For a month, Praise Olaoluwa showed up at Eko Market in Lagos every single day.
Not to sell.
Not to pitch.
Just to observe.
He ate with traders. Celebrated birthdays with them. Listened to their stories. He wanted to understand how their businesses actually worked; how they bought inventory, sold products, and kept money moving.
Then something unexpected kept happening.
Wherever he went, merchants asked him the same question:
"Have you come with money for us?"
That simple question changed everything.
When Praise first started building Sharesell, it wasn't a lending company. It was a marketplace designed to help WhatsApp vendors source products more efficiently. On paper, the solution made sense.
In reality, customers didn't feel the pain he thought they had.
Instead of forcing the product to work, he went back to the market.
He rebuilt.
Then rebuilt again.
After months of talking to merchants face-to-face, one insight became impossible to ignore: the biggest obstacle wasn't inventory management—it was access to working capital.
That realization led Sharesell to evolve into what it is today: a platform helping merchants access growth capital alongside the tools they need to sell, manage operations, and grow with confidence.
Today, Sharesell has supported more than 1,000 SMEs and is deploying a $4 million growth fund through credit partners. Along the way, Praise's perspective as a founder evolved too.
He often says that in the early days he was obsessed with building the product.
Today, he's obsessed with distribution.
Because great products don't scale themselves.
Founders do.
Markets do.
Distribution does.
That's exactly what we'll be unpacking in our next Smarter SaaS Growth webinar.
🎙️ From Product Obsession to Distribution Obsession
Join Praise Olaoluwa for an honest conversation about what it really takes to move beyond early traction and build something customers genuinely pull toward; not something founders have to keep pushing.
Here's what we'll explore:
✅ Why founders often mistake "interesting ideas" for urgent customer problems and how to tell the difference.
✅ How deep customer discovery can completely reshape your product, positioning, and growth strategy.
✅ Why distribution, partnerships, and founder-led market engagement become your biggest competitive advantage as you scale.
If you're building a B2B SaaS company, or any technology business, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
Register now and join us for what promises to be a practical, honest conversation on building businesses people truly need.
Here is the link: https://luma.com/zg8onccn
See you there.
-Angela.