context of codeless web design demand in Kenya in a friendly and collaborative manner.
Early Customer Acquisition and Bootstrapping via Salary 4201 Nathan inquires into unit economics and customer acquisition costs, while Tony details using his prior marketing salary to fund Facebook ads in Kenya.
App Development, Venture Funding, and Paywall Monetization 5212 Nathan calculates USD conversions for early development costs, institutional funding from AfriNext Ventures, and remaining runway in the bank.
Operational Team Structure and Technical Workflow 3311 Tony corrects Nathan's assumption that the team is only two people, outlining the six-person roster and their Flutter Flow workflow before completing the rapid-fire Famous Five questions.

Statements from this episode (6)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Make Me Icons Has 102 Beta Users and 64 Daily Active Devices
“Today we have a 102 beta users and 64 active devices as of today.”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 1:40
Opinion
Mumo: Codeless Web Design Is Make Me Icons' Most Popular Course
“Today our most popular class is web design skills, and this because in Kenya technology is really evolving, and there's a lot of interest in websites, in software, so codeless web design is the best place for someone to start their journey, especially if they …”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 2:21
Assertion Supported
Mumo: Facebook ads in Kenya cost as little as 120 shillings ($1)
“And in Kenya, Facebook ads are really, really affordable for as low as a hundred and 20 shillings, which is about a dollar. You can run an ad.”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 3:30
Disclosure
Make Me Icons spent ~50 Kenyan shillings per user for early WhatsApp acquisition
“We spent around 500 shilling 5000 shillings during that phase. So that would be at about 50, 50, 50 shillings. Yeah, 50 shillings a user. So that would be less than a dollar, maybe some cents.”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 4:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AfriNext Ventures invested $18,000 in Make Me Icons
“Currently, we have a venture venture capital investor called Afreenxt Ventures. So Afreenxt Ventures met us last year on September, and they were able to invest 1.8 million, which is about 18 thousand dollars, if I'm not wrong, 1.8 million shillings.”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 9:40
Disclosure
Mumo: Make Me Icons plans to price three-month courses at 4,500 shillings
“The initial idea for pricing was about 45 4500 shillings for a three-month course, and as we are recruiting creators, we are advising them to keep their classes within that price range, at least for the first first few months of the product, because affordabil…”
Tony Mumo Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 10:37
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