Should Paystack prioritize expanding our payment options or improving the reliability of existing ones?

Introduction

The key trade-off we're examining is whether Paystack should prioritize expanding payment options or improving the reliability of existing ones. This decision is crucial for Paystack's growth strategy and user satisfaction. I'll analyze this trade-off by considering business goals, user needs, technical feasibility, and potential impacts.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Based on our current market position, I'm thinking reliability might be a pressing issue. Could you share our current uptime percentages and any recent significant outages?

Why it matters: Helps quantify the reliability problem and its urgency Expected answer: 99.5% uptime with 2-3 major outages in the last quarter Impact on approach: Lower reliability would shift focus towards improvement over expansion

• Considering user feedback, I'm assuming we've received requests for new payment options. What are the top 3 most requested payment methods not currently supported?

Why it matters: Identifies potential high-impact expansions Expected answer: Cryptocurrency, Buy Now Pay Later, and mobile money in specific regions Impact on approach: Strong demand for new options could justify expansion focus

• Looking at our technical infrastructure, I'm wondering about the scalability of our current system. How much additional load can our existing architecture handle?

Why it matters: Determines if expansion is technically feasible without major overhauls Expected answer: Current system can handle 30% more load before requiring significant upgrades Impact on approach: Limited scalability would prioritize reliability improvements

• Regarding our team capacity, I'm curious about our engineering resources. How are our teams currently allocated between maintenance and new feature development?

Why it matters: Assesses our ability to tackle both reliability and expansion simultaneously Expected answer: 70% on maintenance, 30% on new features Impact on approach: Heavy maintenance workload might necessitate focusing on reliability first

• Considering our competitive landscape, how does our current payment option offering compare to our main competitors?

Why it matters: Helps evaluate the urgency of expansion for market competitiveness Expected answer: We're on par with most competitors but lacking in emerging payment methods Impact on approach: Significant gaps might push towards expansion despite reliability concerns